Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths; each basin was four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea he set on the southeast side of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work that he was to do^[a] for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: ⁴¹ the two pillars and the bowls of the capitals which were atop the two pillars, and the two lattice works to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were atop the pillars; ⁴² and the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the two lattice works, the two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the surface of the pillars; ⁴³ and the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵ and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh were polished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan with the casting mold set in the ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all of the vessels unweighed because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all of the vessels which were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the presence; ⁴⁹ as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs all of gold. ⁵⁰ The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans were made from beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the most holy place,^[b] for the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold. ⁵¹ When all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, which he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh.

The Dedication of the Temple

8 At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families^[c] of the Israelites^[d] before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month. ³ All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly^[e] and all of the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance. ⁶ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place,^[f] under the wings of the cherubim, ⁷ for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. ⁸ The poles were long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of^[g] the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside, and they are there until this day. ⁹ There was not anything in the ark except^[h] the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh made^[i] a covenant with the Israelites^[j] after they went out from the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh. ¹¹ The priests were not able to stand to minister because of the presence of^[k] the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

Solomon’s Proclamation to the Assembly of Israel

¹² Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the very thick cloud. ¹³ I have certainly built a lofty house for you, a place for you to live forever.” ¹⁴ Then the king turned his face around, and he blessed all of the assembly of Israel. (Now all the assembly of Israel was standing). ¹⁵ Then he said, “Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth to David my father and fulfilled by his oath,^[l] saying, ¹⁶ ‘From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ ¹⁷ David my father desired^[m] to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, ¹⁸ but Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because you desired^[n] to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart. ¹⁹ However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰ Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant which Yahweh made with our ancestors^[o] when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer to Yahweh

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all of the assembly of Israel, and he spread out his hands to the heavens, ²³ and he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the loyal love for your servants who are walking before you with all their heart. ²⁴ You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised to him, and you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it this very day. ²⁵ So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, ‘For you, no man will be cut off from before me who will be sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶ So then, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed which you have promised^[p] to your servant David my father. ²⁷ For will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens could not contain you! How could^[q] this house that I have built? ²⁸ You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you this day, ²⁹ so that your eyes will be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray toward this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive. ³¹ If a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house, ³² then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and to declare the righteous innocent^[r] by rewarding him according to his righteousness. ³³ When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because^[s] they sinned against you, and when they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house, ³⁴ then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you shall bring them back to the ground which you gave to their ancestors.^{[t] 35} When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them, ³⁶ then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, for you will teach them the good way in which they should go, and you will give rain upon your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. ³⁷ If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease, ³⁸ any prayer or any plea which is offered by any person for all of your people Israel, who each knows the infestation of his own heart and spreads out his palms to this house, ³⁹ then you shall hear in heaven the place of your dwelling, and you shall forgive and act and give to the man whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man. ⁴⁰ Do these things so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.^{[u] 41} Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name, ⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm), and he shall come and pray toward this house, ⁴³ you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built. ⁴⁴ If your people go out to battle against his enemy in the way that you shall send them and they pray to Yahweh, toward the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then you shall hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate^[v] them.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you (for there is not a person who does not sin) and you are angry with them and you give them to an enemy and they take them captive to the land of the enemy far or near, ⁴⁷ and then they return their heart in the land where they have been taken captive and they return and plead to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and we did wrong. We acted wickedly,’ ⁴⁸ if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors,^[w] the city that you have chosen and the house that you^[x] built for your name, ⁴⁹ then you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate them.^{[y] 50} You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, even for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them, ⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought from Egypt from the middle of the smelter of iron. ⁵² O, that your eyes may be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things when they call to you. ⁵³ For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors^[z] from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!”

Solomon Charges the People Israel

⁵⁴ It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed all of the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶ “Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises concerning the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors,^[aa] and may he not leave us or abandon us, ⁵⁸ to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our ancestors.^{[ab] 59} Let these my words which I pleaded before Yahweh be near to Yahweh our God, by day and by night, to maintain the justice of his servant and the justice of his people Israel as each day requires^{[ac] 60} so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is God; there is none other. ⁶¹ Let your heart be completely with Yahweh our God by walking in his statutes, by keeping his commands as this day.”

