New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition 2020)
1 Kings
1 Now King David was old,+ advanced in years,* and although they would cover him with garments, he could not get warm. 2 So his servants said to him: “Let a girl, a virgin, be found for my lord the king, and she will wait on the king as his nurse. She will lie in your arms so that my lord the king may feel warm.” 3 They searched throughout all the territory of Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag+ the Shunammite+ and brought her in to the king. 4 The girl was extremely beautiful, and she became the king’s nurse and waited on him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.
5 Meanwhile,
Adonijah+
the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying: “I am going to be king!” He
had a chariot made for himself with horsemen and 50 men to run before him.+
6 But
his father had never confronted him*
by saying: “Why have you done this?” He was also very handsome, and his mother
had given birth to him after Absalom.
7 He
conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and Abiathar+
the priest, and they offered Adonijah help and support.+
8 But
Zadok+
the priest, Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada, Nathan+
the prophet, Shimei,+
Rei, and David’s mighty warriors+
did not support Adonijah.
9 Eventually
Adonijah held a sacrifice+
of sheep, cattle, and fattened animals by the stone of Zoheleth, which is near
En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers the king’s sons, and all the men of
Judah the king’s servants.
10 But
he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah and the mighty warriors, or
Solomon his brother.
11 Nathan+
then said to Bath-sheba,+
Solomon’s mother:+
“Have you not heard that Adonijah+
the son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know anything
about it?
12 So
now come, please, and let me advise you, so that you may save your own life and
the life of*
your son Solomon.+
13 Go
in to King David and say to him, ‘Was it not you, my lord the king, who swore to
your servant, saying: “Your son Solomon will become king after me, and he is
the one who will sit on my throne”?+
So why has Adonijah become king?’
14 While
you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm
your words.”
15 So
Bath-sheba went in to the king, into his private room. The king was very old,
and Abishag+
the Shunammite was waiting on the king.
16 Then
Bath-sheba bowed low and prostrated herself to the king, and the king said:
“What is your request?”
17 She
replied: “My lord, it was you who swore by Jehovah your God to your servant,
‘Your son Solomon will become king after me, and he is the one who will sit on
my throne.’+
18 But
look! Adonijah has become king, and my lord the king does not know anything
about it.+
19 He
sacrificed bulls, fattened animals, and sheep in great quantity and invited all
the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest and Joab the chief of the army;+
but he did not invite your servant Solomon.+
20 And
now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you to tell them who will
sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
21 Otherwise,
as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his forefathers, I and also my
son Solomon will be considered traitors.”
22 And
while she was still speaking to the king, Nathan the prophet came in.+
23 At
once the king was told: “Here is Nathan the prophet!” He came in before the king
and prostrated himself to the king with his face to the ground.
24 Then
Nathan said: “My lord the king, did you say, ‘Adonijah will become king after
me, and he is the one who will sit on my throne’?+
25 For
today he has gone down to sacrifice+
bulls, fattened animals, and sheep in great quantity, and he has invited all the
sons of the king and the chiefs of the army and Abiathar the priest.+
They are there eating and drinking with him, and they keep saying, ‘Long live
King Adonijah!’
26 But
he did not invite me, your servant, or Zadok the priest, or Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada, or your servant Solomon.
27 Has
my lord the king authorized this without telling your servant who should sit on
the throne of my lord the king after him?”
28 King
David now answered: “Call Bath-sheba for me.” At that she came in and stood
before the king.
29 The
king then swore an oath: “As surely as Jehovah is living, the one who rescued me*
out of all distress,+
30 just
as I swore to you by Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, ‘Your son Solomon will
become king after me, and he is the one who will sit on my throne in my place!’
that is what I will bring about this day.”
31 Then
Bath-sheba bowed low with her face to the ground and prostrated herself to the
king and said: “May my lord King David live forever!”
32 Immediately
King David said: “Call for me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and
Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada.”+
So they came in before the king.
33 The
king said to them: “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son
Solomon ride on my own mule,*+
and lead him down to Gihon.+
34 Zadok
the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him+
there as king over Israel; then blow the horn and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’+
35 Then
follow him back, and he will come in and sit on my throne; and he will be king
in my place, and I will commission him as leader over Israel and over Judah.”
36 At
once Benaiah the son of Jehoiada said to the king: “Amen! May Jehovah the
God of my lord the king confirm it.
37 Just
as Jehovah was with my lord the king, so let him be with Solomon,+
and may He make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”+
38 Then
Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites+
went down and had Solomon ride on the mule of King David,+
and they brought him to Gihon.+
39 Zadok
the priest now took the horn of oil+
out of the tent+
and anointed Solomon,+
and they began to blow the horn, and all the people began shouting: “Long live
King Solomon!”
40 After
that all the people followed him and went up, playing flutes and rejoicing
greatly, so that the earth was split open by their noise.+
41 Adonijah
and all those invited by him heard it when they had finished eating.+
As soon as Joab heard the sound of the horn, he said: “Why is there such a
noisy uproar in the city?”
42 While
he was still speaking, Jonathan+
the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said: “Come in, for you
are a good*
man, and you must bring good news.”
43 But
Jonathan answered Adonijah: “No! Our lord King David has made Solomon
king.
44 The
king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and they had him ride
on the mule of the king.+
45 Then
Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king in Gihon. After
that they came up from there rejoicing, and the city is in an uproar. That was
the noise that you heard.
46 Moreover,
Solomon has sat down on the royal throne.
47 Another
thing, the servants of the king have come in to congratulate our lord King
David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more splendid than your name,
and may He make his throne greater than your throne!’ At that the king bowed
down on the bed.
48 And
the king also said, ‘May Jehovah the God of Israel be praised, who today has
granted someone to sit on my throne and has allowed my own eyes to see it!’”
49 And
all those invited by Adonijah became terrified, and each of them rose up and
went his own way.
50 Adonijah
was also afraid because of Solomon, so he got up and went and grabbed hold of
the horns of the altar.+
51 The
report was made to Solomon: “Here Adonijah has become afraid of King
Solomon; and he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King
Solomon first swear to me that he will not put his servant to death by the
sword.’”
52 To
this Solomon said: “If he behaves in a worthy manner, not a single hair of his
will fall to the ground; but if what is bad is found in him,+
he will have to die.”
53 So
King Solomon sent for him to be brought down from the altar. Then he came in
and bowed down to King Solomon, after which Solomon said to him: “Go to your
own house.”
2
When the time of
David’s death drew near, he gave his son Solomon these instructions:
2 “I
am about to die.*
Therefore, be strong+
and prove yourself a man.+
3 You
must keep your obligation to Jehovah your God by walking in his ways and by
observing his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his reminders as
they are written in the Law of Moses;+
then you will succeed*
in everything you do and everywhere you turn.
4 And
Jehovah will carry out his promise that he made concerning me: ‘If your sons pay
attention to their way by walking faithfully before me with all their heart and
soul,*+
there will never fail to be a man of your line*
sitting on the throne of Israel.’+
5 “You
also well know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to two
chiefs of the armies of Israel—Abner+
the son of Ner and Amasa+
the son of Jether. He killed them, shedding the blood+
of war in peacetime, and he put the blood of war on the belt around his waist
and on the sandals on his feet.
6 You
must act according to your wisdom and not let his gray hairs go down in peace to
the Grave.*+
7 “But
toward the sons of Barzillai+
the Gileadite, you should show loyal love, and they should be among those
eating at your table, for that was how they stood by me+
when I ran away from your brother Absalom.+
8 “There
is also with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim. He
was the one who cursed me with a vicious curse+
on the day that I was going to Mahanaim;+
but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by Jehovah: ‘I
will not put you to death by the sword.’+
9 Now
do not leave him unpunished,+
for you are a wise man and you know what you should do to him; you must bring
his gray hairs down to the Grave*
with blood.”+
10 Then
David was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried in the City of David.+
11 The
length*
of David’s reign over Israel was 40 years. In Hebron+
he reigned for 7 years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for 33 years.+
12 Solomon
then sat down on the throne of David his father, and gradually his kingship
became firmly established.+
13 In
time Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba, Solomon’s mother.
She asked: “Is your coming peaceable?” He replied: “It is peaceable.”
14 He
then said: “I have something to say to you.” So she said: “Speak.”
15 He
continued: “You well know that the kingship was to become mine, and all Israel
expected*
me to become king;+
but the kingship eluded me and became my brother’s, for it was from Jehovah that
it became his.+
16 But
now there is just one request that I am making of you. Do not turn me away.” So
she said to him: “Speak.”
17 He
then said: “Please, ask Solomon the king—for he will not turn you away—to give
me Abishag+
the Shunammite as a wife.”
18 To
this Bath-sheba said: “Very well! I will speak for you to the king.”
19 So
Bath-sheba went in to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. At once
the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat down on his throne
and had a throne set for the king’s mother, so that she could sit at his right.
20 She
then said: “There is one small request that I am making of you. Do not turn me
away.” So the king said to her: “Make it, my mother; for I will not turn you
away.”
21 She
said: “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given as a wife to your brother
Adonijah.”
22 At
this King Solomon answered his mother: “Why are you requesting Abishag the
Shunammite for Adonijah? You may as well request the kingship for him,+
for he is my older brother,+
and supporting him are Abiathar the priest and Joab+
the son of Zeruiah.”+
23 With
that King Solomon swore by Jehovah: “So may God do to me and add to it if it
was not at the cost of his own life*
that Adonijah made this request.
24 And
now, as surely as Jehovah is living, who has firmly established me+
and seated me on the throne of David my father and who made a house*
for me,+
just as he promised, Adonijah will be put to death+
today.”
25 King
Solomon immediately sent Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada, who went out and struck Adonijah down,*
and he died.
26 To
Abiathar+
the priest, the king said: “Go to your fields in Anathoth!+
You deserve to die, but on this day I will not put you to death because you
carried the Ark of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah before David my father+
and because you shared in all the hardships that my father suffered.”+
27 So
Solomon drove Abiathar out from serving as a priest of Jehovah, to fulfill
Jehovah’s word against the house of Eli+
in Shiloh.+
28 When
the news reached Joab—for Joab had supported Adonijah+
but he had not supported Absalom+—Joab
fled to the tent of Jehovah+
and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.
29 Then
King Solomon was told: “Joab has fled to the tent of Jehovah, and he is there
beside the altar.” So Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying:
“Go, strike him down!”
30 So
Benaiah went to the tent of Jehovah and said to him: “This is what the king
says, ‘Come out!’” But he said: “No! I will die here.” Benaiah brought word
back to the king: “This is what Joab said, and this is what he answered me.”
31 Then
the king said to him: “Do just as he said; strike him down and bury him and
remove from me and from the house of my father the blood that Joab spilled
without just cause.+
32 Jehovah
will bring his blood back on his own head, for without my father David’s
knowledge, he struck down and killed with the sword two men more righteous and
better than he was: Abner+
the son of Ner, the chief of the army of Israel,+
and Amasa+
the son of Jether, the chief of the army of Judah.+
33 Their
blood will come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his offspring*
forever;+
but for David, his offspring,*
his house, and his throne, may there be peace from Jehovah forever.”
34 Then
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck Joab down and put him to
death, and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.
35 Then
the king appointed Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed Zadok+
the priest in place of Abiathar.
36 Then
the king summoned Shimei+
and said to him: “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there; do not go
out from there to any other place.
37 On
the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley,+
you can be sure that you will die. Your blood will be on your own head.”
38 Shimei
replied to the king: “What you have said is fair. Your servant will do just as
my lord the king has said.” So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for many days.
39 But
at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish+
the son of Maacah the king of Gath. When Shimei was told: “Look! Your slaves
are in Gath,”
40 Shimei
immediately saddled his donkey and went to see Achish in Gath to find his
slaves. When Shimei returned from Gath with his slaves,
41 Solomon
was told: “Shimei has gone out of Jerusalem to Gath and has returned.”
42 At
that the king summoned Shimei and said to him: “Did I not put you under oath
by Jehovah and warn you: ‘On the day you go out from here to any other place,
you can be sure that you will die’? And did you not say to me, ‘What you are
saying is fair; I will obey’?+
43 Why,
then, did you not keep the oath of Jehovah and the commandment that I imposed on
you?”
44 The
king then said to Shimei: “You know in your heart all the injury that you did
to David my father,+
and Jehovah will bring back that injury on your own head.+
45 But
King Solomon will be blessed,+
and the throne of David will be firmly established before Jehovah forever.”
