1 Kings Chapter 1
Abishag serves David
1 When King David was old and advanced in years, they covered him with clothes, but he could not stay warm.
2 So his servants said to him, “Let us find a young virgin for my lord the king, to stand before him and keep him warm, and to lie with him, so that my lord the king may be warm.”
3 So they searched throughout all the land of Israel for a beautiful young woman, and they found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king.
4 The young woman was beautiful; she kept the king warm and served him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.
Adonijah usurps the throne
5 Then Adonijah son of Haggith rebelled, saying, “I will be king.” And he acquired chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
6 His father had never in all his days grieved him by saying, “Why have you done this?” Moreover, he was very handsome, and he was born after Absalom.
7 He had made an agreement with Joab son of Zeruiah and Abiathar the priest, and they supported Adonijah.
8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and all the leading men of David did not follow Adonijah.
9 Adonijah slaughtered sheep, cattle, and fattened animals at the rock of Zohelet, which is near the spring of Rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants;
10 But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, nor Benaiah, nor the nobles, nor his brother Solomon.
11 Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith is reigning, without our lord David knowing it?
12 Come now, and take my advice, so that you may save your life and the life of your son Solomon.
13 Go and enter to King David, and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to your servant, saying, “Your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then does Adonijah reign?’
14 While you are still speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your arguments.”
15 So Bathsheba went into the king’s chamber. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite attended him.
16 And Bathsheba bowed down and paid homage to the king. And the king said, “What is the matter?”
17 She answered him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.
’ 18 And now, Adonijah reigns, and you, my lord the king, do not even know it.
19 He has slaughtered oxen, fat cattle, and many sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army; but he has not invited Solomon your servant.
20 Meanwhile, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, so that you may tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
21 Otherwise, when my lord the king rests with his ancestors, my son Solomon and I will be held guilty.”
22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
23 And they told the king, saying, “Here is Nathan the prophet!” When he came in to the king, he bowed down before him with his face to the ground.
24Then Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’?
25 For today he has come down and slaughtered oxen, fattened cattle, and many sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’
26 But he has not invited me, your servant, nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon.
27 Has my lord the king decreed this, without having told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
David proclaims Solomon king
28 Then King David answered and said, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him.
29 And the king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul from all distress,
30 that as I have sworn to you by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place; that I will do so today.
31 Then Bathsheba bowed down before the king with her face to the ground and paid homage to him, saying, “May my lord King David live forever!”
32 King David said, “Summon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” So they came into the king’s presence.
33 The king said to them, “Take your lord’s servants with you, and have my son Solomon ride on my mule, and take him to Gihon;
34 There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet shall anoint him king over Israel, and you shall blow the trumpet, saying, “Long live King Solomon!”
35 Then you shall follow him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall reign in my place, for I have chosen him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.
36 Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! So says the Lord, the God of my lord the king.
37 Just as the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and may he make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”
38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule, and they brought him to Gihon.
39 Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon; And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”
40 Then all the people went up after him, and the people sang with flutes and made great rejoicing, so that it seemed as if the earth were sinking with their shouting.
41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it after they had finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city in such a commotion?”
42 While he was still speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived, and Adonijah said to him, “Come in, for you are a valiant man, and you will bring good news.”
43 Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “Our lord King David has indeed made Solomon king;
44 The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, who put him on the king’s mule.
45 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king at Gihon, and they went up from there with rejoicing, and the city is filled with a great noise. This is the commotion you heard.
46 Solomon also sat on the throne of the kingdom.
47 The king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, “May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than yours.” And the king worshiped on his bed.
48 The king also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has given me today a man to sit on my throne, as my eyes have seen.”
49 Then they trembled, and all the guests who were with Adonijah rose up and went each to his own way.
50 But Adonijah, fearing the presence of Solomon, rose up and went away, and took hold of the horns of the altar.
51And they told Solomon, saying, “Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’”
52 And Solomon said, “If he is a virtuous man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he shall die.”
53 So King Solomon sent for him, and they brought him down from the altar; and he came and bowed down before King Solomon. And Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”
1 Kings Chapter 2
David's command to Solomon
1 The time came for David to die, and he charged his son Solomon, saying,
2 “ I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man.
3 Keep the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and observing his decrees, his commands, his laws and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and in all that you undertake.
4 Then the Lord will fulfill his promise to me, saying, ‘If your descendants keep my ways and walk before me faithfully with all their heart and with all their soul,’ he says, ‘you will never lack a successor on the throne of Israel.’”
5 You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to two commanders of the army of Israel, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, whom he killed, shedding the blood of war in times of peace, and putting the blood of war on the belt that was on their waists and on the sandals that were on their feet.
6 Therefore, you shall act according to your wisdom; you shall not let their gray hair go down to Sheol in peace.
7 But you shall show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, that they may be among those invited to your table; for they came to me in this way when I was fleeing from Absalom your brother.
8 You also have with you Shimei son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, from Bahurim, who cursed me with a severe curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But he himself came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, “I will not kill you with the sword.”
9 But now you shall not acquit him; for you are a wise man, and you know what you ought to do with him; and you shall bring down his gray hair with blood to Sheol.
Death of David
10 David rested with his ancestors and was buried in his city.
11 David reigned over Israel forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
12 Solomon then succeeded his father David as king, and his kingdom was very strong.
Solomon establishes his kingdom
13 Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, and she said to him, “Do you come in peace?” He answered, “Yes, in peace.”
14 Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.”
15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel had set their hearts on me to reign; but the kingdom was transferred and became my brother’s, for it belonged to him by the Lord.
16 Now I ask you for something; do not refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.”
17 Then he said, “Please speak to King Solomon—for he will not refuse you—so that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
18 And Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”
19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her, and sat down again on his throne, and had a chair brought for his mother, and she sat at his right hand.
20 And she said, “I have one small request of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, and I will not refuse you.”
21 And she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite give your brother Adonijah a wife.”
22 King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Claim the kingdom for him also, for he is my older brother, and he already has Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah.”
23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God deal with me and more also, for Adonijah has spoken these words against his own life.
24 Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of my father David, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall die this day.”
25 So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.
26 Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth to your fields, for you deserve to die; But I will not kill you today, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and you have also suffered in all the things in which my father suffered.
27So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
28Now Joab was told of this, for he too had sided with Adonijah, though he had not sided with Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29When Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was by the altar, Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and attack him.”
30So Benaiah went into the tent of the Lord and said to him, “The king has said, ‘Come out!’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah returned to the king with this answer, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”
31The king said to him, “Do as he has said; kill him and bury him, and remove from me and from my father’s house the blood that Joab has shed unjustly.
32The Lord will bring his blood back on his own head, for he killed two men more righteous and better than he, whom he killed with the sword without my father David knowing it: Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.
33Their blood will be on Joab’s head and on the head of his descendants forever; but on David and his descendants, on his house and on his throne, there will be perpetual peace from the Lord.”
34Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and attacked him, and killed him; and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.
35The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place as commander of the army, and the king appointed Zadok as priest in place of Abiathar.
36Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to the right or to the left;
37for he knows for certain that on the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die, and your blood will be on your own head.”
38Shimei said to the king, “The word is good; as my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39But after three years, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Look, Your servants are in Gath.
40So Shimei got up, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish in Gath to get his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.
41Now Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.
42Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and go here or there, know for certain that you will die’? And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I will obey it.’
43Why then did you not keep the oath to the Lord and the command that I gave you?”
44The king also said to Shimei, “You know all the evil, which your heart is well aware of, that you committed against my father David. Therefore the Lord has brought the evil back upon your own head.”
45And King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established forever before the Lord.
46Then the king sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hand.
1 Kings Chapter 3
Solomon marries Pharaoh's daughter
1 Solomon made a kinship with Pharaoh king of Egypt, for he took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David, while he was finishing building his house, the house of the Lord, and the walls of Jerusalem all around.
2 Until then the people sacrificed on the high places, for there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those times.
Solomon asks for wisdom
3 But Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
4 And the king went to Gibeon, for that was the principal high place, and he sacrificed there; Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
5 And the Lord appeared to Solomon in Gibeon one night in a dream, and God said to him, “Ask for whatever you wish me to give you.”
6 And Solomon said, “You showed great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before you faithfully, righteously, and with uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept this great mercy for him, in that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, but I am a little child, and I do not know how to come in or go out.
8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen; a great people, too numerous to count or number.
9 Therefore give your servant an understanding heart to govern your people and to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked this.
11 So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and have not asked for long life or wealth or the life of your enemies, but have asked for understanding to discern justice,
12 I have done what you asked. I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will there ever be one like you after you.
13 I have also given you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that you will have no equal among kings throughout your days.”
14 And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
15 When Solomon awoke, he realized it had been a dream. So he went to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
Wisdom and prosperity of Solomon
16 At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
17 One of them said, “Oh, my lord! This woman and I lived in the same house, and I gave birth while she was there with me.
18 On the third day after I gave birth, she also gave birth, and we were still together. No one else was in the house except the two of us.
19 One night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.
20 At midnight she got up and took my son from beside me, while your servant was asleep, and laid him beside her, and laid her dead son beside me.
21 When I got up early in the morning to nurse my son, I found him dead. But when I looked at him in the morning, I saw that he was not my son, the one I had borne.”
22 The other woman said, “No; My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one. And the other said again, “No; your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.” Thus they spoke before the king.
23 Then the king said, “This one says, ‘My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one,’ and the other says, ‘No, but yours is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”
24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king.
25 At once the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king (for her heart yearned for her son), and said, “Oh, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “Neither I nor you; divide him.”
27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had given; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to judge.
1 Kings Chapter 4
1 So King Solomon reigned over all Israel.
2 These were the officials he had: Azariah son of Zadok the priest;
3 Elihorep and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, recorder;
4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, over the army; Zadok and Abiathar, the priests;
5 Azariah son of Nathan, over the governors; Zabud son of Nathan, chief minister and the king’s friend;
6 Ahishar, administrator; and Adoniram son of Abda, over the tribute.
7 Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, who provided for the king and his household. Each of them was responsible for supplying him for one month of the year.
8 These are their names: the son of Hur in the hill country of Ephraim;
9 the son of Dekar in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, Elon, and Beth-hanan;
10 Hesed’s son in Aruboth; he also had Socoh and all the land of Hepher;
11 Abinadab’s son in all the territories of Dor; he had as his wife Taphath, Solomon’s daughter;
12 Baanah’s son of Ahilud in Taanach and Megiddo, in all Beth-shean, which is near Zarethan, below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, and to the other side of Jokmeam;
13 Geber’s son in Ramoth-gilead; he also had the cities of Jair the son of Manasseh, which were in Gilead; he also had the province of Argob, which was in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars;
14 Ahinadab’s son of Iddo in Mahanaim;
15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali; he also took as his wife Basemath, Solomon’s daughter.
16 Baanah son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth;
17 Jehoshaphat son of Parua, in Issachar;
18 Shimei son of Elah, in Benjamin;
19 Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; he was the only governor in that land.
20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea, eating, drinking, and being merry.
21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt; and they brought gifts and served Solomon all the days he lived.
22 Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of regular flour,
23 ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and one hundred sheep; without deer, gazelles, roe deer, and fat birds.
24For he ruled over all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates; and he had peace on every side.
25 And Judah and Israel lived securely, each man under his own vine and under his own fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
26 In addition to this, Solomon had forty thousand horses in his stables for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
27 These governors provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each for a month, ensuring that nothing was lacking.
28 They also brought barley and straw for the horses and pack animals to the place where he was, each according to his assigned time.
29 God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and breadth of understanding like the sand on the seashore.
30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed that of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
31 He was wiser than all men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was renowned among all the surrounding nations.
32 He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand and five.
33 He also spoke about trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
34 People from all nations and kings of the earth came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, for his fame had spread far and wide.
1 Kings Chapter 5
Solomon's covenant with Hiram
1 Now Hiram king of Tyre also sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David.
2 Then Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying,
3 “ You know that my father David was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars that surrounded him, until the Lord put his enemies under the soles of his feet.
4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is no adversary, nor any evil to fear.
5 Therefore, I have decided to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord spoke to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, he shall build a house for my name.’
6 Now therefore, command that cedars be cut down for me from Lebanon, and my servants shall be with your servants, and I will pay you for your servants whatever wages you name. For you know very well that there is no one among us who knows how to work timber like the Sidonians.
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he was exceedingly glad, and said, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given David a wise son over this great people.”
8 Then Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard what you sent me to say; I will do all that pleases you concerning the cedar and cypress timber.
9 My servants will carry it from Lebanon to the sea, and I will send it on rafts across the sea to the place you indicate to me, and there it will be unloaded, and you will take it; and you will fulfill my desire by providing food for my household.”
10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress timber, as much as he wanted.
11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat for the sustenance of his household, and twenty kors of pure oil; This is what Solomon gave Hiram every year.
12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had said; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a covenant between them.
13 King Solomon issued a decree for the forced labor of all Israel, and the force consisted of thirty thousand men.
14 He sent them to Lebanon in groups of ten thousand each month, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor .
15 Solomon also had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand woodcutters in the mountains;
16 besides Solomon’s chief officials who were over the work, three thousand three hundred, who were in charge of the people who were doing the work.
17 And the king commanded that large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones be brought for the foundation of the house.
18 And Solomon’s masons and Hiram’s masons, and the men of Gebal, cut and prepared the timber and the stonework to build the house
1 Kings Chapter 6
Solomon builds the temple
1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziph, the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.
2 The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 The portico in front of the temple of the house was twenty cubits long along the width of the house, and ten cubits wide in front of the house.
4 He made windows for the house that were wide on the inside and narrow on the outside.
5 He also built chambers all around the wall of the house, against the walls of the house, around the temple and the Most Holy Place; and he made side chambers all around.
6 The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle chamber six cubits wide, and the third chamber seven cubits wide; For on the outside he had made recesses around the house so that the beams would not be embedded in the walls.