The Great Confirming Sacrifice

⁶² Then the king and all of Israel with him offered a sacrifice in the presence of Yahweh. ⁶³ Solomon sacrificed the fellowship offerings which he offered to Yahweh: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all of the Israelites^[ad] dedicated the house of Yahweh. ⁶⁴ On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard before the house of Yahweh because he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar that was in the presence of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. ⁶⁵ Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi^[ae] of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days and seven days, a total of fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and they went to their tents rejoicing and in good spirits^[af] because of all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

Yahweh’s Challenge to Solomon

9 It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king’s house, and all the things Solomon desired to do, ² Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. ⁴ As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart^[ag] and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my ordinances and my judgments, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “If ever you or any of your descendants^[ah] turn from following me and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. ⁸ This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, ‘On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ And they will say, ‘Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors^[ai] out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.’”

Solomon and Hiram Complete Their Agreement

¹⁰ It happened at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, ¹¹ since Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with wood of cedar and with wood of cypresses and with the gold according to all his desire, then King Solomon gave twenty cities in the land of the Galilee to Hiram. ¹² So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes. ¹³ So he said, “What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul until this day.^{[aj] 14} Then Hiram sent to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Solomon’s Accomplishments

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of Yahweh and his house, the Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burnt it with fire. He had also killed the Canaanites who were living in the city and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of Solomon. ¹⁷ Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-Horon, ¹⁸ as well as Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness in the land; ¹⁹ and he also built all of the storage cities which were Solomon’s, the cities for the chariots, the cities for the cavalry, and all of Solomon’s desire that he wanted^[ak] to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰ All of the people who were remaining from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who were not of the Israelites,^{[al] 21} their children who remained after them in the land, whom the Israelites^[am] were not able to completely destroy, Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, until this very day. ²² But from the Israelites^[an] Solomon did not make a slave, but they were the men of war, his officers, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. ²³ These were the commanders of the overseers who were over the work for Solomon, five hundred and fifty, ruling over the people doing the work.

²⁴ As soon as the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David to her house which he^[ao] built for her, then he built the Millo.

²⁵ Solomon sacrificed three times a year: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he had built to Yahweh, and he offered incense with it before Yahweh; and so he completed the house.

²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea^[ap] in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent his servants with the fleet of ships, sailors^[aq] who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and they brought it to King Solomon.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba

10 Now the queen of Sheba had heard of the fame of Solomon regarding the name of Yahweh, and she came to test him with hard questions. ² So she came to Jerusalem with very great wealth; with camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him all that was on her heart. ³ Solomon answered all of her questions;^[ar] there was not a thing hidden from the king which he could not explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba observed all the wisdom of Solomon and the house which he had built, ⁵ the food of his table, the seat of his servants, the manner^[as] of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered in the house of Yahweh, she was breathless.^{[at] 6} Then she said to the king, “The report which I heard in my land was true concerning your accomplishments and your wisdom. ⁷ I had not believed the report to be true until I came and my eyes had seen, and behold! The half had not been told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass^[au] the report that I had heard. ⁸ Happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand before you continually hearing your wisdom. ⁹ May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel, because of the love of Yahweh for Israel forever, and he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, abundant spices, and precious stones. Spices as these did not come again in such abundance as that which the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon.

¹¹ Moreover, the fleet of ships of Hiram which carried the gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir abundant amounts of almug wood and precious stones. ¹² The king made a raised structure for the house of Yahweh and for the house of the king out of the almug wood, as well as lyres and harps for the singers. This much almug wood has not come nor been seen again up to this day. ¹³ King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all of her desire that she asked, besides that which King Solomon freely offered her.^[av] Then she turned and went to her land with her servants.

