Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ He made ten bronze basins, each four cubits in diameter with a capacity of forty baths, one basin atop each of the ten stands.

³⁹ He placed the stands, five on the south side of the house and five on the north. The sea he placed off to the southeast from the south side of the house.

⁴⁰ When Hiram had made the pots, shovels, and bowls, he finished all his work for King Solomon in the house of the Lord: ⁴¹ two columns; two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; two pieces of netting covering the two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; ⁴² four hundred pomegranates in double rows on both pieces of netting that covered the two nodes of the capitals on top of the columns; ⁴³ ten stands; ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ one sea; twelve oxen supporting the sea; ⁴⁵ pots, shovels, and bowls. All these articles which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in the neighborhood of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan, in thick clay molds. ⁴⁷ Solomon did not weigh all the articles because they were so numerous; the weight of the bronze, therefore, was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the articles that were for the house of the Lord: the golden altar; the table on which the showbread lay; ⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold, five to the right and five to the left before the inner sanctuary; their flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold; ⁵⁰ basins, snuffers, bowls, cups, and firepans of pure gold; hinges of gold for the doors of the innermost part of the house, or holy of holies, and for the doors of the outer room, the nave. ^51 (A)When all the work undertaken by King Solomon in the house of the Lord was completed,^[a] he brought in the votive offerings of his father David, and put the silver, gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

Chapter 8

Dedication of the Temple.^{[b] 1} Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David (which is Zion). ² All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).^{[c] 3} When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark; ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. The priests and Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, gathered for the occasion before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen too many to number or count. ^6 [d]The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, the inner sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above. ^8 (B)The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. They cannot be seen from outside, but they remain there to this day. ^9 (C)There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from the land of Egypt. ^10 (D)When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord ¹¹ so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. ^12 [e](E)Then Solomon said,

¹⁴ The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵ He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying: ^16 (F)Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a house, that my name might be there; but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel. ¹⁷ When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, ¹⁸ the Lord said to him: In wishing to build a house for my name, you did well. ¹⁹ But it is not you who will build the house, but your son, who comes from your loins; he shall build the house for my name. ²⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke: I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has spoken, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided there a place for the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer. ²² Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven, ²³ he said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep covenant and love toward your servants who walk before you with their whole heart, ²⁴ the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father, what you promised him; your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day. ^25 (G)And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking before me as you have. ²⁶ Now, God of Israel, may the words you spoke to your servant, David my father, be confirmed.

²⁷ “Is God indeed to dwell on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built! ²⁸ Regard kindly the prayer and petition of your servant, Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day. ²⁹ May your eyes be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, My name shall be there; listen to the prayer your servant makes toward this place. ³⁰ Listen to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer toward this place. Listen, from the place of your enthronement, heaven, listen and forgive.

^31 (H)“If someone sins in some way against a neighbor and is required to take an oath sanctioned by a curse, and comes and takes the oath before your altar in this house, ³² listen in heaven; act and judge your servants. Condemn the wicked, requiting their ways; acquit the just, rewarding their justice.

³³ “When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you, and then they return to you, praise your name, pray to you, and entreat you in this house, ³⁴ listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.

³⁵ “When the heavens are closed, so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, but they pray toward this place and praise your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ³⁶ listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel (for you teach them the good way in which they should walk). Give rain to this land of yours which you have given to your people as their heritage.

³⁷ “If there is famine in the land or pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars; if an enemy of your people presses upon them in the land and at their gates; whatever plague or sickness there may be; ³⁸ whatever prayer or petition any may make, any of your people Israel, who know heartfelt remorse and stretch out their hands toward this house, ³⁹ listen in heaven, the place of your enthronement; forgive and take action. Render to each and all according to their ways, you who know every heart; for it is you alone who know the heart of every human being. ⁴⁰ So may they revere you as long as they live on the land you gave our ancestors.

⁴¹ “To the foreigners, likewise, who are not of your people Israel, but who come from a distant land for the sake of your name ⁴² (since people will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm), when they come and pray toward this house, ⁴³ listen in heaven, the place of your enthronement. Do all that the foreigner asks of you, that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, may revere you as do your people Israel, and may know that your name has been invoked upon this house that I have built.

⁴⁴ “When your people go out to war against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ listen in heaven to their prayer and petition, and uphold their cause.

