Bible in 90 Days
38 He made ten bronze washbasins, each able to hold forty baths.[a] Every washbasin was six feet across, and there was one for each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five stands on the south of the temple and five on the north of the temple. He placed the Sea at the southeast corner of the temple.
40 Hiram made the basins, shovels, and bowls.
And so Hiram finished his work on the Lord’s temple for King Solomon:
41 two columns;
two circular capitals on top of the columns;
two networks, adorning the two circular capitals on top of the columns;
42 four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, with two rows of pomegranates for each network that adorned the two circular capitals on top of the columns;
43 ten stands with ten basins on them;
44 one Sea;
twelve oxen beneath the Sea;
45 and the pots, shovels, and bowls.
All the equipment that Hiram made for King Solomon for the Lord’s temple was made from polished bronze. 46 The king cast it in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Due to the very large number of objects, Solomon didn’t even try to weigh the bronze.
48 Solomon also made all the equipment for the Lord’s temple: the gold altar; the gold table for the bread of the presence; 49 the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold; 50 the cups, wick trimmers, bowls, ladles, and censers of pure gold; and the gold sockets for the doors to the most holy place and for the doors to the main hall. 51 When all King Solomon’s work on the Lord’s temple was finished, he brought the silver, gold, and all the objects his father David had dedicated and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.
Solomon dedicates the temple
8 Then Solomon assembled Israel’s elders, all the tribal leaders, and the chiefs of Israel’s clans at Jerusalem to bring up the chest containing the Lord’s covenant from David’s City Zion. 2 Everyone in Israel assembled before King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim,[b] during the festival. 3 When all of Israel’s elders had arrived, the priests picked up the chest. 4 They brought the Lord’s chest, the meeting tent, and all the holy equipment that was in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up, 5 while King Solomon and the entire Israelite assembly that had joined him before the chest sacrificed countless sheep and oxen. 6 The priests brought the chest containing the Lord’s covenant to its designated spot beneath the wings of the winged creatures in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place. 7 The winged creatures spread their wings over the place where the chest rested, covering the chest and its carrying poles. 8 The carrying poles were so long that their tips could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, though they weren’t visible from outside. They are still there today. 9 Nothing was in the chest except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there while at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they left Egypt. 10 When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple, 11 and the priests were unable to carry out their duties due to the cloud because the Lord’s glory filled the Lord’s temple.
12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord said that he would live in a dark cloud, 13 but I have indeed built you a lofty temple as a place where you can live forever.” 14 The king turned around, and while the entire assembly of Israel was standing there, he blessed them, 15 saying, “Bless Israel’s God, the Lord, who spoke directly to my father David and now has kept his promise: 16 ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt I haven’t selected a city from any Israelite tribe as a site for the building of a temple for my name. But now I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ 17 My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the Lord, Israel’s God.
18 “But the Lord said to my father David, ‘It is very good that you thought to build a temple for my name. 19 Nevertheless, you yourself won’t build that temple. Instead, your very own son will build the temple for my name.’ 20 The Lord has kept his promise—I have succeeded my father David on Israel’s throne just as the Lord said, and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, Israel’s God. 21 There I’ve placed the chest that contains the covenant that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
22 Solomon stood before the Lord’s altar in front of the entire Israelite assembly and, spreading out his hands toward the sky, 23 he said:
Lord God of Israel, there’s no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep the covenant and show loyalty to your servants who walk before you with all their heart. 24 This is the covenant you kept with your servant David, my father, which you promised him. Today, you have fulfilled what you promised. 25 So now, Lord, Israel’s God, keep what you promised my father David, your servant, when you said to him, “You will never fail to have a successor sitting on Israel’s throne as long as your descendants carefully walk before me just as you walked before me.” 26 So now, God of Israel, may your promise to your servant David, my father, come true.
27 But how could God possibly live on earth? If heaven, even the highest heaven, can’t contain you, how can this temple that I’ve built contain you? 28 Lord my God, listen to your servant’s prayer and request, and hear the cry and prayer that your servant prays to you today. 29 Constantly watch over this temple, the place about which you said, “My name will be there,” and listen to the prayer that your servant is praying toward[c] this place. 30 Listen to the request of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive!
