1 Kings 1

1 Kings 2

David’s Advice to Solomon

(1 Chronicles 29:26–30)

¹When David was about to die, he instructed his son Solomon, ²“I’m about to leave this world. Be strong and mature. ³Fulfill your duty to the Lord your God. Obey his directions, laws, commands, rules, and written instructions as they are recorded in Moses’ Teachings. Then you’ll succeed in everything you do wherever you may go. ⁴⌞You’ll succeed⌟ because the Lord will keep the promise he made to me: ‘If your descendants are faithful to me with all their hearts and lives, you will never fail to have an heir on the throne of Israel.’

⁵“You know what Joab (Zeruiah’s son) did to me and to the two commanders of Israel’s army—Abner, son of Ner, and Amasa, son of Jether. Joab killed them. When there was peace, he shed blood as if it were wartime. With their blood he stained the belt around his waist and the shoes on his feet. ⁶Use your wisdom. Don’t let that gray-haired, old man go to his grave peacefully.

⁷“Be kind to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead. Let them eat at your table. They helped me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.

⁸“Shimei, son of Gera from Bahurim in Benjamin, is still with you. He cursed me repeatedly when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came to meet me at the Jordan River, I took an oath by the Lord and said, ‘As long as I’m king, I won’t have you killed.’ ⁹Now, don’t let him go unpunished. You are wise and know what to do to him: Put that gray-haired, old man into his grave by slaughtering him.”

¹⁰David lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. ¹¹He ruled as king of Israel for 40 years. He ruled for 7 years in Hebron and for 33 years in Jerusalem.

Solomon Establishes His Authority

¹²Solomon sat on his father David’s throne, and his power was firmly established.

¹³Then Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. “Is this a friendly visit?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered. ¹⁴Then he added, “I have a matter ⌞to discuss⌟ with you.”

“What is it?” she asked.

¹⁵He said, “You know the kingship was mine. All Israel expected me to be their king. But the kingship has been turned over to my brother because the Lord gave it to him. ¹⁶Now I want to ask you for one thing. Don’t refuse me.”

“What is it?” she asked.

¹⁷He said, “Please ask King Solomon to give me Abishag from Shunem as my wife. He will not refuse you.”

¹⁸“Very well,” Bathsheba answered. “I will talk to the king for you.”

¹⁹Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk to him on Adonijah’s behalf. The king got up to meet her and bowed down in front of her. Then he sat on his throne. He had a throne brought for his mother, and she sat at his right side.

²⁰“I’m asking you for one little thing,” she said. “Don’t refuse me.”

“Ask, Mother,” the king told her. “I won’t refuse you.”

²¹She replied, “Let Abishag from Shunem be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”

²²King Solomon then said, “Why do you ask that Abishag from Shunem be given to Adonijah? That would be the same as giving him the kingship. After all, he is my older brother. The priest Abiathar and Joab (Zeruiah’s son) are supporting him.”

²³King Solomon took an oath by the Lord and said, “May God strike me dead if Adonijah doesn’t pay with his life for this request! ²⁴The Lord set me on my father David’s throne and gave me a dynasty as he promised. So I solemnly swear, as the Lord who has established me lives, that Adonijah will be put to death today.” ²⁵King Solomon gave this task to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. Benaiah attacked and killed Adonijah.

²⁶The king told the priest Abiathar, “Go to your land in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won’t kill you at this time because you carried the ark of the Almighty Lord ahead of my father David and because you shared all my father’s sufferings.” ²⁷So Solomon removed Abiathar as the Lord’s priest and fulfilled the Lord’s word spoken at Shiloh about Eli’s family.

²⁸The news reached Joab. (He had supported Adonijah, although he hadn’t supported Absalom.) So Joab fled to the Lord’s tent and clung to the horns of the altar. ²⁹After King Solomon heard that Joab had fled to the altar in the tent of the Lord, Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, to kill Joab.

³⁰When Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord, he told Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out.’ ”

“No,” Joab answered, “I’ll die here.”

So Benaiah reported to the king what Joab had said and how he had answered.

³¹The king answered, “Do as he said. Kill him, and bury him. You can remove the innocent blood—the blood which Joab shed—from me and my father’s family. ³²The Lord will repay him for the slaughter he caused. Joab killed two honorable men who were better than he was. He used his sword to kill Abner (who was the son of Ner and the commander of Israel’s army) and Amasa (who was the son of Jether and the commander of Judah’s army). Joab did this without my father’s knowledge. ³³The responsibility for their blood will fall on Joab and his descendants forever. But may David, his descendants, family, and throne always receive peace from the Lord.”

³⁴Then Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, went and attacked Joab, killed him, and buried him at his home in the desert. ³⁵The king then appointed Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, to replace Joab as commander of the army. King Solomon also replaced Abiathar with the priest Zadok.

³⁶The king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem, and stay there. Don’t leave ⌞the city⌟ to go anywhere else. ³⁷But the day you leave and cross the brook in the Kidron Valley, you can be certain that you will die. You will be responsible for your own death.”

³⁸“Very well,” Shimei answered. “I’ll do just what Your Majesty said.”

So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time. ³⁹But after three years, two of Shimei’s slaves fled to Gath’s King Achish, son of Maacah. Shimei was told that his slaves were in Gath, ⁴⁰so he saddled his donkey and went to Achish in Gath to search for his slaves. Shimei went to Gath and got his slaves.

⁴¹After Solomon heard that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and back, ⁴²he summoned Shimei. Solomon asked him, “Didn’t I make you take an oath by the Lord? Didn’t I warn you that if you left ⌞the city⌟ to go anywhere, you could be certain that you would die? Didn’t you say to me, ‘Very well. I’ll do just what you said’? ⁴³Why didn’t you keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you? ⁴⁴Shimei, you know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. The Lord is going to pay you back for the evil you have done. ⁴⁵But King Solomon is blessed, and David’s dynasty will always be firmly established by the Lord.”

⁴⁶Then the king gave orders to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He went to attack and kill Shimei.

Solomon’s power as king was now firmly established.

1 Kings 3

Solomon’s Marriage

(2 Chronicles 1:1)

¹Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). After marrying Pharaoh’s daughter, Solomon brought her to the City of David until he finished building his own house, the Lord’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem.

²The people were still sacrificing at other worship sites because a temple for the name of the Lord had not yet been built. ³Solomon loved the Lord and lived by his father David’s rules. However, he still sacrificed and burned incense at these other worship sites.

Solomon Requests Wisdom from God

(2 Chronicles 1:2–13)

⁴King Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice because it was the most important place of worship. Solomon sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. He said, “What can I give you?”

⁶Solomon responded, “You’ve shown great love to my father David, who was your servant. He lived in your presence with truth, righteousness, and commitment. And you continued to show him your great love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today.

⁷“Lord my God, although I’m young and inexperienced, you’ve made me king in place of my father David. ⁸I’m among your people whom you have chosen. They are too numerous to count or record. ⁹Give me a heart that listens so that I can judge your people and tell the difference between good and evil. After all, who can judge this great people of yours?”

¹⁰The Lord (Many Hebrew manuscripts, Greek; other Hebrew manuscripts “Lord.”) was pleased that Solomon asked for this. ¹¹God replied, “You’ve asked for this and not for a long life, or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies. Instead, you’ve asked for understanding so that you can do what is right. ¹²So I’m going to do what you’ve asked. I’m giving you a wise and understanding heart so that there will never be anyone like you. ¹³I’m also giving you what you haven’t asked for—riches and honor—so that no other king will be like you as long as you live. ¹⁴And if you follow me and obey my laws and commands as your father David did, then I will also give you a long life.”

¹⁵Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem and stood in front of the ark of the Lord’s promise. He sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings and held a banquet for all his officials.

Solomon’s Wisdom in Action

¹⁶A short time later two prostitutes came to the king and stood in front of him. ¹⁷One woman said to him, “Sir, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth ⌞to a son⌟ while she was with me in the house. ¹⁸Two days later this woman also gave birth ⌞to a son⌟. We were alone. No one else was with us. Just the two of us were in the house. ¹⁹That night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on top of him. ²⁰So she got up during the night and took my son, who was beside me, while I was asleep. She held him in her arms. Then she laid her dead son in my arms. ²¹When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, he was dead! I took a good look at him and realized that he wasn’t my son at all!”

²²The other woman said, “No! My son is alive—your son is dead.”

The first woman kept on saying, “No! Your son is dead—my son is alive.” So they argued in front of the king.

²³The king said, “This one keeps saying, ‘My son is alive—your son is dead,’ and that one keeps saying, ‘No! Your son is dead—my son is alive.’ ”

²⁴So the king told his servants to bring him a sword. When they brought it, ²⁵he said, “Cut the living child in two. Give half to the one and half to the other.”

²⁶Then the woman whose son was still alive was deeply moved by her love for the child. She said to the king, “Please, sir, give her the living child. Please don’t kill him!”

But the other woman said, “He won’t be mine or yours. Cut him ⌞in two⌟.”

²⁷The king replied, “Give the living child to the first woman. Don’t kill him. She is his mother.”

²⁸All Israel heard about the decision the king made. They respected the king very highly, because they saw he possessed wisdom from God to do what was right.

1 Kings 4

Solomon’s Administration

(2 Chronicles 9:26)

¹When King Solomon was the king of all Israel, ²these were his officials:

Azariah, son of Zadok, was the ⌞chief⌟ priest.

³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were scribes.

Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the royal historian.

⁴Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was commander of the army.

Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

⁵Azariah, son of Nathan, was in charge of the district governors.

Zabud, son of Nathan, was the king’s adviser.

⁶Ahishar was in charge of the palace.

Adoniram, son of Abda, was in charge of forced labor.

⁷Solomon appointed 12 district governors in Israel. They were to provide food for the king and his palace. Each one had to supply food for one month every year. ⁸Their names were

Benhur, who was in charge of the hills of Ephraim,

⁹Bendeker, who was in charge of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan, and

¹⁰Benhesed, who was in charge of Arubboth, Socoh, and the entire region of Hepher.

¹¹Benabinadab had the entire region of Dor.

(Solomon’s daughter Taphath was his wife.)

¹²Baana, son of Ahilud, had Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth Shean.

(This was near Zarethan, below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah and over to Jokmeam.)

¹³Bengeber was in charge of Ramoth Gilead; he had the settlements of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, in Gilead.

He ⌞also⌟ had the territory of Argob in Bashan, 60 large cities with walls and bronze bars across their gates.

¹⁴Ahinadab, son of Iddo, was in charge of Mahanaim.

¹⁵Ahimaaz was in charge of Naphtali.

(He also married Solomon’s daughter Basemath.)

¹⁶Baana, son of Hushai, was in charge of Asher and Aloth.