7 When the house was built, they constructed it with stones that were already finished, so that when they were building it, no hammer or axe was heard in the house, nor any other iron tool.
8 The door of the middle room was on the right side of the house; and one went up by a spiral staircase to the middle room, and from the middle room to the third.
9 So he built the house and finished it, and covered it with cedar paneling.
10 He also built the room around the whole house, five cubits high, which rested on the house with cedar beams.
11 Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
12 “ Concerning this house that you are building, if you walk in my statutes and carry out my ordinances and keep all my commandments, then I will fulfill my promise to you, which I made to your father David.
13 I will dwell there among the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.”
14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.
15 He covered the walls of the house with cedar boards and lined the inside with wood, from the floor of the house to the beams of the roof. He also covered the floor with cypress wood.
16 At the far end of the house, he built a structure twenty cubits long, made of cedar boards from the floor to the top. He made a room in the house, which is the Most Holy Place.
17 The house, that is, the front temple, was forty cubits long.
18The temple was paneled inside with cedar, and it was carved with gourds and blossoms. It was all cedar; no stone was visible.
19 He decorated the inner Most Holy Place in the center of the temple to house the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
20 The inner Most Holy Place was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar with gold.
21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he closed the entrance to the sanctuary with gold chains and overlaid it with gold.
22 He overlaid the entire temple from top to bottom with gold, and he also overlaid the entire altar that was in front of the Most Holy Place with gold.
23 He also made two cherubim of olive wood in the most holy place, each ten cubits high.
24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing of the cherub was another five cubits long; so there were ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.
25 The other cherub was ten cubits high, for both cherubim were of the same size and design.
26 The height of one was ten cubits, and so was the height of the other.
27 He placed these cherubim inside the temple in the most holy place, with their wings spread out so that the wing of one touched one wall, and the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their other two wings touched each other in the middle of the temple.
28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 He carved all the walls of the temple around with various figures, both inside and out, of cherubim, palm trees, and blossoms.
30 He overlaid the floor of the temple with gold, both inside and out.
31 He made doors of olive wood for the entrance to the sanctuary; the threshold and the doorposts had five corners.
32 The two doors were of olive wood; He carved cherubim, palm trees, and buds on them and overlaid them with gold; he also overlaid the cherubim and the palm trees with gold.
33 He also made square olive wood posts for the gate of the temple.
34 But the two gates were made of cypress wood; the two leaves of one gate turned, and the two leaves of the other gate also turned.
35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and buds on them and overlaid them with gold fitted to the carvings.
36 He built the inner court with three rows of hewn stones and one row of cedar beams.
37 In the fourth year, in the month of Ziph, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished with all its rooms and everything required. He built it, therefore, in seven years.
1 Kings Chapter 7
Other buildings of Solomon
1 After this, Solomon built his own house, and it took him thirteen years to complete.
2 He also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon, which was one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams on the pillars.
3 It was covered with cedar boards above, on top of the beams, which rested on forty-five pillars; each row had fifteen pillars.
4 There were three rows of windows, one window facing another in three rows.
5 All the doors and doorposts were square, and the windows faced each other in three rows.
6 He also made a portico of pillars, fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide; this portico was in front of the first ones, with its corresponding pillars and beams.
7 He also made the portico of the throne where he was to judge, the portico of judgment, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling.
8 Solomon also built a house similar to the one he lived in, in a separate court within the portico. He also built a house like the portico for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
9 All of these structures were built of costly stones, cut and fitted with saws according to measurements, both inside and out, from the foundation to the top of the roof, and also outside up to the great court.
10 The foundation was made of costly stones, large stones, stones ten cubits long and stones eight cubits long.
11 Above that were also costly stones, cut to size, and cedar wood.
12 Around the great court there were three rows of cut stones and a row of cedar beams; the inner court of the Lord’s house and the court of the temple were like this.
Solomon employs Hiram of Tyre
13 King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre,
14 the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was from Tyre, a bronze worker, and Hiram was skilled in all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and completed all his work.
15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high, with a line of twelve cubits around each pillar.
16 He also made two bronze capitals to set on top of the pillars, one five cubits high, and the other five cubits high.
17 There were net-like weaves and cords like chains for the capitals to be set on top of the pillars; seven for each capital.
18 He also made two rows of pomegranates around the net, to cover the capitals on top of the pillars with the pomegranates; and he did the same for the other capital.
19 The capitals on the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies and were four cubits high.
20 The capitals of the two pillars also had two hundred pomegranates in two rows around each capital, above its globe, which was surrounded by the net.
21 He erected these pillars in the portico of the temple; and when he had set up the pillar on the right side, he named it Jachin, and when he had set up the pillar on the left side, he named it Boaz.
22 He placed lily-shaped carvings on the tops of the pillars, and so the work of the pillars was finished.
Temple furnishings
23 He also cast a sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, perfectly round; its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.
24 Surrounding the sea below its rim were gourds, ten in each cubit, encircling the sea in two rows. These had been cast when the sea was cast.
25 It rested on twelve oxen; three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The sea rested on these, with their hindquarters facing inward.
26 The thickness of the sea was a handbreadth, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup or a lily blossom; it held two thousand baths.
27 He also made ten bronze bases, each base four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
28 This was the work of the bases: they had boards, which were between moldings;
29 On the panels between the moldings were figures of lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above and below the lions and oxen, the moldings of the base were carved in low relief.
30 Each base had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and on its four corners were cast-iron brackets projecting from the festoons to rest beneath the basin.
31 The mouth of the basin extended one cubit into the projecting finial of the base. The mouth was round, of the same design as the finial, which was one and a half cubits high. Above the mouth were carved panels, square rather than round.
32 The four wheels were beneath the panels, and their axles were mounted on the base. Each wheel was one and a half cubits high.
33 The wheels were shaped like chariot wheels; Its axles, its spokes, its hubs, and its bands were all cast.
34 Likewise, the four corner brackets of each base were also cast; and the brackets were part of the base itself.
35 At the top of the base was a round piece half a cubit high, and above the base were its moldings and panels, which projected from it.
36 He carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the panels of the moldings and on the panels, each in proportion to its size, and other decorations all around.
37 In this way, he made ten bases, cast in the same manner, of the same size, and with the same carving.
38 He also made ten bronze basins; each basin held forty baths, and each was four cubits high; and he placed one basin on each of the ten bases.
39 He placed five bases on the right side of the temple and the other five on the left side; He placed the sea on the right side of the temple, toward the east, toward the south.
40 Hiram also made basins, tongs, and bowls. Thus he finished all the work he did for Solomon for the house of the Lord:
41 two pillars, with the round capitals on top of the two pillars, and two nets covering the two round capitals on top of the pillars;
42 four hundred pomegranates for the two nets, two rows of pomegranates in each net, to cover the two round capitals on top of the pillars;
43 the ten stands, with the ten basins on the stands;
44 one sea with twelve oxen under the sea;
45 and pots, shovels, bowls, and all the utensils Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord, of burnished bronze.