¹⁴ The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁵ apart from that of the men of the traders and the profits of the traders, and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land. ¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred shields of hammered gold; six hundred measures of gold went up over each shield. ¹⁷ Also he made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them into the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ The king also made a large ivory throne, and he overlaid it with fine gold. ¹⁹ Six steps led up to the throne, and there was a circular top to the throne behind it, and armrests were on each side of the seat,^[aw] with two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰ Twelve lions were standing there, six on each of the six steps on either side;^[ax] nothing like this was made for any of the kingdoms. ²¹ All of the drinking vessels of King Solomon were gold, and all the vessels for the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver; it was not considered as something valuable in the days of Solomon. ²² For the fleet of Tarshish belonged to the king and was on the sea with the fleet of Hiram; once every three years the fleet of Tarshish used to come carrying gold and silver, ivory, apes, and baboons.

²³ King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom. ²⁴ All of the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ They were each bringing his gift; objects of silver and objects of gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This used to happen year after year.^[ay]

²⁶ Solomon gathered chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He stationed them in the cities of the chariots and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made the silver in Jerusalem as the stones, and the cedars he made as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah in abundance. ²⁸ The import of the horses which were Solomon’s was from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received horses from Kue at a price. ²⁹ A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver shekels and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported.

Solomon’s Foreign Wives

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; ² from the nations which Yahweh had said to the Israelites,^[az] “You shall not marry them,^[ba] and they shall not marry you.^[bb] They will certainly turn your heart after other gods.” But Solomon clung to them to love. ³ He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.

Solomon’s Apostasy

⁴ It happened at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh as David his father. ⁷ At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which faces^[bc] Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.^{[bd] 8} Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

Yahweh’s Judgment on Solomon

⁹ Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded. ¹¹ So Yahweh said to Solomon, “Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant. ¹² However, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will tear it away. ¹³ Yet all of the kingdom I will not tear away. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

¹⁴ Then Yahweh raised an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of that king in Edom. ¹⁵ It had happened that when David was at Edom, Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, and he killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ For Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months until he exterminated every male in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad was a young boy. ¹⁸ They had set out from Midian until they came to Paran where they took men from Paran with them and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave to him a house and assigned food for him and gave him land. ¹⁹ Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as wife. ²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore Genubath his son for him, and Tahpenes weaned him in the middle of the house of Pharaoh. Genubath was in the house of Pharaoh in the midst of the children^[be] of Pharaoh. ²¹ Now Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors^[bf] and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away that I may go to my land.” ²² Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me that you now are seeking to go to your land?” He said, “No, but you must surely send me away.”

²³ God had also raised Rezon the son of Eliada as an adversary against him, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah, his master. ²⁴ He gathered men around him and he became the commander of bandits. When David killed some of them, they went to Damascus and settled there,^[bg] and they reigned in Damascus. ²⁵ He was an adversary for Israel all the days of Solomon, and along with the evil that Hadad did, he detested Israel while he reigned over Aram.

Yahweh Raises Up Jeroboam

²⁶ Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother was Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon rebelled against the king.^{[bh] 27} This is the reason that he rebelled against the king: when Solomon built the Millo, he closed the gap of the city of David his father. ²⁸ Now the man Jeroboam was a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man was a diligent worker,^[bi] so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph. ²⁹ It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them were alone in the field, ³⁰ Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes, ³² but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; ³³ because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites.^[bj] They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father. ³⁴ But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances. ³⁵ But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you. ³⁶ To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name. ³⁷ You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will punish the offspring of David on account of this; however, not always.’” ⁴⁰ Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom; are they not written on the scroll of the acts of Solomon? ⁴² All the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel were forty years. ⁴³ Then Solomon slept with his ancestors,^[bk] and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

Israel’s Appeal to Rehoboam

12 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² It happened that Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it while he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of King Solomon, and Jeroboam had lived in Egypt. ³ So they sent and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came. Then they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy; now lighten the hard labor of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ He said, “Go up for three days and then return to me”; so the people went away.

