WELS Through my Bible in Three Years

1 Kings 14 (EHV)

1 At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick. 2 So Jeroboam told his wife, “Go and disguise yourself so that you will not be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh. That is where the prophet Ahijah is. He is the one who told me that I would become king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some baked goods, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

4 So Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah was no longer able to see due to old age. His eyes stared straight ahead. [1]

5 The Lord had told Ahijah, “Be ready! Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire from you about her son because he is seriously ill. When she comes, you will say this and this to her. But when she comes, she will be disguised.”

6 When Ahijah heard her footsteps as she came to the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised? I am a messenger with bad news for you. 7 Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.”

I raised you up from among the people, and I appointed you leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom from the house of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart by doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all those who came before you, and you have made for yourself other gods and images of cast metal, provoking me to anger. You threw me behind your back.

10 Therefore, listen to this! I myself will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will exterminate everyone in Israel connected to Jeroboam, all those who urinate against the wall, [2] both bound and free. [3] I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as completely as manure is burned. 11 The dogs will eat those who belong to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will eat those who die in the country, because the Lord has spoken.

12 As for you, go home. As soon as your feet enter the city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. Indeed, from those who belong to Jeroboam he alone will be buried in a tomb, because in the house of Jeroboam some good is found in him before the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 Then the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day. Indeed, it begins right now. [4]

15 The Lord will strike Israel until it sways like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and he will scatter them beyond the River, [5] because they made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 Yes, he will give Israel up because of the sins which Jeroboam himself committed and which he caused Israel to commit.

17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up, set out, and traveled to Tirzah. When she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

19 As for the rest of Jeroboam’s acts, the wars he fought and the way he ruled, you can find them written in the annals [6] of the kings of Israel. 20 Jeroboam was king for twenty-two years. He rested with his fathers. Then his son Nadab became king in his place.

21 Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his Name there. The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Na’amah the Ammonite.

22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and they provoked him to anger more than all their fathers had done with the sins that they committed. 23 They built for themselves high places, sacred memorial stones, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every leafy tree. 24 There were even male cult prostitutes in the land. They practiced all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them, and he entrusted them to the captains of the guard who were keeping watch at the entrance of the king’s palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the House of the Lord, the guards would carry the shields. Then the guards would return them to the armory.

29 As for the rest of Rehoboam’s acts and everything he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 31 Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the City of David. The name of his mother was Na’amah the Ammonite. Then his son Abijam became king in his place.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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1 Kings 12:33 – 13:34 (EHV)

33 He instituted sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month which he chose on his own. He instituted a festival for the people of Israel. He went up to the altar to send offerings up in smoke.

1 At that moment, by the word of the Lord, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel while Jeroboam was standing in front of the altar to send offerings up in smoke. 2 He cried out against the altar by the word of Lord, “Altar! Altar! This is what the Lord says. Listen! A son will be born to the house of David. Josiah will be his name. On you he will slaughter the priests of the high places, who are burning offerings on you, and human bones will be burned on you.”

3 On that day he gave them a sign: “This is the sign which the Lord announces: This very altar will be torn apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

4 When King Jeroboam heard this message that the man of God had proclaimed against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him from the altar and cried, “Seize him!” But the hand that the king pointed at the man withered, and he could not pull it back. 5 Then the altar was torn apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar in fulfillment of the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

6 Then the king responded to the man of God, “Intercede before the Lord your God and pray on my behalf that my hand may be restored for me.” So the man of God interceded before the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored for him, so that it was like it had been before.

7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and eat something, and I will give you a gift.”

8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your wealth, I would not go with you, and I would not eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 For this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord: Do not eat bread and do not drink water, and do not return by the way you came.” 10 So he left by a different road. He did not go back the same way he had come to Bethel.

11 Another prophet, an old man, was living in Bethel. His sons [1] came and told him everything that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also reported to their father the words he had spoken to the king.

12 Then their father said to them, “Which road did he take?” So his sons showed him the road [2] which the man of God from Judah had taken.

13 He told his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled his donkey, and he got on it. 14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under a terebinth tree.

He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

He answered, “I am.”

15 The old prophet said to him, “Come with me to my house and have something to eat.”

16 But he said, “No, I cannot return with you, or go with you, or eat bread and drink water with you in this place. 17 For I was told by the word of the Lord, ‘Do not eat bread and do not drink water there, and do not return by the same road you came on.’”

18 But the old prophet said to him, “I also am a prophet, just like you, and an angel told me by the word of the Lord, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he was lying to him. 19 Then the man of God returned with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought the man of God back. 21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, “This is what the Lord says. Because you have rebelled against the mouth of the Lord and have not obeyed the command which the Lord your God gave you, 22 but instead you came back and ate bread and drank water in the place about which he had told you, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there,’ your corpse will not enter the tomb of your fathers.”