^46 (I)“When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver them to an enemy, so that their captors carry them off to the land of the enemy, far or near, ⁴⁷ and they have a change of heart in the land of their captivity and they turn and entreat you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked’; ⁴⁸ if with their whole heart and soul they turn back to you in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name, ⁴⁹ listen in heaven, your dwelling place, to their prayer and petition, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰ Forgive your people who have sinned against you and all the offenses they have committed against you, and grant them mercy in the sight of their captors, so that these will be merciful to them. ⁵¹ For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace.

⁵² “Thus may your eyes be open to the petition of your servant and to the petition of your people Israel; thus may you listen to them whenever they call upon you. ⁵³ For you have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord my God.”

⁵⁴ After Solomon finished offering this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling, hands outstretched toward heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not a single word has gone unfulfilled of the entire gracious promise he made through Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ May the Lord, our God, be with us as he was with our ancestors and may he not forsake us nor cast us off. ⁵⁸ May he draw our hearts to himself, that we may walk in his ways and keep the commands, statutes, and ordinances that he enjoined on our ancestors. ⁵⁹ May these words of mine, the petition I have offered before the Lord, our God, be present to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel as each day requires, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other. ^61 [f]Your heart must be wholly devoted to the Lord, our God, observing his statutes and keeping his commandments, as on this day.”

⁶² The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ^63 [g]Solomon offered as communion offerings to the Lord twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. Thus the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴ On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court facing the house of the Lord; he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the communion offerings, because the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the communion offering. ⁶⁵ On this occasion Solomon and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival before the Lord, our God, for seven days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he dismissed the people, who blessed the king and went to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart because of all the blessings the Lord had given to David his servant and to his people Israel.

Chapter 9

Promise and Warning to Solomon. ¹ After Solomon finished building the house of the Lord, the house of the king, and everything else that he wanted to do, ^2 (J)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him: I have heard the prayer of petition which you offered in my presence. I have consecrated this house which you have built and I set my name there forever; my eyes and my heart shall be there always. ⁴ As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, wholeheartedly and uprightly, doing all that I have commanded you, keeping my statutes and ordinances, ^5 (K)I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father: There shall never be wanting someone from your line on the throne of Israel. ⁶ But if ever you and your descendants turn from following me, fail to keep my commandments and statutes which I set before you, and proceed to serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them and repudiate the house I have consecrated for my name. Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all nations, ^8 (L)and this house shall become a heap of ruins. Every passerby shall gasp in horror and ask, “Why has the Lord done such things to this land and to this house?” ⁹ And the answer will come: “Because they abandoned the Lord, their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods, bowing down to them and serving them. That is why the Lord has brought upon them all this evil.”

After Building the Temple.^{[h] 10 (M)}After the twenty years during which Solomon built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the house of the king— ¹¹ Hiram, king of Tyre, supplying Solomon with all the cedar wood, fir wood, and gold he wished, and King Solomon giving Hiram in return twenty cities in the land of Galilee— ¹² Hiram left Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, but he was not satisfied with them. ¹³ So he said, “What are these cities you have given me, my brother?”^[i] And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are called to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram, however, had sent King Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold.^[j]

¹⁵ This is an account of the conscript labor force King Solomon raised in order to build the house of the Lord, his own house, Millo,^[k] the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer ¹⁶ (Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had come up and taken Gezer and, after destroying it by fire and slaying all the Canaanites living in the city, had given it as a farewell gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; ¹⁷ Solomon then rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, Tamar in the desert of Judah, ¹⁹ all his cities for supplies, cities for chariots and cities for cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in the entire land under his dominion. ²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites— ²¹ those of their descendants who were left in the land and whom the Israelites had not been able to destroy under the ban—these Solomon conscripted as forced laborers, as they are to this day. ²² But Solomon made none of the Israelites forced laborers, for they were his fighting force, his ministers, commanders, adjutants, chariot officers, and cavalry. ²³ There were five hundred fifty overseers answerable to Solomon’s governors for the work, directing the people engaged in the work.

^24 (N)As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to her house, which he had built for her, Solomon built Millo. ²⁵ Three times a year Solomon used to offer burnt offerings and communion offerings on the altar which he had built to the Lord, and to burn incense before the Lord.

