Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ And Hiram also made ten bronze buckets. Each bucket contained about 800 litres. Each bucket was 1.8 metres across. There was one bucket for each of the ten carts. ³⁹ Hiram put five of the carts on the south side of the temple. He put the other five carts on the north side of the temple. He put ‘the Sea’ on the south side of the temple, at the south-east corner.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made dishes to carry ashes, small tools and bowls.

So Hiram finished all the work in the Lord's temple that King Solomon had asked him to do. He made these things:

King Solomon asked Hiram to make all these things for the Lord's temple. Hiram used bright bronze to make all these things. ⁴⁶ The king told his workers to pour the hot bronze into shapes in the ground. They did that at a special place in the region of the Jordan Valley, between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon did not weigh any of these things, because there were so many of them. No one ever knew the weight of the bronze.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all these things for the Lord's temple:

⁵¹ King Solomon finished all the work for the Lord's temple. Then he brought into it all the holy things that belonged to his father, David. He stored all the valuable things in a safe place in the Lord's temple. They included silver things and gold things.

Solomon puts the Covenant Box in the temple

8 Then Solomon told all the leaders of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families. He wanted them to bring the Lord's Covenant Box from Mount Zion, the City of David, to put it in the temple.^{[a] 2} So all the Israelite leaders came together to meet with King Solomon. This happened during the Festival of Huts in the seventh month of the year, called Ethanim.^{[b] 3} When all Israel's leaders had arrived, the priests lifted up the Covenant Box.

⁴ The priests and the Levites carried the Lord's Covenant Box, the Tent of Meeting and all the holy things that were in the tent.

⁵ King Solomon and all the Israelites who were with him walked in front of the Covenant Box. They offered many sheep and bulls as sacrifices. There were more animals than anyone could count.

⁶ Then the priests brought the Lord's Covenant Box to its proper place in the inside room of the temple. That was the Most Holy Place. They put it under the wings of the cherubs. ⁷ The wings of the cherubs touched each other above the place where the Covenant Box was. The cherubs covered the Covenant Box and the poles that the Levites used to carry it.^{[c] 8} The poles were very long. The priests could see their ends from the Holy Place, if they stood in front of the Most Holy Place. But nobody could see the poles from outside the temple. And they are still there today.

⁹ There was nothing in the Covenant Box, except the two flat stones that Moses had put there at Sinai. That was where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out from Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests came out from the Holy Place, a cloud filled the Lord's temple. ¹¹ The priests could not do their work to serve the Lord, because of the cloud. The Lord's bright glory filled his temple.

¹² Then Solomon prayed, ‘Lord, you have said that you live in a dark cloud. ¹³ Now I have built a great temple for you. It is a place where you can live for ever.’

Solomon speaks to his people

¹⁴ While all the Israelite people stood there, the king turned round towards them. He prayed that God would bless them. ¹⁵ He said, ‘Praise the Lord, Israel's God, as he deserves. He has used his power to do what he promised to do for my father David. ¹⁶ He told David, “I brought my people, the Israelites, out from Egypt. From that time, I have not chosen a city in any of Israel's tribes to build a temple where my people would worship me. Now I have chosen David to rule Israel, my people, as king.” ¹⁷ My father David wanted very much to build a temple to give honour to the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, “It was good that you wanted to build a temple to give me honour. ¹⁹ But you will not build the temple. Instead, one of your own sons will build it to give honour to me.” ²⁰ Now the Lord has done what he promised to do. I now rule Israel as king on the throne of my father David, as the Lord promised. I have built this temple to give honour to the Lord, Israel's God. ²¹ I have made a place there for the Covenant Box. It contains the covenant that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.’

Solomon prays in the temple

²² Then Solomon stood in front of the Lord's altar. All the Israelite people who had come together there could see him. He lifted up his hands towards the sky.^{[d] 23} He prayed,

‘Lord, Israel's God, there is no God like you, either in heaven above or down here on the earth. You continue to do what you have promised to do for your people. You faithfully love those who want to serve you. ²⁴ You have done what you promised to do for your servant, my father David. You have used your power to finish today everything that you said you would do. ²⁵ Now Lord, Israel's God, there is another promise that you spoke to my father David. I pray that you will do that too. You said to David, “There will always be one of your descendants to rule Israel as my chosen king. But for this to happen, your sons must be careful to serve me well, as you have done.” ²⁶ So now, God of Israel, please cause what you promised to my father, your servant David, to happen.

²⁷ But surely God, you do not live on the earth! The whole sky, or even heaven itself, is too small to contain you! So how can you live in this temple that I have built? ²⁸ But Lord, my God, please listen to my prayer, as I ask you for help. Please answer me, your servant, because I need your help today. ²⁹ Watch over this temple and take care of it day and night. This is the place about which you said, “People will give honour to my name there.” Please answer my prayers when I turn towards this place to pray to you. ³⁰ Hear the prayers of me, your servant, and the prayers of your people, the Israelites. Please answer us when we turn towards this place and we pray to you. Hear us from heaven, the place where you live. And when we pray, forgive us for our sins.

³¹ Somebody may do a bad thing against another person. Then he may come to this temple and stand in front of your altar. He may say to you that he is not guilty of any wrong thing. ³² Then listen from heaven to what these people are saying. Decide who is right. Punish the guilty person as he deserves. Show clearly that the other person is right, because he has not done any wrong thing.

³³ Perhaps an enemy will win against your people, the Israelites, because we have not obeyed you. But then your people may turn back to you and worship you. They may come into this temple and pray that you will help them. ³⁴ If they do that, please hear them from heaven! Please forgive the sins of your people, the Israelites. Please bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵ Sometimes, there may be no rain from the sky because your people have not obeyed you. Then they may turn towards this place and pray to you. They may give honour to your name and turn away from their sins, because you have punished them. ³⁶ If they do that, please hear them from heaven! Please forgive the sins of your servants, your people, the Israelites. Teach them to live in the right way. And please send rain onto this land that you gave to your people to belong to them for ever.