¹⁷Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, was in charge of Issachar.

¹⁸Shimei, son of Ela, was in charge of Benjamin.

¹⁹Geber, son of Uri, was in charge of Gilead, the territory of King Sihon the Amorite and King Og of Bashan. (There was only one governor in that territory.) (“There was … territory” Masoretic Text; Greek “There was also one governor in the territory of Judah.”)

²⁰The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They ate and drank and lived happily. (1 Kings 4:21–34 in English Bibles is 1 Kings 5:1–14 in the Hebrew Bible.)

²¹Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the country of the Philistines and as far as the Egyptian border. These kingdoms paid taxes and were subject to Solomon as long as he lived.

²²Solomon’s food supply for one day was 180 bushels of flour, 360 bushels of coarse flour, ²³10 fattened cows, 20 cows from the pasture, and 100 sheep in addition to deer, gazelles, fallow deer, and fattened birds. ²⁴He controlled all the territory west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah to Gaza and all of its kings. So he lived in peace with all the neighboring countries. ²⁵As long as Solomon lived, Judah and Israel (from Dan to Beersheba) lived securely, everyone under his own vine and fig tree.

²⁶Solomon had stalls for 40,000 chariot horses. He also had 12,000 chariot soldiers. (Or “12,000 cavalry horses.”) ²⁷Each of the governors provided food for one month every year for King Solomon and all who ate at his table. The governors saw to it that nothing was in short supply. ²⁸They brought their quota of barley and straw for the chariot horses to the proper places.

Solomon’s Wisdom

²⁹God gave Solomon wisdom—keen insight and a mind as limitless as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the eastern people and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. ³¹He was wiser than anyone, than Ethan the Ezrahite, or Heman, Calcol, or Darda, Mahol’s sons. His fame spread to all the nations around him.

³²Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. ³³He described and classified trees—from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He described and classified animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴People came from every nation to hear his wisdom; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard about his wisdom.

1 Kings 5

Preparations for Building the Temple

(2 Chronicles 2:1–13, 15–18)

¹ (1 Kings 5:1–18 in English Bibles is 1 Kings 5:15–32 in the Hebrew Bible.)King Hiram of Tyre sent his officials to Solomon when he heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father. Hiram had always been David’s friend.

²Solomon sent word to Hiram, by saying, ³“You know that my father David was surrounded by war. He couldn’t build a temple for the name of the Lord our God until the Lord let him defeat his enemies. ⁴But the Lord my God has surrounded me with peace. I have no rival and no trouble. ⁵Now I’m thinking of building a temple for the name of the Lord my God as the Lord spoke to my father David: ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne to succeed you, will build a temple for my name.’ ⁶So order men to cut down cedars from Lebanon for me. My workers will work with your workers. I will pay you whatever wages you ask for your workers. You know we don’t have any skilled lumberjacks like those from Sidon.”

⁷Hiram was very glad to hear what Solomon had said. Hiram responded, “May the Lord be praised today. He has given David a wise son to rule this great nation.”

⁸Hiram sent men to Solomon to say, “I’ve received the message you sent me. I will do everything you want in regard to the cedar and cypress logs. ⁹My workers will bring logs from Lebanon to the sea, and I will have them make them into rafts to go by sea to any place you specify. There I will have them taken apart, and you can use them. You can pay me by providing food for my palace.” ¹⁰So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and cypress wood he wanted. ¹¹Solomon gave Hiram 120,000 bushels of wheat and 120,000 gallons of pure olive oil. Solomon paid Hiram this much every year.

¹²The Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he had promised. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty with one another.

¹³King Solomon forced 30,000 men from all over Israel to work for him. ¹⁴He sent a shift of 10,000 men to Lebanon for a month. They would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of forced labor.

¹⁵Solomon had 70,000 men who carried heavy loads, 70,000 who quarried stone in the mountains, ¹⁶and 3,300 foremen who were in charge of the workers. ¹⁷The king commanded them to quarry large, expensive blocks of stone in order to provide a foundation of cut stone for the temple. ¹⁸Solomon’s workmen, Hiram’s workmen, and men from Gebal quarried the stone and prepared the logs and stone to build the temple.

1 Kings 6

The Temple Built in Seven Years

(2 Chronicles 3:1–14)

¹Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple 480 years after Israel left Egypt. He began building in the month of Ziv (the second month) of the fourth year of his reign over Israel. ²The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. ³The entrance hall in front of the main room of the temple was the same length as the shorter side of the temple. It extended 15 feet in front of the temple. ⁴He also made latticed windows for the temple.

⁵He built an annex containing side rooms all around the temple. This annex was next to the walls of the main building and the inner sanctuary. ⁶The ⌞interior of⌟ the lowest story of the annex was 7½ feet wide, the second story was 9 feet wide, and the third story was 10½ feet wide. Solomon made ledges all around the temple so that this annex would not be fastened to the walls of the temple.

⁷The temple was built with stone blocks that were finished at the quarry. No hammer, chisel, or any other iron tool made a sound at the temple construction site.

⁸The entrance to the first story (Greek, Targum; Masoretic Text “second story.”) was on the south side of the temple. A staircase went up to the middle story and then to the third story.

⁹When he had finished building the walls, he roofed the temple with rows of cedar beams and planks. ¹⁰He built ⌞each story of the⌟ annex 7½ feet high alongside the entire temple. Its cedar beams were attached to the temple.

¹¹The Lord spoke to Solomon, saying, ¹²“This concerns the temple you are building: If you live by my laws, follow my rules, and keep my commands, I will fulfill the promise I made about you to your father David. ¹³I will live among the Israelites and never abandon my people.”

¹⁴When Solomon had finished building the temple’s ⌞frame⌟, ¹⁵he began to line the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards. He paneled the inside of the temple with wood from floor to ceiling. He covered the floor of the temple with cypress planks.

¹⁶He sectioned off a 30-foot-long room at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the rafters. He built it to serve as an inner room, the most holy place. ¹⁷The 60-foot-long room at the front of the temple served as the main hall. ¹⁸Gourds and flowers were carved into the cedar paneling inside the temple. Everything was ⌞covered with⌟ cedar. No stone could be seen.

¹⁹He prepared the inner room of the temple in order to put the ark of the Lord’s promise there. ²⁰The inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Solomon covered it and the cedar altar with pure gold. ²¹He covered the inside of the temple with pure gold. He put golden chains across the front of the inner room which was covered with gold. ²²He covered the entire inside of the temple with gold. He also covered the entire altar in the inner room with gold.

²³In the inner room he made two 15-foot-tall angels (Or “cherubim.”) out of olive wood. ²⁴Each wing of the angels was 7½ feet long. The distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was 15 feet. ²⁵Both angels had a 15-foot ⌞wingspan⌟. Both had the same measurements and the same shape. ²⁶Each was 15 feet high. ²⁷Solomon put the angels in the inner room of the temple. The wings of the angels extended so that the wing of one of the angels touched the one wall, and the wing of the other touched the other wall. Their remaining wings touched each other in the center of the room. ²⁸He covered the angels with gold.

²⁹He carved angels, palm trees, and flowers into the walls all around the inner and outer rooms of the temple. ³⁰He covered the floor of the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

³¹He made doors for the entrance to the inner room out of olive wood. The doorposts had five sides. ³²The two doors were ⌞made out of⌟ olive wood. He carved angels, palm trees, and flowers into them and covered them with gold. The gold was hammered onto the angels and the palm trees.

³³In the same way he made square doorposts out of olive wood for the temple’s entrance. ³⁴He made two doors from cypress. Each of the doors had two folding panels. ³⁵On them he carved angels, palm trees, and flowers. He evenly covered them with gold.

³⁶He built the inner courtyard with three courses of finished stones and a course of finished cedar beams.

³⁷In the month of Ziv of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. ³⁸In the month of Bul (the eighth month) of the eleventh year ⌞of his reign⌟, the temple was finished according to all its plans and specifications. He spent seven years building it.

1 Kings 7

The Palace Built in 13 Years

¹Solomon took 13 years to finish building his palace. ²He built a hall ⌞named⌟ the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had four rows of cedar pillars supporting cedar beams. ³The hall was covered with cedar above the side rooms, which were supported by 45 pillars (15 per row). ⁴The windows were in three rows facing each other on opposite sides ⌞of the palace⌟. ⁵All the doors and doorframes were square. There were three doors facing each other on opposite sides ⌞of the palace⌟.

⁶Solomon made the Hall of Pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. In front of the hall was an entrance hall with pillars.

⁷He made the Hall of Justice, where he sat on his throne and served as judge. The hall was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling. (Latin, Syriac; Masoretic Text “floor to floor.”)

⁸His own private quarters were in a different location than the Hall of Justice, but they were similar in design. Solomon also built private quarters like this for his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter.

⁹From the foundation to the roof, all these buildings, including the large courtyard, were built with high-grade stone blocks. The stone blocks were cut to size and trimmed with saws on their inner and outer faces. ¹⁰The foundation was made with large, high-grade stones (some 12 feet long, others 15 feet long). ¹¹Above ⌞the foundation⌟ were cedar beams and high-grade stone blocks, which had been cut to size. ¹²The large courtyard had three layers of cut stone blocks and a layer of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple and the entrance hall.

The Temple Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 2:13–14; 3:15–5:1)

¹³King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre. ¹⁴Hiram was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father, a native of Tyre, was a skilled bronze craftsman. Hiram was highly skilled, resourceful, and knowledgeable about all kinds of bronze craftsmanship. He came to King Solomon and did all his ⌞bronze⌟ work.

¹⁵He made two bronze pillars. Each was 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference. ¹⁶He made two capitals of cast bronze to put on top of the pillars. Each capital was 7½ feet high. ¹⁷He also made seven rows of filigree and chains for each capital. ¹⁸After he made the pillars, he made two rows ⌞of decorations⌟ around the filigree to cover the capitals which were above the pillars. (Many Hebrew manuscripts, Greek, Syriac; other Hebrew manuscripts “pomegranates.”) He made the capitals identical to each other. ¹⁹The capitals on top of the pillars in the entrance hall were lily-shaped. ⌞Each⌟ was six feet high. ²⁰Two hundred pomegranates in rows were directly above the bowl-shaped parts around the filigree on the capitals on both pillars.

²¹Hiram set up the pillars in the temple’s entrance hall. He set up the pillar on the right and named it Jachin [He Establishes]. Then he set up the pillar on the left and named it Boaz [In Him Is Strength]. ²²There were lily-shaped capitals at the top of the pillars. He finished the work on the pillars.

