1

1 Adonijah Seeks Kingship Now King David was old and advanced in years, and they covered him with clothes, but he could not get warm.

2 Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be found for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king and care for him, and let her lie by your side so that my lord the king may keep warm.”

3 So they searched for a beautiful young woman throughout the land of Israel and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

4 She was very beautiful and cared for the king and ministered to him, but the king did not know her intimately.

5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king,” and he assembled chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him.

6 His father had not confronted him at any time by asking, “Why have you done this?” He also was a very attractive man, and he was born next after Absalom.

7 He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they agreed to help him.

8 But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and David’s mighty men did not join Adonijah.

9 Adonijah slaughtered sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the Stone of Zoheleth, which is by En Rogel, and 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, the mighty men, or his brother Solomon.

11 Therefore Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns and David our lord does not know it?

12 Now please come and let me give you some advice, so that you may save your own life as well as that of your son Solomon.

13 Go to King David and say to him, ‘Did not you, my lord, O king, swear to your handmaid, saying: Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign?’

14 Then while you are still there talking with the king, I will come in and confirm your words.”

15 So Bathsheba went to the king’s chamber. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite ministered to him.

16 Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself before the king. And the king said, “What do you want?”

17 And she said to him, “My lord, you swore by the Lord your God to your handmaid, saying: Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne.

18 But Adonijah reigns, and now, my lord, O king, you are unaware.

19 He has slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance and has invited all the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited your servant Solomon.

20 And you, my lord, O king, all the eyes of Israel are upon you that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

21 Otherwise it shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, I and my son Solomon shall be considered offenders.”

22 While she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

23 The king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here,” and when he entered the king’s presence, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

24 Nathan said, “My lord, O king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne’?

25 For he has gone down this day and has slain oxen, fat cattle, and sheep in abundance and has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the guard, and Abiathar the priest, and they eat and drink with him, saying, ‘God save King Adonijah!’

26 But he has not invited me, your servant, or Zadok the priest or Benaiah the son of Jehoiada or your servant Solomon.

27 Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you have not let your servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

28 Solomon Becomes King Then King David answered and said, “Call Bathsheba to me.” And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king.

29 The king vowed, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all distress,

30 even as I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead,’ even so will I certainly do this day.”

31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground in reverence to the king and said, “Let my lord King David live forever.”

32 King David said, “Call Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada for me.” So they came before the king.

33 And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel, and blow the trumpet and say, ‘God save King Solomon!’

35 Then you shall come up after him. And he shall come and sit on my throne, for he will be king in my place as I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.”

36 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, also say so!

37 As the Lord has been with my lord the king, may He also be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon.

39 Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “God save King Solomon!”

40 All the people came up to see him and played flutes and greatly rejoiced, so that the earth shook at the sound.

41 Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard the commotion as they were finishing their meal, and when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city so loud and in an uproar?”

42 While he was speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adonijah said to him, “Come in, for you are a valiant man and bring good tidings.”

43 Jonathan answered Adonijah, saying, “Surely our lord King David has made Solomon king.

44 The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Kerethites, and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king’s mule.

45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from their rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you heard.

46 Also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.

47 Moreover, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon better than your name and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself upon the bed.

48 The king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day so that I could see with my own eyes.’ ”

49 All the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid and rose up and went on their way.

50 Adonijah feared Solomon. So he got up and went to the altar and held on to its horns.

51 Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah fears King Solomon, for he has caught hold of the horns on the altar, saying ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword.’ ”

52 And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs will fall to the ground, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.”

53 So King Solomon sent for him, and they brought him down from the altar, and he came and bowed himself to King Solomon. And Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

2

1 David’s Charge to Solomon Now it was coming close to the day of David’s death, and he gave his son Solomon a charge, saying:

2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself to be a man.

3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways, keeping His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,

4 that the Lord may carry out His word that He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in faithfulness with all their hearts and with all their souls, you shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

5 “Moreover, you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the army of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, shedding the blood of war in a time of peace. He spilled their blood on the belt that was around his waist and on the shoes of his feet.

6 Do the right thing according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them eat at your table, for with such loyalty they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

8 “There is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’

9 Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave with blood.”

10 So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

11 David reigned over Israel forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

12 So Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.

13 The Throne of Solomon Established Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “I come peaceably.”

14 Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.”

15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel viewed me as the king. However, the kingdom has become my brother’s, for it was given to him by the Lord.

16 And now I ask one petition of you; do not deny me.” She said to him, “Keep speaking.”

17 And he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”

18 Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king on your behalf.”

19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her and bowed to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a seat placed at his right hand for her to sit upon.

20 Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you. Please do not deny me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”

21 She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given as a wife to Adonijah your brother.”

22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother. Ask not only for him, but also for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.”

23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life.

24 Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and who has made me a house as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.”

25 So King Solomon dispatched Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he executed him.

26 The king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord God before David my father and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.”

27 So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 Then word came to Joab, for Joab had followed Adonijah, though he did not support Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar.

29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and was by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and execute him.”

30 So Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come forth.’ ” And he said, “No, I will die here.” And Benaiah told the king all Joab said.

31 The king said to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, and thus take away from me and my father’s house the guilt for the blood Joab shed without cause.

32 The Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, for he attacked two men more righteous and better than he—Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah—and killed them with the sword when my father David was unaware.

33 Therefore their blood shall return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his seed forever, but upon David and upon his seed and upon his house and upon his throne shall the peace of the Lord rest forever.”

34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and attacked and killed him, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

35 The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab and put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

36 The king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and never leave the city.

37 For on the day you go out and pass over the Kidron Valley, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood shall be on your own head.”

38 Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

39 It came about that at the end of three years, two servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maakah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Your servants are in Gath.”

40 Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

41 Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.

42 The king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warned you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and walk abroad anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’

43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandment that I gave you?”

44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know all the wickedness in your heart and what you did to David my father. Therefore the Lord shall return your wickedness on your own head.