31 If someone wrongs another and must make a solemn pledge asserting innocence before your altar in this temple,[d] 32 then listen from heaven, act, and decide which of your servants is right. Condemn the guilty party, repaying them for their conduct, but justify the innocent person, repaying them for their righteousness.
33 If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, but then they change their hearts and lives, give thanks to your name, and ask for mercy before you at this temple, 34 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel. Return them to the land you gave their ancestors.
35 When the sky holds back its rain because Israel has sinned against you, but they then pray toward this place, give thanks to your name, and turn away from their sin because you have punished them for it,[e] 36 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the best way for them to follow, and send rain on your land that you gave to your people as an inheritance.
37 Whenever there is a famine or plague in the land; or whenever there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper; or whenever someone’s enemy attacks them in their cities;[f] or any plague or illness comes; 38 whatever prayer or petition is made by any individual or by all of your people Israel—because people will recognize their own pain and spread out their hands toward this temple— 39 then listen from heaven where you live. Forgive, act, and repay each person according to all their conduct, because you know their hearts. You alone know the human heart. 40 Do this so that they may revere you all the days they live on the land that you gave to our ancestors.
41 Listen also to the immigrant who isn’t from your people Israel but who comes from a distant country because of your reputation— 42 because they will hear of your great reputation, your great power, and your outstretched arm. When the immigrant comes and prays toward this temple, 43 then listen from heaven, where you live, and do everything the immigrant asks. Do this so that all the people of the earth may know your reputation and revere you, as your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I have built bears your name.
44 When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you may send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and toward this temple that I have built for your name, 45 then listen from heaven to their prayer and request and do what is right for them.
46 When they sin against you (for there is no one who doesn’t sin) and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them away as prisoners to enemy territory, whether distant or nearby, 47 if they change their heart in whatever land they are held captive, changing their lives and begging for your mercy,[g] saying, “We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly!” 48 and if they return to you with all their heart and all their being in the enemy territory where they’ve been taken captive, and pray to you, toward their land, which you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name, 49 then listen to their prayer and request from your heavenly dwelling place. Do what is right for them, 50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrong that they have done against you. See to it that those who captured them show them mercy. 51 These are your people and your inheritance. You brought them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace.
52 Open your eyes to your servant’s request and to the request of your people Israel. Hear them whenever they cry out to you. 53 You set them apart from all the earth’s peoples as your own inheritance, Lord, just as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.
54 As soon as Solomon finished praying and making these requests to the Lord, he got up from before the Lord’s altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out to heaven. 55 He stood up and blessed the whole Israelite assembly in a loud voice: 56 “May the Lord be blessed! He has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. He hasn’t neglected any part of the good promise he made through his servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us, just as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us. 58 May he draw our hearts to him to walk in all his ways and observe his commands, his laws, and his judgments that he gave our ancestors. 59 And may these words of mine that I have cried out before the Lord remain near to the Lord our God day and night so that he may do right by his servant and his people Israel for each day’s need, 60 and so that all the earth’s peoples may know that the Lord is God. There is no other God! 61 Now may you be committed to the Lord our God with all your heart by following his laws and observing his commands, just as you are doing right now.”
62 Then the king and all Israel with him sacrificed to the Lord. 63 Solomon offered well-being sacrifices to the Lord: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep when the king and all Israel dedicated the Lord’s temple. 64 On that day the king made holy the middle of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s temple. He had to offer the entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of well-being sacrifices there, because the bronze altar that was in the Lord’s presence was too small to contain the entirely burned offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the well-being sacrifices. 65 At that time Solomon, together with all Israel, held a celebration. It was a large assembly from Lebo-hamath to the border of Egypt. They celebrated for seven days and then for another seven days in the presence of the Lord our God: fourteen days in all. 66 On the eighth day,[h] Solomon dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went back to their tents happy and pleased about all the good that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.
