1

1 In his old age King David was confined to his bed; but no matter how many blankets were heaped upon him, he was always cold.

2 "The cure for this," his aides told him, "is to find a young virgin to be your concubine and nurse. She will lie in your arms and keep you warm."

3 So they searched the country from one end to the other to find the most beautiful girl in all the land. Abishag, from Shunam, was finally selected.

4 They brought her to the king, and she lay in his arms to warm him (but he had no sexual relations with her).

5 At about that time, David's son Adonijah (his mother was Haggith) decided to crown himself king in place of his aged father. So he hired chariots and drivers and recruited fifty men to run down the streets before him as royal footmen.

6 Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time--not so much as by a single scolding! He was a very handsome man and was Absalom's younger brother.

7 He took General Joab and Abiathar the priest into his confidence, and they agreed to help him become king.

8 But among those who remained loyal to King David and refused to endorse Adonijah were the priests Zadok and Benaiah, the prophet Nathan, Shimei, Rei, and David's army chiefs.

9 Adonijah went to En-rogel where he sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fat young goats at the Serpent's Stone. Then he summoned all of his brothers--the other sons of King David--and all the royal officials of Judah, requesting that they come to his coronation.

10 But he didn't invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the loyal army officers, or his brother Solomon.

11 Then Nathan the prophet went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and asked her, "Do you realize that Haggith's son, Adonijah, is now the king and that our lord David doesn't even know about it?

12 If you want to save your own life and the life of your son Solomon--do exactly as I say!

13 Go at once to King David and ask him, 'My lord, didn't you promise me that my son Solomon would be the next king and would sit upon your throne? Then why is Adonijah reigning?'

14 And while you are still talking with him, I'll come and confirm everything you've said."

15 So Bathsheba went into the king's bedroom. He was an old, old man now, and Abishag was caring for him.

16 Bathsheba bowed low before him. "What do you want?" he asked her.

17 She replied, "My lord, you vowed to me by the Lord your God that my son Solomon would be the next king and would sit upon your throne.

18 But instead, Adonijah is the new king, and you don't even know about it.

19 He has celebrated his coronation by sacrificing oxen, fat goats, and many sheep and has invited all your sons and Abiathar the priest and General Joab. But he didn't invite Solomon.

20 And now, my lord the king, all Israel is waiting for your decision as to whether Adonijah is the one you have chosen to succeed you.

21 If you don't act, my son Solomon and I will be arrested and executed as criminals as soon as you are dead."

22 While she was speaking, the king's aides told him, "Nathan the prophet is here to see you." Nathan came in and bowed low before the king,

23

24 and asked, "My lord, have you appointed Adonijah to be the next king? Is he the one you have selected to sit upon your throne?

25 Today he celebrated his coronation by sacrificing oxen, fat goats, and many sheep, and has invited your sons to attend the festivities. He also invited General Joab and Abiathar the priest; and they are feasting and drinking with him and shouting, 'Long live King Adonijah!'

26 But Zadok the priest and Benaiah and Solomon and I weren't invited.

27 Has this been done with your knowledge? For you haven't said a word as to which of your sons you have chosen to be the next king."

28 "Call Bathsheba," David said. So she came back in and stood before the king.

29 And the king vowed, "As the Lord lives who has rescued me from every danger,

30 I decree that your son Solomon shall be the next king and shall sit upon my throne, just as I swore to you before by the Lord God of Israel."

31 Then Bathsheba bowed low before him again and exclaimed, "Oh, thank you, sir. May my lord the king live forever!"

32 "Call Zadok the priest," the king ordered, "and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah." When they arrived,

33 he said to them, "Take Solomon and my officers to Gihon. Solomon is to ride on my personal mule,

34 and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him there as king of Israel. Then blow the trumpets and shout, 'Long live King Solomon!'

35 When you bring him back here, place him upon my throne as the new king; for I have appointed him king of Israel and Judah."

36 "Amen! Praise God!" replied Benaiah, and added,

37 "May the Lord be with Solomon as he has been with you, and may God make Solomon's reign even greater than yours!"

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, and David's bodyguard took Solomon to Gihon, riding on King David's own mule.

39 At Gihon, Zadok took a flask of sacred oil from the Tabernacle and poured it over Solomon; and the trumpets were blown and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!"

40 Then they all returned with him to Jerusalem, making a joyous and noisy celebration all along the way.

41 Adonijah and his guests heard the commotion and shouting just as they were finishing their banquet. "What's going on?" Joab demanded. "Why is the city in such an uproar?"

42 And while he was still speaking, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, rushed in. "Come in," Adonijah said to him, "for you are a good man; you must have good news."

43 "Our lord King David has declared Solomon as king!" Jonathan shouted.

44 "The king sent him to Gihon with Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah, protected by the king's own bodyguard; and he rode on the king's own mule.

45 And Zadok and Nathan have anointed him as the new king! They have just returned, and the whole city is celebrating and rejoicing. That's what all the noise is.

46 Solomon is sitting on the throne,

47 and all the people are congratulating King David, saying, 'May God bless you even more through Solomon than he has blessed you personally! May God make Solomon's reign even greater than yours!' And the king is lying in bed, acknowledging their blessings.

48 He is saying, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has selected one of my sons to sit upon my throne while I am still alive to see it.' "

49 Then Adonijah and his guests jumped up from the banquet table and fled in panic;

50 for they were fearful for their lives. Adonijah rushed into the Tabernacle and caught hold of the horns of the sacred altar.

51 When word reached Solomon that Adonijah was claiming sanctuary in the Tabernacle, and pleading for clemency,

52 Solomon replied, "If he behaves himself, he will not be harmed; but if he does not, he shall die."

53 So King Solomon summoned him, and they brought him down from the altar. He came to bow low before the king; and then Solomon curtly dismissed him. "Go on home," he said.

2

1 As the time of King David's death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon:

2 "I am going where every man on earth must some day go. I am counting on you to be a strong and worthy successor.

3 Obey the laws of God and follow all his ways; keep each of his commands written in the law of Moses so that you will prosper in everything you do, wherever you turn.

4 If you do this, then the Lord will fulfill the promise he gave me, that if my children and their descendants watch their step and are faithful to God, one of them shall always be the king of Israel--my dynasty will never end.

5 "Now listen to my instructions. You know that Joab murdered my two generals, Abner and Amasa. He pretended that it was an act of war, but it was done in a time of peace.

6 You are a wise man and will know what to do--don't let him die in peace.

7 But be kind to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Make them permanent guests of the king, for they took care of me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

8 And do you remember Shimei, the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim? He cursed me with a terrible curse as I was going to Mahanaim; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I promised I wouldn't kill him.

9 But that promise doesn't bind you! You are a wise man, and you will know how to arrange a bloody death for him."

10 Then David died and was buried in Jerusalem.

11 He had reigned over Israel for forty years, seven of them in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.

12 And Solomon became the new king, replacing his father David; and his kingdom prospered.

13 One day Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to see Solomon's mother, Bathsheba. "Have you come to make trouble?" she asked him. "No," he replied, "I come in peace.

14 As a matter of fact, I have a favor to ask of you." "What is it?" she asked.

15 "Everything was going well for me," he said, "and the kingdom was mine: everyone expected me to be the next king. But the tables are turned, and everything went to my brother instead; for that is the way the Lord wanted it.

16 But now I have just a small favor to ask of you; please don't turn me down." "What is it?" she asked.

17 He replied, "Speak to King Solomon on my behalf (for I know he will do anything you request) and ask him to give me Abishag, the Shunammite, as my wife."

18 "All right," Bathsheba replied, "I'll ask him."

19 So she went to ask the favor of King Solomon. The king stood up from his throne as she entered and bowed low to her. He ordered that a throne for his mother be placed beside his; so she sat at his right hand.

20 "I have one small request to make of you," she said. "I hope you won't turn me down." "What is it, my mother?" he asked. "You know I won't refuse you."

21 "Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag," she replied.

22 "Are you crazy?" he demanded. "If I were to give him Abishag, I would be giving him the kingdom too! For he is my older brother! He and Abiathar the priest and General Joab would take over!"

23 Then King Solomon swore with a great oath, "May God strike me dead if Adonijah does not die this very day for this plot against me!

24 I swear it by the living God who has given me the throne of my father David and this kingdom he promised me."

25 So King Solomon sent Benaiah to execute him, and he killed him with a sword.

26 Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your home in Anathoth. You should be killed, too, but I won't do it now. For you carried the Ark of the Lord during my father's reign, and you suffered right along with him in all of his troubles."

27 So Solomon forced Abiathar to give up his position as the priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the decree of Jehovah at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli.

28 When Joab heard about Adonijah's death (Joab had joined Adonijah's revolt, though not Absalom's) he ran to the Tabernacle for sanctuary and caught hold of the horns of the altar.

29 When news of this reached King Solomon, he sent Benaiah to execute him.

30 Benaiah went into the Tabernacle and said to Joab, "The king says to come out!" "No," he said, "I'll die here." So Benaiah returned to the king for further instructions.

31 "Do as he says," the king replied. "Kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of his senseless murders from me and from my father's family.

32 Then Jehovah will hold him personally responsible for the murders of two men who were better than he. For my father was no party to the deaths of General Abner, commander-in-chief of the army of Israel, and General Amasa, commander-in-chief of the army of Judah.

33 May Joab and his descendants be forever guilty of these murders, and may the Lord declare David and his descendants guiltless concerning their deaths."

34 So Benaiah returned to the Tabernacle and killed Joab; and he was buried beside his house in the desert.

35 Then the king appointed Benaiah as commander-in-chief, and Zadok as priest instead of Abiathar.

36 The king now sent for Shimei and told him, "Build a house here in Jerusalem, and don't step outside the city on pain of death.

37 The moment you go beyond Kidron Brook, you die; and it will be your own fault."

38 "All right," Shimei replied, "whatever you say." So he lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

39 But three years later two of Shimei's slaves escaped to King Achish of Gath. When Shimei learned where they were,

40 he saddled a donkey and went to Gath to visit the king. And when he had found his slaves, he took them back to Jerusalem.