²³Hiram made a pool from cast metal. It was 15 feet in diameter. It was round, 7½ feet high, and had a circumference of 45 feet. ²⁴Under the rim were two rows of gourds all around the 45-foot circumference of the pool. They were cast in metal when the pool was cast. ²⁵The pool was set on 12 metal bulls. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The pool was set on them, and their hindquarters were toward the center ⌞of the pool⌟. ²⁶The pool was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, shaped like a lily’s bud. It held 12,000 gallons.

²⁷He made ten bronze stands. Each stand was 6 feet square and 4½ feet high. ²⁸The stands were made this way: They had side panels set in frames. ²⁹On the panels set in frames were lions, oxen, and angels. (Or “cherubim.”) These were also on the frames. Above and below the lions and the cattle were engraved designs. ³⁰Each stand had four bronze wheels on bronze axles and four supports beneath the basin. The supports were made of cast metal with designs on the sides. ³¹Each had a 1½-foot-deep opening in the center to the circular frame on top. The opening was round, formed like a pedestal, and was two feet ⌞wide⌟. Around the opening there were engravings. But the panels were square, not round. ³²The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles were attached to the stand. Each wheel was two feet high. ³³The wheels were made like chariot wheels. The axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast metal. ³⁴The four supports at the four corners of each stand were part of the stand. ³⁵The top of each stand had a round, nine-inch-high band. Above the stand were supports which were part of the panels. ³⁶Hiram engraved angels, lions, palm trees, and designs in every available space on the supports and panels. ³⁷This is the way he made the ten stands. All of them were cast in the same mold, identical in size and shape.

³⁸Hiram also made ten bronze basins. Each basin held 240 gallons. Every basin was six feet ⌞wide⌟. There was one basin on each of the ten stands. ³⁹He put five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north side of the temple. He set the pool on the south side of the temple in the southeast ⌞corner⌟. ⁴⁰Hiram also made pots, shovels, and bowls.

So Hiram finished all the work for King Solomon on the Lord’s temple: ⁴¹2 pillars, the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the 2 pillars, and 2 sets of filigree to cover the 2 bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, ⁴²400 pomegranates for the 2 sets of filigree (2 rows of pomegranates for each filigree to cover the 2 bowl-shaped capitals on the pillars), ⁴³10 stands and 10 basins on the stands, ⁴⁴1 pool, 12 bulls under the pool, ⁴⁵pots, shovels, and bowls. Hiram made all these utensils out of polished bronze for the Lord’s temple at King Solomon’s request. ⁴⁶The king cast them in foundries in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷Solomon left all the products unweighed because so much bronze was used. No one tried to determine how much the bronze weighed.

⁴⁸Solomon made all the furnishings for the Lord’s temple: the gold altar, the gold table on which the bread of the presence was placed, ⁴⁹lamp stands of pure gold (five on the south side and five on the north in front of the inner room), flowers, lamps, gold tongs, ⁵⁰dishes, snuffers, bowls, saucers, incense burners of pure gold, the gold sockets for the doors of the inner ⌞room⌟ (the most holy place), and the doors of the temple.

⁵¹All the work King Solomon did on the Lord’s temple was finished. He brought the holy things that had belonged to his father David—the silver, gold, and utensils—and put them in the storerooms of the Lord’s temple.

1 Kings 8

The LORD Comes to His Temple

(2 Chronicles 5:2–14)

¹Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem to take the ark of the Lord’s promise from the City of David (that is, Zion). ²All the people of Israel gathered around King Solomon at the Festival ⌞of Booths⌟ in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

³When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the priests picked up the Lord’s ark. ⁴They brought the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils in it ⌞to the temple⌟. The priests and the Levites carried them ⁵while King Solomon with the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the ark. ⁶The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s promise to its place in the inner room of the temple (the most holy place) under the wings of the angels. (Or “cherubim.”)

⁷When the angels’ outstretched wings were over the place where the ark ⌞rested⌟, the angels became a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁸The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room, but they couldn’t be seen outside. (They are still there today.) ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a promise to the Israelites after they left Egypt.

¹⁰When the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the Lord’s temple. ¹¹The priests couldn’t serve because of the cloud. The Lord’s glory filled his temple.

Solomon Addresses the People

(2 Chronicles 6:1–11)

¹²Then Solomon said, “The Lord said he would live in a dark cloud. ¹³I certainly have built you a high temple, a home for you to live in permanently.”

¹⁴Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while they were standing. ¹⁵“Thanks be to the Lord God of Israel. With his mouth he made a promise to my father David; with his hand he carried it out. He said, ¹⁶‘Ever since I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I didn’t choose any city in any of the tribes of Israel as a place to build a temple for my name. But now I’ve chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

¹⁷“My father David had his heart set on building a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁸However, the Lord said to my father David, ‘Since you had your heart set on building a temple for my name, your intentions were good. ¹⁹But you must not build the temple. Instead, your own son will build the temple for my name.’ ²⁰The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David’s place, and I sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised. I’ve built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹I’ve made a place there for the ark which contains the Lord’s promise that he made to our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer

(2 Chronicles 6:12–42)

²²In the presence of the entire assembly of Israel, Solomon stood in front of the Lord’s altar. He stretched out his hands toward heaven ²³and said,

“Lord God of Israel,
there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below.
You keep your promise †Or “covenant.” of mercy to your servants,
who obey you wholeheartedly.
24 You have kept your promise to my father David, your servant.
With your mouth you promised it.
With your hand you carried it out as it is today.

25 “Now, Lord God of Israel,
keep your promise to my father David, your servant.
You said, ‘You will never fail to have an heir
sitting in front of me on the throne of Israel
if your descendants are faithful to me
as you have been faithful to me.’

26 “So now, God of Israel,
may the promise you made to my father David,
your servant, come true.

27 “Does God really live on earth?
If heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot hold you,
then how can this temple that I have built?
28 Nevertheless, my Lord God, please pay attention to my prayer for mercy.
Listen to my cry for help as I pray to you today.
29 Night and day may your eyes be on this temple,
the place about which you said, ‘My name will be there.’
Listen to me as I pray toward this place.
30 Hear the plea for mercy
that your people Israel and I pray toward this place.
Hear us ⌞when we pray⌟ to heaven, the place where you live.
Hear and forgive.

31 “If anyone sins against another person
and is required to take an oath
and comes to take the oath in front of your altar in this temple,
32 then hear ⌞that person⌟ in heaven, take action, and make a decision.
Condemn the guilty person with the proper punishment,
but declare the innocent person innocent.

33 “An enemy may defeat your people Israel
because they have sinned against you.
But when your people turn to you, praise your name, pray,
and plead with you in this temple,
34 then hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven, forgive the sins of your people Israel,
and bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors.

35 “When the sky is shut and there’s no rain
because they are sinning against you,
and they pray toward this place, praise your name,
and turn away from their sin because you made them suffer,
36 then hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven.
Forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel.
Teach them the proper way to live.
Then send rain on the land,
which you gave to your people as an inheritance.

37 “There may be famine in the land.
Plant diseases, heat waves, funguses, locusts,
or grasshoppers may destroy crops.
Enemies may blockade Israel’s city gates.
During every plague or sickness
38 ⌞hear⌟ every prayer for mercy,
made by one person or by all the people in Israel,
whose consciences bother them,
who stretch out their hands toward this temple.
39 Hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven, where you live.
Forgive ⌞them⌟, and take action.
Give each person the proper reply.
(You know what is in their hearts,
because you alone know what is in the hearts of all people.)
40 Then, as long as they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors,
they will fear you.

41 “People will hear about your great name,
mighty hand, and powerful arm.‡The first sentence of verse 42 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 41 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English.
So when people who are not Israelites
come from distant countries because of your name
42 to pray facing this temple,
43 hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven, the place where you live.
Do everything they ask you
so that all the people of the world may know your name
and fear you like your people Israel
and learn also that this temple which I built bears your name.

44 “When your people go to war against their enemies
(wherever you may send them)
and they pray to you, O Lord, toward the city you have chosen
and the temple I built for your name,
45 then hear their prayer for mercy in heaven,
and do what is right ⌞for them⌟.

46 “They may sin against you.
(No one is sinless.)
You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy
who takes them to ⌞another⌟ country as captives,
⌞whether it is⌟ far or near.
47 If they come to their senses,
are sorry for what they’ve done,
and plead with you in the land where they are captives,
saying, ‘We have sinned. We have done wrong.
We have been wicked,’
48 if they change their attitude toward you
in the land of their enemies where they are captives,
if they pray to you
toward the land that you gave their ancestors,
and the city you have chosen,
and the temple I have built for your name,
49 then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy.
Do what is right for them.
50 Forgive your people, who have sinned against you.
⌞Forgive⌟ all their wrongs when they rebelled against you,
and cause those who captured them to have mercy on them
51 because they are your own people
whom you brought out of Egypt
from the middle of an iron smelter.

52 “May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel’s plea
so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you.
53 After all, you, Lord God, set them apart from all the people of the world
to be your own as you promised through your servant Moses
when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

Solomon Blesses the People

⁵⁴When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to the Lord, he stood in front of the Lord’s altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. ⁵⁵Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel, ⁵⁶“Thanks be to the Lord! He has given his people Israel rest, as he had promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. ⁵⁷May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us. ⁵⁸May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and keep his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors ⌞to keep⌟. ⁵⁹May these words which I have prayed to the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night. Then he will give me and his people Israel justice every day as it is needed. ⁶⁰In this way all the people of the world will know that the Lord is God and there is no other ⌞god⌟. ⁶¹May your hearts be committed to the Lord our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today.”

Solomon Offers Sacrifices

(2 Chronicles 7:4–10)

⁶²Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to the Lord. ⁶³Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings to the Lord. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Lord’s temple.

⁶⁴On that day the king designated the courtyard in front of the Lord’s temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar in front of the Lord was too small to hold all of them.

⁶⁵At that time Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival ⌞of Booths⌟. A large crowd had come from ⌞the territory between⌟ the border of Hamath and the River of Egypt to be near the Lord our God for seven days. (Greek; Masoretic Text adds “… and seven [more] days, fourteen days [total].”) ⁶⁶On the eighth day he dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went to their tents. They rejoiced with cheerful hearts for all the blessings the Lord had given his servant David and his people Israel.

1 Kings 9

The LORD Answers Solomon’s Prayer

(2 Chronicles 7:11–22)

¹Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and everything ⌞else⌟ he wanted to build. ²Then the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer for mercy that you made to me.
I have declared that this temple which you have built is holy
so that my name may be placed there forever.
My eyes and my heart will always be there.