Thus he completed the temple.^[l]

Solomon’s Gifts.^{[m] 26} King Solomon also built a fleet at Ezion-geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.^{[n] 27} To this fleet Hiram sent his own servants, expert sailors, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir, and obtained four hundred and twenty talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

Chapter 10

Solomon’s Listening Heart: The Queen of Sheba.^{[o] 1 (O)}The queen of Sheba,^[p] having heard a report of Solomon’s fame, came to test him with subtle questions. ² She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue, and with camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that she had on her mind. ³ King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there was nothing so obscure that the king could not explain it to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom, the house he had built, ⁵ the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and dress of his waiters, his servers, and the burnt offerings he offered in the house of the Lord, it took her breath away. ⁶ “The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true,” she told the king. ⁷ “I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes that not even the half had been told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard. ⁸ Happy are your servants, happy these ministers of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom. ⁹ Blessed be the Lord, your God, who has been pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the Lord has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ Hiram’s fleet, which used to bring gold from Ophir, also brought from there a very large quantity of almug^[q] wood and precious stones. ¹² With this wood the king made supports for the house of the Lord and for the house of the king, and harps and lyres for the singers. Never again was any such almug wood brought or seen to the present day.

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides what King Solomon gave her from Solomon’s royal bounty. Then she returned with her servants to her own country.

Solomon’s Riches: Domestic Affairs.^{[r] 14 (P)}The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents, ¹⁵ in addition to what came from the tolls on travelers, from the traffic of merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country. ^16 (Q)King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold (six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield) ¹⁷ and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold (three minas of gold went into each buckler); and the king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ The king made a large ivory throne, and overlaid it with refined gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, a back with a round top, and an arm on each side of the seat, with two lions standing next to the arms, ²⁰ and twelve other lions standing there on the steps, two to a step, one on either side of each step. Nothing like this was made in any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the utensils in the house of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, for in Solomon’s time silver was reckoned as nothing. ²² For the king had a fleet of Tarshish ships^[s] at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships would come with a cargo of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Solomon’s Renown. ²³ Thus King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²⁴ And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear the wisdom God had put into his heart. ²⁵ They all brought their yearly tribute: vessels of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules—what was due each year.

Solomon’s Riches: Chariots and Horses. ^26 (R)Solomon amassed chariots and horses; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king’s service in Jerusalem. ^27 (S)The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the Shephelah. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Cilicia, where the king’s merchants purchased them. ²⁹ A chariot imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, a horse one hundred and fifty shekels; they were exported at these rates to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.

Chapter 11

The End of Solomon’s Reign.^{[t] 1 (T)}King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites— ^2 (U)from nations of which the Lord had said to the Israelites: You shall not join with them and they shall not join with you, lest they turn your hearts to their gods. But Solomon held them^[u] close in love. ³ He had as wives seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and they turned his heart.

⁴ When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to follow other gods, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon followed Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not follow the Lord unreservedly as David his father had done. ⁷ Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

^9 (V)The Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and commanded him not to do this very thing, not to follow other gods. But he did not observe what the Lord commanded. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon: Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and the statutes which I enjoined on you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. ^12 (W)But I will not do this during your lifetime, for the sake of David your father; I will tear it away from your son’s hand. ¹³ Nor will I tear away the whole kingdom. I will give your son one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.

Threats to Solomon’s Kingdom.^{[v] 14} The Lord then raised up an adversary^[w] against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, who was of the royal line in Edom. ^15 (X)Earlier, when David had conquered Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, while going to bury the slain, killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all Israel remained there six months until they had killed off every male in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad, with some Edomite servants of his father, fled toward Egypt. Hadad was then a young boy. ¹⁸ They left Midian and came to Paran; they gathered men from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; he gave Hadad a house, appointed him rations, and assigned him land. ¹⁹ Hadad won great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife. ²⁰ Tahpenes’ sister bore Hadad a son, Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace. And Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s house, with Pharaoh’s own sons. ²¹ When Hadad in Egypt heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Give me leave to return to my own land.” ²² Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me, that you are seeking to return to your own land?” He answered, “Nothing, but please let me go!”

²³ God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah, ^24 (Y)when David was slaughtering them. Rezon gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band. They went to Damascus, settled there, and made him king in Damascus. ²⁵ Rezon was an adversary of Israel as long as Solomon lived, in addition to the harm done by Hadad, and he felt contempt for Israel. He became king over Aram.

Ahijah Announces Jeroboam’s Kingship.^{[x] 26} Solomon had a servant, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah with a widowed mother named Zeruah. He rebelled against the king. ²⁷ This is how he came to rebel. King Solomon was building Millo, closing up the breach of the City of David, his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a very able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was also a good worker, he put him in charge of all the carriers conscripted from the house of Joseph.