46 With
that the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, who went out and
struck him down, and he died.+
Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon.+
3
Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married*
Pharaoh’s daughter+
and brought her to the City of David+
until he finished building his own house,+
and the house of Jehovah,+
and the wall around Jerusalem.+
2 But
the people were still sacrificing on the high places,+
because until that time a house for the name of Jehovah had not yet been built.+
3 Solomon
continued to love Jehovah by walking in the statutes of David his father, except
that he was sacrificing and making offerings smoke on the high places.+
4 The
king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the most prominent*
high place.+
Solomon offered 1,000 burnt sacrifices on that altar.+
5 In
Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said: “Ask
what you would like me to give you.”+
6 At
this Solomon said: “You have shown great loyal love toward your servant David
my father as he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in
uprightness of heart. You have continued to show him this great loyal love down
to this day by giving him a son to sit on his throne.+
7 And
now, Jehovah my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my
father, though I am just a youth*
and I am inexperienced.*+
8 Your
servant is among your people whom you have chosen,+
a people so vast that they cannot be numbered or counted.
9 So
grant your servant an obedient heart to judge your people,+
to discern between good and bad,+
for who is able to judge this numerous*
people of yours?”
10 It
was pleasing to Jehovah that Solomon had requested this.+
11 God
then said to him: “Because you requested this and you did not request for
yourself long life*
or riches or the death*
of your enemies, but you requested understanding to hear judicial cases,+
12 I
will do what you asked.+
I will give you a wise and understanding heart,+
so that just as there has never been anyone like you before, there will never be
anyone like you again.+
13 Furthermore,
what you have not requested I will give you,+
both riches and glory,+
so that there will be no other king like you in your lifetime.*+
14 And
if you walk in my ways by keeping my regulations and my commandments, just as
David your father walked,+
I will also give you a long life.”*+
15 When
Solomon awoke, he realized that it had been a dream. Then he went to Jerusalem
and stood before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah and offered up burnt
sacrifices and communion offerings+
and spread a feast for all his servants.
16 At
that time two prostitutes came in to the king and stood before him.
17 The
first woman said: “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and I
gave birth while she was in the house.
18 On
the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together,
just the two of us; there was no one else with us in the house.
19 During
the night this woman’s son died, because she lay on him.
20 So
she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your
slave girl was asleep and laid him in her arms,*
and she laid her dead son in my arms.
21 When
I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead. So I examined
him closely in the morning and saw that it was not my son whom I had given birth
to.”
22 But
the other woman said: “No, my son is the living one, and your son is the dead
one!” But the first woman was saying: “No, your son is the dead one, and my son
is the living one.” That is how they argued before the king.
23 Finally
the king said: “This one says, ‘This is my son, the living one, and your son is
the dead one!’ and that one says, ‘No, your son is the dead one, and my son is
the living one!’”
24 The
king said: “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king.
25 The
king then said: “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and
half to the other.”
26 At
once the woman whose son was the living one pleaded with the king, for her
compassions were stirred toward her son. She said: “Please, my lord! You should
give her the living child! By no means put him to death!” But the other woman
was saying: “He will be neither mine nor yours! Let them cut him in two!”
27 At
that the king answered: “Give the living child to the first woman! By no means
put him to death, for she is his mother.”
28 So
all Israel heard about the judgment that the king had handed down, and they were
in awe*
of the king,+
for they saw that the wisdom of God was with him to execute justice.+
4
King Solomon ruled over all Israel.+
2 These
were his high officials:*
Azariah the son of Zadok+
was the priest;
3 Elihoreph
and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries;+
Jehoshaphat+
the son of Ahilud was the recorder;
4 Benaiah+
the son of Jehoiada was in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar+
were priests;
5 Azariah
the son of Nathan+
was over the deputies; Zabud the son of Nathan was a priest and the king’s
friend;+
6 Ahishar
was over the household; and Adoniram+
the son of Abda was over those conscripted for forced labor.+
7 Solomon
had 12 deputies in charge of all Israel who provided the king and his household
with food. Each one was responsible for providing the food for one month of the
year.+
8 These
were their names: The son of Hur, in the mountainous region of Ephraim;
9 the
son of Deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim,+
Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;
10 the
son of Hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and all the land of Hepher);
11 the
son of Abinadab, in all the slopes of Dor (Solomon’s daughter Taphath
became his wife);
12 Baana
the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo,+
and all Beth-shean,+
which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah
to the region of Jokmeam;+
13 the
son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead+
(he had the tent villages of Jair+
the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead;+
he also had the region of Argob,+
which is in Bashan:+
60 large cities with walls and copper bars);
14 Ahinadab
the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;+
15 Ahimaaz,
in Naphtali (he took Basemath, another of Solomon’s daughters, as his
wife);
16 Baana
the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;
17 Jehoshaphat
the son of Paruah, in Issachar;
18 Shimei+
the son of Ela, in Benjamin;+
19 Geber
the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead,+
the land of Sihon+
king of the Amorites and of Og+
king of Bashan. There was also one deputy in charge of all these other deputies
in the land.
20 Judah
and Israel were as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea;+
they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.+
21 Solomon
ruled over all the kingdoms from the River*+
to the land of the Philistines and to the boundary of Egypt. They brought
tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.+
22 Solomon’s
food for each day was 30 cor measures*
of fine flour and 60 cor measures of flour,
23 10
fattened cattle, 20 pastured cattle, and 100 sheep, besides some stags,
gazelles, roebucks, and fattened cuckoos.
24 For
he controlled everything this side of the River,*+
from Tiphsah to Gaza,+
including all the kings on this side of the River; and he enjoyed peace in every
region, all around him.+
25 Judah
and Israel lived in security, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig
tree, from Dan to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.
26 And
Solomon had 4,000*
stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horses.*+
27 These
deputies supplied food to King Solomon and to everyone who ate at the table of
King Solomon. Each was responsible for his month and saw to it that nothing
was lacking.+
28 They
also brought barley and straw wherever it was needed for the horses and for the
teams of horses, each according to his quota.
29 And
God gave Solomon wisdom and discernment in very great measure and a broadness
of heart*
like the sand on the seashore.+
30 Solomon’s
wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of
Egypt.+
31 He
was wiser than any other man, wiser than Ethan+
the Ezrahite and Heman,+
Calcol,+
and Darda, the sons of Mahol; his fame spread among all the surrounding
nations.+
32 He
composed*
3,000 proverbs+
and his songs+
numbered 1,005.
33 He
would speak about the trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop+
that grows on the wall; he would speak about the animals,+
the birds,*+
the creeping things,*+
and the fish.
34 People
from all the nations came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, including kings from all
over the earth who had heard about his wisdom.+
5
When Hiram the
king of Tyre+
heard that Solomon had been anointed as king in place of his father, he sent
his servants to Solomon, for Hiram had always been a friend of David’s.*+
2 In
turn Solomon sent word to Hiram:+
3 “You
well know that David my father was not able to build a house for the name of
Jehovah his God because of the wars waged against him from every side until
Jehovah put his enemies under the soles of his feet.+
4 But
now Jehovah my God has given me rest on all sides.+
There is no one opposing me and nothing bad happening.+
5 So
I intend to build a house for the name of Jehovah my God, just as Jehovah
promised to David my father, saying: ‘Your son whom I will put on your throne in
your place, he is the one who will build the house for my name.’+
6 Now
command your people to cut cedars of Lebanon+
for me. My servants will work with your servants, and I will pay the wages of
your servants according to the rate you set, for you are aware that not one of
us knows how to cut trees like the Sidonians.”+
7 When
Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he rejoiced greatly and said: “May Jehovah be
praised today, for he has given David a wise son over this great*
people!”+
8 So
Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have heard the message you sent to me. I will
do all you desire in providing the cedar and juniper timbers.+
9 My
servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them
into log rafts to go by sea to the place that you designate to me. I will have
them broken up there, and you can carry them away. In exchange, you will provide
the food that I request for my household.”+
10 So
Hiram supplied all the timbers of cedar and juniper that Solomon desired.
11 And
Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cor measures*
of wheat as food supplies for his household and 20 cor measures of very fine
olive oil.*
That was what Solomon gave Hiram year after year.+
12 And
Jehovah gave Solomon wisdom, just as He had promised him.+
And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a
treaty.*
13 King
Solomon conscripted men for forced labor out of all Israel; 30,000 men were
conscripted.+
14 He
would send them to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 each month. They would spend a
month in Lebanon and two months at their homes; and Adoniram+
was over those conscripted for forced labor.
15 Solomon
had 70,000 common laborers*
and 80,000 stonecutters+
in the mountains,+
16 as
well as Solomon’s 3,300 princely deputies+
who served as foremen to supervise the workmen.
17 At
the king’s order, they quarried large stones, expensive stones,+
to lay the foundation+
of the house with hewn stones.+
18 So
Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites+
did the cutting, and they prepared the timbers and the stones to build the
house.
6
In the 480th year
after the Israelites*
came out of the land of Egypt,+
in the fourth year after Solomon became king over Israel, in the month of Ziv*+
(that is, the second month), he began to build the house of Jehovah.*+
2 The
house that King Solomon built for Jehovah was 60 cubits*
long, 20 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.+
3 The
porch+
in front of the temple*
was 20 cubits long,*
corresponding to the width of the house.*
Its depth was ten cubits from the front of the house.
4 He
made windows of narrowing frames*+
for the house.
5 Further,
he built a side structure against the wall of the house; it went around the
walls of the house, those of the temple*
and the innermost room,+
and he made side chambers all around.+
6 The
lowest level of the side chambers was five cubits wide, the middle level was six
cubits wide, and the third level was seven cubits wide, for he made offsets*
all around the house, so that nothing was attached to the walls of the house.+
7 The
house was built with quarry stone that had already been prepared,+
so that no hammers or axes or any iron tools were heard in the house while it
was being built.
8 The
entrance of the lowest side chamber was on the south*
side of the house,+
and a winding staircase led up to the middle floor, and from the middle floor up
to the third floor.
9 He
continued building the house and finished it+
and covered the house with cedar beams and rows of cedar planks.+
10 He
built the side chambers all around the house,+
each five cubits high, and they were joined to the house by cedar timbers.
11 Meanwhile,
the word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying:
12 “As
for this house that you are building, if you walk in my statutes and carry out
my judgments and observe all my commandments by walking in them,+
I will also carry out with you my promise that I made to David your father,+
13 and
I will reside in the midst of the Israelites,+
and I will not forsake my people Israel.”+
14 Solomon
continued building the house to finish it.
15 He
built the inside walls of the house with cedar boards. He paneled the inside
walls with timber, from the floor of the house up to the rafters of the ceiling,
and he overlaid the floor of the house with juniper boards.+
16 And
he built a section of 20 cubits at the rear of the house with cedar boards, from
the floor up to the rafters, and he built inside of it*
the innermost room,+
the Most Holy.+
17 And
the temple*+—the
part of the house in front of it—was 40 cubits.
18 The
cedar inside the house was carved with gourds+
and flowers in bloom.+
All of it was cedar; no stone was seen.
19 And
he prepared the innermost room+
inside the house to put there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.+
20 The
innermost room was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high;+
and he overlaid it with pure gold; he overlaid the altar+
with cedar.
21 Solomon
overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold,+
and he stretched gold chains in front of the innermost room,+
which was overlaid with gold.
22 He
overlaid the whole house with gold until all the house was completed; he also
overlaid with gold the entire altar+
near the innermost room.
23 In
the innermost room he made two cherubs+
of pinewood,*
each ten cubits high.+
24 One
wing of the cherub measured five cubits, and the other wing was five cubits.
From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing was ten cubits.
25 The
second cherub was also ten cubits. The two cherubs had the same size and shape.
26 The
height of the one cherub was ten cubits, as was that of the other cherub.
27 Then
he put the cherubs+
inside the inner house.*
The wings of the cherubs were extended so that the wing of the one cherub
reached to one wall and the wing of the other cherub reached to the other wall,
and their wings extended toward the middle of the house, so that the wings
touched.
28 And
he overlaid the cherubs with gold.
29 And
on all the walls of the house all around both the inner and outer rooms,*
he carved figures of cherubs,+
palm trees,+
and flowers in bloom.+
30 He
overlaid the floor of the house with gold in the inner and outer rooms.
31 And
for the entrance of the innermost room he made doors of pinewood, side pillars,
and doorposts, as a fifth part.*
32 The
two doors were of pinewood, and he carved on them cherubs, palm trees, and
flowers in bloom, and he overlaid them with gold; and he hammered the gold down
over the cherubs and the palm trees.