41 When Solomon heard that Shimei had left Jerusalem and had gone to Gath and returned,

42 he sent for him and demanded, "Didn't I command you in the name of God to stay in Jerusalem or die? You replied, 'Very well, I will do as you say.'

43 Then why have you not kept your agreement and obeyed my commandment?

44 And what about all the wicked things you did to my father, King David? May the Lord take revenge on you,

45 but may I receive God's rich blessings, and may one of David's descendants always sit upon this throne."

46 Then, at the king's command, Benaiah took Shimei outside and killed him. So Solomon's grip upon the kingdom became secure.

3

1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to Jerusalem to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple and the wall around the city.

2 At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings on altars in the hills, for the Temple of the Lord hadn't yet been built.

3 (Solomon loved the Lord and followed all of his father David's instructions except that he continued to sacrifice in the hills and to offer incense there.)

4 The most famous of the hilltop altars was at Gibeon, and now the king went there and sacrificed one thousand burnt offerings!

5 The Lord appeared to him in a dream that night and told him to ask for anything he wanted, and it would be given to him!

6 Solomon replied, "You were wonderfully kind to my father David because he was honest and true and faithful to you, and obeyed your commands. And you have continued your kindness to him by giving him a son to succeed him.

7 O Lord my God, now you have made me the king instead of my father David, but I am as a little child who doesn't know his way around.

8 And here I am among your own chosen people, a nation so great that there are almost too many people to count!

9 Give me an understanding mind so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. For who by himself is able to carry such a heavy responsibility?"

10 The Lord was pleased with his reply and was glad that Solomon had asked for wisdom.

11 So he replied, "Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people and haven't asked for a long life, or riches for yourself, or the defeat of your enemies--

12 yes, I'll give you what you asked for! I will give you a wiser mind than anyone else has ever had or ever will have!

13 And I will also give you what you didn't ask for--riches and honor! And no one in all the world will be as rich and famous as you for the rest of your life!

14 And I will give you a long life if you follow me and obey my laws as your father David did."

15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and went into the Tabernacle. And as he stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all of his officials to a great banquet.

16 Soon afterwards two young prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled.

17 "Sir," one of them began, "we live in the same house, just the two of us, and recently I had a baby. When it was three days old, this woman's baby was born too.

18

19 But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it in her sleep and smothered it.

20 Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep, and laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her.

21 And in the morning when I tried to feed my baby it was dead! But when it became light outside, I saw that it wasn't my son at all."

22 Then the other woman interrupted, "It certainly was her son, and the living child is mine." "No," the first woman said, "the dead one is yours and the living one is mine." And so they argued back and forth before the king.

23 Then the king said, "Let's get the facts straight: both of you claim the living child, and each says that the dead child belongs to the other.

24 All right, bring me a sword." So a sword was brought to the king.

25 Then he said, "Divide the living child in two and give half to each of these women!"

26 Then the woman who really was the mother of the child, and who loved him very much, cried out, "Oh no, sir! Give her the child--don't kill him!" But the other woman said, "All right, it will be neither yours nor mine; divide it between us!"

27 Then the king said, "Give the baby to the woman who wants him to live, for she is the mother!"

28 Word of the king's decision spread quickly throughout the entire nation, and all the people were awed as they realized the great wisdom God had given him.

4

1 Here is a list of King Solomon's cabinet members:

2 Azariah (son of Zadok) was the High Priest;

3 Elihoreph and Ahijah (sons of Shisha) were secretaries; Jehoshaphat (son of Ahilud) was the official historian and in charge of the archives;

4 Benaiah (son of Jehoiada) was commander-in-chief of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5 Azariah (son of Nathan) was secretary of state; Zabud (son of Nathan) was the king's personal priest and special friend;

6 Ahishar was manager of palace affairs; Adoniram (son of Abda) was superintendent of public works.

7 There were also twelve officials of Solomon's court--one man from each tribe--responsible for requisitioning food from the people for the king's household. Each of them arranged provisions for one month of the year.

8 The names of these twelve officers were: Ben-hur, whose area for this taxation was the hill country of Ephraim;

9 Ben-deker, whose area was Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

10 Ben-hesed, whose area was Arubboth, including Socoh and all the land of Hepher;

11 Ben-abinadab (who married Solomon's daughter, the princess Taphath), whose area was the highlands of Dor;

12 Baana (son of Ahilud), whose area was Taanach and Megiddo, all of Beth-shean near Zarethan below Jezreel, and all the territory from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and over to Jokmeam;

13 Ben-geber, whose area was Ramoth-gilead, including the villages of Jair (the son of Manasseh) in Gilead; and the region of Argob in Bashan, including sixty walled cities with bronze gates;

14 Ahinadab (the son of Iddo), whose area was Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz (who married Princess Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters), whose area was Naphtali;

16 Baana (son of Hushai), whose areas were Asher and Bealoth;

17 Jehoshaphat (son of Paruah), whose area was Issachar;

18 Shimei (son of Ela), whose area was Benjamin;

19 Geber (son of Uri), whose area was Gilead, including the territories of King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan. A general manager supervised these officials and their work.

20 Israel and Judah were a wealthy, populous, contented nation at this time.

21 King Solomon ruled the whole area from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and down to the borders of Egypt. The conquered peoples of those lands sent taxes to Solomon and continued to serve him throughout his lifetime.

22 The daily food requirements for the palace were 195 bushels of fine flour, 390 bushels of meal,

23 10 oxen from the fattening pens, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep, and, from time to time, deer, gazelles, roebucks, and plump fowl.

24 His dominion extended over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza. And there was peace throughout the land.

25 Throughout the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety; and each family had its own home and garden.

26 Solomon owned forty thousand chariot horses and employed twelve thousand charioteers.

27 Each month the tax officials provided food for King Solomon and his court,

28 also the barley and straw for the royal horses in the stables.

29 God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and a mind with broad interests.

30 In fact, his wisdom excelled that of any of the wise men of the East, including those in Egypt.

31 He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was famous among all the surrounding nations.

32 He was the author of 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs.

33 He was a great naturalist, with interest in animals, birds, snakes, fish, and trees--from the great cedars of Lebanon down to the tiny hyssop which grows in cracks in the wall.

34 And kings from many lands sent their ambassadors to him for his advice.

5

1 King Hiram of Tyre had always been a great admirer of David, so when he learned that David's son Solomon was the new king of Israel, he sent ambassadors to extend congratulations and good wishes.

2 Solomon replied with a proposal about the Temple of the Lord he wanted to build.

3 His father David, Solomon pointed out to Hiram, had not been able to build it because of the numerous wars going on, and he had been waiting for the Lord to give him peace.

4 "But now," Solomon said to Hiram, "the Lord my God has given Israel peace on every side; I have no foreign enemies or internal rebellions.

5 So I am planning to build a Temple for the Lord my God, just as he instructed my father that I should do. For the Lord told him, 'Your son, whom I will place upon your throne, shall build me a Temple.'

6 Now please assist me with this project. Send your woodsmen to the mountains of Lebanon to cut cedar timber for me, and I will send my men to work beside them, and I will pay your men whatever wages you ask; for as you know, no one in Israel can cut timber like you Sidonians!"

7 Hiram was very pleased with the message from Solomon. "Praise God for giving David a wise son to be king of the great nation of Israel," he said.

8 Then he sent this reply to Solomon: "I have received your message and I will do as you have asked concerning the timber. I can supply both cedar and cypress.

9 My men will bring the logs from the Lebanon mountains to the Mediterranean Sea and build them into rafts. We will float them along the coast to wherever you need them; then we will break the rafts apart and deliver the timber to you. You can pay me with food for my household."

10 So Hiram produced for Solomon as much cedar and cypress timber as he desired,

11 and in return Solomon sent him an annual payment of 125,000 bushels of wheat for his household and 96 gallons of pure olive oil.

12 So the Lord gave great wisdom to Solomon just as he had promised. And Hiram and Solomon made a formal alliance of peace.

13 Then Solomon drafted thirty thousand laborers from all over Israel,

14 and rotated them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, so that each man was a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was the general superintendent of this labor camp.

15 Solomon also had seventy thousand additional laborers, eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country,

16 and thirty-three hundred foremen.

17 The stonecutters quarried and shaped huge blocks of stone--a very expensive job--for the foundation of the Temple.

18 Men from Gebal helped Solomon's and Hiram's builders in cutting the timber and making the boards, and in preparing the stone for the Temple.

6

1 It was in the spring of the fourth year of Solomon's reign that he began the actual construction of the Temple. (This was 480 years after the people of Israel left their slavery in Egypt.)

2 The Temple was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high.

3 All along the front of the Temple was a porch thirty feet long and fifteen feet deep.

4 Narrow windows were used throughout.

5 An annex of rooms was built along the full length of both sides of the Temple against the outer walls.

6 These rooms were three stories high, the lower floor being 7 1/2 feet wide, the second floor 9 feet wide, and the upper floor 10 1/2 feet wide. The rooms were connected to the walls of the Temple by beams resting on blocks built out from the wall--so the beams were not inserted into the walls themselves.

7 The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, axe, or any other tool at the building site.

8 The bottom floor of the side rooms was entered from the right side of the Temple, and there were winding stairs going up to the second floor; another flight of stairs led from the second to the third.

9 After completing the Temple, Solomon paneled it all, including the beams and pillars, with cedar.

10 As already stated, there was an annex on each side of the building, attached to the Temple walls by cedar timbers. Each story of the annex was 7 1/2 feet high.

11 Then the Lord sent this message to Solomon concerning the Temple he was building:

12 "If you do as I tell you to and follow all of my commandments and instructions, I will do what I told your father David I would do:

13 I will live among the people of Israel and never forsake them."

14 At last the Temple was finished.

15 The entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was paneled with cedar, and the floors were made of cypress boards.

16 The thirty-foot inner room at the far end of the Temple--the Most Holy Place--was also paneled from the floor to the ceiling with cedar boards.

17 The remainder of the Temple--other than the Most Holy Place--was sixty feet long.

18 Throughout the Temple the cedar paneling laid over the stone walls was carved with designs of rosebuds and open flowers.