³⁷ Sometimes, there may be other troubles in our land. There may be a famine or a bad disease. Our crops may not grow and our animals may be ill. Locusts may destroy our crops. An enemy may attack some cities in our land. Or there may be other kinds of disease or trouble. ³⁸ Then, some of your people may pray to you and ask you for help. If someone is sad and upset, he may turn towards this temple and lift up his hands in prayer. ³⁹ If someone does that, please hear him from your home in heaven. Please forgive the sins of your people and help them. Only you know what people are thinking. So please give to each person as they deserve. ⁴⁰ Then your people will respect and obey you as they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.

⁴¹ Foreigners, who do not belong to your people, the Israelites, will hear how great you are. Then they will come here from other countries far away. ⁴² They will hear about you and your power to do great things. Then they will turn towards this temple and pray to you. ⁴³ When that happens, please hear them from your home in heaven. Please answer all the prayers of these foreign people. Then people from all the nations in the world will realize how great you are. They also will respect you and obey you, as your own people do. They will understand that this temple that I have built belongs to you.

⁴⁴ Sometimes, your people will go to fight against their enemies at the place where you have sent them. Then they may turn towards this city and pray to the Lord. This is the city that you have chosen for me to build the temple to give you honour. ⁴⁵ When they pray to you, please hear them from your home in heaven. Do what is right to help them win against their enemies.

⁴⁶ There is nobody who never does a wrong thing. So when your people do not obey you, you will be angry with them. You will put them under the power of their enemies. Those enemies will take them as prisoners to their own country. Perhaps it will be a country that is far away. Perhaps it will be near. ⁴⁷ Then your people may think about the bad things that they have done. While they are prisoners in their enemy's country, they may be sorry about their sins. They may pray to you and ask you to forgive them. They may say, “We have turned away from God and we have done wicked things.” ⁴⁸ In the country where they are prisoners, they may turn back to you and worship you truly. They may turn towards this land that you gave to their ancestors. They may pray to you as they look towards this city that you have chosen. They may look towards the temple that I have built to give you honour. ⁴⁹ If they do that, please hear them from your home in heaven. Please answer their prayers and do what is right to help them.

⁵⁰ Please forgive your people for all the sins that they have done against you. Please cause their enemies to be kind to them. ⁵¹ Remember that they are your special people who belong to you. You brought them out of Egypt where they were like prisoners in a very hot oven.

⁵² I pray that you will carefully watch over me, your servant. Please answer my prayers and the prayers of your people, the Israelites. Whenever we pray to you, please listen to us. ⁵³ From all the nations of the world you chose Israel to belong to you as your special people. Almighty Lord, this is what you promised to your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.’

⁵⁴ So Solomon finished all his prayers and everything that he wanted to ask the Lord for. He had been down on his knees with his hands lifted up towards the sky in front of the Lord's altar. Now he stood up. ⁵⁵ When he stood up, he asked God to bless all the people in Israel. He said with a loud voice, ⁵⁶ ‘Praise the Lord as he deserves! He has given his people, the Israelites, a safe place to live, as he has promised to do. Every great promise that the Lord gave to his servant Moses has now happened! ⁵⁷ I pray that the Lord our God will be with us, as he was with our ancestors. I pray that he will never leave us or turn away from us. ⁵⁸ I pray that the Lord will cause us to respect his authority. Then we will do what he wants us to do. We will obey all his commands, rules and laws that he gave to our ancestors. ⁵⁹ I pray that the Lord our God will continue to remember these words that I have prayed. May he keep them in his thoughts. I pray that he will do what is right to help me and his people, the Israelites. May he give us the help that we need each day. ⁶⁰ Then all the nations of the earth will understand that the Lord is the only true God. There is no other God. ⁶¹ I pray that you will continue to serve the Lord our God faithfully. You must continue to obey his rules and his commands, as you do now.’

Solomon offers the temple as a gift to God

⁶² Then the king and all the Israelite people who were with him offered sacrifices to the Lord.

⁶³ These are the friendship offerings that Solomon offered to the Lord:

In this way, King Solomon and all the Israelite people offered the temple as a gift to the Lord.

⁶⁴ On the same day, the king gave to the Lord the yard that was in front of the temple. King Solomon offered burnt offerings and grain offerings to the Lord. He also offered the fat from the friendship offerings. The bronze altar in front of the temple was too small to contain all these offerings.^[e] So Solomon made these sacrifices in the middle of the yard instead. ⁶⁵ At that time, Solomon and the big crowd of Israelites who were with him had a festival for seven days.^[f] They gave honour to the Lord our God. There were people from everywhere in Israel, from Hamath in the north to the Stream of Egypt in the south. ⁶⁶ The day after the festival, Solomon sent the people away to their homes. They thanked God for the king and were very happy. They were full of joy because the Lord had done many good things for his servant David and for his people, the Israelites.

The Lord appears again to Solomon

9 Solomon had finished building the Lord's temple and the king's palace. He had built everything that he had wanted to build. ² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.^{[g] 3} The Lord said to Solomon,

‘I have heard your prayer and how you have asked me to help you. I have made this temple that you have built a special place for me. People will worship me there for ever. I will always be there to watch over it.

⁴ You must continue to serve me honestly and obey me, as your father David did. Do everything that I have commanded you to do. Obey my rules and my laws.