33 For
the entrance of the temple,*
that was how he made the doorposts of pinewood, belonging to a fourth part.*
34 And
he made two doors of juniper wood. The one door had two leaves that turned on
pivots, and the other door had two leaves that turned on pivots.+
35 He
carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and overlaid gold foil on the
carvings.
36 He
built the inner courtyard+
with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.+
37 In
the 4th year, in the month of Ziv,*
the house of Jehovah had its foundation laid;+
38 and
in the 11th year, in the month of Bul*
(that is, the eighth month), the house was finished in all its details and
according to its plan.+
So he spent seven years building it.
7
And it took Solomon 13 years to build his own house,*+
until his whole house was completed.+
2 And
he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon+
100 cubits*
long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high on four rows of cedar pillars; and
there were cedar beams+
on the pillars.
3 It
was paneled above with cedar on the girders that rested on the pillars; they
numbered 45, with 15 to a row.
4 There
were three rows of framed windows, and each window was opposite another window
in three tiers.
5 All
the entrances and the doorposts had square*
frames, as did the front of the windows that were opposite each other in three
tiers.
6 And
he built the Hall*
of Pillars 50 cubits long and 30 cubits wide, and there was a porch in front of
it with pillars and a canopy.
7 He
also built the Hall*
of the Throne,+
where he would judge—the Hall of Judgment+—and
they paneled it with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
8 The
house*
where he was to live, at the other courtyard,+
was set back from the Hall,*
and it was similar in workmanship. He also built a house similar to this Hall
for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had taken as a wife.+
9 All
of these were made of expensive stones+
hewn according to measure, trimmed with stonesaws inside and out, from the
foundation up to the coping, and outside as far as the great courtyard.+
10 And
the foundation was laid with very large, expensive stones; some stones measured
ten cubits, and other stones, eight cubits.
11 And
above these were expensive stones, hewn according to measure, as well as cedar.
12 Around
the great courtyard were three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams, like
that for the inner courtyard+
of the house of Jehovah and the porch of the house.+
13 King
Solomon sent for Hiram+
and brought him from Tyre.
14 He
was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a
Tyrian coppersmith;+
and he had great skill, understanding,+
and experience for all kinds of work in copper.*
So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.
15 He
cast the two pillars of copper;+
each pillar was 18 cubits high, and it took a measuring cord 12 cubits long to
encircle each of the two pillars.*+
16 And
he made two capitals cast in copper to put on the tops of the pillars. One
capital was five cubits high, and the other capital was five cubits high.
17 The
capital on top of each pillar had mesh network with wreathed chains;+
seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital.
18 And
he made pomegranates in two rows around the one network to cover the capitals
that were on the top of the pillars; he did the same for both capitals.
19 The
capitals on top of the pillars at the porch were of a lily pattern four cubits
high.
20 The
capitals were on the two pillars, just above the rounded portion adjoining the
network; and there were 200 pomegranates in rows all around on each capital.+
21 He
set up the pillars of the porch of the temple.*+
He set up the right-hand*
pillar and named it Jachin,*
and then he set up the left-hand*
pillar and named it Boaz.*+
22 And
the top of the pillars were of a lily pattern. So the work of the pillars was
completed.
23 Then
he made the Sea*
of cast metal.+
It was circular in shape, 10 cubits from brim to brim and 5 cubits high, and it
took a measuring line 30 cubits long to encircle it.*+
24 And
there were ornamental gourds+
below its brim, completely encircling it, ten to a cubit all around the Sea,
with two rows of the gourds cast in one piece with it.
25 It
stood on 12 bulls,+
3 facing north, 3 facing west, 3 facing south, and 3 facing east; and the Sea
rested on them, and all their hindquarters were toward the center.
26 And
its thickness was a handbreadth;*
and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It would hold
2,000 bath measures.*
27 Then
he made the ten carriages*+
of copper. Each carriage was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three
cubits high.
28 And
this was how the carriages were constructed: They had side panels, and the side
panels were between the crossbars.
29 And
on the side panels between the crossbars were lions,+
bulls, and cherubs,+
and the same design was on the crossbars. Above and beneath the lions and the
bulls were wreaths in relief.
30 And
each carriage had four copper wheels and copper axles, and its four cornerpieces
served as supports for them. Beneath the basin were the supports, cast with
wreaths at the side of each.
31 Its
opening was inside the crown, extending upward one cubit; and its opening was
round, making up a stand of one and a half cubits, and on its mouth were
engravings. And their side panels were square, not round.
32 The
four wheels were below the side panels, and the supports of the wheels were
attached to the carriage, and the height of each wheel was one and a half
cubits.
33 And
the wheels were made like chariot wheels. Their supports, rims,*
spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.
34 There
were four supports on the four corners of each carriage; its supports were cast
as part of*
the carriage.
35 On
top of the carriage was a circular band half a cubit high, and on the top of the
carriage, its framing pieces and its side panels were cast as part of*
it.
36 On
the surfaces of its framing pieces and on its side panels he engraved cherubs,
lions, and palm trees according to the amount of space on each, with wreaths all
around.+
37 This
is how he made the ten carriages;+
they were all cast alike,+
with the same measure and shape.
38 He
made ten copper basins;+
each could hold 40 bath measures. Each basin measured four cubits.*
There was one basin for each of the ten carriages.
39 Then
he put five carriages on the right side of the house and five on the left side
of the house, and he placed the Sea on the right side of the house, toward the
southeast.+
40 Hiram+
also made the basins, the shovels,+
and the bowls.+
So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of
Jehovah:+
41 the
two pillars+
and the bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two
networks+
to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars;
42 the
400 pomegranates+
for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the
two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the two pillars;
43 the
ten carriages+
and the ten basins+
on the carriages;
44 the
Sea+
and the 12 bulls beneath the Sea;
45 and
the cans, the shovels, the bowls, and all the utensils, which Hiram made of
polished copper for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah.
46 The
king cast them in clay molds in the district of the Jordan, between Succoth and
Zarethan.
47 Solomon
left all the utensils unweighed because they were in such great quantities. The
weight of the copper was not ascertained.+
48 Solomon
made all the utensils for the house of Jehovah: the altar+
of gold; the gold table+
on which to put the showbread;
49 the
lampstands+
of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left before the innermost room;
and the blossoms,+
the lamps, and the snuffers,*
of gold;+
50 the
basins, the extinguishers,+
the bowls, the cups,+
and the fire holders,+
of pure gold; and the sockets for the doors of the inner house,+
that is, the Most Holy, and for the doors of the house of the temple,+
of gold.
51 So
King Solomon completed all the work he had to do for the house of Jehovah.
Solomon then brought in the things that David his father had made holy,+
and he put the silver, the gold, and the articles into the treasuries of the
house of Jehovah.+
8
At
that time Solomon congregated+
the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the chieftains of the
paternal houses of Israel.+
They came to King Solomon at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of
Jehovah from the City of David,+
that is, Zion.+
2 All
the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival*
in the month of Ethanim,*
that is, the seventh month.+
3 So
all the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted up the Ark.+
4 They
brought up the Ark of Jehovah, the tent of meeting,+
and all the holy utensils that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites
brought them up.
5 King
Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel, who had been summoned to meet with
him, were before the Ark. So many sheep and cattle were being sacrificed+
that they could not be counted or numbered.
6 Then
the priests brought the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place,+
into the innermost room of the house, the Most Holy, underneath the wings of the
cherubs.+
7 Thus the wings of the cherubs were spread out over the place of the Ark, so that the cherubs overshadowed the Ark and its poles.+ 8 The poles+ were so long that the tips of the poles were visible from the Holy in front of the innermost room, but they were not visible from outside. And they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing in the Ark but the two stone tablets+ that Moses placed there+ at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant+ with the people of Israel while they were coming out of the land of Egypt.+
10 When
the priests came out from the holy place, the cloud+
filled the house of Jehovah.+
11 The
priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory
of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.+
12 At
that time Solomon said: “Jehovah said he would reside in the thick gloom.+
13 I
have successfully built a lofty house for you, an established place for you to
dwell in forever.”+
14 Then
the king turned around and began to bless all the congregation of Israel while
all the congregation of Israel stood.+
15 He
said: “May Jehovah the God of Israel be praised, the one who by his own mouth
promised my father David, and by his own hand has given fulfillment, saying,
16 ‘From
the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of
all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house for my name to remain there,+
but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
17 And
it was the heart’s desire of my father David to build a house for the name of
Jehovah the God of Israel.+
18 But
Jehovah said to my father David, ‘It was your heart’s desire to build a house
for my name, and you did well to desire this in your heart.
19 However,
you will not build the house, but your own son who is to be born to you*
is the one who will build the house for my name.’+
20 Jehovah
has carried out the promise that he made, for I have succeeded my father David
and I sit on the throne of Israel, just as Jehovah promised. I have also built
the house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel+
21 and
have set up a place there for the Ark containing the covenant+
that Jehovah made with our forefathers when he was bringing them out of the land
of Egypt.”
22 Then
Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in front of all the congregation of
Israel, and he spread his hands out to the heavens,+
23 and
he said: “O Jehovah the God of Israel, there is no God like you+
in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and showing
loyal love+
to your servants who are walking before you with all their heart.+
24 You
have kept the promise that you made to your servant David my father. You made
the promise with your own mouth, and this day you have fulfilled it with your
own hand.+
25 And
now, O Jehovah the God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant
David my father when you said: ‘There will never fail to be a man of your line
before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons will pay attention
to their way by walking before me, just as you have walked before me.’+
26 And
now, O God of Israel, let the promise that you made to your servant David my
father prove trustworthy, please.
27 “But
will God really dwell on the earth?+
Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, cannot contain you;+
how much less, then, this house that I have built!+
28 Now
pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request for favor, O
Jehovah my God, and listen to the cry for help and to the prayer that your
servant is praying before you today.
29 May
your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you
said, ‘My name will be there,’+
to listen to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.+
30 And
listen to your servant’s request for favor and to the request by your people
Israel that they pray toward this place, and may you hear from your dwelling
place in the heavens;+
yes, may you hear and forgive.+
31 “When
a man sins against his fellow man and is made to take an oath*
and is brought under liability to the oath,*
and while under the oath*
he comes before your altar in this house,+
32 may
you then hear from the heavens and act and judge your servants by pronouncing
the wicked one guilty*
and bringing what he did on his own head, and by pronouncing the righteous one
innocent*
and rewarding him according to his own righteousness.+
33 “When
your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they kept sinning against
you,+
and they return to you and glorify your name+
and pray and beg you for favor in this house,+
34 may
you then hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your people Israel and
bring them back to the land that you gave to their forefathers.+
35 “When
the heavens are shut up and there is no rain+
because they kept sinning against you,+
and they pray toward this place and glorify your name and turn back from their
sin because you humbled*
them,+
36 may
you then hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your servants, of your
people Israel, for you will instruct them+
about the good way in which they should walk; and bring rain on your land+
that you gave to your people as an inheritance.
37 “If
a famine occurs in the land,+
or a pestilence, a scorching blight, mildew,+
swarming locusts, or voracious locusts;*
or if their enemy besieges them in any of the cities of the land*
or if any other sort of plague or disease occurs,+
38 whatever
prayer, whatever request for favor+
may be made by any man or by all your people Israel (for each one knows the
plague of his own heart)+
when they spread out their hands toward this house,
39 then
may you hear from the heavens, your dwelling place,+
and may you forgive+
and take action; and reward each one according to all his ways,+
for you know his heart (you alone truly know every human heart),+
40 so
that they may fear you all the days they live on the land that you gave to our
forefathers.
41 “Also
concerning the foreigner who is not part of your people Israel and who comes
from a distant land because of your name*+
42 (for
they will hear about your great name+
and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm), and he comes and prays toward
this house,
43 may
you then listen from the heavens, your dwelling place,+
and do all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth
may know your name and fear you,+
as your people Israel do, and may know that your name has been called on this
house that I have built.
44 “If your people go to war against their enemy in the way that you send them,+ and they pray+ to Jehovah in the direction of the city that you have chosen+ and toward the house that I have built for your name,+ 45 then hear from the heavens their prayer and their request for favor and execute judgment for them.