19 The inner room was where the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was placed.

20 This inner sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high. Its walls and ceiling were overlaid with pure gold, and Solomon made a cedar-wood altar for this room.

21 Then he overlaid the interior of the remainder of the Temple--

22 including the cedar altar--with pure gold; and he made gold chains to protect the entrance to the Most Holy Place.

23 Within the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two statues of Guardian Angels made from olive wood, each fifteen feet high.

24 They were placed so that their outspread wings reached from wall to wall, while their inner wings touched each other at the center of the room; each wing was 7 1/2 feet long, so each angel measured fifteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. The two angels were identical in all dimensions,

25

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28 and each was overlaid with gold.

29 Figures of angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on all the walls of both rooms of the Temple,

30 and the floor of both rooms was overlaid with gold.

31 The doorway to the inner sanctuary was a five-sided opening,

32 and its two olive-wood doors were carved with Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers, all overlaid with gold.

33 Then he made square doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the Temple.

34 There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each door was hinged to fold back upon itself.

35 Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on these doors and carefully overlaid with gold.

36 The wall of the inner court had three layers of hewn stone and one layer of cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the Temple was laid in the month of May in the fourth year of Solomon's reign,

38 and the entire building was completed in every detail in November of the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build.

7

1 Then Solomon built his own palace, which took thirteen years to construct.

2 One of the rooms in the palace was called the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon. It was huge--measuring 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The great cedar ceiling beams rested upon four rows of cedar pillars.

3 There were forty-five windows in the hall, set in three tiers, one tier above the other, five to a tier, facing each other from three walls.

4

5 Each of the doorways and windows had a square frame.

6 Another room was called the Hall of Pillars. It was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide, with a porch in front covered by a canopy that was supported by pillars.

7 There was also the Throne Room or Judgment Hall, where Solomon sat to hear legal matters; it was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.

8 His cedar-paneled living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall. (He designed similar living quarters, the same size, in the palace that he built for Pharaoh's daughter--one of his wives.)

9 These buildings were constructed entirely from huge, expensive stones, cut to measure.

10 The foundation stones were twelve to fifteen feet across.

11 The huge stones in the walls were also cut to measure and were topped with cedar beams.

12 The Great Court had three courses of hewn stone in its walls, topped with cedar beams, just like the inner court of the Temple and the porch of the palace.

13 King Solomon then asked for a man named Hiram to come from Tyre, for he was a skilled craftsman in bronze work.

14 He was half Jewish, being the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a foundry worker from Tyre. So he came to work for King Solomon.

15 He cast two hollow bronze pillars, each twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet around, with three-inch-thick walls.

16 At the tops of the pillars he made two lily-shaped capitals from molten bronze, each 7 1/2 feet high. The upper part of each capital was shaped like a lily, six feet high.

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21 Each capital was decorated with seven sets of bronze, chain-designed lattices and four hundred pomegranates in two rows.

22 Hiram set these pillars at the entrance of the Temple. The one on the south was named the Jachin Pillar, and the one on the north, the Boaz Pillar.

23 Then Hiram cast a round bronze tank, 7 1/2 feet high and 15 feet from brim to brim; 45 feet in circumference.

24 On the underside of the rim were two rows of ornaments an inch or two apart, which were cast along with the tank.

25 It rested on twelve bronze oxen standing tail to tail, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east.

26 The sides of the tank were four inches thick; its brim was shaped like a goblet, and it had a twelve thousand gallon capacity.

27 Then he made ten four-wheeled movable stands, each 6 feet square and 4 1/2 feet high.

28 They were constructed with undercarriages braced with square crosspieces.

29 These crosspieces were decorated with carved lions, oxen, and angels. Above and below the lions and oxen were wreath decorations.

30 Each of these movable stands had four bronze wheels and bronze axles, and at each corner of the stands were supporting posts made of bronze and decorated with wreaths on each side.

31 The top of each stand was a round piece 1 1/2 feet high. Its center was concave, 2 1/4 feet deep, decorated on the outside with wreaths. Its panels were square, not round.

32 The stands rode on four wheels which were connected to axles that had been cast as part of the stands. The wheels were twenty-seven inches high

33 and were similar to chariot wheels. All the parts of the stands were cast from molten bronze, including the axles, spokes, rims, and hubs.

34 There were supports at each of the four corners of the stands, and these, too, were cast with the stands.

35 A nine-inch rim surrounded the tip of each stand, banded with lugs. All was cast as one unit with the stand.

36 Guardian Angels, lions, and palm trees surrounded by wreaths were engraved on the borders of the band wherever there was room.

37 All ten stands were the same size and were made alike, for each was cast from the same mold.

38 Then he made ten brass vats, and placed them on the stands. Each vat was six feet square and contained 240 gallons of water.

39 Five of these vats were arranged on the left and five on the right-hand side of the room. The tank was in the southeast corner, on the right-hand side of the room.

40 Hiram also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins and at last completed the work in the Temple of the Lord that had been assigned to him by King Solomon.

41 Here is a list of the items he made: Two pillars; A capital at the top of each pillar; Latticework covering the bases of the capitals of each pillar;

42 Four hundred pomegranates in two rows on the latticework, to cover the bases of the two capitals;

43 Ten movable stands holding ten vats;

44 One large tank and twelve oxen supporting it;

45 Pots; Shovels; Basins. All these items were made of burnished bronze

46 and were cast at the plains of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan.

47 The total weight of these pieces was not known because they were too heavy to weigh!

48 All the utensils and furniture used in the Temple were made of solid gold. This included the altar, the table where the Bread of the Presence of God was displayed,

49 the lampstands (five on the right-hand side and five on the left, in front of the Most Holy Place), the flowers, lamps, tongs,

50 cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, firepans, the hinges of the doors to the Most Holy Place, and the main entrance doors of the Temple. Each of these was made of solid gold.

51 When the Temple was finally finished, Solomon took into the treasury of the Temple the silver, the gold, and all the vessels dedicated for that purpose by his father David.

8

1 Then Solomon called a convocation at Jerusalem of all the leaders of Israel--the heads of the tribes and clans--to observe the transferring of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the Tabernacle in Zion, the City of David, to the Temple.

2 This celebration occurred at the time of the Tabernacle Festival in the month of October.

3 During the festivities the priests carried the Ark to the Temple, along with all the sacred vessels that had previously been in the Tabernacle.

4

5 King Solomon and all the people gathered before the Ark, sacrificing uncounted sheep and oxen.

6 Then the priests took the Ark into the inner sanctuary of the Temple--the Most Holy Place--and placed it under the wings of the statues of the mighty angels.

7 The angels had been constructed in such a manner that their wings spread out over the spot where the Ark would be placed; so now their wings overshadowed the Ark and its carrying poles.

8 The poles were so long that they stuck out past the angels and could be seen from the next room, but not from the outer court; and they remain there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the Ark at that time except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Horeb at the time the Lord made his covenant with the people of Israel after they left Egypt.

10 Look! As the priests are returning from the inner sanctuary, a bright cloud fills the Temple!

11 The priests have to go outside because the glory of the Lord is filling the entire building!

12 Now King Solomon prayed this invocation: "The Lord has said that he would live in the thick darkness;

13 But, O Lord, I have built you a lovely home on earth, a place for you to live forever."

14 Then the king turned around and faced the people as they stood before him, and blessed them.

15 "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel," he said, "who has done today what he promised my father David:

16 for he said to him, 'When I brought my people from Egypt, I didn't appoint a place for my Temple, but I appointed a man to be my people's leader.'

17 This man was my father David. He wanted to build a Temple for the Lord God of Israel,

18 but the Lord told him not to. 'I am glad you want to do it,' he said,

19 'but your son is the one who shall build my Temple.'

20 And now the Lord has done what he promised; for I have followed my father as king of Israel, and now this Temple has been built for the Lord God of Israel.

21 And I have prepared a place in the Temple for the Ark that contains the covenant made by the Lord with our fathers, at the time that he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

22 Then, as all the people watched, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord with his hands spread out toward heaven

23 and said, "O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or earth, for you are loving and kind and you keep your promises to your people if they do their best to do your will.

24 Today you have fulfilled your promise to my father David, who was your servant;

25 and now, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill your further promise to him: that if his descendants follow your ways and try to do your will as he did, one of them shall always sit upon the throne of Israel.

26 Yes, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise too.

27 "But is it possible that God would really live on earth? Why, even the skies and the highest heavens cannot contain you, much less this Temple I have built!

28 And yet, O Lord my God, you have heard and answered my request:

29 Please watch over this Temple night and day--this place you have promised to live in--and as I face toward the Temple and pray, whether by night or by day, please listen to me and answer my requests.

30 Listen to every plea of the people of Israel whenever they face this place to pray; yes, hear in heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

31 "If a man is accused of doing something wrong and then, standing here before your altar, swears that he didn't do it,

32 hear him in heaven and do what is right; judge whether or not he did it.

33 "And when your people sin and their enemies defeat them,

34 hear them from heaven and forgive them if they turn to you again and confess that you are their God. Bring them back again to this land which you have given to their fathers.

35 "And when the skies are shut up and there is no rain because of their sin,

36 hear them from heaven and forgive them when they pray toward this place and confess your name. And after you have punished them, help them to follow the good ways in which they should walk, and send rain upon the land that you have given your people.

37 "If there is a famine in the land caused by plant disease or locusts or caterpillars, or if Israel's enemies besiege one of her cities, or if the people are struck by an epidemic or plague--or whatever the problem is--

38 then when the people realize their sin and pray toward this Temple,

39 hear them from heaven and forgive and answer all who have made an honest confession; for you know each heart.

40 In this way they will always learn to reverence you as they continue to live in this land that you have given their fathers.

41 "And when foreigners hear of your great name and come from distant lands to worship you (for they shall hear of your great name and mighty miracles) and pray toward this Temple,

42

43 hear them from heaven and answer their prayers. And all the nations of the earth will know and fear your name just as your own people Israel do; and all the earth will know that this is your Temple.