²⁹ At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The prophet was wearing a new cloak,^[y] and when the two were alone in the open country, ^30 (Z)Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces, ^31 (AA)and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and will give you ten of the tribes. ³² He shall have one tribe 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 For they have forsaken me and have bowed down to Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways or done what is right in my eyes, according to my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did. ³⁴ Yet I will not take any of the kingdom from Solomon himself, but will keep him a prince as long as he lives, for the sake of David my servant, whom I have chosen, who kept my commandments and statutes.

³⁵ But I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you—that is, the ten tribes. ³⁶ I will give his son one tribe, that David my servant may always have a holding before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen, to set my name there. ³⁷ You I will take and you shall reign over all that you desire and shall become king of Israel. ³⁸ If, then, you heed all that I command you, walking in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments like David my servant, I will be with you. I will build a lasting house for you, just as I did for David; I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will humble David’s line for this, but not forever.”

⁴⁰ When Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed, Jeroboam fled to Shishak, king of Egypt. He remained in Egypt until Solomon’s death.

⁴¹ The rest of the acts of Solomon, with all that he did and his wisdom, are recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon. ⁴² Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ⁴³ Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, his father, and Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

II. The Reign of Jeroboam^[z]

Chapter 12

Political Disunity.^{[aa] 1} Rehoboam went to Shechem,^[ab] where all Israel had come to make him king. ² When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard about it, he was still in Egypt. He had fled from King Solomon and remained in Egypt, ³ and they sent for him.

Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and they said to Rehoboam, ⁴ “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. If you now lighten the harsh servitude and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, we will be your servants.” ⁵ He answered them, “Come back to me in three days,” and the people went away.

⁶ King Rehoboam asked advice of the elders who had been in his father Solomon’s service while he was alive, and asked, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ They replied, “If today you become the servant of this people and serve them, and give them a favorable answer, they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he ignored the advice the elders had given him, and asked advice of the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service. ⁹ He said to them, “What answer do you advise that we should give this people, who have told me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father imposed on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is what you must say to this people who have told you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; you lighten it for us.’ You must say, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ My father put a heavy yoke on you, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.’” ¹² Jeroboam and the whole people came back to King Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had instructed them: “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, the king gave the people a harsh answer. ¹⁴ He spoke to them as the young men had advised: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.” ^15 (AB)The king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord: he fulfilled the word the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, son of Nebat. ^16 (AC)When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king:

So Israel went off to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam continued to reign over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam then sent out Adoram,^[ad] who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam then managed to mount his chariot and flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And so Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. ²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to an assembly and made him king over all Israel. None remained loyal to the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

Divine Approval.^{[ae] 21} On his arrival in Jerusalem, Rehoboam assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—one hundred and eighty thousand elite warriors—to wage war against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon. ²² However, the word of God came to Shemaiah, a man of God: ²³ Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people: ²⁴ Thus says the Lord: You must not go out to war against your fellow Israelites. Return home, each of you, for it is I who have brought this about. They obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back, according to the word of the Lord.

²⁵ Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left it and built up Penuel.

Jeroboam’s Cultic Innovations.^{[af] 26} Jeroboam thought to himself: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. ²⁷ If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.” ^28 (AD)The king took counsel, made two calves of gold, and said to the people: “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ^29 (AE)And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.^{[ag] 30} This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan. ³¹ He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the common people who were not Levites.

Divine Disapproval.^{[ah] 32} Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month like the pilgrimage feast in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had built. ³³ Jeroboam went up to the altar he built in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he arbitrarily chose. He established a feast for the Israelites, and he went up to the altar to burn incense.

Chapter 13

¹ A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to burn incense. ^2 (AF)He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: “Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall slaughter upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and they shall burn human bones upon you.” ^3 (AG)He also gave a sign that same day and said: “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: The altar shall be torn apart and the ashes on it shall be scattered.” ⁴ When the king heard the word of the man of God which he was crying out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched forth his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched forth against him withered, so that he could not draw it back. ⁵ (The altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar were scattered, in accordance with the sign the man of God gave by the word of the Lord.)