Rehoboam Seeks Counsel to Respond

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had been serving^[bl] before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, “How are you advising me to answer this people?”^{[bm] 7} They said to him, “If you will be a servant today to this people, then you will serve them; and if you answer them and speak good words to them, they will always be your servants.” ⁸ But he rejected the advice of the old men, which they gave him, and he consulted with the youngsters who had grown up with him, who were serving^[bn] before him. ⁹ He said to them, “What are you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us.’” ¹⁰ Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ So then, my father loaded a heavy yoke on all of you, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’”

Rehoboam Responds Unwisely with Disastrous Results

¹² Jeroboam and all of the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken: “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered all the people harshly, as he had rejected the advice of the old men that they had offered. ¹⁴ He spoke to them according to the advice of the youngsters, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add onto your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from Yahweh in order to fulfill his word which Yahweh had spoken through the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶ When all of Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What share do we have in David?^[bo] There is no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look to your house, David!” Then Israel went to their^[bp] tents.

¹⁷ The Israelites^[bq] were living in the cities of Judah, and Rehoboam was reigning over them. ¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the forced labor, and all of Israel cast stones at him and he died, but King Rehoboam managed to get up on the chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel rebelled against the house of David until this day.

Civil War Averted

²⁰ It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one followed after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone. ²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all of the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand choice troops^[br] to fight with the house of Israel, to restore the kingship to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²² Then the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ²³ “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and the remainder of the people, saying, ²⁴ ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You shall not go up and you shall not fight with your brothers the Israelites.^[bs] Return each of you to his house, for this thing was from me.”’” So they heeded the word of Yahweh, and they returned to go home according to the word of Yahweh.

Jeroboam Becomes King over Israel

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he resided in it. Then he went out from there and built Penuel. ²⁶ Then Jeroboam said to himself,^[bt] “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David ²⁷ if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house^[bu] of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The heart of this people will return to their master Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and return to him.”^[bv]

²⁸ And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them,^[bw] “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough;^[bx] here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He put one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰ This thing became a sin, and the people walked before the one as far as Dan. ³¹ Then he built the houses on the high places, and he appointed priests from all walks of life^[by] who were not from the sons of Levi. ³² Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³ He offered sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the Israelites,^[bz] and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

A Man of God Proclaims Judgment against the False Altar

13 Suddenly a man of God from Judah came to Bethel, by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer incense. ² Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.’”

³ He gave a sign on that day, saying, “This is the sign that Yahweh has predetermined: Look, this altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”

⁴ It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself. ⁵ Then the altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar poured out according to the sign which the man of God had announced by the word of Yahweh. ⁶ Then the king responded and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me that my hand may return to me.” So the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, as it was in the beginning. ⁷ Then the king spoke to the man of God, “Come with me to the house and refresh yourself, that I may give you a gift.” ⁸ Then the man of God said to the king, “Even if you give to me half of your house I will not come with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place, ⁹ for the word of Yahweh has commanded me, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water, and you shall not return on the way that you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way, and he did not return by the way on which he had come to Bethel.

The Man of God Disobeys

¹¹ Now a certain older prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all of the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and the words he had spoken to the king, and they told them to their father. ¹² Then their father asked them, “Which way did he go?”^[ca] His sons had seen the way which the man of God who had come from Judah had taken. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it ¹⁴ and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under the oak and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come with me to the house and eat some food.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “I am not able to return with you or to go with you. I will not eat food nor will I drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall not eat food, nor shall you drink water there. You shall not return to go by the way that you came.’”

¹⁸ Then he said, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.’” He lied to him. ¹⁹ So he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.

²⁰ Now it happened that they were sitting at the table, and the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back. ²¹ He proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command which Yahweh your God commanded you, ²² but you have returned and have eaten food and drank water in the place which he ordered you not to eat food nor to drink water, then your dead body shall not return to the tomb of your ancestors.’”^[cb]