45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.”

46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, who went out and attacked him so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

3

1 Solomon Asks for Wisdom Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace, the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, though he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

5 While he was in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and He said, “Ask what you want from Me.”

6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You. And You have shown him great kindness in giving him a son to sit on his throne this day.

7 “Now, O Lord, my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, and I am still a little child and do not know how to go out or come in.

8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, so numerous that they cannot be numbered or counted.

9 Give Your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge among so great a people?”

10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself wisdom so that you may have discernment in judging,

12 I now do according to your words. I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you in the past, and there shall never arise another like you.

13 I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no kings will compare to you all of your days.

14 If you will walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days.”

15 Solomon awoke and found it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings and made a feast for all of his servants.

16 The Wisdom of Solomon At that time, two women who were prostitutes came and stood before the king.

17 The first woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I bore a child with her in the house.

18 Three days after I gave birth, she also had a child, and we were together. There was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house.

19 “Then this woman’s child died during the night because she rolled over on it.

20 She got up at midnight and took my son from beside me while your servant slept and laid him at her bosom and laid her dead child at my bosom.

21 When I rose in the morning to feed my child, it was dead. But when I looked closely in the morning light, I recognized that it was not my son whom I bore.”

22 The other woman said, “No, the living is my son, and the dead is your son.” And she said, “No, the dead is your son, and the living is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead,’ and the other says, ‘No, but your son is dead, and my son is the living.’ ”

24 So the king said, “Bring me a sword.” And they brought a sword before the king.

25 The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”

26 Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son, and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and do not kill it.” But the other said, “Let it be neither mine nor yours and divide it.”

27 Then the king answered and said, “Give her the living child, and do not slay it. She is its mother.”

28 All Israel heard of the king’s judgment, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute sound judgment.

4

1 The Court of Solomon So King Solomon was king over all Israel.

2 These were the officials in his court: 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 over the army. Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

5 Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers, and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer and the king’s friend.

6 Ahishar was over the household, and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor.

7 Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel who made provision for the king and his household. Each man was assigned a month to make provision.

8 These are their names: the son of Hur in Mount Ephraim;

9 the son of Deker in Makaz and in Shaalbim and Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan;

10 the son of Hesed in Arubboth (to him belonged Sokoh and all the land of Hepher);

11 the son of Abinadab in all the region of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as his wife);

12 Baana the son of Ahilud in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth Shan that is by Zarethan beneath Jezreel, and from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

13 the son of Geber in Ramoth Gilead (to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh which are in Gilead, and also the region of Argob which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and iron bars);

14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as his wife);

16 Baana the son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;

17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah in Issachar;

18 Shimei the son of Ela in Benjamin;

19 Geber the son of Uri in the country of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. He was the only officer who was in that region.

20 The Wealth of Solomon Judah and Israel had a large populace, as numerous as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.

21 Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. The people brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of meal,

23 ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep in addition to deer, roebucks, gazelle, and fatted poultry.

24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River, and he had peace on all borders of his land.

25 Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba all the days of Solomon.

26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.

27 Those officers made provision for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, every man in his month, and they lacked nothing.

28 Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries were brought to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and great depth of understanding as well as compassion, as vast as the sand on the seashore.

30 Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the people of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Kalkol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.

32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of beasts and of fowl and of insects and fish.

34 People from all over came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

5

1 Plans to Build the Temple Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David.

2 And Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying,

3 “You know how David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars all around him, until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.

4 But now the Lord my God has given me peace on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor misfortune.

5 So know that I plan to build a house to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord spoke to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne after you, shall build a house to honor My name.’

6 “Now therefore command that cedar trees from Lebanon be cut down for me, and my servants shall be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever you command, for you know that there are none among my people who can cut timber like the Sidonians.”

7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given David a wise son over this great people.”

8 Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have considered the things which you contacted me about, and I will do all you asked concerning timber of cedar and fir.

9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will send them by sea in floats to the place that you shall name and will cause them to be discharged into your care there, and in return you will meet my wishes by giving food for my household.”

10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees as he desired.

11 Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat for his household and twenty baths of pure oil. This is what Solomon gave to Hiram each year.

12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon as they made a treaty together.

13 King Solomon drafted men from all Israel, totaling thirty thousand men.

14 He sent them to Lebanon in turns, ten thousand a month, with each spending a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram administered the labor force.

15 Solomon had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains,

16 not counting the chief of Solomon’s officers who were over the work, three thousand three hundred, who ruled over the people who did the work.

17 At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

18 Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the stonemasons, cut them and prepared timber and stones to build the house.

6

1 Solomon Builds the Temple In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv (which is the second month), he began to build the house of the Lord.

2 The house which King Solomon built for the Lord had a length of sixty cubits, a width of twenty cubits, and a height of thirty cubits.

3 The porch in front of the temple was twenty cubits in length, the same as the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.

4 He made beveled windows for the house.

5 He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around.

6 The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house, he made offsets on the wall so that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

7 The house was built of stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

8 The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and it had winding stairs into the middle chamber and out of the middle into the third.

9 So he built the house and finished it and covered it with beams and boards of cedar.

10 Then he built chambers against the whole house, five cubits high, and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

12 “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My judgments and keep all My commandments and walk in them, then I will carry out My word with you, which I spoke to David your father,

13 and I will dwell among the people of Israel and will not forsake My people Israel.”

14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.

15 He built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.

16 He lined twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls, with boards of cedar, and he even lined them within, even the inner sanctuary and the Most Holy Place.

17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.

18 The cedar of the house within had carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar. There was no stone seen.

19 He prepared the inner sanctuary in the inner part of the house in order to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar of cedar.

21 So Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold, and he made a partition with gold chains in front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.

22 He overlaid the whole house with gold as well as the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

23 Within the inner sanctuary, he made two cherubim from olive wood, each ten cubits high.

24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing was also five cubits. From the furthest part of the one wing to the furthest part of the other was ten cubits.