⁶ Then the king said to the man of God, “Entreat the Lord, your God, and intercede for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored as it was before. ⁷ The king told the man of God, “Come with me to the house for some refreshment so that I may give you a present.” ⁸ The man of God said to the king, “If you gave me half your palace, I would not go with you, nor eat bread or drink water in this place. ⁹ For I was instructed by the word of the Lord: Do not eat bread or drink water, and do not return by the way you came.” ¹⁰ So he departed by another road and did not go back the way he had come to Bethel.

Prophetic Disunity.^{[ai] 11} There was an old prophet living in Bethel, whose son came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. When his sons repeated to their father the words the man of God had spoken to the king, ¹² the father asked them, “Which way did he go?” So his sons pointed out to him the road taken by the man of God who had come from Judah. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled it, he mounted ¹⁴ and followed the man of God, whom he found seated under a terebinth. When he asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” he answered, “Yes.” ¹⁵ Then he said, “Come home with me and have some bread.” ¹⁶ “I cannot return with you or go with you, and I cannot eat bread or drink water with you in this place,” he answered, ¹⁷ “for I was told by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat bread or drink water there, and do not go back the way you came.” ¹⁸ But he said to him, “I, too, am a prophet like you, and an angel told me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you to your house to eat bread and drink water.” But he was lying to him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate bread and drank water in his house. ²⁰ But while they were sitting at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, ²¹ and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah: “Thus says the Lord: Because you rebelled against the charge of the Lord and did not keep the command which the Lord, your God, gave you, ²² but returned and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you, Do not eat bread or drink water, your corpse shall not be brought to the grave of your ancestors.” ²³ After he had eaten bread and drunk, they saddled for him the donkey that belonged to the prophet who had brought him back, ²⁴ and he set out. But a lion met him on the road, and killed him. His body lay sprawled on the road, and the donkey remained standing by it, and so did the lion.

²⁵ Some passersby saw the body lying in the road, with the lion standing beside it, and carried the news to the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶ On hearing it, the prophet who had brought him back from his journey said: “It is the man of God who rebelled against the charge of the Lord. The Lord has delivered him to a lion, which mangled and killed him, according to the word which the Lord had spoken to him.” ²⁷ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. ²⁸ He went off and found the body sprawled on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body nor had it harmed the donkey. ²⁹ The prophet lifted up the body of the man of God and put it on the donkey, and brought him back to the city to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid the man’s body in his own grave, and they mourned over it: “Alas, my brother!” ^31 (AH)After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his. ^32 (AI)For the word which he proclaimed by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of Samaria shall certainly come to pass.”

³³ Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was installed as a priest of the high places. ³⁴ This is the account of the sin of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.

Chapter 14

Ahijah Announces Jeroboam’s Downfall.^{[aj] 1} At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, took sick. ^2 (AJ)So Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go and disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh, where you will find Ahijah the prophet. It was he who spoke the word that made me king over this people. ³ Take along ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the child.” ⁴ The wife of Jeroboam did so. She left and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah.

Now Ahijah could not see because age had dimmed his sight. ⁵ But the Lord said to Ahijah: Jeroboam’s wife is coming to consult you about her son, for he is sick. Thus and so you must tell her. When she comes, she will be in disguise. ⁶ So Ahijah, hearing the sound of her footsteps as she entered the door, said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you in disguise? For my part, I have been commissioned to give you bitter news. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I exalted you from among the people and made you ruler of my people Israel. ⁸ I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. Yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with his whole heart, doing only what is right in my sight. ⁹ You have done more evil than all who were before you: you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke me; but me you have cast behind your back. ^10 (AK)Therefore, I am bringing evil upon the house of Jeroboam:

For the Lord has spoken!’ ¹² As for you, leave, and go home! As you step inside the city, the child will die, ¹³ and all Israel will mourn him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s line will be laid in the grave, since in him alone of Jeroboam’s house has something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, been found. ¹⁴ The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam—today, at this very moment! ¹⁵ The Lord will strike Israel like a reed tossed about in the water and will pluck out Israel from this good land which he gave their ancestors, and will scatter them beyond the River,^[ak] because they made asherahs for themselves, provoking the Lord. ¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and caused Israel to commit.” ¹⁷ So Jeroboam’s wife left and went back; when she came to Tirzah and crossed the threshold of her house, the child died. ¹⁸ He was buried and all Israel mourned him, according to the word of the Lord spoken through his servant Ahijah the prophet.

¹⁹ The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ The length of Jeroboam’s reign was twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and Nadab his son succeeded him as king.