⁵ If you serve me truly, I will cause one of your descendants to rule over Israel as king for all time. That is what I promised to your father David when I said, “There will always be someone from your family to rule Israel as king.”^{[h] 6} But if you or your descendants turn away from me, I will punish your people. I will do that if you do not obey the laws and rules that I have given to you. I will do it if you choose to serve and to worship other gods. ⁷ Then I will remove the Israelite people from the land that I have given to them. I will turn away from this temple that I have made a special place for people to worship me. People from all the other nations will insult the Israelites and they will laugh at them. ⁸ This temple will became a heap of stones. Everyone who sees it will be very surprised. They will laugh about it! They will ask, “Why has the Lord destroyed this land and this temple?” ⁹ People will answer, “He has done it because they have turned away from the Lord their God. He brought their ancestors out of Egypt. But they have chosen to worship other gods and to serve them. That is why the Lord has caused this trouble to happen to them.” ’

Other things that Solomon did

¹⁰ Solomon was building the Lord's temple and the king's palace for 20 years. ¹¹ After this, he gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram, the king of Tyre. Solomon did this because Hiram had given him all that he needed for the work. Hiram had given him cedar wood, pine wood and gold. ¹² So Hiram left Tyre and he went to Galilee, to see the towns that Solomon had given to him. But Hiram was not happy with them. ¹³ He said to Solomon, ‘My friend, you have given me some useless towns!’ Hiram called that region ‘Kabul Land’. It still has that name today.^{[i] 14} Hiram had sent to King Solomon about 4,000 kilograms of gold.

¹⁵ Solomon made people work on the buildings for him. This is how he used them to build the Lord's temple, the king's palace, the Millo and the wall around Jerusalem. They also did work on the towns called Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. ¹⁶ Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked Gezer and he had taken it. He had destroyed it with fire. He killed the Canaanites who lived there.^[j] Then he gave it as a gift to his daughter, when she married Solomon. ¹⁷ So Solomon built Gezer again. He also built Lower Beth-Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath and Tadmor, which were towns in the wilderness of Judah. ¹⁹ Solomon also made strong the cities where he stored things and the cities where he kept his chariots and horses. He built everything that he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and everywhere in his kingdom.

²⁰ Solomon only made people who were not Israelites do the hard work for him. They were Canaanite people who still lived in the land after the Israelites took it for themselves. They were Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ²¹ The Israelites had not been able to remove all of these people, so their descendants remained in the land. So Solomon made them do hard work as his slaves. They are still slaves of the Israelites today. ²² But Solomon did not make any of the Israelites do the hard work. Instead, they served him as his soldiers, government officers and army officers. Some of the soldiers drove chariots and some were leaders of the chariot drivers. ²³ There were also officers who had authority over the slaves who did the work. There were 550 officers who led the work.

²⁴ Solomon had built a palace for his wife, Pharaoh's daughter. When the palace was ready, she came up from the City of David. After that, Solomon built the Millo.

²⁵ Three times every year Solomon offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings as sacrifices to the Lord. He did this on the altar that he had built for the Lord. With these offerings, he also burned incense to worship the Lord. So the temple became the place to worship the Lord.

²⁶ King Solomon also built ships at Ezion-Geber. This place is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. ²⁷ Hiram had sailors who knew how to sail ships on the sea. He sent some of these men to work with Solomon's sailors. ²⁸ They sailed to Ophir and they brought back about 14 tons of gold. They gave it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba

10 The Queen of Sheba heard news that Solomon was a great king who served the Lord.^[k] So she came to ask Solomon some difficult questions to see how wise he was. ² She arrived at Jerusalem with a big group of servants. She had many camels that carried spices. They also carried a lot of gold and valuable jewels. When she came to Solomon, she talked to him about everything that was in her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing that was too difficult for the king to explain to her. ⁴ The Queen of Sheba saw that Solomon was very wise.^[l] She saw the palace that he had built. ⁵ She saw all the food that he ate in his palace. She saw all his servants and officers and their beautiful clothes. She saw the servants who prepared his food and wine. She saw the burnt offerings that he offered in the Lord's temple. All these things caused her to hold her breath in surprise. ⁶ She said to the king, ‘In my own country I heard news about your wisdom and about all the things that you had done. Everything that I heard was true! ⁷ But I did not believe those things until I came here. Now I have seen everything with my own eyes, and it is true! Really, they told me less than half of what was true! You are even wiser and richer than the report that people told me. ⁸ God has blessed your people and your officers! They are always with you, and they can listen to your wise words. ⁹ So we praise the Lord your God! He is happy with you and he has chosen you to rule Israel. The Lord's love for Israel will continue for ever. So he has made you king to rule in a fair and honest way.’

¹⁰ The Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon more than 4,000 kilograms of gold, a lot of spices and many valuable jewels. Nobody has ever brought such a big number of spices as she gave to the king.

¹¹ Hiram's ships had brought gold from Ophir. They also brought from there large loads of good wood, and valuable jewels. ¹² The king used the wood to make steps for the Lord's temple and for the king's palace. He also used it to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nobody has ever seen such valuable wood, even until today.

¹³ So King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba all the gifts that he chose for her. He gave her everything that she wanted. Then she left Solomon and she returned to her own country with her servants.

Solomon's riches

¹⁴ Solomon received 25 tons of gold each year.

¹⁵ He also received money from traders, from the kings of Arabia and from the rulers of each region in Israel.

¹⁶ King Solomon's workers used gold to make 200 large shields. They hit the gold with hammers to make it flat. They used about four kilograms of gold to cover each shield. ¹⁷ They also made 300 small shields in the same way. They used about 2 kilograms of gold to cover each shield. He put these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.^[m]

¹⁸ The king used ivory to make a large throne. He covered it with gold. ¹⁹ There were six steps up to the throne. The back of the throne was a round shape at the top. On both sides of the seat there were places for the king to put his arms. An image of a lion stood on each side of the throne. ²⁰ There were 12 more images of lions on the six steps. There was one lion at each end of every step. There was no throne like it in any other kingdom. ²¹ They used gold to make all King Solomon's cups that he drank from. In the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon, all the dishes and other things were made with gold. They used pure gold. They did not make anything with silver. In Solomon's time, people did not think that silver was very valuable.

