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The Lord Appears to Solomon(A)
9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all else he desired, 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him,
“I have heard your prayer and supplication, which you made before Me. I have consecrated this house which you built by putting My name there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.
4 “If you will walk before Me, as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, so that you are obedient to do all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man upon the throne of Israel.’
6 “But if you and your sons turn in any way from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut Israel out of the land which I have given them, and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My name, out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people. 8 And everyone who passes by this high house will be astonished and will hiss, and they shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land, and to this house?’ 9 And they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and have worshipped and served them. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster upon them.’ ”
Solomon’s Other Activities(B)
10 When twenty years had passed since Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 11 (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar and fir trees, along with gold, as he had requested), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, and he was not pleased with them. 13 He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Kabul to this day. 14 Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents[a] of gold.
15 This is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up against and conquered Gezer and burned it with fire and slain the Canaanites that lived in the city and given it as a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 Solomon built Gezer and Lower Beth Horon 18 and Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 19 and all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen and all that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.
20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not children of Israel, 21 the descendants of those who were left in the land and whom the people of Israel were not able to utterly destroy, were conscripted by Solomon for slave labor to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make any children of Israel into slaves, but instead used them as men of war, as his servants, his leaders, his captains, rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. 23 These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the labor.
24 But Pharaoh’s daughter moved out of the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, and he then built Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, and he burned incense on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.
26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. 27 Hiram sent shipmen who had knowledge of the sea to serve alongside Solomon’s men. 28 They went to Ophir and acquired four hundred and twenty talents[b] of gold there and brought it to King Solomon.
The Queen of Sheba(C)
10 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame connected to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was not anything too difficult for the king which he could not answer. 4 When the queen of Sheba observed Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built 5 and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their clothing and his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.
6 She said to the king, “What I heard in my own land about your acts and your wisdom was true! 7 I did not believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes! In fact, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity are greater than the stories I heard! 8 Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever; therefore He made you king in order to execute judgment and justice.”
10 She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents[c] of gold and a great amount of spices and precious stones. No one gave as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. 12 The king made pillars for the house of the Lord out of the almug trees and harps also and psalteries for singers for the king’s house. Never before had such almug wood been brought, nor has any such been seen to this day.
13 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, no matter what she asked for, in addition to what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
Solomon’s Wealth(D)
14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents[d] of gold. 15 In addition, he collected from the merchantmen and the traffic of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.
16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold made of six hundred shekels[e] of gold each. 17 He made three hundred shields of beaten gold with three pounds[f] of gold in each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the back of the throne was round, and there were armrests on either side of the seat with two lions standing beside the armrests. 20 Twelve lions stood on the sides of the six steps, and there was no other like it in any kingdom. 21 All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the cups of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None were made of silver, for it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had ships at sea at Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in terms of riches and wisdom. 24 All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 Everyone brought an annual tribute in the form of presents, silver and gold cups, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules.
26 Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and he made cedars to be as plentiful as sycamore trees in the valley. 28 Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt along with linen yarn. The king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. 29 He brought chariots from Egypt at a price of six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty.[g] And he exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, by their means.
Samaritans Receive the Holy Spirit
14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they came down, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for still He had come on none of them. They were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 Peter said to him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could purchase the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor share in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me that nothing you have spoken may come upon me.”
25 When they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise up and go toward the south on the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he rose up and went. And there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in command of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28 He was returning, sitting in his chariot and reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go to this chariot and stay with it.”
30 Then Philip ran to him, and heard him read the book of Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 He said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:
“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation justice was denied Him;
who will speak of His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”[a]
34 The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet speak, of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip spoke, beginning with the same Scripture, and preached Jesus to him.
36 As they went on their way, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” He answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he commanded the chariot to halt. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. And the eunuch saw him no more, and he went his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached the gospel in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
Psalm 130
A Song of Ascents.
1 From the depths I call on You, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice;
let Your ears be attentive
to the sound of my supplications.
3 If you, O Lord, should keep track of iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand?
4 For there is forgiveness with You,
that You may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, with bated breath I wait;
I long for His Word!
6 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 Let Israel wait for the Lord!
For mercy is found with the Lord;
with Him is great redemption.
8 He shall redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
2 A wise servant will have rule over a son who causes shame,
and will have part of the inheritance among the brothers.
3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord tries the hearts.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.