III. Kings of Judah and Israel^[al]

Reign of Rehoboam. ^21 [am]Rehoboam, son of Solomon, became king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the Lord chose to set his name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

²² Judah did evil in the Lord’s sight and they angered him even more than their ancestors had done. ²³ They, too, built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and asherahs,^[an] upon every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ There were also pagan priests in the land. Judah imitated all the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the Israelites’ way. ^25 [ao]In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem. ^26 (AM)He took everything, including the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the house of the king, even the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷ To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields, which he entrusted to the officers of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal house. ²⁸ Whenever the king visited the house of the Lord, those on duty would carry the shields, and then return them to the guardroom.

²⁹ The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. ³⁰ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ³¹ Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam succeeded him as king.

Chapter 15

Reign of Abijam. ¹ In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, son of Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah; ² he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

³ He followed all the sins his father had committed before him, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁴ Yet for David’s sake the Lord, his God, gave him a holding in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and permitting Jerusalem to endure, ^5 (AN)because David had done what was right in the sight of the Lord and did not disobey any of his commands as long as he lived, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ⁷ The rest of the acts of Abijam, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijam rested with his ancestors; they buried him in the City of David, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

Reign of Asa. ⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa, king of Judah, became king; ¹⁰ he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s^[ap] name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹ Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord like David his father, ¹² banishing the pagan priests from the land and removing all the idols his ancestors had made. ¹³ He also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an outrageous object for Asherah. Asa cut down this object and burned it in the Wadi Kidron. ¹⁴ The high places did not disappear; yet Asa’s heart was entirely with the Lord as long as he lived. ¹⁵ He brought into the house of the Lord his father’s and his own votive offerings of silver and gold and various vessels. ¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. ¹⁷ Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to blockade Asa, king of Judah. ¹⁸ Asa then took all the silver and gold remaining in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the house of the king. Entrusting them to his ministers, King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, king of Aram,^[aq] who ruled in Damascus. He said: ¹⁹ “There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. I am sending you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ²⁰ Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinnereth, besides all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah, and stayed in Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa summoned all Judah without exception, and they carried away the stones and beams with which Baasha was fortifying Ramah. With them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. ²³ All the rest of the acts of Asa, with all his valor and all that he did, and the cities he built, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. But in his old age, Asa had an infirmity in his feet. ²⁴ Asa rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his father, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

Reign of Nadab. ²⁵ Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. For two years he reigned over Israel.

²⁶ He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, walking in the way of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit. ²⁷ Baasha, son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, plotted against him and struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines, which Nadab and all Israel were besieging. ²⁸ Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and succeeded him as king. ^29 (AO)Once he was king, he killed the entire house of Jeroboam, not leaving a single soul but destroying Jeroboam utterly, according to the word of the Lord spoken through his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit, by which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger.

³¹ The rest of the acts of Nadab, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ³² There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.

Reign of Baasha. ³³ In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, son of Ahijah, became king of all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years.

³⁴ He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, walking in the way of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

Chapter 16

¹ The word of the Lord came to Jehu, son of Hanani, against Baasha: ² Inasmuch as I exalted you from the dust and made you ruler of my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger by their sins, ^3 (AP)I will burn up what is left of Baasha and his house; I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat:

⁵ The rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did and his valor, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ⁶ Baasha rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king. ⁷ (Through the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, the word of the Lord came against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil Baasha did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger by his deeds so that he became like the house of Jeroboam, and because of what he destroyed.)

Reign of Elah. ⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, Elah, son of Baasha, became king of Israel in Tirzah for two years.

⁹ His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, plotted against him. As he was in Tirzah, drinking to excess in the house of Arza, master of his palace in Tirzah, ^10 (AR)Zimri entered; he struck and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, and succeeded him as king. ¹¹ Once he was king, seated on the throne, he killed the whole house of Baasha, not sparing a single male relative or friend of his. ^12 (AS)Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha, according to the word the Lord spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet, ¹³ because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and caused Israel to commit, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

¹⁴ The rest of the acts of Elah, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Reign of Zimri. ¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri became king for seven days in Tirzah.

The army was encamped at Gibbethon of the Philistines ¹⁶ when they heard, “Zimri has formed a conspiracy and has killed the king.” So that day in the camp all Israel made Omri, commander of the army, king of Israel. ¹⁷ Omri and all Israel with him marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the king’s house and burned it down over him. He died ¹⁹ because of the sins he had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight by walking in the way of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

²⁰ The rest of the acts of Zimri, with the conspiracy he carried out, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.