²² The king had many large ships that could sail across the seas.^[n] They sailed with King Hiram's ships. Every three years they returned to Solomon with their loads. They brought to him gold, silver and ivory. They also brought apes and monkeys.^[o]

²³ King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world. ²⁴ People from every nation in the world wanted to talk to Solomon. They wanted to listen to the wisdom that God had given to him. ²⁵ Every year, people who came to visit Solomon brought him gifts. They brought things that were made from silver and gold, as well as clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

²⁶ Solomon brought together many chariots and horses for his soldiers to ride. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept some of them in Jerusalem where he lived as king. He put the others in cities that he had chosen for this.

²⁷ While Solomon ruled as king, there was as much silver in Jerusalem as stones! There was as much wood from cedar trees as there were fig trees that grew in the low hills in the west. ²⁸ Solomon brought his horses from Egypt and from Kue. He sent traders to Kue to buy them for him. ²⁹ Each chariot that they bought in Egypt cost 600 pieces of silver. Each horse cost 150 pieces of silver. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.

The Lord punishes King Solomon

11 Solomon loved Pharaoh's daughter and many other foreign women. Those women were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² The Lord had warned the Israelites about these nations. He said, ‘You must not marry people from these nations. If you do, they will cause you to worship their own gods.’ But Solomon did love these foreign women and he married them.

³ Solomon had 700 royal wives. He also had 300 slave wives.^[p] His wives caused him to turn away from the Lord. ⁴ When Solomon became old, his wives caused him to serve other gods. Solomon no longer completely loved the Lord his God as his father David had done.

⁵ Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. He also worshipped Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people. ⁶ As a result, Solomon did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not serve the Lord faithfully as his father David had done. ⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a place to worship false gods. He worshipped Chemosh, the wicked god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people. ⁸ Solomon also built places where his foreign wives could worship their gods. They burned incense and they offered sacrifices to their own gods in these places.

⁹ So the Lord became angry with Solomon. Solomon had turned away from the Lord, Israel's God, who had appeared to Solomon twice. ¹⁰ He had warned Solomon that he must not serve other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord's command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, ‘I see the things that you have chosen to do. You have not obeyed my covenant and the laws that I commanded you to obey. So I will take the kingdom away from you. One of your servants will rule the kingdom instead of you. ¹² But I will not do this while you are alive, because your father David was faithful to me. Instead, I will take the kingdom away from your son. ¹³ But I will not take away the whole kingdom from him. I will leave one tribe for him to rule as king.^[q] I will do this because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city.’

Solomon's enemies

¹⁴ The Lord brought an enemy to attack Solomon. He was Hadad who came from Edom.^[r] Hadad belonged to the king of Edom's family. ¹⁵ When David was king, he had fought against Edom's people. Joab, the leader of David's army, had gone to Edom to bury the dead Israelite soldiers. At that time, Joab killed all the men in Edom.^{[s] 16} Joab and Israel's army stayed in Edom for six months. During that time, they killed all the men in Edom. ¹⁷ Hadad was a small boy at that time. He escaped from Edom with some of his father's officers. They went towards Egypt. ¹⁸ They went from Midian as far as Paran. They took some men from Paran and they all went to Egypt. They went to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house to live in and food to eat. He also gave Hadad some land. ¹⁹ Pharaoh was very pleased with Hadad, so he gave Hadad a wife. She was the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ Tahpenes's sister gave birth to Hadad's son, called Genubath. Queen Tahpenes took care of Genubath in the king's palace. Genubath lived there with Pharaoh's own children.

²¹ While Hadad was living in Egypt, he heard the news that King David had died. Joab, the leader of David's army, was also dead by this time. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, ‘Please let me return to my own country.’ ²² Pharaoh asked him, ‘Why do you want to return to your own country? Is there anything that you do not have here?’ Hadad replied, ‘There is nothing wrong, but please let me go.’

²³ God also brought another enemy to attack Solomon. He was Eliada's son Rezon. He had run away from his master, Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. ²⁴ After David had destroyed Hadadezer's army, Rezon became the leader of a group of bad men. Rezon went to Damascus with his men, and Rezon became ruler of the city.^{[t] 25} Rezon was Israel's enemy all the time that Solomon was alive. He caused trouble for Solomon, as Hadad also did. Rezon ruled in Syria and he hated the Israelite people.

²⁶ Nebat's son Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officers. He came from Zeredah in Ephraim.^[u] His mother was a widow. Her name was Zeruah. Jeroboam turned against King Solomon. ²⁷ This is what happened: Solomon had built the Millo. He had also mended the walls of the City of David his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a strong young man. Solomon saw that he did his work very well. So he made Jeroboam the leader of the workers who belonged to Joseph's tribe.

²⁹ During that time, Jeroboam travelled out from Jerusalem. A prophet, Ahijah, met him on the road. They were alone in the country. Ahijah came from Shiloh. He was wearing a new coat. ³⁰ Ahijah took off his new coat. He tore it into 12 pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself. This is what the Lord, Israel's God, is saying to you: “I will take Solomon's kingdom away from him! I will give you ten tribes to rule over. ³² But Solomon will continue to rule over one tribe. That is because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city. I did not choose a city in any of the other tribes of Israel.

³³ I will take the kingdom away from Solomon because he and his people have turned away from me. They have started to worship Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. They also worship Chemosh, the god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the god of the Ammonite people. They have not lived in a way that pleases me. They have not done the things that I say are right. They have not obeyed my rules and my laws. They have not lived in a good way, as Solomon's father David did.