25 The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were the same shape and size.

26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.

27 He set the cherubim within the inner sanctuary, and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house.

28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 He carved all the walls of the house with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers both inside and out.

30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside and out.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided.

32 The two doors were also made of olive wood. He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave four-sided posts of olive wood.

34 The two doors were made from fir tree, with two leaves of each door folding.

35 He carved on them cherubim and palm trees and open flowers and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

36 He built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone and a row of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year, in the month Ziv, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid,

38 and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul (which is the eighth month), the house was completely finished. All the details and plans were met. So he took seven years to build it.

7

1 Solomon’s Palace Built Solomon was building his own house for thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits, and its width was fifty cubits, and its height was thirty cubits, built on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams upon the pillars.

3 It was covered with cedar over the top of the beams, which sat upon forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row.

4 There were window frames in three rows and window opposite window in three tiers.

5 All the doors and posts were rectangular with the openings facing each other in three tiers.

6 He made a porch of pillars with a length of fifty cubits and a breadth of thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

7 Then he made a porch for the throne, from which he would judge, and called it the Hall of Judgment. It was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.

8 His own house where he lived, in the other court back of the hall, was similar in style. Solomon also made a house like this for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as a wife.

9 All these were built with costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inside and outside, from the foundation up to the coping, throughout the outside toward the great court.

10 The foundation was of large, costly stones, stones of ten and eight cubits in size.

11 Above were costly stones cut to size, along with cedars.

12 The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewed stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.

13 The Furnishings of the Temple Now King Solomon sent and called Huram out of Tyre.

14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre who worked in bronze, and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to make all sorts of items in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.

15 He cast two pillars of bronze eighteen cubits high each and twelve cubits in circumference.

16 He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

17 He made lattices of checker work with wreaths of chainwork for the capitals on top of the pillars: seven for one capital and seven for the other.

18 Likewise he made pomegranates in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same for the other capital.

19 The capitals that were on top of the pillars in the porch were four cubits high and in the shape of lilies.

20 The capitals on top of the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

21 He set up the pillars in the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called it Jakin, and he set up the left pillar and called it Boaz.

22 The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. This completed the work on the pillars.

23 He made a cast metal sea, ten cubits from one side to the other. It was round and had a height of five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

24 Under the brim all the way around there were gourds, ten in a cubit. When it was cast, the gourds were placed in two rows going all the way around it.

25 It stood on top of twelve oxen with three facing north, three facing toward the west, three facing toward the south, and three facing toward the east. The sea was set on them, and their hindquarters were turned inward.

26 It was a hand-breadth thick, and the brim was made similar to the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.

27 He made ten stands out of bronze, each measuring four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

28 The work of the stands looked like this: They had panels, and the panels were set in the frames.

29 And on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.

30 Every stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.

31 Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half deep. At its opening there were engravings, and its panels were four-sided, not round.

32 Underneath the panels were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were joined to the stand, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

33 The wheels worked like chariot wheels in that their axles and rims and spokes and hubs were all cast metal.

34 There were four supports for the four corners of each stand, and the supports were part of one piece with the stand itself.

35 On the top of the stand, there was a round band half a cubit high, and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it.

36 On the surface of its stays and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.

37 In this way he made the ten stands, with them all having the same shape, measure, and size.

38 Then he made ten basins of bronze, with each basin able to hold forty baths, each being four cubits. Upon every one of the ten stands sat one basin.

39 He put five stands on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast.

40 Huram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram finished all the work in making items for King Solomon for use in the house of the Lord:

41 the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the two pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars;

42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;

43 the ten stands and ten basins on the stands;

44 one sea and twelve oxen under the sea;

45 the pots, the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels that Huram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze.

46 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Sukkoth and Zarethan.

47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because there were so many. The weight of the bronze was also never measured.

48 Solomon made all the vessels that were needed for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, the table of gold on which was showbread,

49 the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

50 the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, fire pans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

51 All the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the cups—and he put them among the treasures of the house of the Lord.

8

1 The Ark Brought to the Temple Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they could ensure that the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be brought out of the City of David in Zion.

2 All the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark.

4 The priests and Levites brought up the ark of the Lord, the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy implements that were in the tabernacle.

5 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled before him stood together in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be told or numbered.

6 The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and the poles from above.

8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen out in the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside, and they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except for the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

10 And when the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord,

11 so that the priests could not continue to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

12 Then Solomon spoke, saying, “The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

13 I have surely built You a house to dwell in, a settled place for You to abide in forever.”

14 Then the king turned around and blessed all the congregation of Israel (and all the congregation of Israel stood),

15 and he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has with His hand fulfilled His word, saying,

16 ‘Since the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city from any tribe of Israel to build a house where My name might be praised, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’

17 “My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

18 The Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you had good intentions.

19 Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who will come out of your loins, he shall build the house for My name.’

20 “The Lord has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I have been elevated to the position of my father David, to sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

21 I have set a place there for the ark, which houses the covenant of the Lord which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

22 Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication Then Solomon stood in front of the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread his hands toward heaven.

23 and he said, “Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts,

24 who have kept what You promised Your servant David my father. You spoke also with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

25 “Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, so long as your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’

26 Now, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be fulfilled, which You spoke to Your servant David my father.

27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? See, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less can this house that I have built?

28 Yet give consideration to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today,

29 that Your eyes may be upon this house night and day, even toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may listen to the prayer which Your servant shall make toward this place.

30 Please listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.

31 “If any man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house,

32 then may You hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

33 “When Your people Israel are defeated by their enemies, because they have sinned against You, and they turn back to You and call upon Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house,

34 then may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them again to the land which You gave to their fathers.