46King Solomon had all the bronze cast in the clay soil of the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 He did not weigh the bronze of all the furnishings because of their great quantity.
48 Then Solomon made all the furnishings for the house of the Lord: a gold altar and a gold table on which the bread of the Presence was placed;
49 five pure gold lampstands on the right and five on the left, facing the Most Holy Place, with flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold.
50 He also made pitchers, snuffers, bowls, ladles, and censers of pure gold; the doorposts of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and the gates of the temple were also of gold.
51 Thus all the work that King Solomon had planned for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in what his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the utensils; and he laid them all up in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.
1 Kings Chapter 8
Solomon moves the ark to the temple
1 Then Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families of the Israelites, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion.
2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month, on the day of the appointed feast.
3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark.
4 They brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy articles that were in the tent, which the priests and Levites carried.
5 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled with him stood before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, so numerous that they could not be counted or numbered.
6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.
7 For the cherubim had spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.
8 They brought out the poles so that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in front of the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen from outside. And so they have remained to this day.
9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
10 When the priests came out of the sanctuary, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
11 The priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord.
Dedication of the temple
12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
13 I have built a house for you to dwell in, a place for you to live in forever.”
14 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel was standing.
15 He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke to my father David what he has accomplished with his own hand, saying,
16 ‘ Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel to build a house in which my name would be, although I chose David to rule over my people Israel.’
17 But my father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
18 And the Lord said to my father David, ‘As for the fact that you had it in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well in having this desire.’”
19 But you will not build the house, but your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my name.
20 And the Lord has fulfilled his word that he had spoken; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord said, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
21 And I have made a place in it for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spreading out his hands toward heaven,
23 he said: “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father, You spoke it with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.
25 Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill to your servant David my father what you promised him, saying, “You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided your descendants keep my ways and walk before me as you have walked before me.”
26 Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, let the word that you spoke to your servant David my father be fulfilled.
27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
28 Yet you will regard the prayer of your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, hearing the cry and the prayer that your servant makes before you today;
29May your eyes be open night and day toward this house, toward this place of which you have said, “My name shall be there,” and may you hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
30 Hear, therefore, the prayer of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear also from your dwelling place in heaven, and when you hear, forgive.
31 If anyone sins against their neighbor and is made to swear an oath, and takes that oath before your altar in this house,
32 then hear from heaven and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked and bringing down on their own head what they have done, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.
33 If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and they turn back to you and acknowledge your name, and pray and plead with you in this house,
34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
35 If the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray to you in this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you afflict them,
36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, and teach them the good way in which they should walk. Send rain on your land, which you gave your people as an inheritance.
37 If famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars occur in the land, if their enemies besiege them in the land where they live, or whatever plague or sickness there may be;
38 Every prayer and every supplication that any man makes, or all your people Israel, when anyone feels the plague in his heart, and stretches out his hands toward this house,
39 Then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to each according to their ways, whose heart you know (for you alone know the hearts of all the children of mankind),
40 so that they may fear you all the days they live on the face of the land that you gave to our fathers.
41 And the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, who comes from a far country because of your name,
42 (for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm), and comes and prays toward this house,
43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
44 If your people go out to battle against their enemies, all the way you command them, and they pray to the Lord, facing the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name,
45 then hear their prayer and their plea in heaven, and uphold their cause.
46 But if they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them over to the enemy, so that they are taken captive and carried off to a foreign land, whether far or near,
47 and they come to their senses in the land where they are taken captive, and if they repent and pray to you in the land of their captors, saying, “We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have been wicked,”
48 And if they turn to you with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to you facing their land that you gave to their ancestors, and the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,
49 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
50 Forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions by which they have rebelled against you, and show mercy to those who took them captive.
51 For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace.
52 Therefore let your eyes be open to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your people Israel, to hear them in all that they call upon you for.
53 For you set them apart as your inheritance from among all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke through Moses your servant, when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Lord God.
54When Solomon had finished praying and supplicating to the Lord, he rose from kneeling before the altar of the Lord with his hands spread out toward heaven.
55 Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel, saying with a loud voice:
56 “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his promises that he made through his servant Moses.
57 May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us.
58 May he incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his laws, which he gave our ancestors.
59 May these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, so that he may uphold the cause of his servant and of his people Israel, in all their time.
60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is no other.
61 Let your heart therefore be perfect toward the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.
62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord.
63 Solomon also offered peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord: 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Thus the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.
64 That same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65 At that time Solomon and all Israel, a great assembly, held a festival before the Lord our God, from the entrance of Hamath to the river of Egypt, for seven days and for another seven days, that is, for fourteen days.
66 On the eighth day he dismissed the people, and they blessed the king and went to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness the Lord had bestowed on his servant David and on his people Israel.
1 Kings Chapter 9
God's covenant with Solomon
1 When Solomon had finished the work on the house of the Lord, the royal palace, and all that he had desired to do,
2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea that you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, to put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
4 And if you walk before me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,
5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘Your descendants shall never fail to sit on the throne of Israel.’”
6 But if you and your children stubbornly turn away from me and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and this house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8 And this house, which was held in high esteem, everyone who passes by will be astonished and will scoff, saying, “Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house?”
9 And they will say, “Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods and worshiped and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.”
Other activities of Solomon
10 At the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the royal palace,
11 for which Hiram king of Tyre had brought Solomon cedar and cypress timber and as much gold as he desired, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 So Hiram of Tyre went out to see the cities that Solomon had given him, and he did not like them.
13 He said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, brother?” So he named them the land of Cabul, which it is called to this day.
14 Now Hiram had sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
15 This is the reason for the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer:
16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer, burned it, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,
18 Baalath and Tadmor in the desert land;
19 also all the cities where Solomon kept provisions, and the cities of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 Solomon made all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel,
21 their descendants who remained in the land after them, whom the children of Israel were unable to destroy, serve with tribute to this day.
22 But Solomon did not impose service on any of the children of Israel, except for men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, commanders of his chariots, or his horsemen.
23 And those whom Solomon had appointed as chiefs and overseers over the works numbered 550, and they were in charge of the people who worked on that project.
24 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to her house that Solomon had built for her; and he built the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and burned incense on it before the Lord, after the temple was completed.
26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.
27 Hiram sent his servants, sailors, and skilled seamen on them with Solomon’s servants.
28 They went to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold to King Solomon.
1 Kings Chapter 10
The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon
1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame for the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions.
2 She came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels bearing spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she told him everything that was in her heart.
3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing the king could not answer.
4 When the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built,
5 the food on his table, the quarters of his officials, the staff and clothing of his attendants, his chamberlains, and the burnt offerings he offered in the house of the Lord, she was amazed.
6 She said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.
7 But I did not believe it until I came and saw with my own eyes. Not even half was told me; Your wisdom and goodness are greater than the fame I had heard.
8 Blessed are your men, blessed are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.
9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord has always loved Israel, he has made you king to do what is just and right.
10 She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never before had such a great quantity of spices come, as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 Hiram’s fleet, which had brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a great quantity of sandalwood and precious stones.