³⁴ But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon. I will let him continue to rule as king while he still lives. I will do that because of my servant David that I chose to be king. David obeyed my commands and my rules. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom away from his son and I will give ten tribes for you to rule. ³⁶ But I will leave one tribe for Solomon's son to rule. Then my servant David will continue to have a descendant who serves me as king in Jerusalem. That is the city where I have chosen for people to worship me.

³⁷ But I will make you, Jeroboam, king of Israel. You will rule over all the land that you want for yourself. ³⁸ But you must do everything that I command you to do. You must live in a way that pleases me. You must do the things that I say are right. You must obey my rules and my commands, as my servant David did. If you do that, I will always be with you. I will cause your descendants to continue to rule Israel. What I have done for David's family, I will also do for your family. The nation of Israel will belong to you.^{[v] 39} Because of Solomon's sins I will punish David's descendants. But I will not punish them for ever.” ’

⁴⁰ Solomon then tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt. Shishak, the king of Egypt, kept Jeroboam safe. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

Solomon dies

⁴¹ The other things that happened while Solomon was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Solomon’. It tells about Solomon's wisdom and everything that he did. ⁴² Solomon ruled over all Israel for 40 years while he lived in Jerusalem. ⁴³ Then he died. They buried him with his ancestors, in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king after him.

King Rehoboam

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. ² At this time, Nebat's son Jeroboam was still in Egypt. He had been living there since he ran away from King Solomon. When he heard the news about Rehoboam, he returned home. ³ The Israelites sent a message to Jeroboam to meet with them. Then Jeroboam and the whole group of Israelites went to speak to Rehoboam. They said to him, ⁴ ‘Your father caused us to work too hard. Please make the work easier for us. If you do that, we will serve you as our king.’ ⁵ Rehoboam answered them, ‘Go away for three days. Then come back to me.’ So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam went to talk to the older advisors who had served his father Solomon. He asked them, ‘What answer should I give to these people?’ ⁷ The old men said to him, ‘If you agree to help these people today, they will always serve you as their king. So do what they are asking you to do.’

⁸ But Rehoboam did not agree with their advice. Instead he talked to some younger men. They had been his friends since they were young and now they were his advisors. ⁹ He asked them, ‘What do you think that I should say to these people? They want me to make their work easier.’

¹⁰ Rehoboam's young advisors said, ‘Those people said to you, “Your father made us work too hard. Please make our work easier.” You should tell them, “Even my little finger is thicker than my father's whole body! ¹¹ My father made you work hard. I will make you work even harder! My father punished you with little whips. I will punish you with whips that bite your skin!” ’

¹² Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam after three days. That was because the king had said, ‘Return to me in three days.’

¹³ King Rehoboam spoke cruel words to the people. He did not agree to say what the older men had told him to say. ¹⁴ Instead, he did what the young men had suggested. He said to the people, ‘My father gave you work that was too hard for you. I will make it even worse! My father punished you with little whips. I will punish you with whips that bite!’

¹⁵ So the king did not agree to do what the people wanted him to do. It was the Lord who caused this to happen. He had already given his message about this to Nebat's son Jeroboam. The prophet Ahijah who came from Shiloh had spoken the Lord's message to Jeroboam.

¹⁶ All the Israelites realized that the king refused to listen to them. So they said to the king,

So the Israelites went to their homes.

¹⁷ But Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.^[w]

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent a man called Adoniram to talk to the Israelite people. Adoniram had authority over the men who had to work for Rehoboam. But the Israelites threw stones at Adoniram and they killed him. So King Rehoboam quickly got into his chariot and he escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Since that time, the tribes in the north of Israel have not accepted the authority of King David's descendants.

²⁰ All the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt. So they asked him to come to a meeting of the people. They decided to make him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah still served David's descendant as their king.

²¹ Rehoboam arrived back in Jerusalem. He brought together all the men from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin who knew how to fight. There were 180,000 of them. Solomon's son Rehoboam wanted to attack the Israelite tribes so that he could rule them again as king. ²² But God told the prophet Shemaiah, ²³ ‘Say this to Solomon's son Rehoboam, the king of Judah. Say it to all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the other people. ²⁴ This is what the Lord says: “Do not attack your brothers, the Israelites. Do not fight against them. Instead, you must all go home. I, the Lord, have decided that this must happen.” ’

So they obeyed the Lord's message. They went back to their homes, as the Lord had commanded them to do.

King Jeroboam

²⁵ Jeroboam made Shechem into a strong city. He lived there, in the hill country of Ephraim. He also went to make Penuel a strong city.

²⁶ Jeroboam thought, ‘I do not want the people of my kingdom to accept David's descendants as king again. ²⁷ The people that I rule will go to the Lord's temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices there. Then they may decide to serve Rehoboam, king of Judah, who was their master before. They might kill me and then go back to serve King Rehoboam.’

²⁸ So King Jeroboam talked to his advisors. He used gold to make images of two young cows. He said to the people, ‘It is too difficult for you to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, as you have done before. So I have made these gold cows for you instead. Look at them, Israelite people! These are your gods that rescued you and brought you out from Egypt.’

²⁹ Jeroboam put one gold cow in Bethel. He put the other gold cow in Dan.^{[x] 30} But that caused the Israelite people to do a very bad thing. They went to Bethel and to Dan to worship the gold cows.

³¹ Jeroboam also built places on hills for people to worship. He chose men who were not from Levi's tribe to be priests. ³² He decided to have a festival on the 15th day of the eighth month each year. He wanted it to be like the festival that they had in Judah.^[y] He offered sacrifices on the altar in Bethel to the gold cows that he had made. He also chose priests to serve at the places that he built for people to worship.