44 "When you send your people out to battle against their enemies and they pray to you, looking toward your chosen city of Jerusalem and toward this Temple that I have built in your name,

45 hear their prayer and help them.

46 "If they sin against you (and who doesn't?) and you become angry with them and let their enemies lead them away as captives to some foreign land, whether far or near,

47 and they come to their senses and turn to you and cry to you saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong';

48 if they honestly return to you and pray toward this land that you have given their fathers, and toward this city of Jerusalem that you have chosen, and toward this Temple that I have built for your name,

49 hear their prayers and pleadings from heaven where you live, and come to their assistance.

50 "Forgive your people for all of their evil deeds, and make their captors merciful to them;

51 for they are your people--your inheritance that you brought out from the Egyptian furnace.

52 May your eyes be open and your ears listening to their pleas. O Lord, hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you,

53 for when you brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, you told your servant Moses that you had chosen Israel from among all the nations of the earth to be your own special people."

54 Solomon had been kneeling with his hands outstretched toward heaven. As he finished this prayer,

55 he rose from before the altar of Jehovah and cried out this blessing upon all the people of Israel:

56 "Blessed be the Lord who has fulfilled his promise and given rest to his people Israel; not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises proclaimed by his servant Moses.

57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never forsake us.

58 May he give us the desire to do his will in everything, and to obey all the commandments and instructions he has given our ancestors.

59 And may these words of my prayer be constantly before him day and night, so that he helps me and all of Israel in accordance with our daily needs.

60 May people all over the earth know that the Lord is God and that there is no other god at all.

61 O my people, may you live good and perfect lives before the Lord our God; may you always obey his laws and commandments, just as you are doing today."

62 Then the king and all the people dedicated the Temple by sacrificing peace offerings to the Lord--a total of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep and goats!

63

64 As a temporary measure the king sanctified the court in front of the Temple for the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: for the bronze altar was too small to handle so much.

65 The celebration lasted for fourteen days, and a great crowd came from one end of the land to the other.

66 Afterwards Solomon sent the people home, happy for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to his servant David and to his people Israel. And they blessed the king.

9

1 When Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and all the other buildings he had always wanted,

2 the Lord appeared to him the second time (the first time had been at Gibeon)

3 and said to him, "I have heard your prayer. I have hallowed this Temple that you have built and have put my name here forever. I will constantly watch over it and rejoice in it.

4 And if you live in honesty and truth as your father David did, always obeying me,

5 then I will cause your descendants to be the kings of Israel forever, just as I promised your father David when I told him, 'One of your sons shall always be upon the throne of Israel.'

6 "However, if you or your children turn away from me and worship other gods and do not obey my laws,

7 then I will take away the people of Israel from this land that have given them. I will take them from this Temple which I have hallowed for my name, and I will cast them out of my sight; and Israel will become a joke to the nations and an example and proverb of sudden disaster.

8 This Temple will become a heap of ruins, and everyone passing by will be amazed and will whistle with astonishment, asking, 'Why has the Lord done such things to this land and this Temple?'

9 And the answer will be, 'The people of Israel abandoned the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt; they worshiped other gods instead. That is why the Lord has brought this evil upon them.' "

10 At the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built the Temple and the palace,

11 he gave twenty cities in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre as payment for all the cedar and cypress lumber and gold he had furnished for the construction of the palace and Temple.

12 Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities, but he wasn't at all pleased with them.

13 "What sort of deal is this, my brother?" he asked. "These cities are a wasteland!" (And they are still known as "The Wasteland" today.)

14 For Hiram had sent gold to Solomon valued at $3,500,000!

15 Solomon had conscripted forced labor to build the Temple, his palace, Fort Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 Gezer was the city the king of Egypt conquered and burned, killing the Israeli population; later he had given the city to his daughter as a dowry--she was one of Solomon's wives.

17 So now Solomon rebuilt Gezer along with Lower Beth-horon, Baalath, and Tamar, a desert city.

18

19 He also built cities for grain storage, cities in which to keep his chariots, cities for homes for his cavalry and chariot drivers, and resort cities near Jerusalem and in the Lebanon mountains and elsewhere throughout the land.

20 Solomon conscripted his labor forces from those who survived in the nations he conquered--the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

21 For the people of Israel had not been able to wipe them out completely at the time of the invasion and conquest of Israel, and they continue as slaves even today.

22 Solomon didn't conscript any Israelis for this work, although they became soldiers, officials, army officers, chariot commanders, and cavalrymen.

23 And there were 550 men of Israel who were overseers of the labor forces. Miscellaneous Notes:

24 King Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter from the City of David--the old sector of Jerusalem--to the new quarters he had built for her in the palace. Then he built Fort Millo.

25 After the Temple was completed, Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings three times a year on the altar he had built. And he also burned incense upon it.

26 King Solomon had a shipyard in Ezion-geber near Eloth on the Red Sea in the land of Edom, where he built a fleet of ships.

27 King Hiram supplied experienced sailors to accompany Solomon's crews.

28 They used to sail back and forth from Ophir, bringing gold to King Solomon, the total value of which was several million dollars each trip.

10

1 When the queen of Sheba heard how wonderfully the Lord had blessed Solomon with wisdom, she decided to test him with some hard questions.

2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a long train of camels carrying spices, gold, and jewels; and she told him all her problems.

3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him, for the Lord gave him the right answers every time.

4 She soon realized that everything she had ever heard about his great wisdom was true. She also saw the beautiful palace he had built,

5 and when she saw the wonderful foods on his table, the great number of servants and aides who stood around in splendid uniforms, his cupbearers, and the many offerings he sacrificed by fire to the Lord--well, there was no more spirit in her!

6 She exclaimed to him, "Everything I heard in my own country about your wisdom and about the wonderful things going on here is all true.

7 I didn't believe it until I came, but now I have seen it for myself! And really! The half had not been told me! Your wisdom and prosperity are far greater than anything I've ever heard of!

8 Your people are happy and your palace aides are content--but how could it be otherwise, for they stand here day after day listening to your wisdom!

9 Blessed be the Lord your God who chose you and set you on the throne of Israel. How the Lord must love Israel--for he gave you to them as their king! And you give your people a just, good government!"

10 Then she gave the king a gift of $3,500,000 in gold, along with a huge quantity of spices and precious gems; in fact, it was the largest single gift of spices King Solomon had ever received.

11 (And when King Hiram's ships brought gold to Solomon from Ophir, they also brought along a great supply of algum trees and gems.

12 Solomon used the algum wood to make pillars for the Temple and the palace, and for harps and harpsichords for his choirs. Never before or since has there been such a supply of beautiful wood.)

13 In exchange for the gifts from the queen of Sheba, King Solomon gave her everything she asked him for, besides the presents he had already planned. Then she and her servants returned to their own land.

14 Each year Solomon received gold worth a quarter of a billion dollars,

15 besides sales taxes and profits from trade with the kings of Arabia and the other surrounding territories.

16 Solomon had some of the gold beaten into two hundred pieces of armor (gold worth $6,000 went into each piece)

17 and three hundred shields ($1,800 worth of gold in each). And he kept them in his palace in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 He also made a huge ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.

19 It had six steps and a rounded back, with arm rests; and a lion standing on each side.

20 And there were two lions on each step--twelve in all. There was no other throne in all the world so splendid as that one.

21 All of King Solomon's cups were of solid gold, and in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon his entire dining service was made of solid gold. (Silver wasn't used because it wasn't considered to be of much value!)

22 King Solomon's merchant fleet was in partnership with King Hiram's, and once every three years a great load of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks arrived at the Israeli ports.

23 So King Solomon was richer and wiser than all the kings of the earth.

24 Great men from many lands came to interview him and listen to his God-given wisdom.

25 They brought him annual tribute of silver and gold dishes, beautiful cloth, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules.

26 Solomon built up a great stable of horses with a vast number of chariots and cavalry--1,400 chariots in all and 12,000 cavalrymen, who lived in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

27 Silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem in those days, and cedar was of no greater value than the common sycamore!

28 Solomon's horses were brought to him from Egypt and southern Turkey, where his agents purchased them at wholesale prices.

29 An Egyptian chariot delivered to Jerusalem cost $400, and the horses were valued at $150 each. Many of these were then resold to the Hittite and Syrian kings.

11

1 King Solomon married many other girls besides the Egyptian princess. Many of them came from nations where idols were worshiped --Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from the Hittites--

2 even though the Lord had clearly instructed his people not to marry into those nations, because the women they married would get them started worshiping their gods. Yet Solomon did it anyway.

3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and sure enough, they turned his heart away from the Lord,

4 especially in his old age. They encouraged him to worship their gods instead of trusting completely in the Lord as his father David had done.

5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the horrible god of the Ammonites.

6 Thus Solomon did what was clearly wrong and refused to follow the Lord as his father David did.

7 He even built a temple on the Mount of Olives, across the valley from Jerusalem, for Chemosh, the depraved god of Moab, and another for Molech, the unutterably vile god of the Ammonites.

8 Solomon built temples for these foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

9 Jehovah was very angry with Solomon about this,

10 for now Solomon was no longer interested in the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice to warn him specifically against worshiping other gods. But he hadn't listened,

11 so now the Lord said to him, "Since you have not kept our agreement and have not obeyed my laws, I will tear the kingdom away from you and your family and give it to someone else.

12 However, for the sake of your father David, I won't do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son.

13 And even so I will let him be king of one tribe, for David's sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city."

14 So the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to grow in power. And Solomon became apprehensive, for Hadad was a member of the royal family of Edom.

15 Years before, when David had been in Edom with Joab to arrange for the burial of some Israeli soldiers who had died in battle, the Israeli army had killed nearly every male in the entire country.

16 It took six months to accomplish this, but they finally killed all except

17 Hadad and a few royal officials who took him to Egypt (he was a very small child at the time).

18 They slipped out of Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them and accompanied them to Egypt, and Pharaoh had given them homes and food.

19 Hadad became one of Pharaoh's closest friends, and he gave him a wife--the sister of Queen Tahpenes.

20 She presented him with a son, Genubath, who was brought up in Pharaoh's palace among Pharaoh's own sons.

21 When Hadad, there in Egypt, heard that David and Joab were both dead, he asked Pharaoh for permission to return to Edom.