The Disobedient Man of God Dies

²³ It happened after he ate food and drank water that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ When he left, a lion found him on the road and killed him, and his dead body was thrown on the road with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion was standing by the dead body. ²⁵ As men were passing by and they saw the dead body thrown in the road and the lion standing beside the dead body, they came and told it in the city where the old prophet was living. ²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh, and Yahweh has given him to the lion. He tore him in pieces and killed him according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to him.” ²⁷ Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. ²⁸ He went and found his dead body thrown in the road and a donkey with the lion standing beside it, but the lion had not eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and put it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn him and to bury him. ³⁰ He put his corpse in his tomb, and they mourned over him, “Alas, my brother!” ³¹ It happened after he buried him that he said to his sons, “When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For surely, the thing which he proclaimed by the word of Yahweh against the altar which is in Bethel will happen, as it will against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”

Jeroboam Continues in His Sin

³³ After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he returned and again made priests for the high places of people from all walks of life.^[cc] He filled his hand with all his desire and became one of the priests of the high places himself. ³⁴ This matter became sin in the house of Jeroboam, to make it disappear and to destroy it from the surface of the earth.

Judgment for Jeroboam Continues

14 At that time, Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill. ² Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Look, Ahijah the prophet is there, and he spoke concerning me before I became king over this people. ³ You must take ten loaves of bread in your hand and cakes and a jar of honey, and you must go to him. He shall tell you what will happen to the boy.” ⁴ The wife of Jeroboam did so. She got up, went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was not able to see, for his eyes were fixed^[cd] because of his old age. ⁵ Then Yahweh said to Ahijah, “Look, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he is ill. Thus and so^[ce] you shall say to her. When she comes, she will be disguising herself.” ⁶ It happened at the moment Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you making yourself unrecognizable? I have been sent a hard message for you: ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: “Because I raised you from the midst of the people and I made you leader over my people Israel, ⁸ I tore the kingdom from the house of David and I gave it to you. But you were not like my servant David who kept my commandments, and who went after me with all his heart, to do only what is right in my eyes. ⁹ But you did more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten idols to provoke me, but me you have completely disregarded.^{[cf] 10} Therefore, look, I am about to bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off males^[cg] from Jeroboam, bond or free, in Israel. I will burn after the house of Jeroboam as one burns after the manure, until it is finished. ¹¹ He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken it.”’ ¹² As for you, get up. Go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die. ¹³ All of Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. This one alone will come to a tomb for Jeroboam, because a good thing has been found in him by Yahweh the God of Israel in the house of Israel. ¹⁴ Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will even now cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. ¹⁵ Yahweh will strike Israel as one shakes the reed plant in the water, and he will root Israel up from this good land that he gave to their ancestors.^[ch] He will scatter them beyond the River^[ci] because they have made their sacred poles which are provoking Yahweh. ¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of the sin of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin.”

¹⁷ Then the wife of Jeroboam got up, went, and came to Tirzah. As she was coming to the threshold of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸ They buried him and all of Israel mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹ The remainder of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ The days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years, and he slept with his ancestors.^[cj] Then Nadab his son became king in place of him.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah

²¹ Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which, from all of the tribes of Israel, Yahweh chose to place his name. And the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. ²² But Judah did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they annoyed him more than their fathers^[ck] did with their sins that they had committed. ²³ They also built for themselves high places and stone pillars and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ There were also male shrine prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites.^[cl]

Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt Raids Jerusalem

²⁵ It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, ²⁶ and he took the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and he took all the treasures of the king’s house. He took the small gold shields that Solomon had made, ²⁷ so King Rehoboam made small copper shields in place of them and entrusted them^[cm] to the commanders of the royal guard who keep the doorway of the king’s house. ²⁸ Whenever the king came to the house of Yahweh, the royal guard carried them and brought them back to the alcove room of the royal guard. ²⁹ The remainder of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ³⁰ There was always war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ³¹ Then Rehoboam slept with his ancestors,^[cn] and he was buried with his ancestors^[co] in the city of David. The name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son became king in his place.

The Reign of Abijam in Judah

15 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. ² Three years he reigned in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ³ He walked in all the sins of his father that he had done before him, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father. ⁴ For the sake of David, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by establishing his son after him and by causing Jerusalem to exist; ⁵ because David did right in the eyes of Yahweh and he didn’t turn aside from all that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. ⁷ The remainder of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijam slept with his ancestors,^[cp] and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son became king in his place.