Solomon again meets God
9 Now once Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to accomplish, 2 the Lord appeared to him a second time in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your cry to me. I have set apart this temple that you built, to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 As for you, if you walk before me just as your father David did, with complete dedication and honesty, and if you do all that I have commanded, and keep my regulations and case laws, 5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 6 However, if you or your sons turn away from following me and don’t observe the commands and regulations that I gave you, and go to serve other gods, and worship them, 7 then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and I will reject the temple that I dedicated for my name. Israel will become a joke, insulted by everyone. 8 Everyone who passes by this temple, so lofty now,[i] will be shocked and will whistle, wondering, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this temple? 9 The answer will come: Because they deserted the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt’s land. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.”
Solomon’s buildings and prosperity
10 It took twenty years for Solomon to build the two structures, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. 11 King Hiram of Tyre gave Solomon all the cedar, pinewood, and gold that he wanted. Then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. 12 Hiram went from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him. They didn’t seem adequate in his view. 13 So Hiram remarked, “My brother, are these towns you’ve given me good for anything?” The cities are thus called the land of Cabul to this very day. 14 But Hiram sent the king one hundred twenty gold kikkars, nevertheless.
15 This is the story of the labor gang that King Solomon put together to build the Lord’s temple and his own palace, as well as the stepped structure, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer: (16 Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, had attacked and captured Gezer, setting it on fire. He killed the Canaanites who lived in the city and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18 Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness (within the land), 19 along with all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, as well as the cities used for storing chariots and cavalry and whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom. 20 Any non-Israelite people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— 21 that is, the descendants of such people who were still in the land because the Israelites weren’t able to wipe them out—Solomon forced into the labor gangs that are still in existence today. 22 However, Solomon didn’t force the Israelites to work as slaves; instead, they became warriors, his servants, his leaders, his officers, and those in charge of his chariots and cavalry.
23 These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty had charge of the people who did the work. 24 When Pharaoh’s daughter went up from David’s City to the palace he had built for her, Solomon built the stepped structure. 25 Three times a year Solomon would offer entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices on the altar that he had built for the Lord. Along with this he would burn incense to the Lord. In this way, he completed the temple.[j] 26 King Solomon built a fleet near Eloth in Ezion-geber, on the coast of the Reed Sea[k] in the land of Edom. 27 Hiram sent his expert sailors on the fleet along with Solomon’s workers. 28 They went to Ophir for four hundred twenty kikkars of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.
Queen of Sheba
10 When the queen of Sheba heard reports about Solomon, due to the Lord’s name,[l] she came to test him with riddles. 2 Accompanying her to Jerusalem was a huge entourage with camels carrying spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. After she arrived, she told Solomon everything that was on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him to answer. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw how wise Solomon was, the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the servants’ quarters, the function and dress of his attendants, his cupbearers, and the entirely burned offerings that he offered at the Lord’s temple, it took her breath away.
6 “The report I heard about your deeds and wisdom when I was still at home is true,” she said to the king. 7 “I didn’t believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, the half of it wasn’t even told to me! You have far more wisdom and wealth than I was told. 8 Your people and these servants who continually serve you and get to listen to your wisdom are truly happy! 9 Bless the Lord your God because he was pleased to place you on Israel’s throne. Because the Lord loved Israel with an eternal love, the Lord made you king to uphold justice and righteousness.”
10 The queen gave the king one hundred twenty kikkars of gold, a great quantity of spice, and precious stones. Never again has so much spice come to Israel as when the queen of Sheba gave this gift to King Solomon. 11 Hiram’s fleet went to Ophir and brought back gold, much almug wood, and precious stones. 12 The king used the almug wood to make parapets for the Lord’s temple and for the royal palace as well as lyres and harps for the musicians. To this day, that much almug wood hasn’t come into or been seen in Israel. 13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and all that she had asked for, in addition to what he had already given her from his own personal funds. Then she and her servants returned to her homeland.
Solomon’s wealth
14 Solomon received an annual income of six hundred sixty-six kikkars of gold, 15 not including income from the traders, the merchants and their profits, all the Arabian kings, and the officials of the land. 16 King Solomon made two hundred body-sized shields of hammered gold, using fifteen pounds[m] of gold in each shield, 17 and three hundred small shields of hammered gold, using sixty ounces[n] of gold in each shield. The king placed these in the Forest of Lebanon Palace.