22 "Why?" Pharaoh asked him. "What do you lack here? How have we disappointed you?" "Everything is wonderful," he replied "but even so, I'd like to go back home."

23 Another of Solomon's enemies whom God raised to power was Rezon, one of the officials of King Hadadezer of Zobah who had deserted his post and fled the country.

24 He had become the leader of a gang of bandits--men who fled with him to Damascus (where he later became king) when David destroyed Zobah.

25 During Solomon's entire lifetime, Rezon and Hadad were his enemies, for they hated Israel intensely.

26 Another rebel leader was Jeroboam (the son of Nebat), who came from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim; his mother was Zeruah, a widow.

27 Here is the story back of his rebellion: Solomon was rebuilding Fort Millo, repairing the walls of this city his father had built.

28 Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of his labor battalions from the tribe of Joseph.

29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh (who had put on a new robe for the occasion) met him and called him aside to talk to him. And as the two of them were alone in the field,

30 Ahijah tore his new robe into twelve parts

31 and said to Jeroboam, "Take ten of these pieces, for the Lord God of Israel says, 'I will tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten of the tribes to you!

32 But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen above all the other cities of Israel.

33 For Solomon has forsaken me and worships Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my paths and has not done what I consider right; he has not kept my laws and instructions as his father David did.

34 I will not take the kingdom from him now, however; for the sake of my servant David, my chosen one who obeyed my commandments, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life.

35 'But I will take away the kingdom from his son and give ten of the tribes to you.

36 His son shall have the other one so that the descendants of David will continue to reign in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name to be enshrined.

37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel and give you absolute power.

38 If you listen to what I tell you and walk in my path and do whatever I consider right, obeying my commandments as my servant David did, then I will bless you; and your descendants shall rule Israel forever. (I once made this same promise to David.

39 But because of Solomon's sin, I will punish the descendants of David--though not forever.)' "

40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon.

41 The rest of what Solomon did and said is written in the book The Acts of Solomon.

42 He ruled in Jerusalem for forty years,

43 and then died and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

12

1 Rehoboam's inauguration was at Shechem, and all Israel came for the coronation ceremony.

2 Jeroboam, who was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, heard about the plans from his friends.

3 They urged him to attend, so he joined the rest of Israel at Shechem and was the ringleader in getting the people to make certain demands upon Rehoboam.

4 "Your father was a hard master," they told Rehoboam. "We don't want you as our king unless you promise to treat us better than he did."

5 "Give me three days to think this over," Rehoboam replied. "Come back then for my answer." So the people left.

6 Rehoboam talked it over with the old men who had counseled his father Solomon. "What do you think I should do?" he asked them.

7 And they replied, "If you give them a pleasant reply and agree to be good to them and serve them well, you can be their king forever."

8 But Rehoboam refused the old men's counsel and called in the young men with whom he had grown up.

9 "What do you think I should do?" he asked them.

10 And the young men replied, "Tell them, 'If you think my father was hard on you, well, I'll be harder!

11 Yes, my father was harsh, but I'll be even harsher! My father used whips on you, but I'll use scorpions!' "

12 So when Jeroboam and the people returned three days later,

13 the new king answered them roughly. He ignored the old men's advice and followed that of the young men;

14

15 so the king refused the people's demands. (But the Lord's hand was in it--he caused the new king to do this in order to fulfill his promise to Jeroboam, made through Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh.)

16 When the people realized that the king meant what he said and was refusing to listen to them, they began shouting, "Down with David and all his relatives! Let's go home! Let Rehoboam be king of his own family!"

17 And they all deserted him except for the tribe of Judah, who remained loyal and accepted Rehoboam as their king.

18 When King Rehoboam sent Adoram (who was in charge of the draft) to conscript men from the other tribes, a great mob stoned him to death. But King Rehoboam escaped by chariot and fled to Jerusalem.

19 And Israel has been in rebellion against the dynasty of David to this day.

20 When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam's return from Egypt, he was asked to come before an open meeting of all the people; and there he was made king of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah continued under the kingship of the family of David.

21 When King Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned his army--all the able-bodied men of Judah and Benjamin: 180,000 special troops--to force the rest of Israel to acknowledge him as their king.

22 But God sent this message to Shemaiah, the prophet:

23 "Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the people of Judah and Benjamin that

24 they must not fight against their brothers, the people of Israel. Tell them to disband and go home, for what has happened to Rehoboam is according to my wish." So the army went home as the Lord had commanded.

25 Jeroboam now built the city of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and it became his capital. Later he built Penuel.

26 Jeroboam thought, "Unless I'm careful, the people will want a descendant of David as their king.

27 When they go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple, they will become friendly with King Rehoboam; then they will kill me and ask him to be their king instead."

28 So on the advice of his counselors, the king had two gold calf-idols made and told the people, "It's too much trouble to go to Jerusalem to worship; from now on these will be your gods--they rescued you from your captivity in Egypt!"

29 One of these calf-idols was placed in Bethel and the other in Dan.

30 This was of course a great sin, for the people worshiped them.

31 He also made shrines on the hills and ordained priests from the rank and file of the people--even those who were not from the priest-tribe of Levi.

32 Jeroboam also announced that the annual Tabernacle Festival would be held at Bethel

33 on the first of November (a date he decided upon himself), similar to the annual festival at Jerusalem; he himself offered sacrifices upon the altar to the calves at Bethel and burned incense to them. And it was there at Bethel that he ordained priests for the shrines on the hills.

13

1 As Jeroboam approached the altar to burn incense to the gold calf-idol, a prophet of the Lord from Judah walked up to him.

2 Then, at the Lord's command, the prophet shouted, "O altar, the Lord says that a child named Josiah shall be born into the family line of David, and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests from the shrines on the hills who come here to burn incense; and men's bones shall be burned upon you."

3 Then he gave this proof that his message was from the Lord: "This altar will split apart, and the ashes on it will spill to the ground."

4 The king was very angry with the prophet for saying this. He shouted to his guards, "Arrest that man!" and shook his fist at him. Instantly the king's arm became paralyzed in that position; he couldn't pull it back again!

5 At the same moment a wide crack appeared in the altar and the ashes poured out, just as the prophet had said would happen. For this was the prophet's proof that God had been speaking through him.

6 "Oh, please, please," the king cried out to the prophet, "beg the Lord your God to restore my arm again." So he prayed to the Lord, and the king's arm became normal again.

7 Then the king said to the prophet, "Come to the palace with me and rest awhile and have some food; and I'll give you a reward because you healed my arm."

8 But the prophet said to the king, "Even if you gave me half your palace, I wouldn't go into it; nor would I eat or drink even water in this place!

9 For the Lord has given me strict orders not to eat anything or drink any water while I'm here, and not to return to Judah by the road I came on."

10 So he went back another way.

11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons went home and told him what the prophet from Judah had done and what he had said to the king.

12 "Which way did he go?" the old prophet asked. So they told him.

13 "Quick, saddle the donkey," the old man said. And when they had saddled the donkey for him,

14 he rode after the prophet and found him sitting under an oak tree. "Are you the prophet who came from Judah?" he asked him. "Yes," he replied, "I am."

15 Then the old man said to the prophet, "Come home with me and eat."

16 "No," he replied, "I can't; for I am not allowed to eat anything or to drink any water at Bethel.

17 The Lord strictly warned me against it; and he also told me not to return home by the same road I came on."

18 But the old man said, "I am a prophet too, just as you are; and an angel gave me a message from the Lord. I am to take you home with me and give you food and water." But the old man was lying to him.

19 So they went back together, and the prophet ate some food and drank some water at the old man's home.

20 Then, suddenly, while they were sitting at the table, a message from the Lord came to the old man,

21 and he shouted at the prophet from Judah, "The Lord says that because you have been disobedient to his clear command

22 and have come here, and have eaten and drunk water in the place he told you not to, therefore your body shall not be buried in the grave of your fathers."

23 After finishing the meal, the old man saddled the prophet's donkey,

24 and the prophet started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.

25 Those who came by and saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing quietly beside it, reported it in Bethel where the old prophet lived.

26 When he heard what had happened he exclaimed, "It is the prophet who disobeyed the Lord's command; the Lord fulfilled his warning by causing the lion to kill him."

27 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle my donkey!" And they did.

28 He found the prophet's body lying in the road; and the donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey.

29 So the prophet laid the body upon the donkey and took it back to the city to mourn over it and bury it.

30 He laid the body in his own grave, exclaiming, "Alas, my brother!"

31 Afterwards he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the prophet is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

32 For the Lord told him to shout against the altar in Bethel, and his curse against the shrines in the cities of Samaria shall surely be fulfilled."

33 Despite the prophet's warning, Jeroboam did not turn away from his evil ways; instead, he made more priests than ever from the common people, to offer sacrifices to idols in the shrines on the hills. Anyone who wanted to could be a priest.

34 This was a great sin and resulted in the destruction of Jeroboam's kingdom and the death of all of his family.

14

1 Jeroboam's son Abijah now became very sick.

2 Jeroboam told his wife, "Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as the queen, and go to Ahijah the prophet at Shiloh--the man who told me that I would become king.

3 Take him a gift of ten loaves of bread, some fig bars, and a jar of honey, and ask him whether the boy will recover."

4 So his wife went to Ahijah's home at Shiloh. He was an old man now and could no longer see.

5 But the Lord told him that the queen, pretending to be someone else, would come to ask about her son, for he was very sick. And the Lord told him what to tell her.

6 So when Ahijah heard her at the door, he called out, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else?" Then he told her, "I have sad news for you.

7 Give your husband this message from the Lord God of Israel: 'I promoted you from the ranks of the common people and made you king of Israel.

8 I ripped the kingdom away from the family of David and gave it to you, but you have not obeyed my commandments as my servant David did. His heart's desire was always to obey me and to do whatever I wanted him to.

