Historical

Solomon Builds Cities

8 ^(A)Now it happened at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house ² that he built the cities which Huram had given to ^[a]him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³ Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and overpowered it. ⁴ And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath. ⁵ He also built upper ^(B)Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, ^(C)fortified cities with walls, gates and bars; ⁶ and Baalath and all the storage cities which Solomon had, and all the cities for ^[b]his chariots, and the cities for ^[c]his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land ^[d]under his rule.

^7 (D)As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸ namely, from their sons who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not consumed, ^(E)from them Solomon raised up forced laborers to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not make slaves for his work from the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his chief captains and his chariot commanders and his horsemen. ¹⁰ These were the chief ^[e]deputies of King Solomon, 250 who ruled over the people.

^11 (F)Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because ^[f]the places are holy where the ark of Yahweh has entered.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on ^(G)the altar of Yahweh which he had built before the porch; ¹³ and ^(H)did so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^(I)according to the commandment of Moses, for ^(J)the sabbaths, ^(K)the new moons and the ^(L)three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

¹⁴ And according to the judgment of his father David, he caused ^(M)the divisions of the priests to stand for their service, and ^(N)the Levites for their responsibilities to praise and minister before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^(O)the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for ^(P)David the man of God had so commanded. ¹⁵ And they did not turn away from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any manner or concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶ Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out ^[g]from the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh, and until it was completed. So the house of Yahweh was finished.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(Q)Ezion-geber and to ^(R)Eloth on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Huram by the hand of his servants sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and ^(S)took from there ^[h]450 talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba

9 ^(T)Now the queen of Sheba heard the report about Solomon. So she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very glorious retinue, with camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ² And Solomon declared to her the answer to all her matters; and not a matter was hidden from Solomon which he did not declare to her. ³ Then the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built, ⁴ the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the disposition of his attendants and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ^[i]his stairway by which he went up to the house of Yahweh, so that there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ Then she said to the king, “The word is true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ Nevertheless I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not declared to me. You exceed the report which I heard. ⁷ How ^[j]blessed are your men, how ^[k]blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be Yahweh your God who delighted in you, ^(U)to set you on His throne as king for Yahweh your God; ^(V)because your God loved Israel to cause them to stand forever, therefore He gave you as king over them, to do justice and righteousness.” ⁹ Then she gave the king ^[l]120 talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. There had never been spice like that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Also, the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, ^(W)who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made of the algum trees steps for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² Thus King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she asked, besides a return for what she had brought to the king. Then she turned around and went to her own land together with her servants.

Solomon’s Riches and Wisdom

^13 (X)Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides that which the traders and merchants brought; and all ^(Y)the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ^[m]using ^[n]600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield. ¹⁶ And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, ^[o]using ^[p]300 shekels of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ And there were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and ^[q]arms ^[r]on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ^[s]arms. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were also standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. ²⁰ Now all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered ^[t]valuable in the days of Solomon. ^21 (Z)For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came carrying gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

^22 (AA)So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ^24 (AB)And they brought every man his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules, a set amount year by year.

²⁵ And Solomon had ^(AC)4,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^26 (AD)And he was the ruler over all the kings from the ^[u]River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ^27 (AE)The king also made silver as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ^[v]Shephelah. ^28 (AF)And they were importing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

The Death of Solomon

^29 (AG)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, ^(AH)are they not written in the ^[w]chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^[x]Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30 (AI)Thus Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in ^(AJ)the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam became king in his place.

Rehoboam’s Foolish Reign

10 ^(AK)Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^(AL)he was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ Then they sent and called for him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our ^(AM)yoke harsh; but now, lighten the harsh service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ Then he said to them, “Return to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam ^(AN)took counsel with the elders who had ^[y]stood before his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you counsel me to respond to this people?” ⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be good to this people and please them and ^(AO)speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he ^(AP)forsook the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him, and took counsel with the young men who grew up with him and ^[z]stood before him. ⁹ So he said to them, “What counsel do you give that we may respond to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ Then the young men who grew up with him spoke with him, saying, “Thus you shall say to the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us.’ Thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! ¹¹ So now my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had spoken, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders, ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “^[aa]My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, ^(AQ)for it was a turn of events from God, ^(AR)that Yahweh might establish His word, which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ Now all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. So the people responded to the king, saying,

^(AT)So all Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was ^(AU)over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel ^[ab]stoned him and he died. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So ^(AV)Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.