³³ On the 15th day of the eighth month, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar that he had made at Bethel. That was the special day that he himself had decided to choose as a festival for the Israelites. On that day, he burned incense on the altar.

A servant of God visits Jeroboam^[z]

13 King Jeroboam was standing in front of the altar at Bethel. He was ready to make an offering. At that time, the Lord told one of his servants to go from Judah to Bethel. ² When he arrived at Bethel, he shouted the message that the Lord had given to him. He said, ‘Altar! Altar! This is what the Lord says to you: “Listen! One day, a son will be born in David's family. His name will be Josiah. On this altar, he will burn as sacrifices the priests who offer sacrifices on the hills. He will burn the bones of dead people on you!” ’

³ The same day, God's servant spoke another message to warn Jeroboam. He said, ‘This is the sign to show that the Lord has decided to do this: You will see the altar break into two pieces. The ashes of the sacrifices that are on it will fall to the ground.’

⁴ King Jeroboam heard the message that God's servant shouted against the altar at Bethel. As he stood there at the altar, the king pointed his hand at God's servant. He said, ‘Take hold of that man!’ But when he pointed with his hand, it suddenly became useless and he could not pull it back. ⁵ Then the altar broke into two pieces and the ashes fell to the ground. That is what God's servant had said would happen, to show that he spoke with the Lord's authority.

⁶ The king said to God's servant, ‘Please pray to the Lord your God that he will be kind to me. Pray that my hand will become strong again.’ So God's servant prayed to the Lord. And the king's hand became strong again, as it was before.

⁷ Then the king said to God's servant, ‘Come home with me. Have some food to eat. I would also like to give you a gift.’ ⁸ But God's servant said to the king, ‘I could never go with you, even if you gave me half of your riches. I could not eat or drink anything while I am here. ⁹ The Lord commanded me, “You must not eat or drink anything there. You must not return home on the same road that you came on.” ’ ¹⁰ So God's servant started to travel home on a different road. He did not go on the same road that he came to Bethel.

An old prophet in Bethel

¹¹ An old prophet lived in Bethel. His sons came home. They told him about everything that God's servant had done in Bethel that day. They told their father what God's servant had said to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, ‘Which road did he go home on?’ So his sons showed him the road that God's servant from Judah was on.

¹³ Then the old prophet said to his sons, ‘Prepare my donkey for me to ride.’ When they had prepared the donkey, the old prophet got onto it. ¹⁴ Then he rode along the road to find God's servant. He found him as he was sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, ‘Are you the servant of God from Judah?’ He answered, ‘I am.’ ¹⁵ The old prophet said to him, ‘Come to my home with me and eat some food.’ ¹⁶ God's servant said, ‘I cannot go back with you. I cannot eat or drink anything with you in this place. ¹⁷ The Lord commanded me, “You must not eat or drink anything there. You must not return home on the same road that you came on.” ’ ¹⁸ The old prophet then said, ‘I am also a prophet, as you are. An angel gave me a message from the Lord. He said, “Bring the man back with you to your house. There, he can eat some food and drink some water.” ’ But what the old prophet said was a lie. ¹⁹ So God's servant went back with him and he ate and drank in his house.

²⁰ While they were sitting together to eat, the Lord gave a message to the old prophet. ²¹ He spoke this message to the servant of God who had come from Judah:

‘This is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed the Lord. You have not done what the Lord your God commanded you to do. ²² He had told you, “You must not eat or drink anything in that place.” But you came back here to eat and to drink. As a result, they will not bury your body in the same place as your ancestors' grave.’

²³ God's servant from Judah finished his meal. Then the old prophet prepared his donkey for him to ride. ²⁴ But as God's servant from Judah was travelling along the road, a lion attacked him. The lion killed him and it left his body on the road. The donkey and the lion stood beside the dead body. ²⁵ When some people came along the road, they saw the dead body as it lay there. The lion was standing beside the body. The people went back to Bethel, the city where the old prophet lived. They reported what they had seen on the road.

²⁶ The old prophet who had brought God's servant back to his house heard the news. He said, ‘That dead man is God's servant who did not obey the Lord. So the Lord has given him to the lion, to tear him to pieces and to kill him. The Lord had warned him that this would happen.’

²⁷ The old prophet said to his sons, ‘Prepare my donkey for me to ride.’ So they did that. ²⁸ Then the old prophet went along the road and he found the body. It was lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body. It had not attacked the donkey. ²⁹ So the old prophet picked up the body of God's servant. He put it on the donkey. He brought it back to Bethel. He showed that he was very sad that the man had died and then he buried him. ³⁰ He put the body in the grave that he had prepared for himself. He and his sons were very upset, and they said, ‘Oh! My brother!’

³¹ When they had buried the man, the old prophet said to his sons, ‘When I die, bury me in the same grave where we buried the servant of God. Put my bones there, beside his bones. ³² The Lord's message that he spoke will certainly become true. He spoke against the altar in Bethel and against all the altars on the hills of Samaria's towns.’^[aa]

³³ Even after this happened, Jeroboam did not stop doing evil things. He chose ordinary people to be priests for the altars on the hills. If somebody wanted to become a priest, Jeroboam agreed to make him a priest.^{[ab] 34} This sin caused Jeroboam's family to disappear from the earth. He would no longer have descendants to rule the kingdom.

The prophet Ahijah and King Jeroboam

14 At that time, Jeroboam's son Abijah became ill. ² So Jeroboam said to his wife, ‘Change what you look like so that people will not recognize you as my wife. Then go to Shiloh. The prophet Ahijah lives there.^[ac] He told me that I would rule the nation of Israel. ³ Take ten loaves of bread with you. Also take some cakes and a pot of honey. When you visit Ahijah, he will tell you what will happen to our son.’