9 But you have done more evil than all the other kings before you; you have made other gods and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you have refused to acknowledge me,

10 I will bring disaster upon your home and will destroy all of your sons--this boy who is sick and all those who are well. I will sweep away your family as a stable hand shovels out manure.

11 I vow that those of your family who die in the city shall be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field shall be eaten by birds.' "

12 Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam's wife, "Go on home, and when you step into the city, the child will die.

13 All of Israel will mourn for him and bury him, but he is the only member of your family who will come to a quiet end. For this child is the only good thing that the Lord God of Israel sees in the entire family of Jeroboam.

14 And the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam.

15 Then the Lord will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream; he will uproot the people of Israel from this good land of their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the Lord by worshiping idol-gods.

16 He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made all of Israel sin along with him."

17 So Jeroboam's wife returned to Tirzah; and the child died just as she walked through the door of her home.

18 And there was mourning for him throughout the land, just as the Lord had predicted through Ahijah.

19 The rest of Jeroboam's activities--his wars and the other events of his reign--are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

20 Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years, and when he died, his son Nadab took the throne.

21 Meanwhile, Rehoboam the son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he was on the throne seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which, among all the cities of Israel, the Lord had chosen to live in. (Rehoboam's mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.)

22 During his reign the people of Judah, like those in Israel, did wrong and angered the Lord with their sin, for it was even worse than that of their ancestors.

23 They built shrines and obelisks and idols on every high hill and under every green tree.

24 There was homosexuality throughout the land, and the people of Judah became as depraved as the heathen nations which the Lord drove out to make room for his people.

25 In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked and conquered Jerusalem.

26 He ransacked the Temple and the palace and stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.

27 Afterwards Rehoboam made bronze shields as substitutes, and the palace guards used these instead.

28 Whenever the king went to the Temple, the guards paraded before him and then took the shields back to the guard chamber.

29 The other events in Rehoboam's reign are written in The Annals of the Kings of Judah.

30 There was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

31 When Rehoboam died--his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess--he was buried among his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Abijam took the throne.

15

1 Abijam began his three-year reign as king of Judah in Jerusalem during the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's reign in Israel. (Abijam's mother was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.)

2

3 He was as great a sinner as his father was, and his heart was not right with God, as King David's was.

4 But despite Abijam's sin, the Lord remembered David's love and did not end the line of David's royal descendants.

5 For David had obeyed God during his entire life except for the affair concerning Uriah the Hittite.

6 During Abijam's reign there was constant war between Israel and Judah.

7 The rest of Abijam's history is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Judah.

8 When he died he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Asa reigned in his place.

9 Asa became king of Judah, in Jerusalem, in the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam over Israel,

10 and reigned forty-one years. (His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.)

11 He pleased the Lord like his ancestor King David.

12 He executed the male prostitutes and removed all the idols his father had made.

13 He deposed his grandmother Maacah as queen-mother because she had made an idol--which he cut down and burned at Kidron Brook.

14 However, the shrines on the hills were not removed, for Asa did not realize that these were wrong.

15 He made permanent exhibits in the Temple of the bronze shields his grandfather had dedicated, along with the silver and gold vessels he himself had donated.

16 There was lifelong war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel.

17 King Baasha built the fortress city of Ramah in an attempt to cut off all trade with Jerusalem.

18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold left in the Temple treasury and all the treasures of the palace, and gave them to his officials to take to Damascus, to King Ben-hadad of Syria, with this message:

19 "Let us be allies just as our fathers were. I am sending you a present of gold and silver. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone."

20 Ben-hadad agreed and sent his armies against some of the cities of Israel; and he destroyed Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all of Chinneroth, and all the cities in the land of Naphtali.

21 When Baasha received word of the attack, he discontinued building the city of Ramah and returned to Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, asking every able-bodied man to help demolish Ramah and haul away its stones and timbers. And King Asa used these materials to build the city of Geba in Benjamin and the city of Mizpah.

23 The rest of Asa's biography--his conquests and deeds and the names of the cities he built--is found in The Annals of the Kings of Judah. In his old age his feet became diseased,

24 and when he died, he was buried in the royal cemetery in Jerusalem. Then his son Jehoshaphat became the new king of Judah.

25 Meanwhile over in Israel, Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, had become king. He reigned two years, beginning in the second year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.

26 But he was not a good king; like his father, he worshiped many idols and led all of Israel into sin.

27 Then Baasha (the son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar) plotted against him and assassinated him while he was with the Israeli army laying siege to the Philistine city of Gibbethon.

28 So Baasha replaced Nadab as the king of Israel in Tirzah during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.

29 He immediately killed all of the descendants of King Jeroboam, so that not one of the royal family was left, just as the Lord had said would happen when he spoke through Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh.

30 This was done because Jeroboam had angered the Lord God of Israel by sinning and leading the rest of Israel into sin.

31 Further details of Baasha's reign are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

32 There was continuous warfare between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel. Baasha reigned for twenty-four years,

33

34 but all that time he continually disobeyed the Lord. He followed the evil paths of Jeroboam, for he led the people of Israel into the sin of worshiping idols.

16

1 A message of condemnation from the Lord was delivered to King Baasha at this time by the prophet Jehu:

2 "I lifted you out of the dust," the message said, "to make you king of my people Israel; but you have walked in the evil paths of Jeroboam. You have made my people sin, and I am angry!

3 So now I will destroy you and your family, just as I did the descendants of Jeroboam.

4 Those of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the fields will be eaten by the birds."

5 The message was sent to Baasha and his family because he had angered the Lord by all his evil deeds.

6 He was as evil as Jeroboam despite the fact that the Lord had destroyed all of Jeroboam's descendants for their sins.

7 The rest of Baasha's biography--his deeds and conquests--are written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

8 Elah, Baasha's son, began reigning during the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, but he reigned only two years.

9 Then General Zimri, who had charge of half the royal chariot troops, plotted against him. One day King Elah was half drunk at the home of Arza, the superintendent of the palace, in the capital city of Tirzah.

10 Zimri simply walked in and struck him down and killed him. (This occurred during the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.) Then Zimri declared himself to be the new king of Israel.

11 He immediately killed the entire royal family--leaving not a single male child. He even destroyed distant relatives and friends.

12 This destruction of the descendants of Baasha was in line with what the Lord had predicted through the prophet Jehu.

13 The tragedy occurred because of the sins of Baasha and his son Elah; for they had led Israel into worshiping idols, and the Lord was very angry about it.

14 The rest of the history of Elah's reign is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

15 But Zimri lasted only seven days; for when the army of Israel, which was then engaged in attacking the Philistine city of Gibbethon,

16 heard that Zimri had assassinated the king, they decided on General Omri, commander-in-chief of the army, as their new ruler.

17 So Omri led the army of Gibbethon to besiege Tirzah, Israel's capital.

18 When Zimri saw that the city had been taken, he went into the palace and burned it over him and died in the flames.

19 For he, too, had sinned like Jeroboam; he had worshiped idols and had led the people of Israel to sin with him.

20 The rest of the story of Zimri and his treason are written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

21 But now the kingdom of Israel was split in two; half the people were loyal to General Omri, and the other half followed Tibni, the son of Ginath.

22 But General Omri won and Tibni was killed; so Omri reigned without opposition.

23 King Asa of Judah had been on the throne thirty-one years when Omri began his reign over Israel, which lasted twelve years, six of them in Tirzah.

24 Then Omri bought the hill now known as Samaria from its owner, Shemer, for $4,000 and built a city on it, calling it Samaria in honor of Shemer.

25 But Omri was worse than any of the kings before him;

26 he worshiped idols as Jeroboam had and led Israel into this same sin. So God was very angry.

27 The rest of Omri's history is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

28 When Omri died he was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king in his place.

29 King Asa of Judah had been on the throne thirty-eight years when Ahab became the king of Israel; and Ahab reigned for twenty-two years.

30 But he was even more wicked than his father Omri; he was worse than any other king of Israel!

31 And as though that were not enough, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and then began worshiping Baal.

32 First he built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria.

33 Then he made other idols and did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than any of the other kings of Israel before him.

34 (It was during his reign that Hiel, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho. When he laid the foundations, his oldest son, Abiram, died; and when he finally completed it by setting up the gates, his youngest son, Segub, died. For this was the Lord's curse upon Jericho as declared by Joshua, the son of Nun.)

17

1 Then Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, "As surely as the Lord God of Israel lives--the God whom I worship and serve--there won't be any dew or rain for several years until I say the word!"

2 Then the Lord said to Elijah,

3 "Go to the east and hide by Cherith Brook at a place east of where it enters the Jordan River.

4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to feed you."

5 So he did as the Lord had told him to and camped beside the brook.

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

7 But after awhile the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

8 Then the Lord said to him, "Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will feed you. I have given her my instructions."

9

10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the city he saw a widow gathering sticks; and he asked her for a cup of water.

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, "Bring me a bite of bread too."

12 But she said, "I swear by the Lord your God that I haven't a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jar. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I must die of starvation."

13 But Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid! Go ahead and cook that 'last meal,' but bake me a little loaf of bread first; and afterwards there will still be enough food for you and your son.

14 For the Lord God of Israel says that there will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!"

15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil as long as it was needed.

16 For no matter how much they used, there was always plenty left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah!

17 But one day the woman's son became sick and died.

18 "O man of God," she cried, "what have you done to me? Have you come here to punish my sins by killing my son?"

19 "Give him to me," Elijah replied. And he took the boy's body from her and carried it upstairs to the guest room where he lived, and laid the body on his bed,

20 and then cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, why have you killed the son of this widow with whom I am staying?"

21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, please let this child's spirit return to him."

22 And the Lord heard Elijah's prayer; and the spirit of the child returned, and he became alive again!

23 Then Elijah took him downstairs and gave him to his mother. "See! He's alive!" he beamed.

24 "Now I know for sure that you are a prophet," she told him afterward, "and that whatever you say is from the Lord!"

18

1 It was three years later that the Lord said to Elijah, "Go and tell King Ahab that I will soon send rain again!"

2 So Elijah went to tell him. Meanwhile the famine had become very severe in Samaria.

3 The man in charge of Ahab's household affairs was Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord.

4 Once when Queen Jezebel had tried to kill all of the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had hidden one hundred of them in two caves--fifty in each--and had fed them with bread and water.