18 The king also made a large ivory throne and covered it with pure gold. 19 Six steps led up to the throne, and the back of the throne was rounded at the top. Two lions stood beside the armrests on both sides of the throne. 20 Another twelve lions stood on both sides of the six steps. No other kingdom had anything like this. 21 All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the items in the Forest of Lebanon Palace were made of pure gold, not silver, since even silver wasn’t considered good enough in Solomon’s time! 22 The royal fleet of Tarshish-style ships was at sea with Hiram’s fleet, returning once every three years with gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.[o]
23 King Solomon far exceeded all the earth’s kings in wealth and wisdom, 24 and so the whole earth wanted an audience with Solomon in order to hear his God-given wisdom. 25 Year after year they came with tribute: objects of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
26 Solomon acquired more and more chariots and horses until he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses that he kept in chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 In Jerusalem, the king made silver as common as stones and cedar as plentiful as sycamore trees that grow in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue, purchased from Kue by the king’s agents at the going price. 29 They would import a chariot from Egypt for six hundred pieces of silver and a horse for one hundred fifty, and then export them to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.
Solomon meets God a third time
11 In addition to Pharaoh’s daughter, King Solomon loved many foreign women, including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 These came from the nations that the Lord had commanded the Israelites about: “Don’t intermarry with them. They will definitely turn your heart toward their gods.” Solomon clung to these women in love. 3 He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred secondary wives. They turned his heart. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. He wasn’t committed to the Lord his God with all his heart as was his father David. 5 Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes and wasn’t completely devoted to the Lord like his father David. 7 On the hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a shrine to Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and to Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9 The Lord grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from being with the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 The Lord had commanded Solomon about this very thing, that he shouldn’t follow other gods. But Solomon didn’t do what the Lord commanded.
11 The Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done all this instead of keeping my covenant and my laws that I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. 12 Even so, on account of your father David, I won’t do it during your lifetime. I will tear the kingdom out of your son’s hands. 13 Moreover, I won’t tear away the entire kingdom. I will give one tribe to your son on account of my servant David and on account of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Solomon and Hadad
14 So the Lord raised up an opponent for Solomon: Hadad the Edomite from the royal line of Edom. 15 When David was fighting against Edom, Joab the general had gone up to bury the Israelite dead, and he had killed every male in Edom. 16 Joab and all the Israelites stayed there six months, until he had finished off every male in Edom. 17 While still a youth, Hadad escaped to Egypt along with his father’s Edomite officials. 18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt and to Pharaoh its king. Pharaoh assigned him a home, food, and land. 19 Pharaoh was so delighted with Hadad that he gave him one of his wife’s sisters for marriage, a sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 This sister of Tahpenes bore Hadad a son, Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s house. So it was that Genubath was raised in Pharaoh’s house, among Pharaoh’s children. 21 While in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had lain down with his ancestors and that Joab the general was also dead. Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go to my homeland.”
22 Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack here with me that would make you want to go back to your homeland?”
Hadad said, “Nothing, but please let me go!”
Solomon and Rezon
23 God raised up another opponent for Solomon: Rezon, Eliada’s son, who had escaped from Zobah’s King Hadadezer. 24 Rezon recruited men and became leader of a band when David was killing them. They went to Damascus, stayed there, and ruled it. 25 Throughout Solomon’s lifetime, Rezon was Israel’s opponent and added to the problems caused by Hadad. Rezon hated Israel while he ruled as king of Aram.
Solomon and Jeroboam
26 Now Nebat’s son Jeroboam was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother’s name was Zeruah; she was a widow. Although he was one of Solomon’s own officials, Jeroboam fought against the king. 27 This is the story of why Jeroboam fought against the king:
Solomon had built the stepped structure and repaired the broken wall in his father David’s City. 28 Now Jeroboam was a strong and honorable man. Solomon saw how well this youth did his work. So he appointed him over all the work gang of Joseph’s house.