4 “If you will be faithful to me as your father David was
(with a sincere and upright heart),
do everything I command,
and keep my laws and rules,
5 then I will establish your royal dynasty over Israel forever
as I promised your father David when I said,
‘You will never fail to have an heir on the throne of Israel.’
6 But if you and your descendants dare to turn away from me
and do not keep my commands and laws that I gave to you,
and follow and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut Israel out of the land I gave them.
I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name.
Israel will be an example
and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.
8 Everyone passing by this temple, as impressive as it is, will be appalled.
They will gasp and ask,
‘Why did the Lord do these things to this land and this temple?’
9 They will answer ⌞themselves⌟,
‘They abandoned the Lord their God,
who brought their ancestors out of Egypt.
They adopted other gods, worshiped, and served them.
That is why the Lord brought this disaster on them.’ ”

Solomon Completes His Construction

(2 Chronicles 8:1–18)

¹⁰It took Solomon 20 years to build the two houses (the Lord’s house and the royal palace). ¹¹⌞When King Solomon had finished,⌟ he gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 cities in Galilee. (Hiram had supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress lumber and gold as he wanted.) ¹²Hiram left Tyre to see the cities Solomon gave him. However, they didn’t please him. ¹³“What kind of cities have you given me, brother?” he asked. So he named it the region of Cabul [Good for Nothing]. (⌞They’re⌟ still ⌞called⌟ that today.) ¹⁴Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds of gold.

¹⁵This is the record of the forced laborers whom King Solomon drafted to build the Lord’s house, his own house, the Millo, (The exact place referred to as “the Millo” is unknown.) the walls of Jerusalem, and ⌞the cities of⌟ Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶(The king of Egypt captured Gezer, burned it down, and killed the Canaanites living there. Then he gave it to his daughter, Solomon’s wife, as a wedding present.) ¹⁷So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸Baalath, Tadmor in the desert (inside the country), and ¹⁹all the storage cities that he owned. He also built cities for his chariots, cities for his war horses, and whatever ⌞else⌟ he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or the entire territory that he governed.

²⁰The Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites had been left ⌞in the land⌟ because the Israelites had not been able to claim them for God by destroying them. (“because the Israelites….” This clause from verse 21 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 20 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English.) They were not Israelites, ²¹but they had descendants who were still in the land. Solomon drafted them for slave labor. (They are still ⌞slaves⌟ today.) ²²But Solomon didn’t make any of the Israelites slaves. Instead, they were soldiers, officials, officers, generals, and commanders of his chariot and cavalry units.

²³These were the officers in charge of Solomon’s projects: 550 foremen for the people who did the work.

²⁴Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

²⁵Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he built for the Lord. He burnt them on the altar that was in the Lord’s presence. And he finished the temple.

²⁶King Solomon also built a fleet near the Red Sea coast at Ezion Geber by Elath in Edom. ²⁷Hiram sent his own servants ⌞who were⌟ experienced seamen with the fleet. Along with Solomon’s servants ²⁸they went to Ophir, got 31,500 pounds of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.

1 Kings 10

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

(2 Chronicles 9:1–12)

¹The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s reputation. (He owed his reputation to the name of the Lord.) So she came to test him with riddles. ²She arrived in Jerusalem with a large group of servants, with camels carrying spices, a very large quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she talked to him about everything she had on her mind. ³Solomon answered all her questions. No question was too difficult for the king to answer.

⁴When the queen of Sheba saw all of Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he built, ⁵the food on his table, his officers’ seating arrangement, the organization of his officials and the uniforms they wore, his cupbearers, (A cupbearer was a trusted royal official who ensured that the king’s drink was not poisoned.) and the burnt offerings that he sacrificed at the Lord’s temple, she was breathless. ⁶She told the king, “What I heard in my country about your words and your wisdom is true! ⁷But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw it with my own eyes. I wasn’t even told half of it. Your wisdom and wealth surpass the stories I’ve heard. ⁸How blessed your men must be! How blessed these servants of yours must be because they are always stationed in front of you, listening to your wisdom! ⁹Thank the Lord your God, who is pleased with you. He has put you on the throne of Israel. Because of your God’s eternal love for the people of Israel, he has made you king so that you would maintain justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰She gave the king 9,000 pounds of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was such a large quantity of spices brought ⌞into Israel⌟ as those that the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹¹Hiram’s fleet that brought gold from Ophir also brought a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones from Ophir. ¹²With the sandalwood the king made supports for the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, and lyres and harps for the singers. Never again was sandalwood like this imported ⌞into Israel⌟, nor has any been seen ⌞there⌟ to this day.

¹³King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba anything she wanted, whatever she asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal generosity. Then she and her servants went back to her country.

Solomon’s Wealth

(2 Chronicles 9:13–25, 27–28; 1:14–17)

¹⁴The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed 49,950 pounds, ¹⁵not counting ⌞the gold⌟ which came from the merchants, the traders’ profits, all the Arab kings, and the governors of the country.

¹⁶King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold, using 15 pounds of gold on each shield. ¹⁷He also made 300 small shields of hammered gold, using four pounds of gold on each shield. The king put them in the hall ⌞which he called⌟ the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸The king also made a large ivory throne and covered it with fine gold. ¹⁹Six steps led to the throne. Carved into the back of the throne was a calf’s head. There were armrests on both sides of the seat. Two lions stood beside the armrests. ²⁰Twelve lions stood on six steps, one on each side. Nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

²¹All King Solomon’s cups were gold, and all the utensils for the hall ⌞which he called⌟ the Forest of Lebanon were fine gold. (Nothing was silver, because it wasn’t considered valuable in Solomon’s time.) ²²The king had a fleet headed for Tarshish with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the Tarshish fleet would bring gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

²³In wealth and wisdom King Solomon was greater than all the ⌞other⌟ kings of the world. ²⁴The whole world wanted to listen to the wisdom that God gave Solomon. ²⁵So everyone who came brought him gifts: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This happened year after year.

²⁶Solomon built up ⌞his army⌟ with chariots and war horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 war horses. He stationed ⌞some⌟ in chariot cities and ⌞others⌟ with himself in Jerusalem. ²⁷The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as fig trees in the foothills.

²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought them from Kue for a fixed price. ²⁹Each chariot was imported from Egypt for 15 pounds of silver and each horse for 6 ounces of silver. For the same price they obtained horses to export to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.

1 Kings 11

Solomon’s Idolatry

¹King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter. He loved Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. ²They came from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “Never intermarry with them. They will surely tempt you to follow their gods.” But Solomon was obsessed with their love. ³He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 wives who were concubines. (A concubine is considered a wife except she has fewer rights under the law.) ⁴In his old age, his wives tempted him to follow other gods. He was no longer committed to the Lord his God as his father David had been. ⁵Solomon followed Astarte (the goddess of the Sidonians) and Milcom (the disgusting idol of the Ammonites). ⁶So Solomon did what the Lord considered evil. He did not wholeheartedly follow the Lord as his father David had done. ⁷Then Solomon built an illegal worship site on the hill east of Jerusalem for Chemosh (the disgusting idol of Moab) and for Molech (the disgusting idol of the Ammonites). ⁸He did these things for each of his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

God Pronounces Judgment on Solomon

⁹So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰God had given him commands about this. ⌞He told him⌟ not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey God’s command. ¹¹The Lord told Solomon, “Because this is your attitude and you have no respect for my promises (Or “covenant.”) or my laws that I commanded you to keep, I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you. I will give it to one of your servants. ¹²But I will not do it in your lifetime because of your father David. I will tear it away from the hands of your son. ¹³However, I will not tear the whole kingdom away from you. I will give your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, ⌞the city⌟ that I chose.”

Rebellions against Solomon

¹⁴The Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as a rival to Solomon. Hadad was from the Edomite royal family. ¹⁵When David had conquered Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, went to bury those killed in battle and killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶(Joab and all Israel stayed there six months until they had destroyed every male in Edom.) ¹⁷Hadad was a young boy at the time. He and some of his father’s Edomite servants fled to Egypt. ¹⁸They left Midian and went to Paran. Taking some men from Paran with them, they went to Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). Pharaoh gave Hadad a home, a food allowance, and land.

¹⁹Pharaoh approved of Hadad. So he gave Hadad his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad’s wife. ²⁰Tahpenes’ sister had a son ⌞named⌟ Genubath. Tahpenes presented the boy to Pharaoh in the palace, and Genubath lived in the palace among Pharaoh’s children.

²¹When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had lain down in death with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, had died, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go to my own country.”

²²Pharaoh asked him, “What don’t you have here that makes you eager to go home?”

“Nothing,” he said. “But let me leave anyway.”

²³God also raised up Rezon, son of Eliada, as a rival to Solomon. Rezon fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, ²⁴after David killed the men of Zobah. Rezon gathered men and became the leader of a troop of warriors. They went to Damascus, settled there, and ruled a kingdom in Damascus. ²⁵In addition to the trouble that Hadad caused, Rezon was Israel’s rival as long as Solomon lived. He ruled Aram and despised Israel.

²⁶There was also Jeroboam, who was the son of Nebat and an Ephrathite from Zeredah. His mother Zeruah was a widow. He was one of Solomon’s officers, but he rebelled against the king.

²⁷This was the situation when he rebelled against the king: Solomon was building the Millo (The exact place referred to as “the Millo” is unknown.) and repairing a break in the ⌞wall of⌟ the City of David. ²⁸Solomon saw that Jeroboam was a very able and hardworking man. So he put Jeroboam in charge of all forced labor from the tribes of Joseph.

²⁹At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem. The prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road. The two of them were alone in the open country, and Ahijah had on new clothes. ³⁰Ahijah took his new garment and tore it into 12 pieces.

³¹He told Jeroboam, “Take 10 pieces because this is what the Lord God of Israel says: I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands and give ten tribes to you. ³²He will have one tribe ⌞left⌟ because of my servant David and Jerusalem, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. ³³I will do this because he has abandoned me and worshiped Astarte (the goddess of the Sidonians), Chemosh (the god of Moab), and Milcom (the god of Ammon). He has not followed my ways. He did not do what I consider right or keep my laws and decrees as his father David did.

³⁴“I will not take the whole kingdom from him. Instead, I will allow him to be ruler as long as he lives because of my servant David whom I chose, who obeyed my commands and laws. ³⁵But I will take the kingdom away from his son and give you ten tribes. ³⁶I will give his son one tribe so that my servant David will always have a lamp in my presence in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to place my name.

³⁷“I will choose you so that you can rule everything you desire. You will be king of Israel. ³⁸If you will do all I command you, follow my ways, and do what I consider right by obeying my laws and commands as my servant David did, then I will be with you. I will build a permanent dynasty for you as I did for David. And I will give you Israel. ³⁹I will make David’s descendants suffer for this, but not always.”