46 “If
they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin),+
and you are furious with them and you abandon them to an enemy, and their
captors carry them off captive to the land of the enemy, far or near;+
47 and
they come to their senses in the land where they were carried off captive,+
and they return to you+
and beg you for favor in the land of their captors,+
saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’+
48 and
they return to you with all their heart+
and all their soul*
in the land of their enemies who carried them off captive, and they pray to you
in the direction of their land that you gave to their forefathers and of the
city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,+
49 then
hear from the heavens, your dwelling place,+
their prayer and their request for favor, and execute judgment for them
50 and
forgive your people who have sinned against you, forgiving all their
transgressions they committed against you. You will make them objects of pity
before their captors, and they will pity them+
51 (for
they are your people and your inheritance,+
whom you brought out of Egypt,+
from inside the iron-smelting furnace).+
52 May
your eyes be opened to your servant’s request for favor+
and to the request for favor by your people Israel by listening whenever they
call to you.*+
53 For
you set them apart as your inheritance out of all the peoples of the earth,+
just as you declared through Moses your servant when you were bringing our
forefathers out of Egypt, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”
54 And
as soon as Solomon finished offering to Jehovah this entire prayer and request
for favor, he rose up from before the altar of Jehovah, where he had been
kneeling with his hands spread out to the heavens.+
55 He
then stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying:
56 “Praised
be Jehovah, who has given a resting-place to his people Israel, just as he
promised.+
Not one word of all his good promise that he made through Moses his servant has
failed.+
57 May
Jehovah our God be with us just as he was with our forefathers.+
May he not abandon us nor forsake us.+
58 May
he draw our heart toward himself,+
to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his regulations, and his
judgments, which he commanded our forefathers to observe.
59 And
may these words of mine with which I have begged Jehovah for favor be near to
Jehovah our God by day and night, that he may execute judgment for his servant
and for his people Israel as each day requires,
60 so
that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is the true God.+
There is no other!+
61 So
let your heart be complete+
with*
Jehovah our God by walking in his regulations and by keeping his commandments as
on this day.”
62 Now
the king and all Israel with him offered a grand sacrifice before Jehovah.+
63 Solomon
offered the communion sacrifices+
to Jehovah: He offered 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Thus the king and all
the Israelites inaugurated the house of Jehovah.+
64 On
that day the king had to sanctify the middle of the courtyard that is before the
house of Jehovah, for there he had to offer up the burnt sacrifices, the grain
offerings, and the fat pieces of the communion sacrifices, because the copper
altar+
that is before Jehovah was too small to contain the burnt sacrifices, the grain
offerings, and the fat+
pieces of the communion sacrifices.
65 At
that time Solomon held the festival+
together with all Israel, a great congregation from Lebo-hamath*
down to the Wadi*
of Egypt,+
before Jehovah our God for 7 days and then another 7 days, 14 days in all.
66 On
the following*
day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes
rejoicing and feeling glad of heart over all the goodness+
that Jehovah had shown to David his servant and Israel his people.
9
As
soon as Solomon had finished building the house of Jehovah, the house*
of the king,+
and everything Solomon desired to make,+
2 Jehovah
appeared to Solomon a second time, just as he had appeared to him in Gibeon.+
3 Jehovah
said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your request for favor that you made
before me. I have sanctified this house that you built by permanently putting my
name there,+
and my eyes and my heart will always be there.+
4 And
you, if you walk before me as your father David walked,+
with integrity of heart+
and with uprightness,+
by doing everything I have commanded you,+
and you obey my regulations and my judgments,+
5 then
I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I
promised your father David, saying, ‘There will never fail to be a man of your
line sitting on the throne of Israel.’+
6 But
if you and your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commandments
and my statutes that I have put before you, and you go and serve other gods and
bow down to them,+
7 I
will cut Israel off from the surface of the land that I have given to them,+
and the house that I have sanctified for my name I will cast out of my sight,+
and Israel will become an object of scorn*
and a cause for ridicule among all the peoples.+
8 And
this house will become heaps of ruins.+
Everyone passing by it will stare in amazement and will whistle and say, ‘Why
did Jehovah do that to this land and this house?’+
9 Then
they will say, ‘It was because they abandoned Jehovah their God, who had brought
their forefathers out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and
bowed down to them and served them. That is why Jehovah brought all this
calamity on them.’”+
10 At
the end of 20 years, during which Solomon built the two houses, the house of
Jehovah and the house*
of the king,+
11 Hiram+
the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and juniper timbers and with
as much gold as he desired,+
and King Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee.
12 So
Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but he
was not satisfied with them.*
13 He
said: “What sort of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So
they came to be called the Land of Cabul*
down to this day.
14 In
the meantime, Hiram sent to the king 120 talents*
of gold.+
15 This
is the account of those whom King Solomon conscripted for forced labor+
to build the house of Jehovah,+
his own house,*
the Mound,*+
the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor,+
Megiddo,+
and Gezer.+
16 (Pharaoh
king of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer and had burned it with fire, and
he had also killed the Canaanites+
dwelling in the city. So he gave it as a parting gift*
to his daughter,+
the wife of Solomon.)
17 Solomon
built up*
Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,+
18 Baalath,+
and Tamar in the wilderness, within the land,
19 as
well as all of Solomon’s storage cities, the chariot cities,+
the cities for the horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in
Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 As
for all the people who were left from the Amorites, the Hittites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,+
who were not part of the people of Israel,+
21 their
descendants who were left in the land—those whom the Israelites had been unable
to devote to destruction—were conscripted by Solomon for forced labor as
slaves until this day.+
22 But
Solomon did not make any of the Israelites slaves,+
for they were his warriors, servants, princes, adjutants, and the chiefs of his
charioteers and horsemen.
23 There
were 550 chiefs of the deputies who were over the work of Solomon, the foremen
over the people who were doing the work.+
24 But
Pharaoh’s daughter+
came up from the City of David+
to her own house that he had built for her; then he built the Mound.*+
25 Three
times a year+
Solomon offered up burnt sacrifices and communion sacrifices on the altar that
he had built for Jehovah,+
also making sacrificial smoke on the altar, which was before Jehovah, so he
completed the house.+
26 King
Solomon also made a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber,+
which is by Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.+
27 Hiram
sent his own servants with the fleet of ships,+
experienced seamen, to serve along with the servants of Solomon.
28 They
went to Ophir+
and took from there 420 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.
10
Now the queen of Sheba heard the report about Solomon in connection with the
name of Jehovah,+
so she came to test him with perplexing questions.*+
2 She
arrived in Jerusalem with a very impressive entourage,*+
with camels carrying balsam oil+
and great quantities of gold and precious stones. She went in to Solomon and
spoke to him about everything that was close to her heart.
3 Solomon
then answered all her questions. There was nothing too difficult for*
the king to explain to her.
4 When
the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon,+
the house that he built,+
5 the
food of his table,+
the seating of his servants, the table service of his waiters and their attire,
his cupbearers, and his burnt sacrifices that he regularly offered up at the
house of Jehovah, she was left completely breathless.*
6 So
she said to the king: “The report that I heard in my own land about your
achievements*
and about your wisdom was true.
7 But
I did not put faith in the reports until I had come and had seen it with my own
eyes. And look! I had not been told the half. You have far surpassed in wisdom
and prosperity the report that I heard.
8 Happy
are your men, and happy are your servants who stand before you constantly,
listening to your wisdom!+
9 May
Jehovah your God be praised,+
who has taken pleasure in you by putting you on the throne of Israel. Because of
Jehovah’s everlasting love for Israel, he appointed you as king to administer
justice and righteousness.”
10 Then
she gave the king 120 talents*
of gold and a great amount of balsam oil+
and precious stones.+
Never again was such a quantity of balsam oil brought in as what the queen of
Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 Hiram’s
fleet of ships that carried gold from Ophir+
also brought from Ophir algum timbers+
in very great quantity, and precious stones.+
12 The
king made from the algum timbers supports for the house of Jehovah and for the
king’s house,*
as well as harps and stringed instruments for the singers.+
Such algum timbers have never again been brought in or seen down to this day.
13 King
Solomon also gave the queen of Sheba whatever she desired and asked for, in
addition to what he gave her out of his own generosity.*
After that she left and returned to her own land, together with her servants.+
14 And
the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year amounted to 666
talents of gold,+
15 besides
that from the merchants and the profit from the traders and from all the kings
of the Arabs and the governors of the land.
16 King
Solomon made 200 large shields of alloyed gold+
(600 shekels*
of gold went on each shield)+
17 and
300 bucklers*
of alloyed gold (three minas*
of gold went on each buckler). Then the king put them in the House of the Forest
of Lebanon.+
18 The
king also made a great ivory throne+
and overlaid it with refined gold.+
19 There
were six steps to the throne, and the throne had a round canopy behind it, and
there were armrests on both sides of the seat, and two lions+
were standing beside the armrests.
20 And
there were 12 lions standing on the six steps, one at each end of the six steps.
No other kingdom had made anything like it.
21 All
the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the utensils of the
House of the Forest of Lebanon+
were of pure gold. There was nothing made of silver, for silver was considered
as nothing in the days of Solomon.+
22 For
the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish+
on the sea along with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years, the fleet of ships
of Tarshish would come loaded with gold and silver, ivory,+
apes, and peacocks.
23 So
King Solomon was greater than all the other kings of the earth in riches+
and wisdom.+
24 And
people of all the earth sought an audience with*
Solomon to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart.+
25 They
would each bring a gift—articles of silver, articles of gold, garments, armor,
balsam oil, horses, and mules—and this continued year after year.
26 And
Solomon kept accumulating chariots and horses;*
he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses,*+
and he kept them stationed in the chariot cities and close by the king in
Jerusalem.+
27 The
king made the silver in Jerusalem as plentiful as the stones, and cedarwood as
plentiful as the sycamore trees in the Shephelah.+
28 The
horses of Solomon had been imported from Egypt, and the company of the king’s
merchants would obtain the horses in droves*
for one price.+
29 Each
chariot imported from Egypt cost 600 silver pieces, and a horse cost 150; in
turn, they would export them to all the kings of the Hittites+
and the kings of Syria.
11
But King Solomon loved many foreign women+
besides the daughter of Pharaoh:+
Moabite,+
Ammonite,+
Edomite, Sidonian,+
and Hittite+
women.
2 They
were from the nations about whom Jehovah had said to the Israelites: “You must
not go in among them,*
and they should not come in among you, for they will surely incline your heart
to follow their gods.”+
But Solomon clung to them and loved them.
3 And
he had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and his wives gradually
inclined his heart.*
4 In
Solomon’s old age,+
his wives inclined*
his heart to follow other gods,+
and his heart was not complete with*
Jehovah his God like the heart of David his father.
5 And
Solomon followed after Ashtoreth,+
the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom,+
the disgusting god of the Ammonites.
6 And
Solomon did what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, and he did not follow Jehovah
completely*
as David his father had done.+
7 It
was then that Solomon built a high place+
to Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, on the mountain in front of Jerusalem
and to Molech,+
the disgusting god of the Ammonites.+
8 That
was what he did for all his foreign wives who were making sacrificial smoke and
sacrificing to their gods.
9 Jehovah
became furious at Solomon, because his heart had inclined away from Jehovah
the God of Israel,+
who had appeared to him twice+
10 and
had warned him about this very thing, that he should not go after other gods.+
But he did not obey what Jehovah had commanded.
11 Jehovah
now said to Solomon: “Because you have done this and you have not kept my
covenant and my statutes as I commanded you, I will surely rip the kingdom away
from you, and I will give it to one of your servants.+
12 However,
for the sake of your father David, I will not do it in your lifetime. I will rip
it out of the hand of your son,+
13 but
I will not rip away the entire kingdom.+
One tribe I will give to your son,+
for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have
chosen.”+
14 Jehovah
then raised up a resister against Solomon,+
Hadad the Edomite, of the royal family of Edom.+
15 When
David defeated Edom,+
Joab the chief of the army went up to bury the slain, and he tried to strike
down every male in Edom.
16 (For
Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months until he had done away with*
every male in Edom.)
17 But
Hadad fled with some of his father’s Edomite servants, and they went to
Egypt; Hadad was then a young boy.
18 So
they set out from Midian and came to Paran. They took men with them from
Paran+
and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, assigned him
a food allowance, and gave him land.
19 Hadad
found favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, so much so that he gave him in marriage the
sister of his own wife, Tahpenes the queen.*
20 In
time the sister of Tahpenes bore him a son, Genubath, and Tahpenes brought
him up*
in the house of Pharaoh, and Genubath remained in the house of Pharaoh among
the sons of Pharaoh.
21 Hadad
heard in Egypt that David had been laid to rest with his forefathers+
and that Joab the chief of the army had died.+
So Hadad said to Pharaoh: “Send me away, so that I may go to my own land.”
22 But
Pharaoh said to him: “What have you lacked with me that you now seek to go to
your own land?” To this he said: “Nothing, but please send me away.”
23 God
also raised up against Solomon another resister,+
Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer+
the king of Zobah.
24 He
gathered men to himself and became chief of a marauder band when David defeated*
them.+
So they went to Damascus+
and settled there and began reigning in Damascus.
25 And
he became a resister of Israel all the days of Solomon, adding to the harm
done by Hadad, and he abhorred Israel while he reigned over Syria.
26 And
there was Jeroboam+
the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon’s+
whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow. He too began to rebel*
against the king.+
27 This
is why he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the Mound*+
and had closed up the gap of the City of David his father.+
28 Now
this Jeroboam was a capable man. When Solomon saw that the young man was a
hard worker, he made him overseer+
over all the compulsory service of the house of Joseph.
29 During
that time Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah+
the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new garment, and
the two of them were by themselves in the field.
30 Ahijah
took hold of the new garment he was wearing and ripped it into 12 pieces.
31 Then
he said to Jeroboam:
“Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what Jehovah the God of Israel says:
‘Here I am ripping the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you
ten tribes.+
32 But
one tribe will remain his+
for the sake of my servant David+
and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of
Israel.+
33 I
will do this because they have left me+
and are bowing down to Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh
the god of Moab, and to Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not
walked in my ways by doing what is right in my eyes and observing my statutes
and my judgments as his father David did.
34 But
I will not take the entire kingdom out of his hand, and I will keep him as a
chieftain for all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I
chose,+
because he obeyed my commandments and my statutes.
35 But
I will take the kingship out of the hand of his son and give it to you, that is,
ten tribes.+
36 To
his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant may always have a lamp
before me in Jerusalem,+
the city that I have chosen for myself as the place to put my name.
37 I
will take you, and you will reign over all that you desire,*
and you will become king over Israel.
38 And
if you obey all that I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in
my eyes by obeying my statutes and my commandments, just as David my servant
did,+
I will also be with you. I will build you a lasting house, just as I have built
for David,+
and I will give you Israel.
39 And
I will humiliate the offspring of David because of this,+
but not always.’”+
40 So
Solomon tried to put Jeroboam to death, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to
Shishak+
the king of Egypt,+
and he remained in Egypt until Solomon’s death.
41 As
for the rest of the history of Solomon, all that he did and his wisdom, is it
not written in the book of the history of Solomon?+
42 The
length*
of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years.
43 Then
Solomon was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried in the City of
David his father; and his son Rehoboam+
became king in his place.
12
Rehoboam went
to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem+
to make him king.+
2 As
soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (he was still in Egypt because
he had run off on account of King Solomon and was living in Egypt),+
3 they
sent for him. After that Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came to
Rehoboam and said:
4 “Your
father made our yoke harsh.+
But if you make the harsh service of your father easier and you lighten the
heavy*
yoke he put on us, we will serve you.”
5 At
this he said to them: “Go away for three days; then return to me.” So the people
went away.+
6 King
Rehoboam then consulted with the older men*
who had served his father Solomon while he was alive, saying: “What advice
would you give on how to reply to this people?”
7 They
answered him: “If today you would become a servant to this people and submit to
their request and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your
servants.”
8 However,
he rejected the advice that the older men*
gave him, and he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and who
were now his attendants.+
9 He
asked them: “What advice do you offer on how we should reply to this people who
have said to me, ‘Make the yoke your father put on us lighter’?”
10 The
young men who had grown up with him said to him: “This is what you should say to
this people who have said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you
should make it lighter for us’; this is what you should tell them, ‘My little
finger will be thicker than my father’s hips.
11 My
father imposed a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father
punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scourges.’”
12 Jeroboam
and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had
said: “Return to me on the third day.”+
13 But
the king answered the people harshly, rejecting the advice that the older men*
had given him.
14 He
spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying: “My father made
your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips,
but I will punish you with scourges.”
15 So
the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was caused by
Jehovah,+
in order to carry out the word that Jehovah had spoken through Ahijah+
the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 When
all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people replied to
the king: “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of
Jesse. To your gods, O Israel. Now look after your own house, O David!” With
that Israel returned to their homes.*+
17 But
Rehoboam continued to reign over the Israelites living in the cities of
Judah.+
18 Then
King Rehoboam sent Adoram,+
who was in charge of those conscripted for forced labor, but all Israel stoned
him to death. King Rehoboam managed to mount his chariot to flee to
Jerusalem.+
19 And
the Israelites have been in revolt+
against the house of David down to this day.
20 As
soon as all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the
assembly and made him king over all Israel.+
None of the people followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah.+
21 When
Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he immediately congregated all the house of
Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 trained*
warriors, to fight against the house of Israel in order to restore the kingship
to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.+
22 Then
the word of the true God came to Shemaiah+
the man of the true God, saying:
23 “Say
to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah and to all the house of
Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people,
24 ‘This
is what Jehovah says: “You must not go up and fight against your Israelite
brothers. Each one of you must return to his house, for I have caused this to
happen.”’”+
So they obeyed the word of Jehovah and went back home, as Jehovah had told them.
25 Jeroboam
then built up*
Shechem+
in the mountainous region of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out
and built up*
Penuel.+
26 Jeroboam
said in his heart: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.+
27 If
this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices at the house of Jehovah in
Jerusalem,+
the heart of this people will also return to their lord, King Rehoboam of
Judah. Yes, they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”
28 After
consultation, the king made two golden calves+
and said to the people: “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here is
your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”+
29 Then
he placed one in Bethel,+
and the other he put in Dan.+
30 And
this caused them to sin,+
and the people went as far as Dan to worship the one there.
31 And
he made houses of worship on the high places and appointed priests from the
people in general, those who were not Levites.+
32 Jeroboam
also established a festival in the eighth month, on the 15th day of the month,
like the festival in Judah.+
On the altar that he made at Bethel,+
he sacrificed to the calves he had made, and at Bethel he assigned priests for
the high places that he had made.
33 And
he began to make offerings on the altar that he had made at Bethel on the 15th
day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised on his own; and he
established a festival for the people of Israel, and he ascended the altar to
make offerings and sacrificial smoke.
13
By
the word of Jehovah, a man of God+
came from Judah to Bethel while Jeroboam was standing by the altar+
to make sacrificial smoke.
2 Then
he called out against the altar by the word of Jehovah and said: “O altar,
altar! This is what Jehovah says: ‘Look! A son named Josiah+
will be born to the house of David! He will sacrifice on you the priests of the
high places, those making sacrificial smoke on you, and he will burn human bones
on you.’”+
3 He
gave a sign*
on that day, saying: “This is the sign*
that Jehovah has declared: Look! The altar will be ripped apart, and the ashes*
that are on it will be spilled out.”
4 As
soon as the king heard the word that the man of the true God had called out
against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar
and said: “Seize him!”+
Immediately, the hand that he had stretched out against him dried up,*
and he could not draw it back.+
5 Then
the altar was ripped apart and the ashes were spilled out from the altar
according to the sign*
that the man of the true God had given by the word of Jehovah.
6 The
king now said to the man of the true God: “Please, beg for the favor*
of Jehovah your God, and pray in my behalf that my hand may be restored to me.”+
At this the man of the true God begged for the favor of Jehovah, and the king’s
hand was restored to its former condition.
7 The
king then said to the man of the true God: “Come home with me and take some
food, and let me give you a gift.”
8 But
the man of the true God said to the king: “Even if you gave me half your house,
I would not come with you and eat bread or drink water in this place.
9 For
this is what I was commanded by the word of Jehovah: ‘You must not eat bread or
drink water, and you must not return by the way you came.’”
10 So
he left by another way, and he did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 There
was a certain old prophet dwelling in Bethel, and his sons came home and
related to him all the things that the man of the true God had done that day in
Bethel and the words he had spoken to the king. After they related this to
their father,
12 their
father asked them: “Which way did he go?” So his sons showed him the way that
the man of the true God from Judah had gone.
13 He
now said to his sons: “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled the donkey for
him, and he mounted it.
14 He
followed the man of the true God and found him sitting under a big tree. Then he
said to him: “Are you the man of the true God who came from Judah?”+
He replied: “I am.”
15 He
said to him: “Come home with me and eat bread.”
16 But
he said: “I cannot go back with you or accept your invitation, nor may I eat
bread or drink water with you in this place.
17 For
I was told by the word of Jehovah, ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there.
You must not return by the way you came.’”
18 At
this he said to him: “I too am a prophet like you,
and an angel told me by the
word of Jehovah, ‘Have him come back with you to your house so that he may eat
bread and drink water.’” (He deceived him.)
Gal.1:8
19 So
he went back with him to eat bread and drink water in his house.
20 While
they were sitting at the table, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet who had
brought him back,
21 and
he called out to the man of the true God from Judah, saying, “This is what
Jehovah says: ‘Because you rebelled against the order of Jehovah and did not
keep the commandment that Jehovah your God gave you,
22 but
you went back to eat bread and drink water in the place about which you were
told, “Do not eat bread or drink water,” your dead body will not come into the
tomb of your forefathers.’”+
23 After
the man of the true God ate bread and drank, the old prophet saddled the donkey
for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 Then
he got on his way, but a lion came across him on the road and killed him.+
His dead body was thrown onto the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion
was also standing beside the dead body.
25 There
were men passing by who saw the dead body thrown onto the road and the lion
standing beside the dead body. They came in and told about it in the city where
the old prophet lived.
26 When
the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard of it, he immediately
said: “It is the man of the true God who rebelled against the order of Jehovah;+
so Jehovah gave him over to the lion, to maul and to kill him, according to the
word of Jehovah that he spoke to him.”+
27 He
then said to his sons: “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it.
28 Then
he went on his way and found the dead body thrown onto the road, with the donkey
and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the dead body, nor had
it mauled the donkey.
29 The
prophet lifted up the dead body of the man of the true God and put him on the
donkey, and he brought him back into his own city to mourn and bury him.
30 So
he laid the dead body in his own tomb, and they kept crying out over him: “Too
bad, my brother!”
31 After
burying him, he told his sons: “When I die, you must bury me in the place where
the man of the true God is buried. Lay my bones next to his bones.+
32 The
word that he called out by the word of Jehovah against the altar in Bethel and
against all the houses of worship on the high places+
in the cities of Samaria is sure to take place.”+
33 Even
after this happened, Jeroboam did not turn back from his bad way, but he kept
appointing priests for the high places from the people in general.+
He would install as priests*
anyone who so desired, saying: “Let him become one of the priests for the high
places.”+
34 This
sin on the part of the household of Jeroboam+
led to their destruction and annihilation from the face of the earth.+
14
At that time
Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2 So
Jeroboam said to his wife: “Rise up, please, and disguise yourself so that
they will not know that you are Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Look!
Ahijah the prophet is there. He is the one who spoke of me becoming king over
this people.+
3 Take
with you ten loaves of bread, sprinkled cakes, and a flask of honey, and go to
him. He will then tell you what is going to happen to the boy.”
4 Jeroboam’s
wife did what he said. She rose up and went to Shiloh+
and came to the house of Ahijah. Ahijah’s eyes stared straight ahead, and he
could not see because of his age.
5 But
Jehovah had told Ahijah: “Here is the wife of Jeroboam coming to inquire of
you regarding her son, for he is sick. I will tell you what to say to her.*
When she arrives, she will conceal her identity.”
6 As
soon as Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she was coming into the
entrance, he said: “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you concealing your
identity? I have been assigned to give you a harsh message.
7 Go,
tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: “I raised you up
from among your people to make you a leader over my people Israel.+
8 Then
I ripped the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you.+
But you have not become like my servant David, who kept my commandments and who
walked after me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.+
9 But
you have done worse than all those who were prior to you, and you made for
yourself another god and metal images*
to offend me,+
and it is I whom you have turned your back on.+
10 For
that reason I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam, and I will
annihilate*
from Jeroboam every male,*
including the helpless and weak in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the
house of Jeroboam,+
just as one clears away the dung until it is all gone!
11 Anyone
belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and anyone who
dies in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat, for Jehovah has spoken
it.”’
12 “Now
rise up; go to your house. When you set foot in the city, the child will die.
13 All
Israel will mourn him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family will be
laid in a grave, because he is the only one of the house of Jeroboam in whom
Jehovah the God of Israel has found something good.