29 At that time, when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new garment. The two of them were alone in the country. 30 Ahijah tore his new garment into twelve pieces. 31 He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces, because Israel’s God, the Lord, has said, ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand. I will give you ten tribes. 32 But I will leave him one tribe on account of my servant David and on account of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. 33 I am doing this because they have abandoned me[p] and worshipped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven’t walked in my ways by doing what is right in my eyes—keeping my laws and judgments—as Solomon’s father David did. 34 But I won’t take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will keep him as ruler throughout his lifetime on account of my servant David, who did keep my commands and my laws. 35 I will take the kingdom from the hand of Solomon’s son, and I will give you ten tribes. 36 I will give his son a single tribe so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself to place my name. 37 But I will accept you, and you will rule over all that you could desire. You will be king of Israel. 38 If you listen to all that I command and walk in my ways, if you do what is right in my eyes, keeping my laws and my commands just as my servant David did, then I will be with you and I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I did for David. I will give you Israel. 39 I will humble David’s descendants by means of all this, though not forever.’”
40 Then Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam fled to Egypt and its king Shishak. Jeroboam remained in Egypt until Solomon died.
Solomon’s remaining days
41 The rest of Solomon’s deeds, including all that he did and all his wisdom, aren’t they written in the official records of Solomon? 42 The amount of time Solomon ruled over all Israel in Jerusalem was forty years. 43 Then Solomon lay down with his ancestors. He was buried in his father David’s City, and Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
How Rehoboam lost the kingdom
12 Rehoboam went to Shechem where all Israel had come to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, heard the news, he returned from Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon. 3 The people sent and called for Jeroboam, who along with the entire Israelite assembly went and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our workload[q] very hard for us. If you will lessen the demands your father made of us and lighten the heavy workload he demanded from us, then we will serve you.”
5 He answered them, “Come back in three days.” So the people left.
6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. “What do you advise?” Rehoboam asked. “How should I respond to these people?”
7 “If you will be a servant to this people by answering them and speaking good words today,” they replied, “then they will be your servants forever.”
8 But Rehoboam ignored the advice the elders gave him and instead sought the counsel of the young advisors who had grown up with him and now served him. 9 “What do you advise?” he asked them. “How should we respond to these people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the workload your father demanded of us’?”
10 The young people who had grown up with him said to him, “This people said to you, ‘Your father made our workload heavy; lighten it for us!’ Now this is what you should say to them: ‘My baby finger[r] is thicker than my father’s entire waist! 11 So if my father made your workload heavy, I’ll make it even heavier! If my father disciplined you with whips, I’ll do it with scorpions!’”
12 Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had specified when he said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king then answered the people harshly. He ignored the elders’ advice 14 and instead followed the young people’s advice. He said, “My father made your workload heavy, but I’ll make it even heavier! My father disciplined you with whips, but I’ll do it with scorpions!”
15 The king didn’t listen to the people because this turn of events came from the Lord so that he might keep the promise he delivered through Ahijah from Shiloh concerning Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. 16 When all Israel saw that the king wouldn’t listen to them, the people answered the king:
“Why should we care about David?
We have no stake in Jesse’s son!
Go back to your homes, Israel!
You better look after your own house now, David!”
Then the Israelites went back to their homes, 17 and Rehoboam ruled over only the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.
18 When King Rehoboam sent Adoram to them (he was the leader of the work gang), all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly got into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19 Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him. They called him to the assembly and crowned him king of all Israel.
Nothing was left to the house of David except the tribe of Judah. 21 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—one hundred eighty thousand select warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom for Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. 22 But God’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God, 23 “Tell Judah’s King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: Don’t make war against your relatives the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, because this is my plan.’” When they heard the Lord’s words, they went back home, just as the Lord had said.