⁴ Jeroboam's wife did what he told her to do. She went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh. Ahijah could not see because he was very old. ⁵ But the Lord had said to Ahijah, ‘Jeroboam's wife will come to visit you. Her son is ill and she will ask you what will happen to him. I will tell you what to say to her. When she comes, she will pretend that she is not the king's wife.’

⁶ Then Ahijah heard her as she walked through the door of his house. He said, ‘Come in, Jeroboam's wife! I know who you are, so do not pretend to be somebody else. The Lord has given me bad news to tell you. ⁷ Go and say to Jeroboam, “This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says to you: I chose you from among my people, the Israelites, and I made you their ruler. ⁸ I took Israel's kingdom away from David's family and I gave it to you. But you have not served me faithfully as my servant David did. He obeyed my commands. He was faithful to me and he always did the things that I say are right. ⁹ But you have done more evil things than any of the kings who lived before you. You have made me very angry. You have used metal to make images of other gods that you could worship. You have turned away from me. ¹⁰ Because of this, I will bring great trouble to Jeroboam's family. I will kill every male among his descendants in Israel, whoever they are. I will completely destroy Jeroboam's family, like someone burns a heap of rubbish! ¹¹ If they die in the city, dogs will eat their bodies. If they die in the country, vultures will eat them. This is what the Lord has said will happen!”

¹² But you, Jeroboam's wife, should go back home now. As soon as you arrive back in the city, the boy will die. ¹³ All Israel will cry because of his death and they will bury him. He is the only person from Jeroboam's family that they will bury properly. He is the only one among Jeroboam's descendants who has pleased the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁴ The Lord himself will choose another king to rule Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam's family. This will happen very soon, even today! ¹⁵ The Lord will attack the nation of Israel. He will shake it, as the wind shakes a reed that is growing in a stream. The Lord will remove the Israelites from this good land that he gave to their ancestors. He will take them to places beyond the Euphrates river. They made Asherah poles to worship, so the Lord became very angry with them. ¹⁶ He will put Israel under the power of its enemies because of Jeroboam's sins. Jeroboam also caused Israel's people to do bad things.’

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam's wife left Ahijah's house. She went back to Tirzah. When she walked through the door of her house, the boy died. ¹⁸ They buried him and all the Israelites cried because of his death. The Lord had told his servant the prophet Ahijah what would happen. And that is what happened.

King Jeroboam dies

¹⁹ The other things that happened while Jeroboam was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the battles that Jeroboam fought and how he ruled as king. ²⁰ Jeroboam ruled as king for 22 years. Then he died and they buried him beside his ancestors. His son Nadab became king after him.

King Rehoboam dies

²¹ King Solomon's son, Rehoboam, ruled Judah as king. He was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem. That was the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. He chose it as the place where people would give honour to his name. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite woman. Her name was Naamah.

²² The people of Judah did things that the Lord said were evil. Their sins caused the Lord to be very angry. They did worse things than their ancestors had done. ²³ They built altars on the hills for themselves. They put up stone pillars and Asherah poles to worship. They did this on every high hill and under every big tree. ²⁴ In Judah there were even temples which had male prostitutes. The people of Judah did the same evil things as the Canaanite nations did. The Lord had chased those people out of the land so that the Israelites could live there.

²⁵ In the fifth year that Rehoboam was king, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He took away the valuable things that were in the Lord's temple and in the king's palace. He took everything for himself. That included the gold shields that King Solomon had made. ²⁷ So Rehoboam used bronze to make other shields instead. He gave them to the officers of his own soldiers. These soldiers stood as guards at the entrance of the king's palace. ²⁸ Every time that the king went to the Lord's temple, the guards carried the shields. After that, they took them back to the guards' room where they stored them.

²⁹ The other things that happened while Rehoboam was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about everything that King Rehoboam did. ³⁰ There was always a war between the armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ³¹ Rehoboam died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite woman. Her name was Naamah. Rehoboam's son Abijah became king after him.

Abijah, king of Judah

15 Abijah became king of Judah after Nebat's son Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 18 years. ² Abijah ruled in Jerusalem as king for three years. His mother's name was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom.^{[ad] 3} Abijah did the same bad things that his father had done before him. He did not serve the Lord his God faithfully, as his ancestor King David had done. ⁴ But the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem. He also made Jerusalem a strong city. The Lord did that because of his promise to David. ⁵ David had always done things that pleased the Lord. David had obeyed the Lord's commands in his whole life, except what he did to Uriah, the Hittite man.^[ae]

⁶ In Abijah's whole life, there was a war between the armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

⁷ The other things that happened while Abijah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Abijah did. While Abijah was king, there was war between his army and Jeroboam's army.

⁸ Abijah died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. Abijah's son Asa became king after him.

Asa, king of Judah

⁹ Asa became king of Judah when Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 20 years. ¹⁰ Asa ruled in Jerusalem as king for 41 years. His grandmother was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹ Asa did things that pleased the Lord, as his ancestor King David had done. ¹² He removed the male prostitutes from the altars on the hills. He sent them out of Judah. He removed all the useless idols that his ancestors had made. ¹³ He also told his grandmother Maakah that she could no longer have authority as the Queen Mother.^[af] This was because she had made a disgusting Asherah pole to worship. Asa cut down the Asherah pole and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{[ag] 14} Asa did not remove the altars on all the hills, but he served the Lord faithfully for his whole life. ¹⁵ He brought into the Lord's temple the things that he and his father had made as gifts to the Lord. They used silver and gold to make some of these things.