⁴⁰Then Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to King Shishak of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

Solomon’s Death

(2 Chronicles 9:29–31)

⁴¹Aren’t the rest of Solomon’s acts—everything he did—and his wisdom written in the records of Solomon? ⁴²The length of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years. ⁴³Solomon lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

1 Kings 12

King Rehoboam Foolishly Rejects Israel’s Request

(2 Chronicles 10:1–19)

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ²Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. When he heard ⌞about Rehoboam⌟, he returned from Egypt. (2 Chronicles 10:2, Greek, Latin; Masoretic Text “remained in Egypt.”) ³⌞Israel⌟ sent for Jeroboam and invited him back. Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel went to speak to Rehoboam. They said, ⁴“Your father made us carry a heavy burden. Reduce the hard work and lighten the heavy burden he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵He said to them, “Leave and come back the day after tomorrow.” So the people left.

⁶King Rehoboam sought advice from the older leaders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He asked, “What do you advise? How should I respond to these people?”

⁷They told him, “If you will serve these people today, humble yourself, and speak gently, then they will always be your servants.”

⁸But he ignored the advice the older leaders gave him. He sought advice from the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we respond to these people who are asking me to lighten the burden my father put on them?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is heavier than my father’s whole body. ¹¹If my father put a heavy burden on you, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.’ ”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam two days later, as the king had instructed them. ¹³The king answered the people harshly. He ignored the advice the older leaders gave him. ¹⁴He spoke to them as the young men advised. He said, “If my father made your burden heavy, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.” ¹⁵The king refused to listen to the people because the Lord was directing these events to carry out the promise he had made to Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) through Ahijah from Shiloh.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king,

“What share do we have in David’s kingdom?
We won’t receive an inheritance from Jesse’s son.
To your own tents, Israel!
Now look after your own house, David!”

So Israel went home to their own tents. ¹⁷But Rehoboam ruled the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram to Israel. He was in charge of forced labor, but they stoned him to death. So King Rehoboam got on his chariot as fast as he could and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹Israel has rebelled against David’s dynasty to this day.

King Jeroboam Establishes Idolatry in Israel

(2 Chronicles 11:1–17)

²⁰When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent men to invite him to the assembly. They made him king of all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to David’s dynasty.

²¹When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered all the people of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 of the best soldiers, to fight against the people of Israel and return the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.

²²But God spoke his word to Shemaiah, the man of God. He said, ²³“Speak to Judah’s King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people. ²⁴This is what the Lord says: Don’t wage war against your relatives from Israel. Everyone, go home. What has happened is my doing.” So they obeyed the Lord’s word. They returned ⌞home⌟, as the Lord told them.

²⁵Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left that place and built Penuel. ²⁶He said to himself, “The kingdom will probably return to David’s dynasty now. ²⁷King Rehoboam of Judah, the former master of these people, will regain popularity if they go to sacrifice in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. Then they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”

²⁸After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said, “You’ve been worshiping in Jerusalem long enough. Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.” ²⁹He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰Worshiping them became ⌞Israel’s⌟ sin. The people went as far as Dan to worship the one calf. ³¹Jeroboam built worship sites on hilltops. He appointed men who were not descended from Levi to be priests.

³²Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just like the festival in Judah. He went to the altar in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He appointed priests from the illegal worship sites ⌞to serve⌟ in Bethel. ³³He went to his altar in Bethel to burn an offering on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, ⌞the festival⌟ he had invented for the Israelites.

1 Kings 13

A Prophet Announces God’s Judgment

¹A man of God from Judah had come to Bethel. When he arrived, Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer a sacrifice. ²By a command of the Lord, this man condemned the altar. “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: There will be a son born in David’s family line. His name will be Josiah. Here on you Josiah will sacrifice the priests from the illegal worship sites who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.”

³That day the man of God ⌞also⌟ gave ⌞them⌟ a miraculous sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord will give you: You will see the altar torn apart. The ashes on it will be poured ⌞on the ground⌟.”

⁴When King Jeroboam heard the man of God condemning the altar in Bethel, he pointed to the man across the altar. “Arrest him,” he said. But the arm that he used to point to the man of God was paralyzed so that he couldn’t pull it back. ⁵The altar was torn apart, and the ashes from the altar were poured ⌞on the ground⌟. This was the miraculous sign the man of God performed at the Lord’s command.

⁶Then the king asked the man of God, “Please make an appeal to the Lord your God, and pray for me so that I can use my arm again.” So the man of God made an appeal to the Lord, and the king was able to use his arm again, as he had earlier.

⁷The king told the man of God, “Come home with me; have something to eat and drink, and I will give you a gift.”

⁸The man of God told the king, “Even if you gave me half of your palace, I would never go with you to eat or drink there. ⁹When the Lord spoke to me, he commanded me not to eat or drink or go back on the same road I took.” ¹⁰So the man of God left on another road and didn’t go back on the road he had taken to Bethel.

A Prophet Disobeys God

¹¹An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons told him everything the man of God did in Bethel that day and the exact words he had spoken to the king. When they told their father, ¹²he said to them, “Which road did he take?” (His sons had seen which road the man of God from Judah had taken.) ¹³The old prophet told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” After they had saddled the donkey for him, he got on it.

¹⁴He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“Yes,” he answered.

¹⁵“Come home with me, and eat a meal,” the old prophet replied.

¹⁶The man of God said, “I’m not allowed to go back with you. I’m not allowed to eat or drink with you. ¹⁷When the Lord spoke to me, he told me not to eat or drink there or go back on the road I took to get there.”

¹⁸The old prophet said, “I’m also a prophet, like you. An angel spoke the Lord’s word to me. He said, ‘Bring him home with you so that he may have something to eat and drink.’ ” (But the old prophet was lying.)

¹⁹The man of God went back with him and ate and drank in his home. ²⁰When they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet who had brought back the man of God. ²¹The Lord also called to the man of God. He said, “This is what the Lord says: You rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth and didn’t obey the command that the Lord your God gave you. ²²You came back, ate, and drank at this place about which he told you, ‘Don’t eat or drink there.’ That is why your dead body will not be allowed to be placed in the tomb of your ancestors.”

²³After the old prophet had something to eat and drink, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴The man of God left. A lion found him ⌞as he traveled⌟ on the road and killed him. His dead body was thrown on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing by the body. ²⁵People who passed by saw the body lying on the road and the lion standing by the body. They talked about it in the city where the old prophet was living.

²⁶When the old prophet who had brought the man of God back from the road heard about it, he said, “It’s the man of God who rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth! The Lord gave him to the lion. It tore him to pieces and killed him as the Lord’s word had told him.”

²⁷Then the old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey for him. So they did.

²⁸He found the body of the man thrown on the road. He also found the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body, nor had it torn the donkey to pieces. ²⁹The old prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to his own city to mourn for him and to bury him. ³⁰He laid the body of the man of God in his own tomb and mourned over the man, saying, “Oh no, my brother, my brother!” ³¹After he had buried the man of God, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God was buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. ³²The things that he announced by a command of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and all the illegal worship sites in the cities of Samaria will happen.”

³³Even after this, Jeroboam didn’t change his evil ways, but he once again made some men priests for the illegal worship sites. He took all who were willing and appointed them to be priests at the worship sites. ³⁴Appointing illegal priests became the sin of Jeroboam’s family so that it had to be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth.

1 Kings 14

Jeroboam’s Son Dies

¹At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, got sick. ²Jeroboam told his wife, “Go to Shiloh, but disguise yourself so that people will not recognize you as my wife. The prophet Ahijah, who told me I would be king of these people, is there. ³Take ten loaves of bread, some raisins, (Or “cakes.”) and a jar of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” ⁴Jeroboam’s wife did this. She left, went to Shiloh, and came to the home of Ahijah.

Ahijah couldn’t see. His eyesight had failed because he was old. ⁵However, the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son who is sick. When she comes, she will pretend to be someone else.” He also told Ahijah what to say to her.

⁶Ahijah heard her footsteps when she came into the room. He said, “Come in. You’re Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I’ve been told to give you some terrible news. ⁷Tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I picked you out of the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. ⁸I tore the kingdom away from David’s heirs and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands and faithfully followed me by doing only what I considered right. ⁹You have done more evil things than everyone before you. You made other gods, metal idols, for yourself. You made me furious and turned your back to me.

¹⁰“ ‘That is why I will bring disaster on Jeroboam’s house. I will destroy every male (Hebrew uses a coarse term for “male” here.) in his house, whether slave or freeman in Israel. I will burn down Jeroboam’s house. It will burn like manure until it is gone. ¹¹If anyone from Jeroboam’s house dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.’ The Lord has said this!

¹²“Get up, and go home. The moment you set foot in the city the child will die. ¹³All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam’s family who will be ⌞properly⌟ buried. He was the only one in Jeroboam’s house in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. ¹⁴The Lord will appoint a king over Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam’s house. This will happen today. It will happen right now.

¹⁵“The Lord will strike Israel like cattails which shake in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they dedicated poles to the goddess Asherah and made the Lord furious. ¹⁶So the Lord will desert Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins, the sins which he led Israel to commit.”

¹⁷Jeroboam’s wife got up, left, and went to Tirzah. When she walked across the threshold of her home, the boy died. ¹⁸All Israel buried him and mourned for him as the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

¹⁹Everything else concerning Jeroboam, his wars, and his reign is written in the official records of the kings of Israel. ²⁰Jeroboam ruled for 22 years. Then he lay down in death with his ancestors. His son Nadab succeeded him as king.

King Rehoboam of Judah

(2 Chronicles 12:13–14)

²¹Rehoboam, son of Solomon, ruled Judah. He was 41 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel, the city where the Lord put his name. Rehoboam’s mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.

²²The people of Judah did what the Lord considered evil. Their sins made him more angry than anything their ancestors had done. ²³They built worship sites for themselves and ⌞put up⌟ large stones and Asherah poles to worship on every high hill and under every large tree. ²⁴There were even male prostitutes in the temples of idols throughout the land. The people of Judah did all the disgusting practices done by the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way.

King Shishak Takes the Temple Treasures

(2 Chronicles 12:2, 9–11, 15–16)

²⁵In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶He took the treasures from the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took them all. He took all the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and put them by the entrance to the royal palace, where the captains of the guards were stationed. ²⁸Whenever the king went into the Lord’s temple, guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.

²⁹Isn’t everything else concerning Rehoboam—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ³⁰There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as they lived. ³¹Rehoboam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. (His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.) His son Abijam succeeded him as king.

1 Kings 15

King Abijam of Judah

(2 Chronicles 13:1, 2, 22; 14:1)

¹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), Abijam began to rule Judah. ²He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom. ³He followed the sinful example his father had set and wasn’t committed to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been. ⁴But for David’s sake the Lord his God made Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem. He appointed David’s descendant to rule after him and protected Jerusalem. ⁵The Lord did this because David did what the Lord considered right: David never failed to do anything the Lord commanded him to do his entire life (except in the matter concerning Uriah the Hittite).