12 The king made from the sandalwood balusters for the house of the Lord and for the royal palaces, and harps and lyres for the singers. Never before had such sandalwood come, nor has it been seen to this day.
13 So King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and all she asked for, besides what Solomon had already given her. Then she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.
Solomon's riches and fame
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received annually was 666 talents of gold,
15 besides what he received from the merchants, the spice trade, and all the kings of Arabia and the leading men of the land.
16 King Solomon also made 200 large shields of hammered gold; he spent 600 shekels of gold on each shield.
17 He also made 300 shields of hammered gold, spending three pounds of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
19 The throne had six steps, and the top part was rounded at the back; on either side were arms near the seat, beside which stood two lions.
20 There were also twelve lions there on the six steps, on either side; in no other kingdom had such a throne been made.
21 All of King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the tableware in the House of the Forest of Lebanon was of fine gold; there was no silver, because silver was not valued in Solomon’s time.
22 The king had a fleet of ships from Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet from Tarshish would come, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23 King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
24 All the earth sought Solomon’s presence to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.
25 Every year all brought him gifts: articles of gold and silver, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
Solomon trades in horses and chariots
26 Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
27 The king made silver in Jerusalem as abundant as stones, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamore fig trees of the Shephelah.
28 Horses and linen were imported from Egypt to Solomon, for the king’s merchant company bought horses and linen.
29 A chariot cost 600 shekels of silver and a horse 150 shekels to go out of Egypt; all the kings of the Hittites and of Syria bought them from them.
1 Kings Chapter 11
Solomon's Apostasy and Difficulties
1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from nations about which the Lord had said to the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon clung to these women in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David had been.
5 For Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord completely, as his father David had done.
7 Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, on the hill east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and
10 had commanded him concerning this matter, not to follow other gods; yet he did not keep what the Lord had commanded him.
11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.
12 However, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it in your days; I will tear it out of your son’s hand.
13 But I will not tear out the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
14 And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, of royal blood, who was in Edom.
15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, and he killed all the males of Edom
16 (for Joab and all Israel lived there six months, until they had destroyed every male in Edom),
17 Hadad fled, and with him some Edomite men from his father’s servants, and went to Egypt. Hadad was then a young boy.
18 They arose from Midian and came to Paran; and taking men from Paran with them, they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave them houses, assigned them provisions, and even gave them land.
19Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, who gave him his wife’s sister, the sister of Queen Tahpenes.
20 Tahpenes’ sister bore him a son, Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath remained in Pharaoh’s house among Pharaoh’s sons.
21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go back to my own country.”
22 Pharaoh replied, “Why? What do you have against me that you want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” he answered. “But please let me go.”
23 God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an adversary against Solomon. He had fled from his master Hadadezer, king of Zobah.
24 He had gathered forces against him and had become commander of a company when David defeated the men of Zobah. Afterward, they went to Damascus and settled there, and they made him king in Damascus.
25 He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon; he was another evil, along with Hadad, for he hated Israel and reigned over Syria.
26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow, also raised his hand against the king.
27 The reason he raised his hand against the king was this: Solomon, in building the Millo, closed up the breach of the City of David his father.
28 Now Jeroboam was a mighty warrior, and Solomon, seeing that the young man was capable, put him in charge of all the house of Joseph.
29 At that time, as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, Ahijah the Shilonite prophet met him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open country.
30 Then Ahijah took the new robe that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.
31 He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.
32 He will have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
33 Because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Molech, the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my decrees and laws, as their father David did.
34 Nevertheless, I will not take the kingdom from him, but I will allow him to reign all the days of his life, for the sake of my servant David, whom I have chosen, and who has kept my commands and decrees.’”
35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you—the ten tribes.
36 And to his son I will give one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to put my name there.
37 I will take you, and you will reign over all that your heart desires, and you will be king over Israel.
38 If you listen to all that I command you, and walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as my servant David did, then I will be with you and build you a lasting house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.
39 I will afflict David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.
40 Therefore Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
Death of Solomon
41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
42 The days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years.
43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
1 Kings Chapter 12
Israel's Rebellion
1 Now Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, heard of it,
3 they sent for him. So Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4 “ Your father made our yoke heavy; now lighten some of your father’s hard service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5 He said to them, “Go away, and come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive, asking, “What advice do you give me regarding how I should answer these people?”
7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak kindly to them in answer, they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the advice the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were standing before him.
9 He said to them, “What advice do you give us about how we should answer these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, saying, “This is what you are to say to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.’
11 Now therefore, my father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
12 On the third day, Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam, as the king had commanded, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”
13 But the king answered the people harshly, rejecting the advice of the elders.
14 He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
15 The king would not listen to the people, for it was the Lord’s plan to fulfill the word that the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16 When all the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they answered him, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, to your tents! Now take care of your own house, David!” So Israel went to their tents.
17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the taxes, but all Israel stoned him to death. So King Rehoboam quickly mounted a chariot and fled to Jerusalem.
19 Thus Israel has been estranged from the house of David to this day.
20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No tribe remained loyal to the house of David except the tribe of Judah.
21 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered together all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to wage war against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22 Then the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
23 “ Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,
24 ‘ Thus says the Lord: Do not go up and fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Return each of you to your own home, for this is what I have done.’” So they obeyed the word of God and returned and went, according to the word of the Lord.
25 Then Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and rebuilt Penuel.
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David,
27 if these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem; For the heart of this people will turn back to their lord Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.
28 So the king took counsel and made two golden calves and said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
29 He set one in Bethel and the other in Dan.
30 This became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to worship one as far as they could go.
31 He also built shrines on the high places and appointed priests from among the people, who were not Levites.
32 Then Jeroboam instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was celebrated in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on an altar. He did this at Bethel, offering sacrifices to the calves he had made. He also appointed priests in Bethel for the high places he had made.
33 So he sacrificed on the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he had devised in his own mind; and he held a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to burn incense.
1 Kings Chapter 13
A prophet from Judah admonishes Jeroboam
1 Now a man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense,
2 and the man cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, saying, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones will be burned on you.’”
3 That same day he gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: The altar will be split in two, and the ashes on it will be poured out.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the word of the man of God who had cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But his hand, which he stretched out against him, withered away, and he could not raise it.
5 The altar was split apart, and the ashes from the altar were poured out, according to the sign the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6 Then the king answered the man of God, “Please entreat the Lord your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to its former state.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat, and I will give you a present.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you give me half your house, I will not go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place.
9 For the Lord has commanded me, ‘You shall not eat bread or drink water, nor return by the way you came.’”
10 So he turned back by another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 Now an old prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came to him and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father what he had said to the king.
12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way by which the man of God had returned from Judah.
13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree, and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.”
15 Then he said to him, “Come with me to the house, and eat some bread.”
16 But he answered, “I cannot go back with you, nor will I go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.”
17 For I have been told by the word of God, “Do not eat bread or drink water there, nor return by the way you came.”
18And the other lied to him, saying, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’”
19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20 And it happened, as they were reclining at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back.