¹⁶ There was always a war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel while they ruled. ¹⁷ One time, Baasha attacked Judah. He put a group of his soldiers in Ramah and he made it a strong town. As a result, nobody could travel into Judah or out of Judah, where King Asa ruled.^{[ah] 18} So Asa took all the silver and gold that they had stored in his palace and in the Lord's temple. He gave it to his servants. He told them to take it to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus. Ben-Hadad's father was Tabrimmon and his grandfather was Hezion. ¹⁹ Asa sent this message to Ben-Hadad: ‘We should make an agreement to be friends, as our fathers did. I am sending you this gift of silver and gold. Please stop being friends with Baasha, king of Israel. If you no longer help him, he will have to take his soldiers out of my country.’ ²⁰ Ben-Hadad agreed to do what King Asa asked him to do. He sent his army with its leaders to attack towns in Israel. They won the battles at Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maakah, as well as the region of Kinnereth and the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When King Baasha heard this news, he stopped the work in Ramah. He left there and he went to live in Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa commanded all the men in Judah to do some hard work. Everyone had to do this: They must carry away from Ramah all the big stones and the wood that Baasha had been using there. Then King Asa used those things to make Geba (in Benjamin's land) and Mizpah strong towns again.

²³ The other things that happened while Asa was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about Asa's power and all the great things that he did. It also tells about the cities that he built. When Asa became an old man he had a disease in his feet.

²⁴ Asa died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David, his ancestor. Asa's son Jehoshaphat became king after him.

Nadab, king of Israel

²⁵ When Asa had been king of Judah for two years, Jeroboam's son became king of Israel. Nadab ruled Israel as king for two years. ²⁶ He did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same bad things that his father had done. He also caused the Israelites to do bad things.

²⁷ Baasha decided to kill King Nadab. Baasha was Ahijah's son and he belonged to Issachar's tribe. This happened while Nadab and Israel's army were attacking Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines. ²⁸ Baasha killed King Nadab in the third year that Asa was king of Judah. Baasha became king of Israel instead of Nadab.

²⁹ When Baasha became king, he killed all Jeroboam's descendants. He did not leave anyone in Jeroboam's family alive. He killed them all. The Lord had already said that this would happen. He had given the message to his servant Ahijah, who was from Shiloh.^{[ai] 30} This happened because of Jeroboam's sins, and the sins which he caused the Israelites to do. These sins had made the Lord, Israel's God, very angry.

³¹ The other things that happened while Nadab was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Nadab did. ³² There was always a war between the armies of King Asa and King Nadab.

Baasha, king of Israel

³³ In the third year that Asa was king of Judah, Ahijah's son Baasha became the king of all Israel. He was living in Tirzah. Baasha ruled as king for 24 years.^{[aj] 34} Baasha did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same sins that Jeroboam had done. He also caused the Israelites to do those bad things.

16 Then God gave a message to Hanani's son Jehu about punishment for King Baasha. ² This was the message: ‘Even though you were not an important person, I made you the leader of my people, the Israelites. But then you did all the bad things that Jeroboam did! Also, you caused my people the Israelites to do bad things. Their sins have caused me to become very angry. ³ So now I am ready to destroy you and your family. I will remove your family as I did to the family of Nebat's son Jeroboam. ⁴ If people of your family die in the city, dogs will eat their bodies. If they die in the country, vultures will eat them.’

⁵ The other things that happened while Baasha was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Baasha did and about his power. ⁶ Baasha died and they buried him in Tirzah. His son Elah became king after him.

⁷ Hanani's son Jehu, the prophet, had received a message from the Lord about Baasha and his family. Baasha had done many things that the Lord said were evil, in the same way that Jeroboam had done. Baasha had even destroyed Jeroboam's whole family. These bad things made the Lord very angry.

Elah, king of Israel

⁸ When Asa had been king of Judah for 26 years, Baasha's son Elah became king of Israel. He ruled as king in Tirzah for two years.

⁹ Zimri was one of Elah's officers. He had authority over half of Elah's chariots. Zimri decided to kill King Elah. One day, Elah was in the home of a man called Arza, an officer who had authority over the king's palace in Tirzah. Elah was drinking too much wine and he became drunk. ¹⁰ Zimri came in to Arza's house. He hit Elah and he killed him. When this happened, Asa had been king of Judah for 27 years. Zimri made himself king instead of Elah.

¹¹ When Zimri began to rule Israel as king, he killed everybody in Baasha's family. He did not leave any of Baasha's male relatives alive. He even killed Baasha's friends. ¹² Zimri killed everybody in Baasha's family, as the Lord had said it would happen. The prophet Jehu had spoken the Lord's message against Baasha. ¹³ This happened because of all the sins that Baasha and his son Elah had done. They had also caused the Israelites to do bad things. The useless idols that they worshipped had made the Lord, Israel's God, very angry.

¹⁴ The other things that happened while Elah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Elah did.

Zimri, king of Israel

¹⁵ When Asa had been king of Judah for 27 years, Zimri became king of Israel. He ruled as king in Tirzah for seven days.

When Zimri killed King Elah, Israel's army was attacking a Philistine town called Gibbethon. ¹⁶ The army received this message: ‘Zimri has turned against the king and he has killed King Elah.’ Omri was the officer who led Israel's army. That day, Omri's soldiers decided to make Omri the king of Israel, while they were in their camp at Gibbethon. ¹⁷ So Omri and all Israel's army left Gibbethon and they went to attack Tirzah. ¹⁸ Zimri saw that Omri had taken power over the city. So he went into the strong buildings of the king's palace. He lit a fire to burn the palace all around him. Zimri himself died in the fire. ¹⁹ This happened because of the sins that he had done. He did things that the Lord says are evil. He did the same bad things that Jeroboam had done. He also caused the Israelites to continue doing bad things.

²⁰ The other things that happened while Zimri was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about how he killed King Elah, as well as the other things that he did.