⁶There was war between Abijam (Some Hebrew manuscripts; other Hebrew manuscripts “Jeroboam.”) and Rehoboam throughout their lives.

⁷Isn’t everything else about Abijam—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸Abijam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

King Asa of Judah

(2 Chronicles 14:2, 3; 15:16–18)

⁹In Jeroboam’s twentieth year as king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah. ¹⁰He ruled 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹Asa did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done. ¹²He forced the male temple prostitutes out of the land and got rid of the idols his father had made. ¹³He also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁴Although the illegal worship sites were not torn down, Asa remained committed to the Lord his entire life. ¹⁵He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver, the gold, and the utensils he and his father had set apart as holy.

King Asa’s War with King Baasha

(2 Chronicles 15:19; 16:1–6, 11–14; 17:1)

¹⁶There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel as long as they lived. ¹⁷King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah.

¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and turned them over to his officials. King Asa sent them to Damascus to Aram’s King Benhadad, son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion. ¹⁹He said, “There’s a treaty between you and me ⌞as⌟ there was between your father and my father. I’m sending you a present of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”

²⁰Benhadad did what King Asa requested. He sent his generals and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and the entire area around Chinneroth with the entire territory of Naphtali. ²¹When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and lived in Tirzah. ²²Then King Asa drafted everyone in Judah and excused no one. He made them carry the stones and lumber from Ramah. Baasha had been using those to fortify the city. King Asa used the materials to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah.

²³Isn’t everything else about Asa—all his heroic acts, everything he did, and the cities he fortified—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? But when he was old, he had a foot disease. ²⁴Asa lay down in death with his ancestors. He was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor, David. His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

King Baasha Overthrows Nadab, Son of Jeroboam

²⁵Nadab, son of Jeroboam, began to rule Israel in Asa’s second year as king of Judah. He ruled for two years. ²⁶He did what the Lord considered evil, living as his father did, leading Israel into the same sins.

²⁷Then Baasha, son of Ahijah from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab. Baasha assassinated him in the Philistine city of Gibbethon while Nadab and the Israelite forces were attacking it. ²⁸The assassination happened in Asa’s third year as king of Judah. Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel. ²⁹As soon as he was king, he killed everyone else in Jeroboam’s family. He did not spare a soul, as the Lord had spoken through his servant Ahijah from Shiloh. ³⁰This was because of Jeroboam’s sins and the sins which he led Israel to commit. Those sins made the Lord God of Israel furious.

³¹Isn’t everything else about Nadab—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ³²There was war between Asa and Baasha as long as they lived.

³³In Asa’s third year as king of Judah, Baasha, son of Ahijah, began to rule Israel in Tirzah. He ruled for 24 years. ³⁴He did what the Lord considered evil. He lived like Jeroboam and led Israel into committing the ⌞same⌟ sins.

1 Kings 16

The LORD Condemns King Baasha

¹The Lord spoke his word to Jehu, Hanani’s son, against Baasha. ²He said, “I raised you from the dust and made you leader of my people Israel. But you have lived like Jeroboam. You have led my people to sin, and their sins make me furious. ³So I will destroy Baasha and his family. I will make his family like the family of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son). ⁴Dogs will eat anyone from Baasha’s ⌞family⌟ who dies in the city. Birds will eat anyone from his ⌞family⌟ who dies in the country.”

⁵Isn’t everything else about Baasha—what he did and his heroic acts—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ⁶Baasha lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah succeeded him as king. ⁷In addition, the Lord spoke his word to the prophet Jehu, Hanani’s son, against Baasha and his family because of all the things Baasha did which the Lord considered evil. Baasha’s actions, which made the Lord furious, were like ⌞the sin of⌟ Jeroboam’s family. The Lord was also furious because Baasha destroyed Jeroboam’s family.

Zimri Overthrows King Elah, Son of Baasha

⁸Elah, son of Baasha, began to rule Israel in Asa’s twenty-sixth year as Judah’s king. He ruled in Tirzah for two years. ⁹But Zimri, the general who commanded half of Elah’s chariots, plotted against him. Elah was getting drunk in Tirzah at Arza’s house. (Arza was in charge of the palace in Tirzah.) ¹⁰Zimri entered Arza’s house, attacked Elah, and killed him in Asa’s twenty-seventh year as king of Judah. Zimri succeeded Elah as king ⌞of Israel⌟. ¹¹At the beginning of Zimri’s reign, as soon as he was on his throne, he killed Baasha’s entire family. He didn’t spare any of Baasha’s male (Hebrew uses a coarse term for “male” here.) relatives or friends. ¹²So Zimri destroyed Baasha’s entire family, as the Lord had spoken through the prophet Jehu. ¹³This was for all the sins committed by Baasha and his son Elah. They sinned, led Israel to sin, and made the Lord God of Israel furious because of their worthless idols. ¹⁴Isn’t everything else about Elah—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Israel?

King Zimri Rules for Seven Days

¹⁵In Asa’s twenty-seventh year as Judah’s king, Zimri ruled for seven days in Tirzah while the army was camped near the Philistine city of Gibbethon. ¹⁶When the army heard that Zimri had plotted ⌞against the king⌟ and killed him, the Israelite troops in the camp made Omri, the commander of the army, king of Israel.

¹⁷Omri and the Israelite troops with him left Gibbethon and attacked Tirzah. ¹⁸When Zimri saw that the city had been captured, he went into the stronghold in the royal palace and burned down the palace over his own head. He died ¹⁹because of the sins he had committed—the things the Lord considered evil. Zimri lived like Jeroboam and led Israel to sin. ²⁰Isn’t everything else about Zimri and his plot written in the official records of the kings of Israel?

Omri Defeats Tibni

²¹Then the army of Israel was divided into two factions. Half of the army followed Tibni, son of Ginath, and wanted to make him king. The ⌞other⌟ half followed Omri. ²²But the half which followed Omri was stronger than the half which followed Tibni, Ginath’s son. Tibni died, and Omri became king. ²³Omri began to rule Israel in Asa’s thirty-first year as king of Judah. He ruled for 12 years, 6 of them in Tirzah.

²⁴Omri bought a hill from Shemer for 150 pounds of silver. He fortified the hill and built the city of Samaria on it. He named the city after its former owner, Shemer.

King Omri of Israel

²⁵Omri did what the Lord considered evil. He did more evil things than all ⌞the kings⌟ before him. ²⁶He lived exactly like Jeroboam (Nebat’s son). He sinned and led Israel to sin with worthless idols, and the Israelites made the Lord God of Israel furious.

²⁷Isn’t everything else about Omri—what he did and his heroic acts—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ²⁸Omri lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab succeeded him as king.

King Ahab Introduces Worship of Baal into Israel

²⁹Ahab, son of Omri, began to rule Israel in Asa’s thirty-eighth year as king of Judah. He ruled for 22 years in Samaria. ³⁰Ahab, son of Omri, did what the Lord considered evil. He was worse than all ⌞the kings⌟ who were before him. ³¹It wasn’t enough that he committed the same sins as Jeroboam (Nebat’s son). He also married Jezebel, daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Ahab then served and worshiped Baal. ³²He built the temple of Baal in Samaria and set up an altar there. ³³Ahab made poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. He did more to make the Lord God of Israel furious than all the kings of Israel who came before him.

³⁴In Ahab’s time Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho.

Laying the foundation
cost him his firstborn son, Abiram.
Setting up the city doors
cost him his youngest son, Segub.

The Lord had spoken this through Joshua, son of Nun.

1 Kings 17

Elijah Prophesies a Drought

¹Elijah, who was from Tishbe but had settled in Gilead, said to Ahab, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord God of Israel whom I serve lives, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I say so.”

²Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: ³“Leave here, turn east, and hide beside the Cherith River, which is east of the Jordan River. ⁴You can drink from the stream, and I’ve commanded ravens to feed you there.”

⁵Elijah left and did what the Lord’s word ⌞had told him⌟. He went to live by the Cherith River, which is east of the Jordan River. ⁶Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. And he drank from the stream.

⁷But after some time the stream dried up because no rain had fallen in the land.

Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

⁸Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: ⁹“Get up, go to Zarephath (which belongs to Sidon), and stay there. I’ve commanded a widow there to feed you.”

¹⁰He got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town’s entrance, a widow was gathering wood. He called to her, “Please bring me a drink of water.” ¹¹As she was going to get it, he called to her again, “Please bring me a piece of bread too.”

¹²She said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord your God lives, I didn’t bake any bread. I have one handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I’m gathering wood. I’m going to prepare something for myself and my son so that we can eat it and then die.”

¹³Then Elijah told her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home, and do as you’ve said. But first make a small loaf and bring it to me. Then prepare something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Until the Lord sends rain on the land, the jar of flour will never be empty and the jug will always contain oil.”

¹⁵She did what Elijah had told her. So she, Elijah, and her family had food for a long time. ¹⁶The jar of flour never became empty, and the jug always contained olive oil, as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

¹⁷Afterwards, the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. He got so sick that finally no life was left in him. ¹⁸The woman asked Elijah, “What do you and I have in common, man of God? Did you come here to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

¹⁹He said to her, “Give me your son.” Elijah took him from her arms, carried him to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰Then he called to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought misery on the widow I’m staying with by killing her son?” ²¹Then Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times and called to the Lord, “Lord my God, please make this child’s life return to him.” ²²The Lord heard Elijah’s request, and the child’s life returned to him. He was alive again.

²³Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room of the house, and gave him to his mother. He said, “Look! Your son is alive.”

²⁴The woman said to Elijah, “Now I’m convinced that you are a man of God and that the Lord’s word from your mouth is true.”

1 Kings 18

Elijah Comes to King Ahab

¹A while later in the third year of the drought, the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: “Present yourself to Ahab. I will allow rain to fall on the ground.” ²So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

The famine was particularly severe in Samaria. ³Ahab sent for Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. Obadiah was a devout worshiper of the Lord. ⁴(When Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden 100 prophets in caves. He put 50 prophets in each cave and kept them alive by providing bread and water for them.) ⁵Ahab told Obadiah, “Let’s go throughout the countryside to every spring and stream. If we can find grass, then we can keep the horses and mules alive and not lose any animals.” ⁶So they split up in order to cover the entire countryside. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went the other way by himself.

⁷Obadiah was on the road when he met Elijah. Obadiah recognized him and immediately bowed down to the ground. “Is it you, my master Elijah?” he asked.

⁸“Yes,” Elijah answered him. “Tell your master that Elijah is here.”

⁹Obadiah asked, “What have I done wrong to make you hand me over to Ahab to be killed? ¹⁰I solemnly swear, as the Lord your God lives, my master has searched for you in every region and kingdom. When people would say, ‘He isn’t here,’ my master made that kingdom or region take an oath that they hadn’t found you.