Jeroboam I and the shrines
25 Jeroboam fortified Shechem at Mount Ephraim and lived there. From there he also fortified Penuel. 26 Jeroboam thought to himself, The kingdom is in danger of reverting to the house of David. 27 If these people continue to sacrifice at the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, they will again become loyal to their master Rehoboam, Judah’s king, and they will kill me so they can return to Judah’s King Rehoboam. 28 So the king asked for advice and then made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It’s too far for you to go all the way up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel! Here are your gods who brought you out from the land of Egypt.” 29 He put one calf in Bethel, and the other he placed in Dan. 30 This act was sinful. The people went to worship before the one calf at Bethel and before the other one as far as Dan.[s] 31 Jeroboam made shrines on the high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, but none were Levites. 32 Jeroboam set a date for a celebration on the fifteenth day of the eighth month.[t] It was just like the celebration in Judah. He sacrificed on the altar. At Bethel he sacrificed to the calves he had made. There also he installed the priests for the shrines he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the time he alone had decided—Jeroboam went up[u] to the altar he had built in Bethel. He made a celebration for the Israelites and offered sacrifices on the altar by burning them up.[v]
Jeroboam I and the man of God
13 A man of God came from Judah by God’s command to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing at the altar burning incense. 2 By the Lord’s word, the man of God cried out to the altar: “Altar! Altar! The Lord says this: Look! A son will be born to the house of David. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice on you, Altar, the very priests of the shrines who offer incense on you. They will burn human bones on you.” 3 At that time the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign that the Lord mentioned: ‘Look! The altar will be broken apart, and its ashes will spill out.’”
4 When the king heard the word of the man of God and how he cried out to the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand that Jeroboam stretched out against the man of God grew stiff. Jeroboam wasn’t able to bend it back to himself. 5 The altar broke apart, and the ashes spilled out from the altar, just like the sign that the man of God gave by the Lord’s word. 6 The king said to the man of God, “Plead before the Lord your God and pray for me so that I can bend my hand back again.” So the man of God pleaded before the Lord, and the king’s hand returned to normal and was like it used to be. 7 The king spoke to the man of God: “Come with me to the palace and refresh yourself. Let me give you a gift.”
8 The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your palace, I wouldn’t go with you, nor would I eat food or drink water in this place. 9 This is what God commanded me by the Lord’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!”
10 So the man of God went by a different way. He didn’t return by the way he came to Bethel. 11 Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. His sons came and told him everything that the man of God had done that day at Bethel. They also told their father the words that he spoke to the king. 12 “Which way did he go?” their father asked them. His sons had seen the way the man of God went when he came from Judah. 13 The old prophet said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled his donkey, and he got on it. 14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting underneath a terebinth tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“I am,” he replied.
15 The old prophet then said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 But the man of God answered, “I can’t return or go with you, and I can’t eat food or drink water with you in this place 17 because of the message that came to me from the Lord’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!”
18 The old prophet said to the man of God, “I’m also a prophet like you. A messenger spoke to me with the Lord’s word, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat food and drink water.’”
But the old prophet was lying to him. 19 So the man of God went back with the old prophet. He ate food in his home and drank water. 20 Then as they were sitting at the table, the Lord’s word came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah:
“The Lord says this:
You rebelled against the Lord’s word!
You didn’t keep the command that the Lord your God gave you!
22 You came back and ate food and drank water in this place.
“But he had commanded you: ‘Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water!’ Now your body won’t go to the grave of your ancestors.”
23 After he ate food and drank, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. 24 The man of God departed, and a lion found him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown down on the road. The donkey stood beside it, and the lion also stood beside the body. 25 Some people were traveling nearby, and they discovered the body thrown down on the road and the lion standing beside it. They entered the town where the old prophet lived and were talking about it. 26 The prophet who brought the man of God back from the road overheard. He thought: That’s the man of God who rebelled against the Lord’s command. The Lord has given him to that lion that tore him apart, killing him in agreement with the Lord’s word that was spoken to him.
27 The old prophet told his sons, “Saddle the donkey.” They did so, 28 and he went and found the body thrown down on the road. The donkey and the lion were still standing beside the body. The lion hadn’t eaten the body, nor had it torn the donkey apart. 29 The prophet lifted the body of the man of God and put it on the donkey. He brought it back, arriving in the old prophet’s town to mourn and bury the man of God. 30 He placed the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, “Oh, my brother!” 31 After the old prophet buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is. Put my bones beside his bones. 32 The message he gave by the Lord’s word concerning the altar of Bethel and all the shrines in the towns of Samaria will most certainly come true.”
33 Even after this happened, Jeroboam didn’t change his evil ways. Instead, he continued to appoint all sorts of people as priests of the shrines. Anyone who wanted to be a priest Jeroboam made a priest for the shrines. 34 In this way the house of Jeroboam acted sinfully, leading to its downfall and elimination from the earth.