21 And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have rebelled against the command of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,
22 But you returned and ate bread and drank water in the place where the Lord had told you not to eat bread or drink water; therefore your body shall not go into the tomb of your ancestors.
23 After he had eaten bread and drunk, the one who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.
24 As he was going, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was lying on the road, the donkey by it, and the lion also by the body.
25 Some people were passing by and saw the body lying on the road, and the lion standing by it. They came and told this in the town where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard this, he said, “This man of God disobeyed the Lord’s command. Therefore the Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, just as the Lord said to him.”
27 Then he spoke to his sons and said, “Saddle me a donkey.” So they saddled it for him.
28 He went and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or harmed the donkey.
29 So the prophet took the body of the man of God, put it on the donkey, and carried it away. The old prophet went into the city to mourn for him and bury him.
30 He laid the body in his tomb, and they mourned for him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
31 After they had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his.”
32 For surely what he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar at Bethel and against all the high places in the cities of Samaria will come to pass.
33 Yet Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways, but again appointed priests for the high places from among the people, and he consecrated whomever he wished to be a priest of the high places.
34 This was a sin to the house of Jeroboam, for which reason it was cut off and destroyed from the face of the land.
1 Kings Chapter 14
Ahijah's prophecy against Jeroboam
1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill.
2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Get up and disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh, for Ahijah the prophet is there, the one who told me I would be king over this people.
3 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him, so that he may tell you what will happen to the child.”
4 So Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told; she got up and went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah could no longer see, for his eyes were dim with old age.
5 The Lord had said to Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to you to inquire about her sick son. This is what you are to say to her, for when she comes, she will be disguised.”
6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she entered the gate, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be someone else? I have been sent to you with a harsh message.
7 Go and tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Because I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel,
8 and I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me wholeheartedly, doing only what was right in my eyes.
9 Instead, you have done more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke me to anger, and you have turned your back on me.
10 Therefore, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam and will cut off every male in Israel, both slave and free. I will sweep away the descendants of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung, until they are all gone.
11 The dogs will eat anyone who dies in the city belonging to Jeroboam, and the birds of the air will eat anyone who dies in the open country, for the Lord has spoken.
12 But you, get up and go home, but as soon as you set foot in the city, the child will die.
13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s descendants will be buried, because something good was found in him before the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14 The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel, and he will destroy the house of Jeroboam this very day; he will do it now.
15 The Lord will shake Israel like a reed shaken in the water; He will uproot Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made Asherah poles, provoking the Lord to anger.
16And he will hand Israel over for the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and caused Israel to sin.
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah; and as she came over the threshold of the house, the child died.
18 And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, the wars that he waged, and how he reigned, all are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20 The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he rested with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.
Reign of Rehoboam
21 Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger more than all their ancestors had done in their sins.
23 They built themselves high places, pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
24 There were also male prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
26 He took the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace and plundered everything. He also took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.
27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and gave them to the captains of the guard who were on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.
28 Whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, the guards carried them and put them in the guardroom.
29 As for the rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, all that he did, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
31 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. Abijam, his son, succeeded him as king.
1 Kings Chapter 15
Reign of Abijam
1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah,
2 and he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.
3 He walked in all the sins that his father had committed before him, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David had been.
4 But for David’s sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem;
5 because David had done what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
8 And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place.
Reign of Asa
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah.
10 He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.
12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols his ancestors had made.
13 He also deposed his mother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made an Asherah pole. Asa cut down his mother’s pole and burned it at the Kidron Valley.
14 However, the high places were not removed. All the days of Asa’s life, his heart was fully committed to the Lord.
15 He also brought into the temple of the Lord the gold, silver, and jewelry that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated.
Asa's alliance with Ben-Adad
16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah, so that no one could go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the royal palace and gave it to his servants. King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying,
19 “ Let there be a covenant between us, as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you a present of silver and gold. Go and break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
20 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all Chinnereth, along with all the land of Naphtali.
21 When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and remained in Tirzah.
22 Then King Asa summoned all Judah, without exception, and they removed from Ramah the stone and timber with which Baasha was building. With these materials, King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
Death of Asa
23 Now the rest of the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in his old age he became ill in his feet.
24 So Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
Reign of Nadab
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.
26 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father and in the sins he had caused Israel to commit.
27 Baasha son of Ahijah, who was of the house of Issachar, conspired against him, and Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.
28 So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place.
29 When he came to the kingdom, he killed all the house of Jeroboam, leaving no one alive of Jeroboam’s descendants until he had wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.
30 because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and caused Israel to sin, and because of his provocation, which provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger.
31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all the days of both their reigns.
Reign of Baasa
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah; and he reigned twenty-four years.
34 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel sin.
1 Kings Chapter 16
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani concerning Baasha, saying,
2 “ Because I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel, yet you have walked in the ways of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with your sins,
3 therefore I will sweep away the descendants of Baasha and the descendants of his house, and I will make his house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
4 The dogs will eat anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, and the birds of the air will eat anyone belonging to him who dies in the open country.
5 As for the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his power, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?”
6 So Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah succeeded him as king.
7 But the word of the LORD through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani had been against Baasha and also against his house, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the works of his hands, so that he became like the house of Jeroboam; and because he had destroyed it.
Reigns of Ela and Zimri
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years.
9 His servant Zimri, commander of half the chariots, conspired against him. While he was in Tirzah, drinking and getting drunk at the house of Arsa, his steward in Tirzah,
10 Zimri came and struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his place.
11 As soon as he became king and sat on his throne, he killed all the house of Baasha, leaving not a male among them, neither relatives nor friends.
12 So Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word that the Lord had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,
13 because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they committed and caused Israel to commit, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with their wickedness.
14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri began to reign, and he reigned seven days in Tirzah. The people were encamped against Gibbethon, a city of the Philistines.
16 And the people who were in the camp heard it said, “Zimri has conspired and has killed the king.” So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that same day on the field.
17 So Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
18 But when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the palace of the king’s house and set the house on fire over him; and so he died,
19 for the sins which he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, and walking in the ways of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, causing Israel to sin.
20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy which he made, are they not all written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Reinado de Omri
21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni son of Ginath to make him king, and the other half followed Omri.
22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed against those who followed Tibni son of Ginath; so Tibni died, and Omri became king.
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned twelve years; in Tirzah he reigned six years.
24 And Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill; and he called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, who was the owner of that hill.
25 Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did worse than all who had reigned before him.
26 He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and in the sin that he made Israel to commit, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with his idols.
27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri, all that he did, and the mighty deeds that he performed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
28 Omri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab succeeded him as king.
Reign of Ahab
29 Ahab son of Omri began to reign over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah.
30 Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years. Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.
31 For it was a trivial matter for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and he took as his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
32 He made an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.
33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole, thus doing more than all the kings of Israel who were before him, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger.
34 In his days Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. At the price of the life of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the price of the life of Segub his youngest son he set up its gates, according to the word that the Lord had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.
1 Kings Chapter 17
Elijah predicts drought
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
3 “ Leave here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook Cherith, which flows east of the Jordan.