¹¹“Now you say, ‘Tell your master that Elijah is here.’ ¹²This is what will happen: When I leave you, the Lord’s Spirit will take you away to some unknown place. I’ll tell Ahab, but he won’t be able to find you. Then he will kill me.

“I have been faithful to the Lord since I was a child. ¹³Haven’t you heard what I did when Jezebel killed the Lord’s prophets? Haven’t you heard how I hid 100 of the Lord’s prophets in caves? I hid 50 prophets in each cave and provided bread and water for them. ¹⁴Now you say that I should tell my master that Elijah is here. He will kill me.”

¹⁵Elijah said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord of Armies whom I serve lives, I will present myself to Ahab.”

¹⁶So Obadiah went to tell Ahab.

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel

Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷When he saw Elijah, Ahab said, “Is that you, you troublemaker of Israel?”

¹⁸Elijah answered, “I haven’t troubled Israel. You and your father’s family have done it by disobeying the Lord’s commands and following the various Baal gods. ¹⁹Order all Israel to gather around me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰Ahab sent word to all the Israelites and brought the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹Elijah stood up in front of all the people and asked them, “How long will you try to have it both ways? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal is God, follow him.” The people didn’t say a word.

²²So Elijah told the people, “I’m the only surviving prophet of the Lord, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. ²³Give us two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal choose one for themselves, cut it into pieces, lay it on the wood, but not set it on fire. I’ll do the same with the other bull.

²⁴“You call on the name of your gods, but I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire is the real God.”

All the people answered, “That’s fine.”

²⁵Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves. Prepare yours first, because there are more of you. Call on the name of your god, but don’t set the wood on fire.”

²⁶They took the bull he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon. They said, “Baal, answer us!” But there wasn’t a sound or an answer. So they danced around the altar they had made. ²⁷At noon Elijah started to make fun of them. “Shout louder, since he is a god. Maybe he’s thinking, relieving himself, or traveling! Maybe he’s sleeping, and you have to wake him!”

²⁸So they shouted louder. They also cut themselves with swords and spears until their blood flowed. (This is what their ritual called for.) ²⁹In the afternoon they continued to rant and rave until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no sound, no answer, no attention given to them.

³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come over here.” So all the people came to him. He rebuilt the Lord’s altar that had been torn down. ³¹Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes named after Jacob’s sons. (The Lord had spoken his word to Jacob: “Your name will be Israel.”) ³²Elijah built an altar in the Lord’s name with those stones. He also made a trench that could hold 12 quarts of grain around the altar. ³³He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and put it on the wood.

³⁴He said, “Fill four jars with water. Pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it again,” and they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵The water flowed around the altar, and even the trench was filled with water.

³⁶When it was time to offer the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward. He said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make known today that you are God in Israel and that I’m your servant and have done all these things by your instructions. ³⁷Answer me, Lord! Answer me! Then these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are winning back their hearts.”

³⁸So a fire from the Lord fell down and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dirt. The fire even dried up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹All the people saw it and immediately bowed down to the ground. “The Lord is God!” they said. “The Lord is God!”

⁴⁰Elijah told them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let any of them escape.” The people seized them, and Elijah took them to the Kishon River and slaughtered them there.

The Drought Ends

⁴¹Then Elijah told Ahab, “Get up, eat, and drink. It sounds like a heavy rain ⌞is coming⌟.” ⁴²Ahab got up to eat and drink.

Elijah went to the top of Carmel and bowed down on the ground to pray. ⁴³He said to his servant, “Please go back to ⌞Mount Carmel⌟, and look toward the sea.”

He went up, looked, ⌞came back,⌟ and said, “There’s nothing.”

Seven times Elijah told him, “Go back.”

⁴⁴After the seventh time the servant said, “A little cloud like a man’s hand is coming from the sea.”

Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare ⌞your chariot⌟, and leave before the rain delays you.’ ”

⁴⁵Gradually, the sky grew darker with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. Ahab got into his chariot to go back to Jezreel. ⁴⁶The Lord’s power was on Elijah. He hiked up his robe and ran ahead of Ahab until they came to Jezreel.

1 Kings 19

Elijah Flees from Jezebel

¹Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including how he had executed all the prophets. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah. She said, “May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don’t take your life the way you took the lives of Baal’s prophets.”

³Frightened, Elijah fled to save his life. He came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there. ⁴Then he traveled through the wilderness for a day. He sat down under a broom plant and wanted to die. “I’ve had enough now, Lord,” he said. “Take my life! I’m no better than my ancestors.” ⁵Then he lay down and slept under the broom plant.

An angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶When he looked, he saw near his head some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate, drank, and went to sleep again.

⁷The angel of the Lord came back and woke him up again. The angel said, “Get up and eat, or your journey will be too much for you.”

⁸He got up, ate, and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled for 40 days and nights until he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹There he went into a cave and spent the night.

Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah. He asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰He answered, “Lord God of Armies, I have eagerly served you. The Israelites have abandoned your promises, (Or “covenant.”) torn down your altars, and executed your prophets. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to take my life.”

¹¹God said, “Go out and stand in front of the Lord on the mountain.”

As the Lord was passing by, a fierce wind tore mountains and shattered rocks ahead of the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake. But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. ¹²After the earthquake there was a fire. But the Lord wasn’t in the fire. And after the fire there was a quiet, whispering voice. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Then the voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴He answered, “Lord God of Armies, I have eagerly served you. The Israelites have abandoned your promises, torn down your altars, and executed your prophets. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to take my life.”

¹⁵The Lord told him, “Go back to the wilderness near Damascus, the same way you came. When you get there, anoint Hazael as king of Aram. ¹⁶Anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel. And anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah as prophet to take your place. ¹⁷If anyone escapes from Hazael’s sword, Jehu will kill him. And if anyone escapes from Jehu’s sword, Elisha will kill him. ¹⁸But I still have 7,000 people in Israel whose knees have not knelt to worship Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

The Call of Elisha

¹⁹Elijah found Elisha, son of Shaphat. Elisha was plowing behind 12 pairs of oxen. He was using the twelfth pair. Elijah took off his coat and put it on Elisha. ²⁰So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye. Then I will follow you.”

“Go back,” Elijah answered him. “I’m not stopping you.”

²¹Elisha left him, took two oxen, and butchered them. He boiled the meat, using the oxen’s yoke (A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.)⌞for firewood⌟. He gave the meat to the people to eat. Then he left to follow and assist Elijah.

1 Kings 20

King Ahab Defeats King Benhadad

¹King Benhadad of Aram gathered together his whole army. With him were 32 kings along with their horses and chariots. He went to blockade Samaria and fight against it. ²He sent messengers into the city to King Ahab of Israel. They told Ahab, “This is what Benhadad says: ³Your silver and gold are mine. Your beloved wives and children are mine.”

⁴The king of Israel answered, “As you say, Your Majesty. I and everything I have are yours.”

⁵But Benhadad sent messengers back ⌞to Ahab⌟. They said, “Benhadad has sent this message to you: ‘Your silver, gold, wives, and children are mine. Give ⌞them to me⌟. ⁶At this time tomorrow I’m going to send my servants to search your palace and your servants’ houses. They will take anything that you consider valuable.’ ”

⁷Then the king of Israel called for all the leaders of the country. He said, “You can see how this man is looking for trouble. When he sent for my wives, children, silver, and gold, I didn’t refuse him.”

⁸All the leaders and all the people told him, “Don’t listen to him. Don’t agree ⌞to his demands⌟.”

⁹Ahab told Benhadad’s messengers, “Tell His Majesty, ‘I did everything your messengers told me the first time, but I can’t do this.’ ” The messengers left to take back his answer.

¹⁰Then Benhadad sent Ahab the following message: “May the gods strike me dead if there will be enough dust left from Samaria to give a handful to each soldier who follows me.”

¹¹The king of Israel answered, “The saying goes, ‘Don’t brag about a victory before you have even dressed for battle.’ ”

¹²Benhadad heard this as he and his allies were drinking in their tents. He told his officers to get ready. So they got ready ⌞to attack⌟ the city.

¹³Then a prophet came to King Ahab of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: Have you seen this large army? I will hand it over to you today. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁴Ahab asked, “How ⌞will this be done⌟?”

The prophet answered, “This is what the Lord says: by using the young officers of the district governors.”

“Who will start the battle?” Ahab asked.

“You will,” the prophet answered.

¹⁵Ahab counted the young officers of the district governors. There were 232. After counting them, he counted all the Israelite soldiers. There were 7,000. ¹⁶They attacked at noon, when Benhadad was in his tent getting drunk with the 32 kings who were his allies. ¹⁷The young officers of the district governors went out first.

Benhadad had sent men ⌞to watch the city⌟. They informed him that some men had come out of Samaria.

¹⁸He said, “Take them alive, whether they have come out to make peace or to fight.”

¹⁹The young officers of the district governors led an attack, and the troops followed them. ²⁰Each officer killed his opponent. The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them. King Benhadad of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹The king of Israel went out and destroyed the horses and chariots and decisively defeated the Arameans.

Ahab Spares Benhadad

²²Then the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “Reinforce your army. Consider what you have to do. When spring comes, the king of Aram will attack ⌞again⌟.”

²³Meanwhile, the officers of King Benhadad of Aram told him, “Their god is a god of the hills. That is why they were stronger than we were. However, if we fight them on the plain, we will be stronger than they are. ²⁴This is what we must do: Remove all of the kings from their positions, and substitute governors for them. ²⁵Recruit an army with as many horses and chariots as the one which was defeated. Then, if we fight them on the plain, we will be stronger than they are.” He took their advice and followed it.

²⁶Spring came, and Benhadad organized the Aramean army and went to Aphek to fight Israel. ²⁷When the Israelite ⌞troops⌟ had been organized and given provisions, they went to meet the enemy. The Israelites, while camped opposite the Arameans who filled the country, seemed like two newborn goats.

²⁸The man of God came again. He said to the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: Because the Arameans said that the Lord is a god of the hills but not a god of the valleys, I will hand over their entire army to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

²⁹They camped facing one another for seven days, and on the seventh day the battle started. The Israelites killed 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in one day. ³⁰The survivors fled to Aphek, the city where the wall fell on 27,000 of them. Benhadad had also fled. He came to the city and hid in an inner room.

³¹His officers told him, “We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful. Allow us to dress in sackcloth, put ropes around our necks, and go to the king of Israel. Maybe he’ll let you live.” ³²So they dressed in sackcloth and put ropes around their necks. They went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Benhadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ”

Ahab asked, “He’s still alive? He’s my brother.”

³³The men, watching for a good sign, were quick to take him at his word. “Benhadad is your brother,” they said.

Ahab said, “Bring him here.” When Benhadad arrived, Ahab had him come up on the chariot with him.

³⁴Benhadad told him, “I will give back the towns my father took from your father. You may set up trading centers in Damascus as my father did in Samaria.”

Ahab said, “If you will put this into a treaty, I will let you go.” So Ahab made a treaty with Benhadad and let him go.

³⁵A disciple of the prophets spoke to a friend as the Lord’s word had told him. ⌞The disciple said,⌟ “Punch me,” but the man refused to punch him. ³⁶The disciple said, “Since you didn’t obey the Lord, a lion will kill you when you leave me.” When the friend left, a lion found him and killed him.

³⁷Then the disciple found another man. He said, “Punch me.” The man punched him hard and wounded him.

³⁸Then the prophet, disguised with a bandage over his eyes, waited for the king by the road. ³⁹When the king passed by, the disciple called to him. “I went to fight in the battle. A man turned around and brought a prisoner to me. He said, ‘Guard this prisoner. If he gets away, you will pay for his life with your own life or be fined 75 pounds of silver.’ ⁴⁰But while I was busy doing other things, he got away.”

The king of Israel told him, “That’s your own penalty. You have determined it yourself.”

⁴¹Then he quickly took the bandage off his eyes. The king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

⁴²The prophet told him, “This is what the Lord says: You let the man go. He was claimed by God and should have been killed. For that reason your life will be taken in place of his life and your people in place of his people.”

⁴³Resentful and upset, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.

1 Kings 21

Ahab Takes Naboth’s Vineyard

¹This is what happened next. Naboth from Jezreel had a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.

²Ahab told Naboth, “Give me your vineyard. It will become my vegetable garden because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it. Or if you prefer, I will pay you a fair price for it.”

³Naboth told Ahab, “The Lord has forbidden me to give you what I inherited from my ancestors.”

⁴Resentful and upset, Ahab went home because of what Naboth from Jezreel had told him. (⌞Naboth had said,⌟ “I will not give you what I inherited from my ancestors.”) So Ahab lay on the couch, turned his face ⌞from everyone⌟, and refused to eat.

⁵His wife Jezebel came to him and asked, “Why are you so resentful of everything? Why don’t you eat?”

⁶He told her, “I talked to Naboth from Jezreel. I said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard. Or, if you like, I’ll give you another vineyard for it.’ But he said, ‘I won’t give you my vineyard.’ ”

⁷His wife Jezebel said to him, “Aren’t you king of Israel? Get up, eat, and cheer up. I’ll give you the vineyard belonging to Naboth from Jezreel.”

⁸So Jezebel wrote letters, signed them with Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal. She sent them to the respected leaders and nobles living in Naboth’s city. ⁹In these letters she wrote: “Announce a fast. Seat Naboth as leader of the people. ¹⁰Have two good-for-nothing men sit opposite him and accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then stone him to death outside the city.”

¹¹The men in Naboth’s city—the respected leaders and nobles who lived there—did what Jezebel asked them to do. They did just as she had written in the letters she sent. ¹²They announced a fast and had Naboth seated as the leader of the people. ¹³The two good-for-nothing men came in and sat opposite him. In front of the people, these men accused Naboth of cursing God and the king. So the people stoned him to death outside the city. ¹⁴Then the leaders sent ⌞this message⌟ to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

¹⁵Jezebel received the message and said to Ahab, “Get up! Confiscate the vineyard which Naboth from Jezreel refused to sell you. He’s dead now.”

¹⁶When he heard about Naboth’s death, Ahab went to confiscate the vineyard.

¹⁷Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah from Tishbe: ¹⁸“Go, meet King Ahab of Israel, who lives in Samaria. He went to confiscate Naboth’s vineyard. ¹⁹Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord asks: Have you murdered someone just to confiscate ⌞a vineyard⌟?’ Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: At the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will lick up your blood.’ ”

²⁰Ahab asked Elijah, “So you’ve found me, my enemy?”

Elijah answered, “I found you. Because you sold yourself to do what the Lord considers evil. ²¹So I am going to bring evil on you. I will destroy your descendants. I will destroy every male (Hebrew uses a coarse term for “male” here.) in Ahab’s ⌞house⌟, whether slave or freeman in Israel. ²²I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because you made me furious. You led Israel to sin.”

²³Then the Lord also spoke ⌞through Elijah⌟ about Jezebel: “The dogs will eat Jezebel inside the walls of Jezreel. ²⁴If anyone from Ahab’s ⌞house⌟ dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.”

²⁵There was no one else like Ahab. At the urging of his wife, he sold himself to do what the Lord considered evil. ²⁶He did many disgusting things as a result of worshiping idols as the Amorites had done. (The Lord confiscated their land for Israel.)

²⁷When Ahab heard these things, he tore his clothes ⌞in distress⌟ and dressed in sackcloth. He fasted, lay in sackcloth, and walked around depressed.

²⁸Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah from Tishbe: ²⁹“Do you see how Ahab is humbling himself in my presence? Because he’s humbling himself in my presence, I will not let any evil happen to his family while he is alive. I will bring evil on it during his son’s lifetime.”

1 Kings 22

Micaiah Prophesies against King Ahab

(2 Chronicles 18:1–34)

¹For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. ²In the third year King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit the king of Israel.

³The king of Israel asked his staff, “Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead belongs to us, and we are doing nothing to take it back from the king of Aram?” ⁴Then he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth in Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat told the king of Israel, “I will do what you do. My troops will do what your troops do. My horses will do what your horses do.” ⁵Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “But first, find out what the Lord’s word is ⌞in this matter⌟.”

⁶So the king of Israel called 400 prophets together. He asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”

“Go,” they said. “The Lord (Some Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts, Targum “The LORD .”) will hand over Ramoth to you.”

⁷But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord whom we could ask?”

⁸The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “We can ask the Lord through Micaiah, son of Imlah, but I hate him. He doesn’t prophesy anything good about me, only evil.”

Jehoshaphat answered, “The king must not say that.”

⁹The king of Israel called for an officer and said, “Quick! ⌞Get⌟ Micaiah, son of Imlah!”

¹⁰The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were dressed in royal robes and seated on thrones. They were on the threshing floor (A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.) at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying in front of them. ¹¹Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will push the Arameans to their destruction.” ¹²All the other prophets made the same prophecy. They said, “Attack Ramoth in Gilead, and you will win. The Lord will hand it over to you.”

¹³The messenger who went to call Micaiah told him, “The prophets have all told the king the same good message. Make your message agree with their message. Say something good.”

¹⁴Micaiah answered, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives, I will tell him whatever the Lord tells me.”

¹⁵When he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”

Micaiah said to him, “Attack and you will win. The Lord will hand it over to you.”

¹⁶The king asked him, “How many times must I make you take an oath in the Lord’s name to tell me nothing but the truth?”

¹⁷So Micaiah said, “I saw Israel’s troops scattered in the hills like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘These ⌞sheep⌟ have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’ ”

¹⁸The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he wouldn’t prophesy anything good about me, only evil?”

¹⁹Micaiah added, “Then hear the Lord’s word. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and the entire army of heaven was standing near him on his right and his left. ²⁰The Lord asked, ‘Who will deceive Ahab so that he will attack and be killed at Ramoth in Gilead?’ Some answered one way, while others said something else.

²¹“Then the Spirit stepped forward, stood in front of the Lord, and said, ‘I will deceive him.’

“ ‘How?’ the Lord asked.

²²“The Spirit answered, ‘I will go out and be a spirit that tells lies through the mouths of all of Ahab’s prophets.’

“The Lord said, ‘You will succeed in deceiving him. Go and do it.’

²³“So, the Lord has put into the mouths of all these prophets of yours a spirit that makes them tell lies. The Lord has spoken evil about you.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, went to Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. “How did the Lord’s Spirit leave me to talk to you?” he asked.

²⁵Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you go into an inner room to hide.”

²⁶The king of Israel then said, “Send Micaiah back to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the prince. ²⁷Say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this man in prison, and feed him nothing but bread and water until I come home safely.’ ”

²⁸Micaiah said, “If you really do come back safely, then the Lord wasn’t speaking through me. Pay attention to this, everyone!”

²⁹So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to Ramoth in Gilead. ³⁰The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you should wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³¹The king of Aram had given orders to the 32 chariot commanders. He said, “Don’t fight anyone except the king of Israel.”

³²When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He must be the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight him. But when Jehoshaphat cried out, ³³the chariot commanders realized that he wasn’t the king of Israel. They turned away from him.

³⁴One man aimed his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between his scale armor and his breastplate. Ahab told his chariot driver, “Turn around, and get me away from these troops. I’m badly wounded.” ³⁵But the battle got worse that day, and the king was kept propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening. The blood from the wound had flowed into the chariot. ³⁶At sundown a cry went through the army, “Every man to his own city! Every man to his own property!”

³⁷When the king was dead, he was brought to Samaria to be buried. ³⁸His chariot was washed at the pool of Samaria, where the prostitutes bathed. The dogs licked up his blood, as the Lord had predicted.

³⁹Isn’t everything else about Ahab—everything he did, the ivory palace he built, and all the cities he fortified—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰Ahab lay down in death with his ancestors. His son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

King Jehoshaphat of Judah

(2 Chronicles 20:31–21:1)

⁴¹Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, became king of Judah in Ahab’s fourth year as king of Israel. ⁴²Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. ⁴³Jehoshaphat carefully followed the example his father Asa had set and did what the Lord considered right. ⁴⁴But the illegal worship sites were not torn down. The people continued to sacrifice and burn incense at these worship sites. (1 Kings 22:44b–53 in English Bibles is 1 Kings 22:45–54 in the Hebrew Bible.) Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵Isn’t everything else about Jehoshaphat—the heroic acts he did and ⌞the wars⌟ he fought—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ⁴⁶He rid the land of the male temple prostitutes who were left there from the time of his father Asa. ⁴⁷There was no king in Edom; instead, a deputy ruled.

⁴⁸Jehoshaphat made Tarshish-style ships to go to Ophir for gold. But they didn’t go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion Geber. ⁴⁹Then Ahaziah, son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat refused.

⁵⁰Jehoshaphat lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king.

King Ahaziah of Israel

⁵¹Ahaziah, son of Ahab, became king of Israel in Samaria during Jehoshaphat’s seventeenth year as king of Judah. Ahaziah ruled Israel for two years. ⁵²He did what the Lord considered evil. He followed the example of his father and mother and of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) who led Israel to sin. ⁵³Ahaziah served Baal, worshiped him, and made the Lord God of Israel furious, as his father had done.

David’s Old Age

Adonijah Plots to Become King

The Prophet Nathan Helps Solomon Become King

Adonijah’s Plot Fails