35 “When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and call upon Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

36 then may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk and give rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

37 “When there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;

38 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house;

39 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render to everyone according to all his ways, whose hearts You know—for only You know the hearts of the sons of men—

40 so that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

41 “Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel and comes from a far country for Your name’s sake

42 (for they will hear of Your great name and of Your strong hand and of Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,

43 may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner asks of You, so all people of the earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do, and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by Your name.

44 “If Your people go out to battle against their enemy wherever You send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and toward the house that I have built for Your name,

45 then may You hear their prayer and supplication in heaven and maintain their cause.

46 “If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and You get angry with them and hand them over to the enemy so that they are carried away as captives to the land of the enemy, far or near,

47 yet when they come to their senses while in the land where they were carried captives and repent and make supplication to You, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and have committed wickedness,’

48 and so return to You with all their hearts and with all their souls in the land of their enemies, who carried them away as captives, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

49 then may You hear their prayers and supplications in heaven, Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they committed against You and grant them compassion before those who carried them away as captives, so they will have compassion on them.

51 For they are Your people and Your inheritance whom You brought forth out of Egypt from the midst of the furnace of iron.

52 “Let Your eyes be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them regarding all for which they call upon You.

53 For You did call them out from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

54 Now when Solomon finished praying this prayer and making supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

55 He stood up and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56 “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word of His promises which He gave by the hand of Moses His servant has failed.

57 The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. Let Him neither leave us nor forsake us,

58 that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments, which He commanded our fathers.

59 And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be close to the Lord our God day and night, that He will maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel at all times as the situation demands,

60 so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else.

61 Let your hearts, therefore, be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.”

62 The Dedication of the Temple The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord.

63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

64 The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 At that time, Solomon held a feast for all Israel, a great congregation, from the entry of Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and another seven days, a total of fourteen days.

66 On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their tents rejoicing in their hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David His servant and for Israel His people.

9

1 The Lord Appears to Solomon When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all else he desired,

2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and supplication, which you made before Me. I have consecrated this house which you built by putting My name there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

4 “If you will walk before Me, as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, so that you are obedient to do all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments,

5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man upon the throne of Israel.’

6 “But if you and your sons turn in any way from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

7 then I will cut Israel out of the land which I have given them, and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My name, out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.

8 And everyone who passes by this high house will be astonished and will hiss, and they shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land, and to this house?’

9 And they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and have worshipped and served them. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster upon them.’ ”

10 Solomon’s Other Activities When twenty years had passed since Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house

11 (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar and fir trees, along with gold, as he had requested), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

12 Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, and he was not pleased with them.

13 He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Kabul to this day.

14 Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

15 This is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up against and conquered Gezer and burned it with fire and slain the Canaanites that lived in the city and given it as a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

17 Solomon built Gezer and Lower Beth Horon

18 and Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

19 and all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen and all that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not children of Israel,

21 the descendants of those who were left in the land and whom the people of Israel were not able to utterly destroy, were conscripted by Solomon for slave labor to this day.

22 But Solomon did not make any children of Israel into slaves, but instead used them as men of war, as his servants, his leaders, his captains, rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the labor.

24 But Pharaoh’s daughter moved out of the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, and he then built Millo.

25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, and he burned incense on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.

27 Hiram sent shipmen who had knowledge of the sea to serve alongside Solomon’s men.

28 They went to Ophir and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold there and brought it to King Solomon.

10

1 The Queen of Sheba Now when the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame connected to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.

2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.

3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was not anything too difficult for the king which he could not answer.

4 When the queen of Sheba observed Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built

5 and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their clothing and his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.

6 She said to the king, “What I heard in my own land about your acts and your wisdom was true!

7 I did not believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes! In fact, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity are greater than the stories I heard!

8 Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever; therefore He made you king in order to execute judgment and justice.”

10 She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a great amount of spices and precious stones. No one gave as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11 The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones.

12 The king made pillars for the house of the Lord out of the almug trees and harps also and psalteries for singers for the king’s house. Never before had such almug wood been brought, nor has any such been seen to this day.

13 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, no matter what she asked for, in addition to what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

14 Solomon’s Wealth Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold.

15 In addition, he collected from the merchantmen and the traffic of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.

16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold made of six hundred shekels of gold each.

17 He made three hundred shields of beaten gold with three pounds of gold in each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold.

19 The throne had six steps, and the back of the throne was round, and there were armrests on either side of the seat with two lions standing beside the armrests.

20 Twelve lions stood on the sides of the six steps, and there was no other like it in any kingdom.

21 All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the cups of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None were made of silver, for it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

22 For the king had ships at sea at Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in terms of riches and wisdom.

24 All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

25 Everyone brought an annual tribute in the form of presents, silver and gold cups, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules.

26 Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem.

27 The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and he made cedars to be as plentiful as sycamore trees in the valley.

28 Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt along with linen yarn. The king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.

29 He brought chariots from Egypt at a price of six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty. And he exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, by their means.

11

1 Solomon’s Apostasy But King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites,

2 from the nations which the Lord warned the children of Israel about, saying, “You shall not go in to them, nor shall they come in to you, for they will surely turn your heart away toward their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Molek, the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as his father David had done.

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is close to Jerusalem, and for Molek, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

10 and had warned him about this, that he should not follow other gods, but he was disobedient to the Lord’s command.

11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and have not kept My covenant and statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely take the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.

12 I will not do this in your lifetime for your father David’s sake, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

13 However, I will not take the whole kingdom away, but will preserve one tribe for your son for David My servant’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem which I chose.”

14 Solomon’s Adversaries The Lord stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was a prince of Edom.

15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the slain, he had killed every male in Edom

16 (for six months Joab stayed there with his men until he had killed every male in Edom).

17 But Hadad fled to Egypt, he and some Edomites who served his father, Hadad still being a small child.

18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran, and they gathered men from Paran and then arrived in Egypt and presented him before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and provisions and land.

19 Pharaoh had great affection for Hadad, so much so that he gave him his sister-in-law, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as a wife.

20 Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.

21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Allow me to depart and go to my own country.”