4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Brook Cherith, which flows east of the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 After some time the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Elijah and the widow of Sarepta
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
9 “Arise, go to Sarepta, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
10 So he arose and went to Sarepta. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her again and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no baked bread, but a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a jug. And I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; Go, do as you have said; but first make me a small loaf of bread from what you have and bring it to me, and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’
15 So she went away and did as Elijah had told her. And there was food every day for Elijah and for Elijah and for Elijah and for the woman and her household.
16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
17 After these things, the son of the lady of the house became ill; and the illness was so severe that he stopped breathing.
18 And she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, man of God? Have you come to me to remind me of my sins and to cause my son to die?”
19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his bed.
20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?”
21 Then he stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.”
22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the child’s life returned to him, and he revived.
23 Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “See,” Elijah said, “your son is alive!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.”
1 Kings Chapter 18
Elijah returns to see Ahab
1 After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”
2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.
3 Ahab summoned Obadiah to be his steward. Now Obadiah greatly feared the Lord.
4 For when Jezebel was destroying the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty by fifty, in caves, and fed them with bread and water.
5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to all the springs of water and all the brooks, to see if we can find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we will not be left without animals.”
6 So they divided the land between them to search it out; Ahab went one way, and Obadiah went separately another way.
7 As Obadiah was traveling along the road, he met Elijah. When Elijah recognized him, he fell facedown to the ground and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”
8 “It is I,” he replied. “Go and tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”
9 But Obadiah said, “What have I done wrong, that you should hand your servant over to Ahab to be put to death?
10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to look for you, and they all said, ‘He is not here.’ He made kingdoms and nations swear that they could not find you.
11 And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here”’?
12 As soon as I leave, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to some place I do not know. When I go and tell Ahab, he will not find you and will kill me. Yet your servant has feared the Lord from his youth.
13 Has my master not been told what I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets, fifty in each cave, and fed them with bread and water.
14 And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here,” so that he may kill me?’
15 Elijah replied, ‘As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to him today.’
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, he asked, ‘Is this you, you troubler of Israel?’
18 Elijah replied, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s family have, because you have forsaken the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals.’
19 Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.
Elijah and the prophets of Baal
20 Then Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel.
21 Elijah approached the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.
22 Elijah said to the people, “I am the only prophet of the Lord left, but Baal has 450 prophets.
23 Let us be given two bulls. Let them choose one for themselves, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood, but I will put no fire under it.
24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” All the people answered, “What you say is good.”
25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose an ox and prepare it first, since you are more numerous. Then call on the name of your god, but do not put fire under it.”
26 So they took the ox that was given them and prepared it. From morning until noon they called on the name of Baal, saying, “Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. They danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! He is a god. Perhaps he is meditating, or busy, or on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
28 And they cried out with a loud voice, and cut themselves with knives and lances according to their custom, until the blood gushed out upon them.
29 Noon passed, and they continued crying out frantically until the time of offering the sacrifice, but there was no voice, no one answered or listened.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” So all the people came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in ruins.
31 Taking twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name,”
32 he built with the stones an altar in the name of the Lord. He dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed.
33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood.
34 Then he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” He said, “Do it again,” and they did it again. He said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time,
35 so that the water ran all around the altar and the trench was also filled with water.
36 When the time came for the burnt offering, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your command.
37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back to you.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw it, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
40 Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let any of them escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.
Elijah prays for rain
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; he bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
43 Then he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” Elijah said, “Go back seven times.”
44 The seventh time he said, “I see a small cloud, like a man’s hand, rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’”
45 While they were doing this, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode out and came to Jezreel.
46 And the hand of the LORD was upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab until he came to Jezreel.
1 Kings Chapter 19
Elijah flees to Horeb
1 Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. He went to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there.
4 Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. He prayed that he might die, saying, “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
5 As he lay down under the broom tree, he fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake baked over hot stones, and a jar of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. The word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” Then the Lord passed by, and a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And 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 a still, small voice.
13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
15 The Lord told him, “Go back the way you came, to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.”
16 You shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat, from Abel-meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
17 Jehu will kill anyone who escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will kill anyone who escapes the sword of Jehu.
18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.
The Calling of Elisha
19 So he left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle over him.
20 Then he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.” Elijah said, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”
21 So he turned back and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He boiled their meat with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people to eat. Then he arose and followed Elijah and became his servant.
1 Kings Chapter 20
Ahab defeats the Syrians
1 Then Ben-Hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army, with thirty-two kings, horses, and chariots, and went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it.
2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying,
3 “ This is what Ben-Hadad says: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your wives and your best children are mine.’”
4 The king of Israel answered, “As you say, my lord the king, I am yours, and all that I have is yours.”
5 The messengers returned and said, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: ‘I sent to you, saying, “Your silver and gold, your wives and your children you shall give me.
6 Moreover, about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants, and they will take away all your precious possessions.”’”
7 Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, “Consider now how this man seeks nothing but harm. He has sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I have not refused him.”
8 All the elders and all the people answered him, “Do not obey him or do what he asks.
” 9 Then he replied to Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘I will do everything you commanded your servant at first, but this I cannot do.’” So the messengers went and gave him their answer.
10 Ben-Hadad again sent word to him, saying, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the dust of Samaria is not enough for the fists of all the people who follow me.”
11 The king of Israel answered, “Tell him that he who puts on his armor should not boast as much as he who takes it off.”
12 When he heard this message, as he was drinking with the kings in the tents, he said to his servants, “Prepare your forces!” So they prepared to attack the city.
13 Now a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Have you seen this vast army? Today I will deliver it into your hands, so that you may know that I am the Lord.’”
14 Ahab asked, “By whose hand?” The prophet replied, “This is what the Lord says: ‘By the servants of the provincial governors.’” Ahab asked, “Who will begin the battle?” The prophet answered, “You will.”
15 So he mustered the servants of the provincial governors, 232 in number. Then he mustered all the people, all the Israelites, 7,000 in total.
16 At noon they marched out. Now Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings who had come to help him were drinking heavily in the tents.
17And the servants of the princes of the provinces went out first. Now Ben-Hadad had sent word to him, saying, “Men have come out of Samaria.”
18 Then he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out to fight, take them alive.”
19 So the servants of the princes of the provinces went out from the city, and the army followed them.
20 And each man killed whoever came against him; and the Syrians fled, the men of Israel in pursuit. But Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, escaped on a horse with some cavalry.
21 And the king of Israel went out and struck down the horsemen and the chariots, and routed the Syrians, inflicting a great defeat on them.
22 Then the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and consider carefully what you will do, for within a year the king of Syria will come against you.”
23 The servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills; that is why they have defeated us. But if we fight them on the plain, we will see whether we cannot defeat them.”
24 So do this: Remove the kings, each from his position, and put commanders in their place.
25 And you raise another army like the one you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight them on the plain, and we will see whether we cannot defeat them.” And he listened to them and did so.
26 After a year, Ben-Hadad mustered the army of the Syrians and came to Aphek to fight against Israel.
27 The children of Israel were also inspected, and taking provisions they went to meet them; and the children of Israel camped before them like two flocks of goats, and the Syrians filled the land.
28 Then the man of God came to the king of Israel and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the mountains, not a god of the valleys,” I will deliver this entire vast army into your hands, so that you may know that I am the Lord.’”
29 For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle began. The Israelites killed 100,000 Syrian foot soldiers in one day.
30 The rest fled to Aphek, to the city, and the wall fell on 27,000 of the survivors. Ben-Hadad also fled to the city and hid himself in one room and another.
31 His servants told him, “We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful kings; Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes around our necks, and let us go out to the king of Israel, to see if perhaps he will spare your life.
32 So they put sackcloth on their loins and ropes around their necks, and came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live!’” And he answered, “If he is still alive, he is my brother.”
33 The men took this as a good omen, and they hastened to hear what he said, and said, “Your brother Ben-Hadad is alive.” And he said, “Go and bring him.” So Ben-Hadad went to Ahab, and he had him ride in a chariot.
34 And Ben-Hadad said to him, “The cities that my father took from your father I will restore; and make for yourself cities in Damascus, as my father made them in Samaria.” And I, said Ahab, will let you go on this covenant. So he made a covenant with him and let him go.
35 Then one of the prophets said to his companion by the word of God, “Strike me now.” But the other refused to strike him.
36 He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the word of the Lord, behold, when you depart from me, a lion will attack you.” So when he departed from him, a lion met him and killed him.
37 Then he met another man and said to him, “Strike me now.” So the man struck him and wounded him.
38 Then the prophet went and stood before the king on the road, and disguised himself, putting a bandage over his eyes.
39 As the king passed by, he called out to the king, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier came to me and brought a man, saying, ‘Guard this man, and if he escapes, your life shall be for his, or you shall pay a talent of silver.’”
40 And while your servant was busy with one thing and another, the man disappeared. Then the king of Israel said to him, “This will be your sentence; you have pronounced it.”
41But he suddenly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel realized that he was one of the prophets.
42 And he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have let go of the man I devoted to destruction, your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.”
43 So the king of Israel went home sad and angry, and he came to Samaria.
1 Kings Chapter 21
Ahab and Naboth's vineyard
1 After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard there, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard in exchange for it; or if you prefer, I will pay you its value in money.”
3 Naboth replied to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”
4 So Ahab went home sullen and angry because of the answer Naboth the Jezreelite had given him: “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat.
5 His wife Jezebel came to him and said, “Why is your spirit so downcast that you will not eat?”
6 He answered, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and told him to give me his vineyard for money, or if he preferred, I would give him another vineyard for it. But he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
7 Then his wife Jezebel said to him, “Are you now king over Israel? Arise, eat, and be merry; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his signet ring, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in the city with Naboth.
9 The letters she wrote said: “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth before the people.
10 Set two wicked men before him to testify against him and say, ‘You have blasphemed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
11 The elders and nobles of his city did as Jezebel had instructed them, according to what was written in the letters she had sent them.
12 They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth before the people.
13 Two wicked men came and sat opposite him, and they testified against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has blasphemed God and the king.” Then they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
14 Afterward, they sent word to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”
15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of Naboth the Jezreelite’s vineyard, which he refused to sell you for money, for Naboth is no longer alive but dead.”
16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:
18Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, to which he has gone down to take possession of it.
19 And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord: Have you not killed and also plundered? And you shall speak to him again, saying, Thus says the Lord: In the very place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall also lick your blood, your very blood.
20 Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” Elijah replied, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.
21 Now I am going to bring disaster on you. I will sweep away your descendants and cut off every last male in Israel, both slave and free.
22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because of the rebellion with which you have provoked me to anger and caused Israel to sin.”
23 The Lord has spoken concerning Jezebel: “Dogs will eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
24 Anyone belonging to Ahab who is killed in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who is killed in the open country will be eaten by the birds of the air.”
25 (Indeed, there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him.
26 He was exceedingly abominable, walking after idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.)
27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth on his body, and fasted, and slept in sackcloth, and went about in anguish.
28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Therefore, because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; in the days of his son I will bring the disaster on his house.”
1 Kings Chapter 22
Micaiah prophesies the defeat of Ahab
1 Three years passed without war between the Syrians and Israel.
2 In the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to the king of Israel.
3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and we have done nothing to take it from the king of Syria?”
4 Then he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
5 Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire of the Lord today.”
6 So the king of Israel gathered together the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.”
7 Then Jehoshaphat said, “Is there still a prophet of the Lord here, whom we may inquire of?”
8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but only evil.” Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say so.”
9 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said to him, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.”
10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, clothed in their royal robes, in the square by the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
11 Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made himself horns of iron, and he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”
12 And all the prophets prophesied in the same way, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and you will prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.”
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah told him, “Look, the prophets are all saying good things to the king. Now let your words echo those of one of them, and also proclaim good fortune.”
14 Micaiah replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will speak only what the Lord tells me.”
15 So he came to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go up to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” He answered, “Go up and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.”
16 The king said to him, “How many times must I require you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”
17 He replied, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each one return to his home in peace.’”
18And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you? He will prophesy nothing good about me, but only evil.”
19 Then he said, “Hear therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left.
20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’
22 He said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You will entice him, and you will succeed; go now and do so.’
23 And now, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all your prophets, and the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”
24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, saying, “Where did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?”
25 Micaiah answered, “You will see on that day, when you go into each room to hide yourself.”
26 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and go to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son,
27 and say, ‘Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and the water of affliction, until I return in peace.’”
28 But Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Listen, all you peoples.”
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle; you put on your clothes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
31 Now the king of Syria had commanded his thirty-two chariot commanders, saying, “Do not fight against anyone, great or small, but only against the king of Israel.”
32 When the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely this is the king of Israel!” And they came against him to fight with him, but King Jehoshaphat cried out.
33 Then the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, and they withdrew from him.
34 And a man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the field, for I am wounded.”
35 But the battle raged that day, and the king sat in his chariot facing the Arameans. In the evening he died, and the blood from his wound flowed down into the bottom of the chariot.
36 And at sunset a proclamation went out through the camp, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his land!”
37 So the king died, and his body was brought to Samaria, and they buried him in Samaria.
38 They washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up its blood (and the prostitutes also washed there), according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken.
39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, all that he did, the ivory house that he built, and all the cities that he constructed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
40 So Ahab rested with his ancestors, and Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.
Reign of Jehoshaphat
41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
43 He walked in all the ways of his father Asa, without turning aside from them, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed, for the people still sacrificed and burned incense on them.
44 Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, his exploits, and the wars that he waged, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
46 He also removed from the land the remnant of the male prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa.
47 At that time there was no king in Edom; there was a governor in place of a king.
48 Now Jehoshaphat had built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
49 Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat refused.
50 So Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David his father. His son Joram succeeded him as king.
Reign of Ahaziah of Israel
51 Ahaziah son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel.
52 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father and his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
53 He served Baal and worshiped him, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.