14 Jehovah
will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will do away with*
the house of Jeroboam+
from that day forward, yes, even now.
15 Jehovah
will strike Israel down like a reed that sways in the water, and he will uproot
Israel off this good land that he gave to their forefathers,+
and he will scatter them beyond the River,*+
because they made their sacred poles,*+
offending Jehovah.
16 And
he will abandon Israel because of the sins that Jeroboam has committed and
has caused Israel to commit.”+
17 At
that Jeroboam’s wife rose up and went on her way and came to Tirzah. As she
came to the threshold of the house, the boy died.
18 So
they buried him, and all Israel mourned him, according to Jehovah’s word that he
had spoken through his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 And the rest of the history of Jeroboam, how he waged war+ and how he reigned, is written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Israel. 20 And the length* of Jeroboam’s reign was 22 years, after which he was laid to rest with his forefathers;+ and his son Nadab became king in his place.+
21 Meanwhile,
Rehoboam the son of Solomon had become king in Judah. Rehoboam was 41
years old when he became king, and he reigned for 17 years in Jerusalem, the
city that Jehovah had chosen+
out of all the tribes of Israel as the place to put his name.+
The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah the Ammonitess.+
22 And
Judah was doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah,+
and by the sins they committed they provoked him more than their forefathers had
done.+
23 They
too kept building for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and sacred poles*+
on every high hill+
and under every luxuriant tree.+
24 There
were also male temple prostitutes in the land.+
They acted according to all the detestable things of the nations that Jehovah
had driven out before the Israelites.
25 In
the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak+
of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.+
26 He
took the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s
house.*+
He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.+
27 So
King Rehoboam made copper shields to replace them, and he entrusted them to
the chiefs of the guard,*
who guarded the entrance of the king’s house.
28 Whenever
the king came to the house of Jehovah, the guards would carry them, and then
they would return them to the guard chamber.
29 And
the rest of the history of Rehoboam, all that he did, is it not written in
the book of the history of the times of the kings of Judah?+
30 There
was constant warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.+
31 Then
Rehoboam was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried with his
forefathers in the City of David.+
His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.+
And his son Abijam*+
became king in his place.
15
In the 18th year
of King Jeroboam+
the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.+
2 He
reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah+
the granddaughter of Abishalom.
3 He
went on walking in all the sins that his father committed prior to him, and his
heart was not complete with*
Jehovah his God like the heart of David his forefather.
4 However,
on account of David,+
Jehovah his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem+
by raising up his son after him and keeping Jerusalem in existence.
5 For
David did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and he did not turn aside from
anything that He had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the
matter of Uriah the Hittite.+
6 And
there was warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.+
7 As
for the rest of the history of Abijam, all that he did, is it not written in
the book of the history of the times of the kings of Judah?+
There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam.+
8 Then
Abijam was laid to rest with his forefathers, and they buried him in the City
of David; and his son Asa+
became king in his place.+
9 In
the 20th year of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah.
10 He
reigned in Jerusalem for 41 years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah+
the granddaughter of Abishalom.
11 Asa
did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah,+
like David his forefather.
12 He
expelled the male temple prostitutes from the land+
and removed all the disgusting idols*
that his forefathers had made.+
13 He
even removed Maacah+
his grandmother from her position as queen mother,*
because she had made an obscene idol for the worship of the sacred pole.*
Asa cut down her obscene idol+
and burned it in the Kidron Valley.+
14 But
the high places were not removed.+
Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was complete with*
Jehovah all his life.*
15 And
he brought the things that he and his father had made holy into the house of
Jehovah—silver, gold, and various utensils.+
16 There
was constant warfare between Asa and Baasha+
the king of Israel.
17 So
King Baasha of Israel came up against Judah and began to build up*
Ramah+
to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to*
King Asa of Judah.+
18 At
that Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasuries of
the house of Jehovah and the treasuries of the house*
of the king and handed them over to his servants. King Asa then sent them to
Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon the son of Hezion, the king of Syria,+
who was dwelling in Damascus, saying:
19 “There
is a treaty*
between me and you and between my father and your father. I am sending you a
gift of silver and gold. Come, break your treaty*
with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
20 Ben-hadad
listened to King Asa and sent the chiefs of his armies against the cities of
Israel, and they struck down Ijon,+
Dan,+
Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinnereth, and all the land of Naphtali.
21 When
Baasha heard of it, he immediately quit building*
Ramah and continued dwelling in Tirzah.+
22 King
Asa then summoned all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried off the stones
and timbers of Ramah that Baasha had been building with, and with them King
Asa built up*
Geba+
in Benjamin, and Mizpah.+
23 As
for all the rest of the history of Asa, all his mightiness and all that he did
and the cities that he built,*
is it not written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Judah?
But in his old age he suffered from a disease in his feet.+
24 Then
Asa was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried with them in the City
of David his forefather; and his son Jehoshaphat+
became king in his place.
25 Nadab+
the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of King Asa
of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.
26 He
kept doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah and walked in the way of his
father+
and in his sin that he caused Israel to commit.+
27 Baasha
the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and
Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon,+
which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging
Gibbethon.
28 So
Baasha put him to death in the third year of King Asa of Judah and became
king in his place.
29 And
as soon as he became king, he struck down all the house of Jeroboam. He did
not let remain anyone breathing who belonged to Jeroboam; he had them
annihilated according to Jehovah’s word that he had spoken through his servant
Ahijah the Shilonite.+
30 This
was because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to
commit and because he had greatly offended Jehovah the God of Israel.
31 As
for the rest of the history of Nadab, all that he did, is it not written in the
book of the history of the times of the kings of Israel?
32 And
there was constant warfare between Asa and King Baasha of Israel.+
33 In
the third year of King Asa of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king
in Tirzah over all Israel and reigned for 24 years.+
34 But
he kept doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah,+
and he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin that he caused Israel to
commit.+
16
The word of Jehovah against Baasha then came to Jehu+
the son of Hanani,+
saying:
2 “I
raised you up out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel,+
but you kept walking in the way of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to
sin so that they offended me with their sins.+
3 So
I am making a clean sweep of Baasha and his house, and I will make his house
like the house of Jeroboam+
the son of Nebat.
4 Anyone
belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs will eat; and anyone
belonging to him who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat.”
5 As
for the rest of the history of Baasha, what he did and his mightiness, is it
not written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Israel?
6 Then
Baasha was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried in Tirzah;+
and Elah his son became king in his place.
7 Also
through the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani, Jehovah’s word came against
Baasha and his house, both because of all the badness that he committed in the
eyes of Jehovah by offending him with the work of his hands, becoming like the
house of Jeroboam, and also because of his striking him*
down.+
8 In
the 26th year of King Asa of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over
Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned for two years.
9 His
servant Zimri, the chief of half of his chariot forces, conspired against him
while he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk at the house of Arza, who was
over the household in Tirzah.
10 Zimri
came in and struck him down+
and put him to death in the 27th year of King Asa of Judah, and he became king
in his place.
11 When
he became king, as soon as he sat down on his throne, he struck down all the
house of Baasha. He did not spare a single male,*
whether of his relatives*
or of his friends.
12 Thus
Zimri annihilated the whole house of Baasha, according to the word that
Jehovah had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet.+
13 This
was for all the sins that Baasha and his son Elah had committed and the sins
they had caused Israel to commit by offending Jehovah the God of Israel with
their worthless idols.+
14 As
for the rest of the history of Elah, all that he did, is it not written in the
book of the history of the times of the kings of Israel?
15 In
the 27th year of King Asa of Judah, Zimri became king for seven days in
Tirzah while the troops were camped against Gibbethon,+
which belonged to the Philistines.
16 In
time the troops who were encamped heard it being said: “Zimri has conspired and
has also struck down the king.” So all Israel made Omri,+
the chief of the army, king over Israel on that day in the camp.
17 Omri
and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah.
18 When
Zimri saw that the city had been captured, he went into the fortified tower of
the king’s house*
and burned the house down over himself, and he died.+
19 This
was for his own sins that he had committed by doing what was bad in the eyes of
Jehovah by walking in the way of Jeroboam and for the sin he had caused
Israel to commit.+
20 As
for the rest of the history of Zimri and his conspiracy, is it not written in
the book of the history of the times of the kings of Israel?
21 It
was then that the people of Israel were divided into two factions. One part of
the people became followers of Tibni the son of Ginath, wanting to make him
king, and the other part followed Omri.
22 But
the people who were following Omri prevailed over the people following Tibni
the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king.
23 In
the 31st year of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and he
reigned for 12 years. In Tirzah he reigned for six years.
24 He
bought the mountain of Samaria from Shemer for two talents*
of silver, and he built a city on the mountain. He named the city that he built
Samaria,*+
after Shemer the owner*
of the mountain.
25 Omri
kept doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, and he was worse than all who
were prior to him.+
26 He
walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in the sin he had
caused Israel to commit by offending Jehovah the God of Israel with their
worthless idols.+
27 As
for the rest of the history of Omri, what he did and his mighty exploits, is it
not written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Israel?
28 Then
Omri was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried in Samaria; and
his son Ahab+
became king in his place.
29 Ahab
the son of Omri became king over Israel in the 38th year of King Asa of Judah,
and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria+
for 22 years.
30 Ahab
the son of Omri was worse in the eyes of Jehovah than all those who were prior
to him.+
31 As
if it were a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam+
the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel+
the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Sidonians,+
and began to serve Baal+
and to bow down to him.
32 Further,
he set up an altar to Baal at the house*
of Baal+
that he built in Samaria.
33 Ahab
also made the sacred pole.*+
Ahab did more to offend Jehovah the God of Israel than all the kings of Israel
prior to him.
34 In
his days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his
firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he put
up its doors, according to the word of Jehovah spoken through Joshua the son of
Nun.+
Josh.6:26
17
Now Elijah*+
the Tishbite, an inhabitant of Gilead,+
said to Ahab: “As surely as Jehovah the God of Israel whom I serve*
is living, during these years there will be no dew or rain except by my word!”+
2 The
word of Jehovah came to him, saying:
3 “Leave
here, and turn eastward and hide at the Valley of Cherith,*
east of the Jordan.
4 You
should drink from the stream, and I will command the ravens to supply you food
there.”+
5 He
immediately went and did according to the word of Jehovah; he went and stayed by
the Valley of Cherith,*
east of the Jordan.
6 And
the ravens were bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in
the evening, and he drank from the stream.+
7 But
after some days, the stream ran dry,+
because there was no rain in the land.
8 The
word of Jehovah then came to him:
9 “Rise
up, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Look! I will
command a widow there to supply you with food.”+
10 So
he rose up and went to Zarephath. When he came to the entrance of the city,
there was a widow gathering pieces of wood. So he called to her and said:
“Please, bring me a little water in a cup so that I may drink.”+
11 As
she went to get it, he called to her: “Please, bring me a piece of bread in your
hand.”
12 At
this she said: “As surely as Jehovah your God is living, I have no bread, only a
handful of flour in the large jar and a little oil in the small jar.+
Now I am gathering a few pieces of wood, and I will go in and make something for
me and my son. After we have eaten, we will die.”
13 Then
Elijah said to her: “Do not be afraid. Go in and do as you said. But first
make me a small round loaf of bread with what is there, and bring it out to me.
Then you can make something afterward for you and your son.
14 For
this is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: ‘The large jar of flour will not
run out, and the small jar of oil will not run dry until the day Jehovah makes
it rain on the surface of the ground.’”+
15 So
she went and did as Elijah said, and she together with him and her household
ate for many days.+
16 The
large jar of flour did not run out, and the small jar of oil did not run dry,
according to Jehovah’s word that he had spoken through Elijah.
17 After
these things, the son of the woman who owned the house fell sick, and his
sickness became so severe that he stopped breathing.+
18 At
this she said to Elijah: “What do you have against me,*
O man of the true God? Have you come to remind me of my guilt and to put my son
to death?”+
19 But
he said to her: “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her arms and carried
him up to the roof chamber, where he was staying, and he laid him on his own
bed.+
20 He
called out to Jehovah: “O Jehovah my God,+
are you also bringing harm to the widow with whom I am staying by putting her
son to death?”
21 Then
he stretched himself out over the child three times and called out to Jehovah:
“O Jehovah my God, please, let this child’s life*
come back into him.”
22 Jehovah
listened to Elijah’s request,+
and the life*
of the child came back into him, and he revived.*+
23 Elijah
took the child and brought him down from the roof chamber into the house and
gave him to his mother; and Elijah said: “See, your son is alive.”+
24 At
that the woman said to Elijah: “Now I know that you truly are a man of God+
and that Jehovah’s word in your mouth is truth.”