22 Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you want to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing, however let me go anyway.”

23 God stirred up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah.

24 He gathered a group of men and became leader over a band when David killed the men of Zobah, and they fled to Damascus and lived and reigned there.

25 He was an enemy of Israel all the days of Solomon in addition to the troubles caused by Hadad, and he hated Israel and reigned over Aram.

26 Jeroboam’s Rebellion Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, who was Solomon’s servant and whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.

27 This is what led to his rebellion against the king. Solomon built Millo and repaired the wall of the City of David his father.

28 Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he made him ruler over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.

29 At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him along the way, and he had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field.

30 Ahijah took off the new garment that he wore and tore it into twelve pieces,

31 and he said to Jeroboam: Take ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you

32 (but he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),

33 because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the children of Ammon and have not walked in My ways and have not done that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and judgments, as his father David had done.

34 “However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commandments and My statutes.

35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give ten tribes to you.

36 To his son will I give one tribe, so that My servant David will always have a light before Me in Jerusalem, the city in which I have chosen to put My name.

37 I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires and shall be king over Israel.

38 It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you and will walk in My ways and do what is right in My sight to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, I will be with you and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.

39 I will thus afflict the seed of David, but not forever.”

40 Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to Shishak, king of Egypt, and he stayed in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

41 The Death of Solomon The rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

43 Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father, and his son Rehoboam reigned after him.

12

1 Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.

2 When Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, heard of it (for he had fled from King Solomon and stayed in Egypt),

3 they called and sent for him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

4 “Your father made our yoke unbearable. Now, therefore, make the grievous service to your father and the heavy yoke he put upon us lighter, and we will serve you.”

5 He said to them, “Depart for three days, and then come back to me.” And the people departed.

6 King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who advised his father Solomon while he was still alive and asked, “How do you advise me to answer the people?”

7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people this day and will serve them and answer them and speak kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

8 But he rejected the advice that the old men gave him and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and who stood before him,

9 and he said to them, “What advice do you give on how we should answer this people, who have spoken to me saying, ‘Make the yoke your father put on us lighter’?”

10 And the young men who grew up with him said, “Thus shall you answer this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger will be thicker than my father’s loins!

11 Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your burden. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions!’ ”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had appointed, saying, “Come to me again the third day.”

13 The king answered the people roughly and forsook the counsel the old men gave him,

14 and instead spoke to them following the advice of the young men. He said, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your burden. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”

15 Thus the king did not listen to the people, for the cause was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His saying, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 So when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people responded to the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We also do not have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel, and see to your own house, David!” So the people of Israel departed to their tents.

17 But the people of Israel living in the cities of Judah were ruled over by Rehoboam.

18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. As a result, King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David, and it remains so even to this day.

20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him before the congregation and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

21 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel and to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying:

23 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the remnant of the people, saying,

24 “Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers the children of Israel. Every man is to return to his house, for this thing is from Me.” They listened therefore to the word of the Lord and turned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.

25 Jeroboam’s Golden Calves Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and lived there and went out from there and built Peniel.

26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “The kingdom will return to the house of David.

27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

28 At that point, the king got some advice and made two golden calves and said to the people, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

29 He set one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan.

30 This was a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even all the way in Dan.

31 He also made houses on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not Levites.

32 Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast in Judah, and he offered sacrifice on the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made.

33 So he made offerings on the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a holiday he imagined in his own heart, and ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and he sacrificed on the altar and burned incense.

13

1 The Man of God From Judah A man of God came out of Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

2 He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A child named Josiah will be born in the house of David, and he will sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and these men’s bones shall be burned upon you.’ ”

3 He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it will be poured out.’ ”

4 When King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Bethel, he reached out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” And the hand that he put forth against him dried up so that he could not pull it back in again.

5 The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, just as the man of God had said it would as a sign of the Lord.

6 The king answered and said to the man of God, “Seek the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand will be healed.” And the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was healed and became as it was before.

7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

8 The man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water in this place,

9 for so I was commanded by the word of the Lord, saying: You shall eat no bread, nor drink water nor return by the same way that you came.”

10 So he went another way and did not return by the same way he came to Bethel.

11 Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.

12 Their father said to them, “What way did he go?” For his sons had seen the way the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

13 He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it.

14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak, and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”

15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

16 He said, “I may not return with you or go in with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place,

17 for I was commanded by the word of the Lord: You shall eat no bread and drink no water there nor return by the way you came.”

18 He said to him, “I am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he had lied to him.

19 So he went back with him to his house and ate bread and drank water.

20 Then as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back,

21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Since you have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you,

22 but instead came back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord told you to eat no bread and drink no water, your carcass will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers!”

23 After he had eaten bread and had drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 As he was going, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown in the road, and both the donkey and lion stood by it.

25 Some men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road with the lion standing by the body, and they came and told the story in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord, and thus the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn and slain him, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke to him.”

27 He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey,” and they saddled it.

28 He then went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion were still standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey.

29 The prophet picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on his donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him.

30 He laid his body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I am dead, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

32 For the saying that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he consecrated to be priests of the high places.

34 This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

14

1 Ahijah Prophesies Against Jeroboam At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick.

2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you will not be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. There you will find Ahijah the prophet, who told me that I would be king over this people.

3 Take ten loaves, cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to our child.”

4 Jeroboam’s wife did so and arose and went to Shiloh, to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for in his old age he had gone blind.

5 The Lord said to Ahijah, “The wife of Jeroboam has come to ask you about her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for when she comes, she will be disguised as another woman.”

6 And so when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you disguise yourself as another? I have been sent to you with bad news.

7 Go tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I raised you up from among the people and made you prince over My people Israel,

8 and took the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it you. Yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart to do only that which was right in My eyes,

9 but you have sinned more than all who were before you, for you have gone and made other gods and molded images and provoked Me to anger and have cast Me behind your back.

10 “ ‘Therefore I will bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam all males, both slave and free in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away refuse until it is all gone.

11 Descendants of Jeroboam who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air, for the Lord has spoken it.’

12 “Arise therefore and go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die.

13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he alone from the house of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.

14 “Moreover the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

15 For the Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and He will uproot Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord to anger.

16 He shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam who sinned and who led Israel to sin.”

17 Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. As she arrived at the threshold of the door, the child died,

18 and they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he waged war and how he reigned, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

20 Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years, and then he slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned in his stead.

21 Rehoboam, King of Judah Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.

22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the people provoked Him to jealousy with the sins they committed, even worse than their fathers had done.

23 For they also built high places and images and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

26 He took away all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, even all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

27 King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard who guarded the king’s house.

28 And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them and brought them back into the guard chamber.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

31 Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

15

1 Abijah, King of Judah Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijah became king over Judah.

2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maakah, the daughter of Abishalom.

3 He walked in all the sins of his father that he had done before him, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.

4 Nevertheless, for David’s sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem,

5 because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter involving Uriah the Hittite.

6 The war begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued all the days of his life.

7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

8 Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David, and Asa his son reigned in his place.

9 Asa, King of Judah In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.

10 He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and his grandmother’s name was Maakah, the daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.

12 He expelled the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

13 In addition he even deposed his grandmother Maakah as queen, because she had made an idol in a grove. Asa destroyed her idol and burned it by the Kidron brook.

14 But the high places were not all removed, even though Asa’s heart was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days.

15 He brought into the house of the Lord the things that both his father and he himself had dedicated, the silver and gold and cups.

16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah so he could prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, as well as the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived at Damascus, saying,

19 “There is a treaty between me and you and between my father and your father. I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so he will depart from me.”

20 So Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maakah, and all Kinnereth, along with all the land of Naphtali.

21 When Baasha heard about it, he halted the fortification of Ramah and moved to Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah—none was exempted—and they took away the stones of Ramah and the timber with which Baasha had built, and King Asa used them to build Geba of Benjamin as well as Mizpah.

23 The rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? When he was old, he got a disease in his feet.

24 Asa then slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

25 Nadab, King of Israel Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah and reigned over Israel two years.

26 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

27 Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.

28 It was in the third year of Asa king of Judah that Baasha killed him and took his throne.

29 When he became king, Baasha killed all the house of Jeroboam. No one from Jeroboam’s family was left breathing. He completely destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

30 because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation with which he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.

31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

33 Baasha, King of Israel In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, and he did so twenty-four years.

34 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

16

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

2 “I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made My people Israel to sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins.

3 See, I will take away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

4 Those from the house of Baasha who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the fields will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

6 So Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place.

7 And so it was by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani that the word of the Lord came against Baasha and his house, for all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands because he acted like the house of Jeroboam and also because he killed it.

8 Elah, King of Israel In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he did so two years.

9 His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him, and when he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, manager of his house in Tirzah,

10 Zimri went in and smote him and killed him. This took place in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and Zimri reigned in his place.

11 When he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, he executed all the household of Baasha. He left no males, neither of his relatives nor of his friends.

12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

13 because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned and by which they made Israel to sin in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

15 Zimri, King of Israel In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

16 The troops who were encamped heard how Zimri had conspired and had slain the king. As a result, all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.

17 Omri went up from Gibbethon and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.

18 When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and he died,

19 because of his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin.

20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri and his treason, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

21 Omri, King of Israel Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath to make him king, and half followed Omri.

22 But the people who followed Omri defeated the people who followed Tibni, the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he did so twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah.

24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. He fortified the hill and named the city he built after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, calling it “Samaria.”

25 But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all who preceded him,

26 for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

27 Now the rest of the acts Omri performed and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

28 So Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his place.

29 Ahab Reigns in Israel In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

30 Ahab the son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him.

31 The sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat were seen as minor for him to walk in, for he took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, as his wife and went and served Baal and worshipped him.

32 He raised an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

33 Ahab made an Asherah and did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who preceded him.

34 In his days, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid the foundation at the expense of his firstborn Abiram and set up the gates at the cost of the life of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

17

1 Elijah’s Prediction of Drought Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there will not be dew or rain these years except by my word.”

2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying,

3 “Go from here and turn eastward and hide by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan.

4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan.

6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

7 The Widow of Zarephath After some time, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

8 The word of the Lord came to him, saying,

9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

10 So he got up and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get a small cup of water for me to drink.”

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

12 She said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, but only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a jar. I am gathering two sticks, that I can go in and make it for me and my son, so we may eat it and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make a little cake for me first, and bring it to me, and afterward, make some for your son and you,

14 for thus says the Lord God of Israel: The barrel of meal will not run out, nor will the jar of oil empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”

15 She went and did what Elijah told her to do, and she, he, and her household ate many days.

16 The barrel of meal did not run out, nor did the jar of oil empty, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah.

17 Later on, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became terribly sick, so much so that he had no breath left in him.

18 She said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O you man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sin and to kill my son?”

19 And he said to her, “Give me your son,” and he took him out of her arms and carried him up to a loft where he slept and laid him on his own bed.

20 He cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, have You brought tragedy upon the widow with whom I live by killing her son?”

21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, I pray that You let this child’s soul come into him again.”

22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he was revived.

23 Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and returned him to his mother, and Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now, because of this, I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth!”

18

1 Elijah Confronts Ahab After many days, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”

2 Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And there was a great famine in Samaria.

3 Ahab called Obadiah, who was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.

4 When Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)

5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go into the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we will find grass to save the horses and mules, so that we do not lose all the beasts.”

6 So they divided the land between them to search throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

7 As Obadiah was going along, he met Elijah, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

8 And he answered him, “I am. Go, tell your lord, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”

9 He said, “What evil have I done that you would hand your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

10 As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not looked for you, and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom and nation swear that they could not find you,

11 and now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here!” ’

12 As soon as I am gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know, and so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will execute me. But I, your servant, have feared the Lord since my youth.

13 Were you not told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water?

14 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here,” ’ and he will execute me.”

15 Elijah said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

16 Elijah and the Prophets of Baal So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you he that troubles Israel?”

18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals.

19 Now send word out and gather for me all Israel on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20 So Ahab called out all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel.

21 Elijah came to all the people and said, “How long will you stay between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not say a word.

22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets number four hundred and fifty men.

23 Therefore, let them give us two bulls, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on some wood, but do not light a fire under it, and I will prepare the other bull, lay it on some wood, and not light a fire underneath it.

24 And you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God that answers by fire, let Him be God.” And all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for there are many of you, and call on the name of your god, but do not light a fire underneath.”

26 They took the bull which was given to them, and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us.” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

27 By noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry out loud, for he is a god. Either he is talking or is gone away or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.”

28 They cried out loud and cut themselves with knives and spears according to their custom until the blood gushed out on them.

29 And as midday passed, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

30 Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came saying, “Israel shall be your name,”

32 and he built an altar in the name of the Lord with stones, and he made a trench around the altar, so deep that it could contain two seahs of seed.

33 He arranged the wood and cut the bull in pieces and laid him on the wood and said, “Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.”

34 He said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it the third time.

35 The water ran all around the altar and also filled the trench with water.

36 At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “The Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word.

37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, so that this people may know that You are the Lord God and that You have turned their hearts back again.”

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

40 Elijah said to them, “Arrest the prophets of Baal, and do not let one of them escape.” And they arrested them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon brook and executed them there.

41 End of the Drought Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of a heavy rainfall.”

42 So Ahab got up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he threw himself down on the ground and put his face between his knees.

43 And he said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times.

44 On the seventh time, he said, “A small cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising out of the sea.” And he said, “Go up and say to Ahab, ‘Mount your chariot and get down, so that the rain does not stop you.’ ”

45 In the meantime, the sky turned black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

46 The hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

19

1 Elijah Flees From Jezebel And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”

3 When he saw that she was serious, he arose and ran for his life to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough! Now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”

5 As he lay and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

6 He looked, and there was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”

8 He arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

9 Elijah Hears the Lord He came to a cave and camped there, and the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

10 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, Lord of Hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”

11 He said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind split the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake came, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

12 And after the earthquake, a fire came, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still, small voice.

13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance to the cave. And a voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, Lord of Hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go, return on the road through the Wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Aram.

16 And you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah, to be prophet in your place.

17 He who escapes the sword of Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and he who escapes the sword of Jehu will be killed by Elisha.

18 Still, I have preserved seven thousand men in Israel for Myself, all of whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

19 The Call of Elisha So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelfth, and Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak on him.

20 He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”

21 So he returned from following him and took a yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes from the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and went after Elijah and ministered to him.

20

1 Ben-Hadad Attacks Samaria Now Ben-Hadad the king of Aram gathered his army together. Thirty-two kings were with him, with horses and chariots, and he went up and besieged Samaria and fought against it.

2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, “Thus says Ben-Hadad:

3 Your silver and gold is mine, as are your most attractive wives and children.”

4 The king of Israel answered, “My lord, O king, just as you have said, I and all that I own are yours.”

5 The messengers came again and said, “Thus says Ben-Hadad: Although I have said that you must give me your silver and gold, your wives and your children,

6 instead I will send my servants tomorrow about this time, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants, and whatever is precious to you, they will put it in their hands and take it away.”

7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, “Please notice how this man is looking for trouble, for he has demanded I give him my wives and children and my silver and gold, and I have not denied his request.”

8 All the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen to him or consent to his demands.”

9 Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, “Tell my lord the king: I will comply with the first request of your servant, but this thing I will not do.” And the messengers departed and brought him word again.

10 Then Ben-Hadad sent messengers to him and said, “The gods do to me and then some if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.”

11 The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: Let not he who puts on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off.”

12 When Ben-Hadad heard this message as he was drinking with the kings in the pavilions, he said to his servants, “Station yourselves!” And they stationed themselves against the city.

13 Ahab Defeats Ben-Hadad Then a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Have you seen this great multitude? See, I will deliver it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

14 Ahab asked, “By whom?” And he said, “Thus says the Lord: By the young leaders of the provinces.” Then he said, “Who shall order the battle?” And he answered, “You.”

15 Then he counted the young leaders of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two, and after them he counted all the people, all the children of Israel, and had seven thousand.

16 They went out at noon. But Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings who helped him were getting drunk in the pavilions.

17 The young leaders of the provinces went out first. Ben-Hadad sent out scouts, and they told him, “Men from Samaria have come out.”

18 He said, “If they have come out peacefully, take them alive, and if they have come out for battle, take them alive.”

19 So these young leaders of the provinces came out of the city, followed by the army.

20 Each one killed his man, and the Arameans fled with Israel pursuing them, but Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, escaped on a horse with the horsemen.

21 The king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots and killed a great number of Arameans.

22 The prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “Go, strengthen yourself and prepare, and see what you do, for next year the king of Aram will come up against you.”

23 The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were stronger than us, but if we fight against them in the plain, we will surely be stronger than they.

24 Do this: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put commanders in their places,

25 and assemble an army like the army that you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, and we will fight them in the plain and will surely be stronger than they.” And he listened to their advice and followed it.

26 The next year Ben-Hadad assembled the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

27 The children of Israel were assembled and were all present, and they went against them, and the children of Israel camped in front of them like two little flocks of kids, while the Arameans filled the country.

28 A man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel and said, “Thus says the Lord: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,’ I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you will know that I am the Lord.”

29 They camped opposite each other for seven days, and on the seventh day, the battle was joined. The children of Israel killed a hundred thousand Aramean footmen in one day.

30 But the rest fled into the city of Aphek, where a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and came into the city into an inner chamber.