Abijah’s illness
14 At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. 2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please go with a disguise so no one will recognize you as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh where the prophet Ahijah is. He told me I would be king of this people. 3 Take ten loaves of bread, cakes, and a bottle of honey with you. Go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” 4 Jeroboam’s wife did precisely this. She left and went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah had become blind in his old age.
5 The Lord said to Ahijah, “Look! Jeroboam’s wife has come seeking a word from you about her son. He is sick. Say this and that to her. When she comes, she will be disguised.”
6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming through the doorway, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why have you disguised yourself? I have hard news for you. 7 Tell Jeroboam: This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: When I lifted you up from among the people, I appointed you as a leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom from David’s house and gave it to you. But you haven’t been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart by doing only what is right in my eyes. 9 Instead, you have done more evil than any who were before you. You have made other gods and metal images to anger me. You have turned your back on me. 10 Therefore, I’m going to bring disaster on Jeroboam’s house! Because of Jeroboam, I will eliminate everyone who urinates on a wall, whether slave or free. Then I will set fire to the house of Jeroboam, as one burns dung until it is gone. 11 Dogs will eat any of Jeroboam’s family who die in town. Birds will eat those who die in the field. The Lord has spoken!
12 “As for you, get up and go back home. When your feet enter the town, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and will bury him. Out of the whole line of Jeroboam, he alone will have a tomb, because only in him did Israel’s God, the Lord, find something good. 14 For this reason the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam. This begins today. What’s that? Even now![w] 15 The Lord will strike Israel so that it shakes like a reed in water. He will uproot Israel from this fertile land that he gave to their ancestors and their offspring, and he will scatter them across the Euphrates River, because they made the Lord angry by making their sacred poles.[x] 16 Because of the sins Jeroboam committed, and because he made Israel sin too, God will give Israel up.”
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife left and went to Tirzah. When she stepped across the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 All Israel buried him and mourned him in agreement with the Lord’s word spoken through his servant the prophet Ahijah. 19 The rest of Jeroboam’s deeds—how he fought and how he ruled—are written in the official records of Israel’s kings. 20 Jeroboam ruled twenty-two years and he lay down with his ancestors. His son Nadab succeeded him as king.
Rehoboam rules Judah
21 Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, ruled over Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from among all the tribes of Israel to set his name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah from Ammon. 22 Judah did evil in the Lord’s eyes. The sins they committed made the Lord angrier than anything their ancestors had done. 23 They also built shrines, standing stones, and sacred poles[y] on top of every high hill and under every green tree. 24 Moreover, the consecrated workers[z] in the land did detestable things, just like those nations that the Lord had removed among the Israelites.
25 During King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He seized the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took everything, even all the gold shields that Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and assigned them to the officers of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields and then return them to the guardroom. 29 The rest of Rehoboam’s deeds and all that he accomplished, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? 30 There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 When Rehoboam died, he was buried with his ancestors in David’s City. His mother’s name was Naamah from Ammon. His son Abijam[aa] succeeded him as king.
Abijam rules Judah
15 Abijam[ab] became king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. 2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, and she was Abishalom’s daughter. 3 Abijam followed all the sinful ways of his father before him. He didn’t follow the Lord his God with all his heart like his ancestor David. 4 Even so, on account of David, the Lord his God gave Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem by supporting his son who succeeded him and by preserving Jerusalem. 5 This was because David did the right thing in the Lord’s eyes. David didn’t deviate from anything the Lord commanded him throughout his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as Abijam lived. 7 The rest of Abijam’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 Abijam lay down with his ancestors; he was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.
Asa rules Judah
9 In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah. 10 He ruled in Jerusalem for forty-one years. His grandmother’s[ac] name was Maacah; she was Abishalom’s daughter. 11 Asa did the right things in the Lord’s eyes, just like his father David. 12 He removed the consecrated workers[ad] from the land, and he did away with all the worthless idols that his predecessors had made. 13 He even removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she had made an image of Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Though the shrines weren’t eliminated, nevertheless Asa remained committed with all his heart to the Lord throughout his life. 15 He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver and gold equipment that he and his father had dedicated. 16 There was war between Asa and Israel’s King Baasha throughout their lifetimes. 17 Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area.