5 That same day, while Elijah was on the way to see King Ahab, the king said to Obadiah, "We must check every stream and brook to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules. You go one way and I'll go the other, and we will search the entire land."

6 So they did, each going alone.

7 Suddenly Obadiah saw Elijah coming toward him! Obadiah recognized him at once and fell to the ground before him. "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?" he asked.

8 "Yes, it is," Elijah replied. "Now go and tell the king I am here."

9 "Oh, sir," Obadiah protested, "what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death?

10 For I swear by God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time when he was told 'Elijah isn't here,' King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim.

11 And now you say, 'Go and tell him Elijah is here'!

12 But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away, who knows where, and when Ahab comes and can't find you, he will kill me; yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life.

13 Has no one told you about the time when Queen Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord's prophets, and I hid a hundred of them in two caves and fed them with bread and water?

14 And now you say, 'Go tell the king that Elijah is here'! Sir, if I do that, I'm dead!"

15 But Elijah said, "I swear by the Lord God of the armies of heaven, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab today."

16 So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come; and Ahab went out to meet him.

17 "So it's you, is it?--the man who brought this disaster upon Israel!" Ahab exclaimed when he saw him.

18 "You're talking about yourself," Elijah answered. "For you and your family have refused to obey the Lord and have worshiped Baal instead.

19 Now bring all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel, with all 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel."

20 So Ahab summoned all the people and the prophets to Mount Carmel.

21 Then Elijah talked to them. "How long are you going to waver between two opinions?" he asked the people. "If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!"

22 Then Elijah spoke again. "I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left," he told them, "but Baal has 450 prophets.

23 Now bring two young bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without putting any fire under the wood; and I will prepare the other young bull and lay it on the wood on the Lord's altar, with no fire under it.

24 Then pray to your god, and I will pray to the Lord; and the god who answers by sending fire to light the wood is the true God!" And all the people agreed to this test.

25 Then Elijah turned to the prophets of Baal. "You first," he said, "for there are many of you; choose one of the bulls and prepare it and call to your god; but don't put any fire under the wood."

26 So they prepared one of the young bulls and placed it on the altar; and they called to Baal all morning, shouting, "O Baal, hear us!" But there was no reply of any kind. Then they began to dance around the altar.

27 About noontime, Elijah began mocking them. "You'll have to shout louder than that," he scoffed, "to catch the attention of your god! Perhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet, or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!"

28 So they shouted louder and, as was their custom, cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out.

29 They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no reply, no voice, no answer.

30 Then Elijah called to the people, "Come over here." And they all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.

31 He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel,

32 and used the stones to rebuild the Lord's altar. Then he dug a trench about three feet wide around the altar.

33 He piled wood upon the altar and cut the young bull into pieces and laid the pieces on the wood. "Fill four barrels with water," he said, "and pour the water over the carcass and the wood." After they had done this he said,

34 "Do it again." And they did. "Now, do it once more!" And they did;

35 and the water ran off the altar and filled the trench.

36 At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah walked up to the altar and prayed, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant; prove that I have done all this at your command.

37 O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you are God and that you have brought them back to yourself."

38 Then, suddenly, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even evaporated all the water in the ditch!

39 And when the people saw it, they fell to their faces upon the ground shouting, "Jehovah is God! Jehovah is God!"

40 Then Elijah told them to grab the prophets of Baal. "Don't let a single one escape," he commanded. So they seized them all, and Elijah took them to Kishon Brook and killed them there.

41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go and enjoy a good meal! For I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!"

42 So Ahab prepared a feast. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and got down on his knees, with his face between his knees,

43 and said to his servant, "Go and look out toward the sea." He did, but returned to Elijah and told him, "I didn't see anything." Then Elijah told him, "Go again, and again, and again, seven times!"

44 Finally, the seventh time, his servant told him, "I saw a little cloud about the size of a man's hand rising from the sea." Then Elijah shouted, "Hurry to Ahab and tell him to get into his chariot and get down the mountain, or he'll be stopped by the rain!"

45 And sure enough, the sky was soon black with clouds, and a heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm. Ahab left hastily for Jezreel,

46 and the Lord gave special strength to Elijah so that he was able to run ahead of Ahab's chariot to the entrance of the city!

19

1 When Ahab told Queen Jezebel what Elijah had done, and that he had slaughtered the prophets of Baal,

2 she sent this message to Elijah: "You killed my prophets, and now I swear by the gods that I am going to kill you by this time tomorrow night."

3 So Elijah fled for his life; he went to Beersheba, a city of Judah, and left his servant there.

4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day, and sat down under a broom bush and prayed that he might die. "I've had enough," he told the Lord. "Take away my life. I've got to die sometime, and it might as well be now."

5 Then he lay down and slept beneath the broom bush. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him to get up and eat!

6 He looked around and saw some bread baking on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, "Get up and eat some more, for there is a long journey ahead of you."

8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God,

9 where he lived in a cave. But the Lord said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

10 He replied, "I have worked very hard for the Lord God of the heavens; but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you and torn down your altars and killed your prophets, and only I am left; and now they are trying to kill me too."

11 "Go out and stand before me on the mountain," the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain; it was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

12 And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his scarf and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, "Why are you here, Elijah?"

14 He replied again, "I have been working very hard for the Lord God of the armies of heaven, but the people have broken their covenant and have torn down your altars; they have killed every one of your prophets except me; and now they are trying to kill me too."

15 Then the Lord told him, "Go back by the desert road to Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king of Syria.

16 Then anoint Jehu (son of Nimshi) to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha (the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah) to replace you as my prophet.

17 Anyone who escapes from Hazael shall be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu shall be killed by Elisha!

18 And incidentally, there are 7,000 men in Israel who have never bowed to Baal nor kissed him!"

19 So Elijah went and found Elisha who was plowing a field with eleven other teams ahead of him; he was at the end of the line with the last team. Elijah went over to him and threw his coat across his shoulders and walked away again.

20 Elisha left the oxen standing there and ran after Elijah and said to him, "First let me go and say good-bye to my father and mother, and then I'll go with you!" Elijah replied, "Go on back! Why all the excitement?"

21 Elisha then returned to his oxen, killed them, and used wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the other plowmen, and they all had a great feast. Then he went with Elijah, as his assistant.

20

1 King Ben-hadad of Syria now mobilized his army and, with thirty-two allied nations and their hordes of chariots and horses, besieged Samaria, the Israeli capital.

2 He sent this message into the city to King Ahab of Israel: "Your silver and gold are mine, as are your prettiest wives and the best of your children!"

3

4 "All right, my lord," Ahab replied. "All that I have is yours!"

5 Soon Ben-hadad's messengers returned again with another message: "You must not only give me your silver, gold, wives, and children,

6 but about this time tomorrow I will send my men to search your palace and the homes of your people, and they will take away whatever they like!"

7 Then Ahab summoned his advisors. "Look what this man is doing," he complained to them. "He is stirring up trouble despite the fact that I have already told him he could have my wives and children and silver and gold, just as he demanded."

8 "Don't give him anything more," the elders advised.

9 So he told the messengers from Ben-hadad, "Tell my lord the king, 'I will give you everything you asked for the first time, but your men may not search the palace and the homes of the people.' " So the messengers returned to Ben-hadad.

10 Then the Syrian king sent this message to Ahab: "May the gods do more to me than I am going to do to you if I don't turn Samaria into handfuls of dust!"

11 The king of Israel retorted, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch!"

12 This reply of Ahab's reached Ben-hadad and the other kings as they were drinking in their tents. "Prepare to attack!" Ben-hadad commanded his officers.

13 Then a prophet came to see King Ahab and gave him this message from the Lord: "Do you see all these enemy forces? I will deliver them all to you today. Then at last you will know that I am the Lord."

14 Ahab asked, "How will he do it?" And the prophet replied, "The Lord says, 'By the troops from the provinces.' " "Shall we attack first?" Ahab asked. "Yes," the prophet answered.

15 So he mustered the troops from the provinces, 232 of them, then the rest of his army of 7,000 men.

16 About noontime, as Ben-hadad and the thirty-two allied kings were still drinking themselves drunk, the first of Ahab's troops marched out of the city.

17 As they approached, Ben-hadad's scouts reported to him, "Some troops are coming!"

18 "Take them alive," Ben-hadad commanded, "whether they have come for truce or for war."

19 By now Ahab's entire army had joined the attack.

20 Each one killed a Syrian soldier, and suddenly the entire Syrian army panicked and fled. The Israelis chased them, but King Ben-hadad and a few others escaped on horses.

21 However, the great bulk of the horses and chariots were captured, and most of the Syrian army was killed in a great slaughter.

22 Then the prophet approached King Ahab and said, "Get ready for another attack by the king of Syria."

23 For after their defeat, Ben-hadad's officers said to him, "The Israeli God is a god of the hills; that is why they won. But we can beat them easily on the plains.

24 Only this time replace the kings with generals!

25 Recruit another army like the one you lost; give us the same number of horses, chariots, and men, and we will fight against them in the plains; there's not a shadow of a doubt that we will beat them." So King Ben-hadad did as they suggested.

26 The following year he called up the Syrian army and marched out against Israel again, this time at Aphek.

27 Israel then mustered its army, set up supply lines, and moved into the battle; but the Israeli army looked like two little flocks of baby goats in comparison to the vast Syrian forces that filled the countryside!

28 Then a prophet went to the king of Israel with this message from the Lord: "Because the Syrians have declared, 'The Lord is a God of the hills and not of the plains,' I will help you defeat this vast army, and you shall know that I am indeed the Lord."

29 The two armies camped opposite each other for seven days, and on the seventh day the battle began. And the Israelis killed 100,000 Syrian infantrymen that first day.

30 The rest fled behind the walls of Aphek, but the wall fell on them and killed another 27,000. Ben-hadad fled into the city and hid in the inner room of one of the houses.

31 "Sir," his officers said to him, "we have heard that the kings of Israel are very merciful. Let us wear sackcloth and put ropes on our heads and go out to King Ahab to see if he will let you live."

32 So they went to the king of Israel and begged, "Your servant Ben-hadad pleads, 'Let me live!' " "Oh, is he still alive?" the king of Israel asked. "He is my brother!"

33 The men were quick to grab this straw of hope and hurried to clinch the matter by exclaiming, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad!" "Go and get him," the king of Israel told them. And when Ben-hadad arrived, he invited him up into his chariot!

34 Ben-hadad told him, "I will restore the cities my father took from your father, and you may establish trading posts in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria."

35 Meanwhile, the Lord instructed one of the prophets to say to another man, "Strike me with your sword!" But the man refused.

36 Then the prophet told him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, a lion shall kill you as soon as you leave me." And sure enough, as he turned to go a lion attacked and killed him.

37 Then the prophet turned to another man and said, "Strike me with your sword." And he did, wounding him.

38 The prophet waited for the king beside the road, having placed a bandage over his eyes to disguise himself.

39 As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, "Sir, I was in the battle, and a man brought me a prisoner and said, 'Keep this man; if he gets away, you must die, or else pay me $2,000!'

40 But while I was busy doing something else, the prisoner disappeared!" "Well, it's your own fault," the king replied. "You'll have to pay."

41 Then the prophet yanked off the bandage from his eyes, and the king recognized him as one of the prophets.

42 Then the prophet told him, "The Lord says, 'Because you have spared the man I said must die, now you must die in his place, and your people shall perish instead of his.' "

43 So the king of Israel went home to Samaria angry and sullen.

21

1 Naboth, a man from Jezreel, had a vineyard on the outskirts of the city near King Ahab's palace.

2 One day the king talked to him about selling him this land. "I want it for a garden," the king explained, "because it's so convenient to the palace." He offered cash or, if Naboth preferred, a piece of better land in trade.

3 But Naboth replied, "Not on your life! That land has been in my family for generations."

4 So Ahab went back to the palace angry and sullen. He refused to eat and went to bed with his face to the wall!

5 "What in the world is the matter?" his wife, Jezebel, asked him. "Why aren't you eating? What has made you so upset and angry?"

6 "I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or to trade it, and he refused!" Ahab told her.

7 "Are you the king of Israel or not?" Jezebel demanded. "Get up and eat and don't worry about it. I'll get you Naboth's vineyard!"

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and addressed them to the civic leaders of Jezreel, where Naboth lived.

9 In her letter she commanded: "Call the citizens together for fasting and prayer. Then summon Naboth,

10 and find two scoundrels who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and execute him."

11 The city fathers followed the queen's instructions.

12 They called the meeting and put Naboth on trial.

13 Then two men who had no conscience accused him of cursing God and the king; and he was dragged outside the city and stoned to death.

14 The city officials then sent word to Jezebel that Naboth was dead.

15 When Jezebel heard the news, she said to Ahab, "You know the vineyard Naboth wouldn't sell you? Well, you can have it now! He's dead!"

16 So Ahab went down to the vineyard to claim it.

17 But the Lord said to Elijah,

18 "Go to Samaria to meet King Ahab. He will be at Naboth's vineyard, taking possession of it.

19 Give him this message from me: 'Isn't killing Naboth bad enough? Must you rob him too? Because you have done this, dogs shall lick your blood outside the city just as they licked the blood of Naboth!' "

20 "So my enemy has found me!" Ahab exclaimed to Elijah. "Yes," Elijah answered, "I have come to place God's curse upon you because you have sold yourself to the devil.

21 The Lord is going to bring great harm to you and sweep you away; he will not let a single one of your male descendants survive!

22 He is going to destroy your family as he did the family of King Jeroboam and the family of King Baasha, for you have made him very angry and have led all of Israel into sin.

23 The Lord has also told me that the dogs of Jezreel shall tear apart the body of your wife, Jezebel.

24 The members of your family who die in the city shall be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the country shall be eaten by vultures."

25 No one else was so completely sold out to the devil as Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, encouraged him to do every sort of evil.

26 He was especially guilty because he worshiped idols just as the Amorites did--the people whom the Lord had chased out of the land to make room for the people of Israel.

27 When Ahab heard these prophecies, he tore his clothing, put on rags, fasted, slept in sackcloth, and went about in deep humility.

28 Then another message came to Elijah:

29 "Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime; it will happen to his sons; I will destroy his descendants."

22

1 For three years there was no war between Syria and Israel.

2 But during the third year, while King Jehoshaphat of Judah was visiting King Ahab of Israel,

3 Ahab said to his officials, "Do you realize that the Syrians are still occupying our city of Ramoth-gilead? And we're sitting here without doing a thing about it!"

4 Then he turned to Jehoshaphat and asked him, "Will you send your army with mine to recover Ramoth-gilead?" And King Jehoshaphat of Judah replied, "Of course! You and I are brothers; my people are yours to command, and my horses are at your service.

5 But," he added, "we should ask the Lord first, to be sure of what he wants us to do."

6 So King Ahab summoned his 400 heathen prophets and asked them, "Shall I attack Ramoth-gilead, or not?" And they all said, "Yes, go ahead, for God will help you conquer it."

7 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there a prophet of the Lord here? I'd like to ask him too."

8 "Well, there's one," King Ahab replied, "but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything good. He always has something gloomy to say. His name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah." "Oh, come now!" Jehoshaphat replied. "Don't talk like that!"

9 So King Ahab called to one of his aides, "Go get Micaiah. Hurry!"

10 Meanwhile, all the prophets continued prophesying before the two kings, who were dressed in their royal robes and were sitting on thrones placed on the threshing floor near the city gate.

11 One of the prophets, Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah), made some iron horns and declared, "The Lord promises that you will push the Syrians around with these horns until they are destroyed."

12 And all the others agreed. "Go ahead and attack Ramoth-gilead," they said, "for the Lord will cause you to triumph!"

13 The messenger who went to get Micaiah told him what the other prophets were saying and urged him to say the same thing.

14 But Micaiah told him, "This I vow, that I will say only what the Lord tells me to!"

15 When he arrived, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we attack Ramoth-gilead, or not?" "Why, of course! Go right ahead!" Micaiah told him. "You will have a great victory, for the Lord will cause you to conquer!"

16 "How many times must I tell you to speak only what the Lord tells you to?" the king demanded.

17 Then Micaiah told him, "I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, 'Their king is dead; send them to their homes.' "

18 Turning to Jehoshaphat, Ahab complained, "Didn't I tell you this would happen? He never tells me anything good. It's always bad."

19 Then Micaiah said, "Listen to this further word from the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and the armies of heaven stood around him.

20 "Then the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab to go and die at Ramoth-gilead?' "Various suggestions were made,

21 until one angel approached the Lord and said, 'I'll do it!'

22 'How?' the Lord asked. "And he replied, 'I will go as a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' "And the Lord said, 'That will do it; you will succeed. Go ahead.'

23 "Don't you see? The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets, but the fact of the matter is that the Lord has decreed disaster upon you."

24 Then Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah) walked over and slapped Micaiah on the face. "When did the Spirit of the Lord leave me and speak to you?" he demanded.

25 And Micaiah replied, "You will have the answer to your question when you find yourself hiding in an inner room."

26 Then King Ahab ordered Micaiah's arrest. "Take him to Amon, the mayor of the city, and to my son Joash.

27 Tell them, 'The king says to put this fellow in jail and feed him with bread and water--and only enough to keep him alive --until I return in peace.' "

28 "If you return in peace," Micaiah replied, "it will prove that the Lord has not spoken through me." Then he turned to the people standing nearby and said, "Take note of what I've said."

29 So King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah led their armies to Ramoth-gilead.

30 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "You wear your royal robes, but I'll not wear mine!" So Ahab went into the battle disguised in an ordinary soldier's uniform.

31 For the king of Syria had commanded his thirty-two chariot captains to fight no one except King Ahab himself.

32 When they saw King Jehoshaphat in his royal robes, they thought, "That's the man we're after." So they wheeled around to attack him.

33 But when Jehoshaphat shouted out to identify himself, they turned back!

34 However, someone shot an arrow at random and it struck King Ahab between the joints of his armor. "Take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded," he groaned to his chariot driver.

35 The battle became more and more intense as the day wore on, and King Ahab went back in, propped up in his chariot with the blood from his wound running down onto the floorboards. Finally, toward evening, he died.

36 Just as the sun was going down the cry ran through his troops. "It's all over--return home!

37 The king is dead!" And his body was taken to Samaria and buried there.

38 When his chariot and armor were washed beside the pool of Samaria, where the prostitutes bathed, dogs came and licked the king's blood just as the Lord had said would happen.

39 The rest of Ahab's history--including the story of the ivory palace and the cities he built--is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

40 So Ahab was buried among his ancestors, and Ahaziah, his son, became the new king of Israel.

41 Meanwhile, over in Judah, Jehoshaphat the son of Asa had become king during the fourth year of the reign of King Ahab of Israel.

42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

43 He did as his father Asa had done, obeying the Lord in all but one thing: he did not destroy the shrines on the hills, so the people sacrificed and burned incense there.

44 He also made peace with Ahab, the king of Israel.

45 The rest of the deeds of Jehoshaphat and his heroic achievements and his wars are described in The Annals of the Kings of Judah.

46 He also closed all the houses of male prostitution that still continued from the days of his father Asa.

47 (There was no king in Edom at that time, only a deputy.)

48 King Jehoshaphat built great freighters to sail to Ophir for gold; but they never arrived, for they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

49 Ahaziah, King Ahab's son and successor, had proposed to Jehoshaphat that his men go, too, but Jehoshaphat had refused the offer.

50 When King Jehoshaphat died he was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, the city of his forefather David; and his son Jehoram took the throne.

51 It was during the seventeenth year of the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah that Ahaziah, Ahab's son, began to reign over Israel in Samaria; and he reigned two years.

52 But he was not a good king, for he followed in the footsteps of his father and mother and of Jeroboam,

53 who had led Israel into the sin of worshiping idols. So Ahaziah made the Lord God of Israel very angry.