The Reign of Asa in Judah

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa became the king of Judah. ¹⁰ He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹ Asa did right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his ancestor.^{[cq] 12} He put away the male shrine prostitutes from the land, and he removed all of the idols that his ancestors^[cr] made. ¹³ Also, he had Maacah his mother removed from the office of queen mother, as she had made a repulsive image for the Asherah. Asa also cut down her repulsive image and burned it in the Wadi^[cs] Kidron. ¹⁴ But the high places he did not remove. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was completely with Yahweh all of his days. ¹⁵ He brought the holy objects of his father and his own holy objects to the house of Yahweh, silver and gold and utensils.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all of their days. ¹⁷ Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and he built Ramah to hinder the coming and going of anyone to Asa^[ct] king of Judah. ¹⁸ Asa took all of the silver and gold remaining in the storerooms of the house of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the house of the king, and he gave them into the hand of his servants; so King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “Let there be a covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel that he may go up away from me.” ²⁰ Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and he attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maacah, and all of Kinnereth, in addition to all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard, he stopped building Ramah, and he lived in Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa proclaimed among all of Israel that there was no one free from obligation, so they carried the stones of Ramah and its wood with which Baasha had built, and King Asa rebuilt Geba in Benjamin with them, and the Mizpah. ²³ The remainder of the acts of Asa, all of his achievements, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? But at the time of his old age, he developed a foot disease.^{[cu] 24} Asa slept with his ancestors^[cv] and was buried with his ancestors^[cw] in the city of David his ancestor;^[cx] Jehoshaphat his son became king in his place.

The Reign of Nadab in Israel

²⁵ Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin that he caused Israel to commit. ²⁷ Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Now Nadab and all of Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon, ²⁸ and Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa the king of Judah, and he reigned in his place. ²⁹ It happened that as soon as he became king, he killed all of the house of Jeroboam. There was no one left of Jeroboam who breathed, until he had destroyed him according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins of Jeroboam that he had committed and that he had caused Israel to commit and because of his anger with which he had provoked Yahweh the God of Israel. ³¹ Now the remainder of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

The Reign of Baasha in Israel

³² There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ³³ In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah had become king over all of Israel; he lived in Tirzah twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin that he caused Israel to commit.

16 The word of Yahweh came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, ² “Because I exalted you from the dust and I made you a leader over my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and you caused my people Israel to sin, to provoke me with their sins, ³ I am now about to consume Baasha and his house. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴ Those who die for Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; those who die for him in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat.”

⁵ The remainder of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his powerful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁶ Baasha slept with his ancestors^[cy] and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son became king in his place. ⁷ Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to Baasha and to his house by the hand of Jehu the son of Hanani the prophet, because of all the evil that he did in the eyes of Yahweh by provoking him with the work of his hands, by being like the house of Jeroboam; and he destroyed him.

The Reign of Elah in Israel

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel for two years. ⁹ His servant Zimri the commander of half of the chariots conspired against him. Now he had been in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza who was over the palace in Tirzah. ¹⁰ Zimri came and struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah and became king in his place. ¹¹ It happened that as soon as he became king, at the moment he sat on his throne, he killed all of the house of Baasha. He left no males^[cz] among his kindred or any of his friends.

¹² So Zimri destroyed all of the house of Baasha according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke against Baasha by the hand of Jehu the prophet ¹³ because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son which they committed and which they caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols. ¹⁴ The remainder of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

The Very Brief Reign of Zimri in Israel

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the army was encamping against Gibbethon which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶ The encamping army heard that Zimri had conspired and moreover had killed the king,^[da] so they made Omri the commander of the army of Israel king over all Israel in the camp on that day. ¹⁷ Then Omri went up and all Israel with him from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸ It happened that when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went to the citadel fortress of the house of the king, and he burnt the house of the king over him with fire so that he died. ¹⁹ This happened because of his sin which he committed by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, by going the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he did by causing Israel to sin. ²⁰ The remainder of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he made, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?