31 His servants said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their heads and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother!”

33 Now the men were diligently looking for a positive sign and quickly took hold of it, and they said, “Your brother Ben-Hadad!” Then he said, “Go. You bring him.” Then Ben-Hadad came to him and got into the chariot.

34 Ben-Hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities which my father took from your father, and you shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” Then Ahab said, “I will send you away with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and sent him away.

35 A Prophet Condemns Ahab Speaking in the word of the Lord, a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him.

36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, as soon as you leave me, a lion will kill you.” And as soon as he left him, a lion found and killed him.

37 Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him so that he was wounded.

38 So the prophet departed and waited by the road for the king and disguised himself with ashes on his face.

39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, ‘Keep this man, and if by any means he goes missing, then your life shall be given for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’

40 As your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you have decided it yourself.”

41 He quickly took the ashes away from his face, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

42 He said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand a man whom I had appointed to utter destruction, you shall pay for his life with your life and his people with your people.’ ”

43 The king of Israel went to his house in Samaria angry and depressed.

21

1 Naboth’s Vineyard Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel right by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

2 And after this Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, so that I can have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it, or if you prefer, I will give you its worth in money.”

3 Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”

4 Ahab returned home angry and depressed because of the answer Naboth the Jezreelite had given him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed and sulked and would not eat any bread.

5 But Jezebel his wife came to him and said, “Why is your spirit so sad that you refuse to eat bread?”

6 And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’ ”

7 Jezebel his wife said to him, “Are you not the governor of the kingdom of Israel? Get up and eat bread, and let your heart be happy, for I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles that were in the city where Naboth lived.

9 In the letters she wrote, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people,

10 and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, ‘You blasphemed God and the king.’ And then carry him out and stone him, so that he will die.”

11 The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them, as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them.

12 They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people.

13 Two men, children of Belial, came in and sat in front of him, and the men of Belial witnessed against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth blasphemed God and the king.” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death.

14 Then they sent word to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”

15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, she said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to sell to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.”

16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

17 The Lord Condemns Ahab The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who is in Samaria. He is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to possess it.

19 You shall speak to him, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Have you killed and also taken possession?” And you shall speak to him, saying, “Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your own blood!”

20 Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.

21 ‘See, I will bring disaster upon you and will take away your posterity and will cut off all your males, both free and slave, who are left in Israel,

22 and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger and made Israel to sin.’

23 “The Lord also spoke of Jezebel, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’

24 “Those from Ahab’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by birds of the air.”

25 But there were none compared to Ahab, who sold himself to evil deeds in the sight of the Lord, which Jezebel his wife stirred up.

26 He performed the most abominable act in following idols like the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

27 When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and walked meekly.

28 The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

29 “See how Ahab humbles himself before Me? Because he humbles himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime, but during his son’s lifetime I will bring the disaster on his household.”

22

1 Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab And there were three years without war between Aram and Israel.

2 In the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah went to visit the king of Israel.

3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “You know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we have done nothing to take it out of the hand of the king of Aram!”

4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle Ramoth Gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please ask for a word from the Lord today.”

6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, approximately four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I wait?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.”

7 Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can ask?”

8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we can inquire of the Lord. But I hate him because he never prophesies good for me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”

9 Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Quickly, bring Micaiah the son of Imlah.”

10 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah each put on his robes and sat on his throne at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them.

11 Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah made horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord: With these you shall push the Arameans until you have consumed them.”

12 All the prophets prophesied similarly, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.”

13 The servant who had gone to get Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “See here, the words of the prophets unanimously declare success for the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.”

14 Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I will speak whatever the Lord says to me.”

15 So he came to the king. And the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we wait?” And he answered him, “Go and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

16 The king said to him, “How many times must I admonish you to tell me only the truth in the name of the Lord?”

17 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let every man return to his own house in peace.’ ”

18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

19 And he said, “Hear, therefore, the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside Him on His right hand and on His left.

20 The Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab so that he will go up and die at Ramoth Gilead?’ “And one said this, and another said that.

21 Then a spirit came forth and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will persuade him.’

22 “The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ “And he said, ‘I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “And He said, ‘You will be successful and persuade him. Go forth, and do so.’

23 “Now therefore, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all your prophets here, and He has spoken evil concerning you!”

24 Then Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah walked up and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the spirit of the Lord go from me in order to speak to you?”

25 And Micaiah said, “You will see in that day, when you go into an inner chamber to hide.”

26 The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,

27 and say, ‘Thus says the king: Put this man in the prison, and feed him with reduced rations of bread and water until I return safely.’ ”

28 Micaiah said, “If you return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” And he said, “Listen, all you people!”

29 Ahab Dies in Battle So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and enter into the battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.

31 But the king of Aram ordered his thirty-two commanders who had control over his chariots, saying, “Fight neither against small nor great, but only against the king of Israel.”

32 So when the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely it is the king of Israel.” And they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out.

33 When the commanders of the chariots realized that it was not the king of Israel, they turned away from pursuing him.

34 A certain man drew a bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor, and because of this, he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”

35 The battle intensified that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot against the Arameans and died that evening, and the blood ran out of the wound into the floor of the chariot.

36 A proclamation went throughout the army as the sun was setting, saying, “Every man is to return to his city, and every man is to return to his own country.”

37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there.

38 The chariot was washed in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up the king’s blood, and they washed his armor according to the word which the Lord spoke.

39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

40 So Ahab slept with his fathers. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

41 Jehoshaphat, King of Judah Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

43 He walked in all the ways of Asa his father. He did not turn aside, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken down, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

44 So Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat and the strength he showed and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

46 And he exterminated from the land the remnant of the male cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa.

47 At that time there was no king in Edom, and a regent sat in the king’s place.

48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never made it there, for the ships were broken at Ezion Geber.

49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat did not agree.

50 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

51 Ahaziah, King of Israel Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel.

52 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel sin,

53 for he served Baal and worshipped him and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done.