18 Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, and he gave them to his officials. Then King Asa sent them with the following message to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, Tabrimmon’s son and Hezion’s grandson, who ruled from Damascus: 19 “Let’s make a covenant similar to the one between our fathers. Since I have already sent you a gift of silver and gold, break your covenant with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will leave me alone.” 20 Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel, attacking Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, along with all the land of Naphtali. 21 As soon as Baasha learned this, he stopped building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. 22 King Asa issued an order to every Judean without exception: all the people carried away the stone and timber that Baasha was using to build Ramah, and King Asa used it to build Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. 23 The rest of Asa’s deeds, his strength, and all that he did, as well as the towns that he built, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? When he was old, Asa developed a severe foot disease. 24 He died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City.[ae] His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.
Nadab rules Israel
25 Jeroboam’s son Nadab became king of Israel in the second year of Judah’s King Asa. He ruled over Israel for two years. 26 He did evil in the Lord’s eyes by walking in the way of his father Jeroboam and the sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. 27 Baasha, Ahijah’s son from the house of Issachar, plotted against him and attacked him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Nadab and all Israel were laying siege against Gibbethon. 28 Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Judah’s King Asa and ruled in Nadab’s place.
29 When he became king, Baasha attacked the entire house of Jeroboam. He didn’t allow any living person to survive in Jeroboam’s family; he wiped them out according to the Lord’s word spoken by the Lord’s servant Ahijah of Shiloh. 30 This happened because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit, and because he angered the Lord, Israel’s God. 31 The rest of Nadab’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings? 32 There was war between Asa and Israel’s King Baasha throughout their lifetimes.
Baasha rules Israel
33 In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha, Ahijah’s son, became king over all Israel. He ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years. 34 He did evil in the Lord’s eyes by walking in Jeroboam’s ways and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.
16 The Lord’s word came to Jehu, Hanani’s son, against Baasha: 2 I raised you up from the dust and made you a leader over my people Israel, but you walked in Jeroboam’s ways, making my people Israel sin, making me angry with their sins. 3 So look, I am about to set fire to Baasha and his household, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. 4 Dogs will eat any of Baasha’s family who die in town. Birds will eat any who die in the country.
5 Now the rest of Baasha’s deeds, what he did, and his powerful acts, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings? 6 Baasha lay down with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah succeeded him as king.
7 But the Lord’s word came through the prophet Jehu, Hanani’s son, concerning Baasha and his house. It concerned everything evil in the Lord’s eyes that Baasha had done, angering the Lord by his actions so that he would end up just like the house of Jeroboam. The message was also about how the Lord attacked Baasha.[af]
Elah rules Israel
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Judah’s King Asa, Elah, Baasha’s son, became king over Israel. He ruled in Tirzah for two years. 9 Zimri, his officer who led half the chariots, plotted against him. Elah was at Tirzah, getting drunk at the house of Arza, who had charge over the palace at Tirzah. 10 Zimri came, attacked, and killed Elah in the twenty-seventh year of Judah’s King Asa. Zimri succeeded him as king.
11 Once Zimri became king and sat on the throne, he attacked all of Baasha’s house. He didn’t spare anyone who urinates on a wall, whether relative or friend. 12 Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha in agreement with the Lord’s word that had been spoken by the prophet Jehu to Baasha. 13 This happened because of all Baasha’s sins, as well as the sins of his son Elah and because they caused Israel to sin. They angered Israel’s God, the Lord, with their insignificant idols. 14 The rest of Elah’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings?
Zimri rules Israel
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Judah’s King Asa, Zimri became king. He ruled in Tirzah for seven days. The army was camped at Gibbethon in Philistia. 16 They heard the news: “Zimri has plotted against the king and killed him.” Right then, in the camp, the whole Israelite army made their general Omri king of Israel. 17 Omri and the entire army then went up from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. 18 When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the fort of the royal palace and burned it down on top of himself. So he died. 19 This happened because of the sins Zimri had committed by doing evil in the Lord’s eyes and by walking in Jeroboam’s ways and the sin he had done by causing Israel to sin. 20 The rest of Zimri’s deeds and the plot he carried out, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings?
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible