The Daily Audio Bible

¹¹ Solomon moved his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, from David's City to a house he built for her. He said, “She must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, because any place where the Covenant Box has been is holy.”

¹² Solomon offered sacrifices to the Lord on the altar which he had built in front of the Temple. ^13 (A)He offered burnt offerings according to the requirements of the Law of Moses for each holy day: Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and the three annual festivals—the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. ¹⁴ Following the rules laid down by his father David, he organized the daily work of the priests and of the Levites who assisted the priests in singing hymns and in doing their work. He also organized the Temple guards in sections for performing their daily duties at each gate, in accordance with the commands of David, the man of God. ¹⁵ The instructions which David had given the priests and the Levites concerning the storehouses and other matters were carried out in detail.

¹⁶ By this time all of Solomon's projects had been completed. From the laying of the foundation of the Lord's Temple to its completion, all the work had been successful.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Eziongeber and Elath, ports on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ King Hiram sent him ships under the command of his own officers and with experienced sailors. They sailed with Solomon's officers to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba^(B)

9 ^(C)The queen of Sheba heard of King Solomon's fame, and she traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She brought with her a large group of attendants, as well as camels loaded with spices, jewels, and a large amount of gold. When she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of. ² He answered them all; there was nothing too difficult for him to explain. ³ The queen of Sheba heard Solomon's wisdom and saw the palace he had built. ⁴ She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his officials, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms they wore, the clothing of the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered^[a] in the Temple. It left her breathless and amazed.

⁵ She said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about you^[b] and your wisdom is true! ⁶ I did not believe what they told me until I came and saw for myself. I had not heard of even half your wisdom. You are even wiser than people say. ⁷ How fortunate are those who serve you, who are always in your presence and are privileged to hear your wise sayings! ⁸ Praise the Lord your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king, to rule in his name. Because he loves his people Israel and wants to preserve them forever, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice.”

⁹ She presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons of gold and a very large amount of spices and jewels. There have never been any other spices as fine as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

(¹⁰ The sailors of King Hiram and of King Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought juniper wood and jewels. ¹¹ Solomon used the wood to make stairs for the Temple and for his palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like that had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.)

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she asked for. This was in addition to what he gave her in exchange for the gifts^[c] she brought to him. Then she and her attendants returned to the land of Sheba.

King Solomon's Wealth^(D)

¹³ Every year King Solomon received over twenty-five tons of gold, ¹⁴ in addition to the taxes paid by the traders and merchants. The kings of Arabia and the governors of the Israelite districts also brought him silver and gold. ¹⁵ Solomon made two hundred large shields, each of which was covered with about fifteen pounds of beaten gold, ¹⁶ and three hundred smaller shields, each covered with about eight pounds of beaten gold. He had them all placed in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.^[d]

¹⁷ The king also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with pure gold. ¹⁸ Six steps led up to the throne, and there was a footstool attached to it, covered with gold. There were arms on each side of the throne, and the figure of a lion stood at each side. ¹⁹ Twelve figures of lions were on the steps, one at either end of each step. No throne like this had ever existed in any other kingdom.

²⁰ All of King Solomon's drinking cups were made of gold, and all the utensils in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in Solomon's day. ²¹ He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with King Hiram's fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

²² King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world. ²³ They all consulted him, to hear the wisdom that God had given him. ²⁴ Each of them brought Solomon gifts—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This continued year after year.

^25 (E)King Solomon also had four thousand stalls for his chariots and horses, and had twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem and the rest he stationed in various other cities. ^26 (F)He was supreme ruler of all the kings in the territory from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. ²⁷ During his reign silver was as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. ^28 (G)Solomon imported horses from Musri^[e] and from every other country.

Summary of Solomon's Reign^(H)

²⁹ The rest of the history of Solomon from beginning to end is recorded in The History of Nathan the Prophet, in The Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in The Visions of Iddo the Prophet, which also deal with the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel. ³⁰ Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ³¹ He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

The Northern Tribes Revolt^(I)

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the people of northern Israel had gathered to make him king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had gone to Egypt to escape from King Solomon, heard this news, he returned home. ³ The people of the northern tribes sent for him, and they all went together to Rehoboam and said to him, ⁴ “Your father placed heavy burdens on us. If you make these burdens lighter and make life easier for us, we will be your loyal subjects.”

⁵ Rehoboam replied, “Give me three days to consider the matter. Then come back.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. “What answer do you advise me to give these people?” he asked.

⁷ They replied, “If you are kind to these people and try to please them by giving a considerate answer, they will always serve you loyally.”

⁸ But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers. ⁹ “What do you advise me to do?” he asked. “What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?”

¹⁰ They replied, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.’ ¹¹ Tell them, ‘My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!’”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them. ¹³ The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people, ¹⁴ as the younger men had advised. He said, “My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!” ¹⁵ It was the will of the Lord God to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.

^16 (J)When the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they shouted, “Down with David and his family! What have they ever done for us? People of Israel, let's go home! Let Rehoboam look out for himself!”

So the people of Israel rebelled, ¹⁷ leaving Rehoboam as king only of the people who lived in the territory of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, to go to the Israelites, but they stoned him to death. At this, Rehoboam hurriedly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Ever since that time the people of the northern kingdom of Israel have been in rebellion against the dynasty of David.

⁹ But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you^[a] because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. ^11 (A)If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.

¹² So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to. ¹³ For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. ¹⁴ Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children. ^15 (B)For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!” ¹⁶ God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. ¹⁷ Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.

The Future Glory

^18 (C)I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children. ^20 (D)For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope ²¹ that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. ²² For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. ^23 (E)But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and^[b] set our whole being free. ²⁴ For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Only a shameful, disgraceful person would mistreat his father or turn his mother away from his home.