18
After some time, in the third year,+
Jehovah’s word came to Elijah, saying: “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I
will send rain on the surface of the ground.”+
2 So
Elijah went to present himself to Ahab, while the famine was severe+
in Samaria.
3 Meanwhile,
Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah greatly
feared Jehovah,
4 and
when Jezebel+
was doing away with*
Jehovah’s prophets, Obadiah took 100 prophets and hid them 50 to a cave, and
he supplied them with bread and water.)
5 Ahab
then said to Obadiah: “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to
all the valleys.*
Perhaps we can find enough grass to keep the horses and mules alive and not have
all our animals die.”
6 So
they divided between themselves the land they were going to pass through. Ahab
went alone by one way, and Obadiah went alone by another way.
7 As
Obadiah was on his way, Elijah was there to meet him. At once he recognized
him and fell facedown and said: “Is this you, my lord Elijah?”+
8 He
replied to him: “It is I. Go and tell your lord: ‘Elijah is here.’”
9 But
he said: “What sin have I committed that you should hand your servant over to
Ahab to put me to death?
10 As
surely as Jehovah your God is living, there is not a nation or a kingdom where
my lord has not sent to look for you. After they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made
the kingdom and the nation swear that they could not find you.+
11 Now
you are saying, ‘Go and tell your lord: “Elijah is here.”’
12 When
I depart from you, the spirit of Jehovah will carry you away+
to a place I will not know, and when I tell Ahab and he does not find you, he
will surely kill me. Yet, your servant has feared Jehovah from his youth.
13 Has
my lord not been told what I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of
Jehovah, how I hid 100 of the prophets of Jehovah by groups of 50 in a cave and
kept supplying them bread and water?+
14 But
now you are saying, ‘Go and tell your lord: “Elijah is here.”’ He will
certainly kill me.”
15 However,
Elijah said: “As surely as Jehovah of armies whom I serve*
is living, today I will present myself to him.”
16 So
Obadiah went off to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 As
soon as Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him: “Is this you, the one bringing great
trouble*
on Israel?”
18 To
this he said: “I have not brought trouble on Israel, but you and the house of
your father have, by abandoning the commandments of Jehovah and by following the
Baals.+
19 And
now summon all Israel to me at Mount Carmel,+
as well as the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the sacred pole,*+
who are eating at the table of Jezebel.”
20 So
Ahab sent word among all the people of Israel and collected the prophets
together at Mount Carmel.
21 Then
Elijah approached all the people and said: “How long will you be limping
between two different opinions?*+
If Jehovah is the true God, follow him;+
but if Baal is, follow him!” But the people did not say a word in answer to
him.
22 Elijah
then said to the people: “I am the only prophet of Jehovah left,+
while the prophets of Baal are 450 men.
23 Let
them give us two young bulls, and let them choose one young bull and cut it into
pieces and put it on the wood, but they should not put fire to it. I will
prepare the other young bull, and I will place it on the wood, but I will not
put fire to it.
24 Then
you must call on the name of your god,+
and I will call on the name of Jehovah. The God who answers by fire will show
that he is the true God.”+
To this all the people answered: “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah
now said to the prophets of Baal: “Choose one young bull and prepare it first,
because you are the majority. Then call on the name of your god, but you must
not put fire to it.”
26 So
they took the young bull that was given to them, prepared it, and kept calling
on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying: “O Baal, answer us!” But
there was no voice and no one answering.+
They kept limping around the altar that they had made.
27 About
noon Elijah began to mock them and say: “Call out at the top of your voice!
After all, he is a god!+
Perhaps he is deep in thought or he has gone to relieve himself.*
Or maybe he is asleep and someone needs to wake him up!”
28 They
were calling out at the top of their voice and cutting themselves with daggers
and lances, according to their custom, until their blood gushed out all over
them.
29 Noon
was past and they continued in a frenzy*
until the time the evening grain offering is presented, but there was no voice
and no one answering; no one was paying attention.+
30 At
length Elijah said to all the people: “Approach me.” So all the people
approached him. Then he repaired the altar of Jehovah that had been torn down.+
31 Elijah
then took 12 stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob, to whom Jehovah’s word had come, saying: “Israel will be your name.”+
32 With
the stones he built an altar+
in the name of Jehovah. Then he made a trench all around the altar, an area
large enough to sow with two seah measures*
of seed.
33 After
that he put the pieces of wood in order, cut the young bull into pieces, and
placed it on the wood.+
He now said: “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering
and on the pieces of wood.”
34 Then
he said: “Do it again.” So they did it again. Once more he said: “Do it a third
time.” So they did it a third time.
35 And
the water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.
36 About
the time when the evening grain offering is presented,+
Elijah the prophet stepped forward and said: “O Jehovah, the God of Abraham,+
Isaac,+
and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel and that I am your
servant and that it is by your word that I have done all these things.+
37 Answer
me, O Jehovah! Answer me so that this people may know that you, Jehovah, are the
true God and that you are turning their hearts back to you.”+
38 At
that the fire of Jehovah fell from above and consumed the burnt offering,+
the pieces of wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water from
the trench.+
39 When
all the people saw it, they immediately fell facedown and said:
“Jehovah is the
true God! Jehovah is the true God!”
40 Then
Elijah said to them: “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one of
them escape!” At once they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the
stream*
of Kishon+
and slaughtered them there.+
41 Elijah
now said to Ahab: “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy
downpour.”+
42 So
Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and
crouched on the ground, keeping his face between his knees.+
43 Then
he said to his attendant: “Go up, please, and look toward the sea.” So he went
up and looked and said: “There is nothing at all.” Seven times Elijah said,
“Go back.”
44 The
seventh time his attendant said: “Look! There is a small cloud like a man’s hand
ascending out of the sea.” He now said: “Go, say to Ahab, ‘Hitch up the
chariot! Go down so that the downpour may not detain you!’”
45 Meanwhile,
the sky grew dark with clouds, the wind blew, and a heavy downpour fell;+
and Ahab kept riding and made his way to Jezreel.+
46 But
the hand of Jehovah came on Elijah, and he wrapped his garment around*
his hips and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
19
Then Ahab+
told Jezebel+
all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the
sword.+
2 At
that Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying: “So may the gods do to me
and add to it if by this time tomorrow I do not make you like each one*
of them!”
3 At
that he became afraid, so he got up and ran for his life.*+
He came to Beer-sheba,+
which belongs to Judah,+
and he left his attendant there.
4 He
went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom
tree, and he asked that he*
might die. He said: “It is enough! Now, O Jehovah, take my life*
away,+
for I am no better than my forefathers.”
5 Then
he lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree. But suddenly an angel touched
him+
and said to him: “Get up and eat.”+
6 When
he looked, there at his head was a round loaf on heated stones and a jug of
water. He ate and drank and lay down again.
7 Later
the angel of Jehovah came back a second time and touched him and said: “Get up
and eat, for the journey will be too much for you.”
8 So
he got up and ate and drank, and in the strength of that nourishment he went on
for 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of the true God.+
9 There
he entered a cave+
and spent the night; and look! Jehovah’s word came to him, telling him: “What
are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 To
this he said: “I have been absolutely zealous for Jehovah the God of armies;+
for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant,+
your altars they have torn down, and your prophets they have killed with the
sword,+
and I am the only one left. Now they are seeking to take my life*
away.”+
11 But
He said: “Go out and stand on the mountain before Jehovah.” And look! Jehovah
was passing by,+
and a great and strong wind was splitting mountains and breaking crags before
Jehovah,+
but Jehovah was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake,+
but Jehovah was not in the earthquake.
12 After
the earthquake, there was a fire,+
but Jehovah was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a calm, low voice.+
13 As
soon as Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his official garment+
and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice asked him:
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 To
this he said: “I have been absolutely zealous for Jehovah the God of armies; for
the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant,+
your altars they have torn down, and your prophets they have killed with the
sword, and I am the only one left. Now they are seeking to take my life*
away.”+
15 Jehovah
said to him: “Return, and go to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive,
anoint Hazael+
as king over Syria.
16 And
you should anoint Jehu+
the grandson of Nimshi as king over Israel, and you should anoint Elisha*
the son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet to take your place.+
17 Anyone
escaping from Hazael’s sword,+
Jehu will put to death;+
and anyone escaping from Jehu’s sword, Elisha will put to death.+
18 And
I still have left 7,000 in Israel,+
all whose knees have not bent down to Baal+
and whose mouths have not kissed him.”+
19 So
he went from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat while he was plowing
with 12 pairs of bulls ahead of him, and he was with the 12th pair. So Elijah
went over to him and threw his official garment+
on him.
20 At
that he left the bulls and ran after Elijah and said: “Please, let me kiss my
father and my mother. Then I will follow you.” He replied to him: “Go, return,
for what have I done to stop you?”
21 So
he went back and took a pair of bulls and sacrificed them, and he used the
plowing gear to boil the meat of the bulls and gave it to the people, and they
ate. After that he rose up and followed Elijah and began to minister to him.+
20
Now King Ben-hadad+
of Syria+
gathered his whole army together along with 32 other kings and their horses and
chariots; he went up and laid siege+
to Samaria+
and fought against it.
2 Then
he sent messengers to King Ahab+
of Israel at the city and said to him: “This is what Ben-hadad says,
3 ‘Your
silver and your gold are mine, as well as the best of your wives and your
sons.’”
4 To
this the king of Israel answered: “According to your word, my lord the king, I
am yours along with all that belongs to me.”+
5 The
messengers later came back and said: “This is what Ben-hadad says, ‘I sent this
message to you: “Your silver, your gold, your wives, and your sons you will give
me.”
6 But
about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will carefully
search your house and the houses of your servants, and all your desirable things
they will seize and take away.’”
7 At
that the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said: “Take note,
please, and see that this man is bent on bringing calamity, for he demanded my
wives, my sons, my silver, and my gold, and I did not refuse him.”
8 Then
all the elders and all the people said to him: “Do not obey, and do not
consent.”
9 So
he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad: “Say to my lord the king, ‘All that you
first demanded of your servant I will do, but this I cannot do.’” With that the
messengers went off and brought word back to him.
10 Ben-hadad
now sent him this message: “So may the gods do to me and add to it if there is
enough dust in Samaria to give each of the people following me a handful!”
11 The
king of Israel answered: “Tell him, ‘The one who puts on his armor should not
boast about himself like one who takes it off.’”+
12 As
soon as he heard this reply, while he and the kings were drinking in their
tents,*
he said to his servants: “Get ready to attack!” So they got ready to attack the
city.
13 But
a prophet approached King Ahab+
of Israel and said: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘Have you seen all this large
crowd? Here I am giving it into your hand today, and then you will know that I
am Jehovah.’”+
14 Ahab
asked: “By whom?” to which he said: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘By the
attendants of the princes of the provinces.’”*
So he asked: “Who will start the battle?” to which he said: “You!”
15 Ahab
then counted the attendants of the princes of the provinces, and they were 232;
after that, he counted all the Israelite men, 7,000.
16 They
went out at noon while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the tents*
along with the 32 kings who were helping him.
17 When
the attendants of the princes of the provinces came out first, Ben-hadad at
once sent messengers. They reported to him: “Men have come out from Samaria.”
18 At
that he said: “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have
come out for battle, you should still take them alive.”
19 But
when these came out of the city—the attendants of the princes of the provinces
and the armies that were following them—
20 each
one struck down his opponent. Then the Syrians fled,+
and Israel pursued them, but King Ben-hadad of Syria escaped on a horse with
some of the horsemen.
21 But
the king of Israel went out and kept striking down the horses and the chariots,
and he inflicted a great defeat*
on the Syrians.
22 Later
the prophet+
approached the king of Israel and said to him: “Go, strengthen yourself and
consider what you are going to do,+
for at the start of the next year*
the king of Syria will come up against you.”+
23 Now
the servants of the king of Syria said to him: “Their God is a God of mountains.
That is why they overpowered us. But if we fight against them on level land, we
will overpower them.
24 Also
do this: Remove all the kings+
from their places, and replace them with governors.
25 Then
gather*
an army equal to the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Let
us fight against them on level land, and we will surely overpower them.” So he
listened to their advice and did just that.
26 At
the start of the year,*
Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek+
for battle against Israel.
27 The
people of Israel were also mustered and supplied, and they went out to meet
them. When the people of Israel camped in front of them, they were like two tiny
flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the whole land.+
28 Then
the man of the true God approached the king of Israel and said: “This is what
Jehovah says, ‘Because the Syrians have said: “Jehovah is a God of mountains,
and he is not a God of plains,” I will give all this large crowd into your hand,+
and you will certainly know that I am Jehovah.’”+
29 They
remained encamped opposite each other for seven days, and on the seventh day the
battle began. The people of Israel struck down 100,000 Syrian foot soldiers in
one day.
30 And
the rest fled to Aphek,+
into the city. But the wall fell down on 27,000 of the men who were left. Ben-hadad
also fled and came into the city, and he hid in an inner room.
31 So
his servants said to him: “Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of
Israel are merciful kings.*
Please, let us wear sackcloth on our hips and put ropes on our heads and go out
to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”*+
32 So
they wore sackcloth around their hips and ropes on their heads and came in to
the king of Israel and said: “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let me*
live.’” He replied: “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
33 The
men took it as an omen and quickly took him at his word, so they said:
“Ben-hadad is your brother.” At that he said: “Go and get him.” Then Ben-hadad
went out to him, and he had him get up into the chariot.
34 Ben-hadad
now said to him: “The cities that my father took from your father I will return,
and you may establish markets*
for yourself in Damascus, just as my father did in Samaria.”
Ahab replied: “On the basis of this agreement,*
I will let you go.”
With that he made an agreement with him and let him go.
35 By
the word of Jehovah, one of the sons of the prophets*+
said to his companion: “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him.
36 So
he said to him: “Because you did not listen to the voice of Jehovah, as soon as
you leave me, a lion will kill you.”*
After he left him, a lion came upon him and killed him.
37 He
found another man and said: “Strike me, please.” So the man struck him and
wounded him.
38 Then
the prophet went and waited for the king by the road, disguising himself with a
bandage over his eyes.
39 As
the king was passing by, he cried out to the king: “Your servant went into the
thick of the battle, and there was a man coming out who brought a man to me and
said, ‘Guard this man. If he is found missing, your life will have to take the
place of his life,*+
or else you will pay a talent*
of silver.’
40 And
while your servant was busy here and there, suddenly the man was gone.” The king
of Israel said to him: “So your own judgment will be; you have decided it
yourself.”
41 Then
he quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized
that he was one of the prophets.+
42 He
said to him: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘Because you have let the man whom I
said should be destroyed escape from your hand,+
your life must take the place of his life,*+
and your people the place of his people.’”+
43 At
that the king of Israel went home to Samaria,+
sullen and dejected.
21
After these things, an incident took place concerning a vineyard that belonged
to Naboth the Jezreelite; it was in Jezreel,+
next to the palace of Ahab the king of Samaria.
2 Ahab
said to Naboth: “Give me your vineyard for me to use as a vegetable garden, for
it is near my house. Then I will give you a better vineyard to replace it. Or if
you prefer, I will give you its value in money.”
3 But
Naboth said to Ahab: “It is unthinkable, from Jehovah’s standpoint, for me to
give you the inheritance of my forefathers.”+
4 So
Ahab came into his house, sullen and dejected over the answer that Naboth the
Jezreelite had given him when he said: “I will not give you the inheritance
of my forefathers.” Then he lay down on his bed, kept his face turned away, and
refused to eat.
5 His
wife Jezebel+
came in to him and asked him: “Why are you*
so sad that you refuse to eat?”
6 He
replied to her: “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Give me your
vineyard for money. Or if you prefer, let me give you another vineyard to
replace it.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
7 His
wife Jezebel said to him: “Are you not the one ruling as king over Israel? Get
up, eat something, and let your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard
of Naboth the Jezreelite.”+
8 So
she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal+
and sent the letters to the elders+
and the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city.
9 She
wrote in the letters: “Proclaim a fast, and have Naboth sit at the head of the
people.
10 And
have two good-for-nothing men sit in front of him and testify against him,+
saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king!’+
Then bring him out and stone him to death.”+
11 So
the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did just
as was written in the letters that Jezebel sent to them.
12 They
proclaimed a fast and had Naboth sit at the head of the people.
13 Then
two of the good-for-nothing men came in and sat down in front of him and began
to testify against Naboth in front of the people, saying: “Naboth has cursed
God and the king!”+
After that they brought him to the outskirts of the city and stoned him to
death.+
14 They
now sent word to Jezebel, saying: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”+
15 As
soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab:
“Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite,+
which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is no longer alive. He is
dead.”
16 As
soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up to go down to the
vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.
17 But
Jehovah’s word came to Elijah+
the Tishbite, saying:
18 “Get
up, go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel, who is in Samaria.+
There he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of
it.
19 You
must tell him, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “Have you murdered a man+
and also taken his property?”’*+
Then say to him, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “In the place where the dogs licked
up the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your own blood.”’”+
20 Ahab
said to Elijah: “So you have found me, O my enemy!”+
He replied: “I have found you. ‘Because you are determined*
to do what is bad in the eyes of Jehovah,+
21 here
I am bringing calamity upon you, and I will make a clean sweep after you and
will annihilate from Ahab every male,*+
including the helpless and weak in Israel.+
22 And
I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam+
the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha+
the son of Ahijah, for you have provoked my anger and have caused Israel to
sin.’
23 Also
concerning Jezebel, Jehovah has said: ‘The dogs will eat up Jezebel in the
plot of land of Jezreel.+
24 Anyone
belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs will eat up, and anyone who
dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat up.+
25 Indeed,
there has never been anyone like Ahab,+
who was so determined*
to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, egged on by his wife Jezebel.+
26 He
acted in the most detestable way by going after the disgusting idols,*
just as all the Amorites had done, whom Jehovah drove out from before the
Israelites.’”+
27 As
soon as Ahab heard these words, he ripped his garments apart and put sackcloth
on his body; and he went on a fast and kept lying down in sackcloth and walking
despondently.
28 Jehovah’s
word then came to Elijah the Tishbite:
29 “Have
you seen how Ahab has humbled himself on my account?+
Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity during
his lifetime. I will bring the calamity upon his house in the days of his son.”+
22
For three years
there was no war between Syria and Israel.
2 In
the third year King Jehoshaphat+
of Judah went down to the king of Israel.+
3 Then
the king of Israel said to his servants: “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead+
belongs to us? And yet we are hesitating to take it back from the king of
Syria.”
4 He
then said to Jehoshaphat: “Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth-gilead?”
Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel: “I am the same as you. My people
are the same as your people. My horses are the same as your horses.”+
5 But
Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel: “First inquire,+
please, for the word of Jehovah.”+
6 So
the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to
them: “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” They
said: “Go up, and Jehovah will give it into the king’s hand.”
7 Jehoshaphat
then said: “Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah? Let us also inquire through
him.”+
8 At
that the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: “There is still one more man
through whom we can inquire of Jehovah;+
but I hate him,+
for he never prophesies good things concerning me, only bad.+
He is Micaiah the son of Imlah.” However, Jehoshaphat said: “The king
should not say such a thing.”
9 So
the king of Israel called a court official and said: “Bring Micaiah the son of
Imlah quickly.”+
10 Now
the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were each sitting on his
throne, dressed in royal attire, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the
gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.+
11 Then
Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself iron horns and said: “This
is what Jehovah says, ‘With these you will gore*
the Syrians until you exterminate them.’”
12 All
the other prophets were prophesying the same way, saying: “Go up to
Ramoth-gilead and you will be successful; Jehovah will give it into the
king’s hand.”
13 So
the messenger who went to call Micaiah said to him: “Look! The words of the
prophets are unanimously favorable to the king. Let your word, please, become
like their words, and speak favorably.”+
14 But
Micaiah said: “As surely as Jehovah is living, whatever Jehovah says to me is
what I will speak.”
15 Then
he came in to the king, and the king asked him: “Micaiah, should we go to war
against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” At once he replied: “Go up and
you will be successful; Jehovah will give it into the king’s hand.”
16 At
that the king said to him: “How many times must I put you under oath not to
speak to me anything but the truth in the name of Jehovah?”
17 So
he said: “I see all the Israelites scattered on the mountains,+
like sheep that have no shepherd. Jehovah said: ‘These have no master. Let each
one go back to his house in peace.’”
18 Then
the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: “Did I not tell you, ‘He will not
prophesy good things concerning me, only bad’?”+
19 Micaiah
then said: “Therefore, hear the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting on his
throne+
and all the army of the heavens standing by him, to his right and to his left.+
20 Jehovah
then said, ‘Who will fool Ahab, so that he will go up and fall at
Ramoth-gilead?’ And one was saying one thing while another said something
else.
21 Then
a spirit*+
came forward and stood before Jehovah and said,
‘I will fool him.’ Jehovah asked
him, ‘How will you do it?’
22 He
replied, ‘I will go out and become a deceptive spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets.’+
So he said, ‘You will fool him, and what is more, you will be successful. Go out
and do that.’
23 And
now Jehovah has put a deceptive spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of
yours,+
but Jehovah has declared calamity for you.”+
2Th.2:11
24 Zedekiah
the son of Chenaanah now approached and struck Micaiah on the cheek and
said: “Which way did the spirit of Jehovah pass from me to speak with you?”+
25 Micaiah
replied: “Look! You will see which way on the day when you will enter the
innermost room to hide.”
26 Then
the king of Israel said: “Take Micaiah and turn him over to Amon the chief of
the city and to Joash the king’s son.
27 Tell
them, ‘This is what the king says: “Put this fellow in the prison+
and feed him with a reduced allowance of bread and water until I return in
peace.”’”
28 But
Micaiah said: “If you do return in peace, Jehovah has not spoken with me.”+
Then he added: “Take note, all you peoples.”
29 So
the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to
Ramoth-gilead.+
30 The
king of Israel now said to Jehoshaphat: “I will disguise myself and will go
into the battle, but you should put on your royal attire.” So the king of Israel
disguised himself+
and entered the battle.
31 Now
the king of Syria had ordered his 32 chariot commanders:+
“Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”
32 And
as soon as the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said to themselves:
“Surely it is the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him; and
Jehoshaphat began to cry for help.
33 When
the chariot commanders saw that it was not the king of Israel, they immediately
turned back from following him.
34 But
one man shot his bow at random,*
and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his coat of mail. So the
king said to his charioteer: “Turn around and take me out of the battle,*
for I have been badly wounded.”+
35 The
fighting raged throughout that day, and the king had to be propped up in the
chariot, facing the Syrians. The blood of the wound poured out into the interior
of the war chariot, and he died in the evening.+
36 Around
sunset a cry passed through the camp, saying: “Everyone to his city! Everyone to
his land!”+
37 Thus
the king died, and he was brought to Samaria; they buried the king in
Samaria.
38 When
they washed off the war chariot by the pool of Samaria, the dogs licked up
his blood and the prostitutes bathed there,*
according to the word that Jehovah had spoken.+
39 As
for the rest of the history of Ahab, all that he did and the house*
of ivory+
that he built and all the cities that he built, is it not written in the book of
the history of the times of the kings of Israel?
40 Then
Ahab was laid to rest with his forefathers;+
and his son Ahaziah+
became king in his place.
41 Jehoshaphat+
the son of Asa had become king over Judah in the fourth year of King Ahab of
Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat
was 35 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 25 years in Jerusalem.
His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
43 He
kept walking in all the way of Asa+
his father. He did not deviate from it, and he did what was right in Jehovah’s
eyes.+
However, the high places were not removed, and the people were still sacrificing
and making sacrificial smoke on the high places.+
44 Jehoshaphat
kept peaceful relations with the king of Israel.+
45 As
for the rest of the history of Jehoshaphat, his mighty exploits and how he
waged war, is it not written in the book of the history of the times of the
kings of Judah?
46 He
also cleared out of the land the rest of the male temple prostitutes+
who had been left over in the days of Asa his father.+
47 Then
there was no king in Edom;+
a deputy was acting as king.+
48 Jehoshaphat
also made Tarshish ships*
to go to Ophir for gold,+
but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.+
49 It
was then that Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat: “Let my
servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat did not
consent.
50 Then
Jehoshaphat was laid to rest with his forefathers+
and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David his forefather; and his
son Jehoram+
became king in his place.
51 Ahaziah+
the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the 17th year of King
Jehoshaphat of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.
52 And
he kept doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes and walking in the way of his
father+
and his mother+
and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.+
53 He
continued serving Baal+
and bowing down to him and kept offending Jehovah the God of Israel,+
just as his father had done.