23 Then after he ate and drank, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 As the man of God went on his way, a lion attacked him and killed him. His corpse was left lying on the road, and his donkey remained standing next to it. The lion was also standing next to the corpse. 25 Then some men who were passing by saw the corpse lying on the road, and the lion was standing next to the corpse. They came and told the story in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 When the prophet who had brought the man of God back from his journey heard this, he said, “This is the man of God who rebelled against the mouth of the Lord. Now the Lord has given him to the lion. It mauled him and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him.”

27 He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled it. 28 Then he went and found the corpse of the man of God lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor had it mauled the donkey.

29 The old prophet picked up the corpse of the man of God, placed it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn and to bury it. 30 He laid the corpse in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, “Oh, my brother!”

31 After he had buried him, the old prophet said to his sons, “When I die and you bury me, lay my bones to rest beside the bones of the man of God, in the same tomb where he is buried. 32 For the message which he proclaimed by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria will certainly come true.”

33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he continued to appoint all kinds of people as priests for the high places. He ordained anyone who wanted to be a priest for the high places. 34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, which erased and exterminated it from the face of the earth.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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1 Kings 12:1-32 (EHV)

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone there to make him king.

2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, he heard about this, and he returned from Egypt. [1] 3 So the people sent for him.

Then Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he laid on us, and we will serve you.”

5 Rehoboam said to them, “Leave me for three days and then return to me.” So the people left.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive. He asked, “What answer do you advise me to give to these people?”

7 They said to him, “If today you become a servant to this people—if you serve them and answer them with kind words—then they will be your servants for all time.” [2]

8 But he rejected the advice which the old men offered him. Instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He said to them, “What answer do you advise that we should give to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us’?”

10 The young men who had grown up with him said, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father laid a heavy yoke on us. Now lighten our yoke.’ Tell them this: ‘My little finger [3] is thicker than my father’s waist. [4] 11 My father imposed a heavy yoke on you. I will make your yoke heavier. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.’” [5]

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, because the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.”

13 The king answered the people harshly, because he had rejected the advice which the old men had offered. 14 He spoke to them as the young men advised him: “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.”

15 The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events was from the Lord, in order to fulfill his word, which the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah from Shiloh.

16 All Israel saw that the king had not listened to them. So the people answered the king:

What share do we have in David?

No portion in the son of Jesse!

To your tents, Israel!

Now look after your own house, David!

So Israel went to their tents. [6]

17 Rehoboam continued to rule over the people of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah.

18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, [7] who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, was able to get in his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David until this day.

20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No tribe was left which followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone.

21 When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand specially chosen soldiers, to fight against the house of Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.

22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God: 23 “Say the following to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people. 24 This is what the Lord says. Do not attack and do not fight against your brothers, the people of Israel. Go home, every one of you, for this turn of events is from me.”

So they listened to the word of the Lord, and they returned home, just as the Lord said. 25 But Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived there. From there he also went out and fortified Penuel. [8]

26 But Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingship will go back to the house of David. 27 If this people goes up to offer sacrifices at the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, then the hearts of the people will return to their master, Rehoboam king of Judah. Then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

28 After the king sought advice, he made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much trouble for you. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 29 He set up one in Bethel and the other one in Dan.

30 This sin took hold, and the people traveled as far as Dan to worship. 31 Jeroboam also made shrines [9] on the high places, [10] and he appointed priests from all kinds of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 Jeroboam instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival [11] that is held in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He appointed priests in Bethel for the high places he had made.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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1 Kings 10:14 – 11:43 (EHV)

14 The weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents, [1] 15 not counting what he collected from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land.

16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold. He put seven and a half pounds [2] of gold into each large shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold. He put almost four pounds [3] of gold into each small shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 The king made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. [4] 19 There were six steps to the throne. The throne had a rounded back and armrests on either side of the seat. Two lions were standing beside the armrests. 20 Twelve lions were standing on the steps, one on each end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom.

21 All of Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all of the utensils in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. [5] No silver was used, because it was considered of little value in Solomon’s days, 22 because Solomon’s merchant fleet [6] was at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the fleet returned, carrying gold and silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks. [7]

23 King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. 24 The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom which God put in his heart. 25 They each brought gifts: articles of gold and silver, clothing, scents, [8] spices, horses and mules, year after year.

26 Solomon accumulated chariots and charioteers until he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand charioteers. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as plentiful as stone in Jerusalem and cedar wood as abundant as sycamore trees in the Shephelah. [9] 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue. [10] The king’s dealers bought them from Kue for the market price. 29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred silver shekels and a horse for one hundred fifty. In this same way they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter, including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 They came from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You must not enter into marriage with them, and they must not enter into marriage with you, or they will turn your hearts after other gods.” Solomon clung to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who held the rank of princess and three hundred concubines. So they turned his heart away.

4 When Solomon became old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord as the heart of his father David had been. 5 Then Solomon followed Ashtarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not devote himself to the Lord as his father David had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, on the hill east of Jerusalem and for Molek, [11] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and making sacrifices to their gods.

9 So the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 The Lord had given him the command not to follow other gods, but Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.

11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because this is your attitude, and because you did not keep my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely rip the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your servant. 12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of your father David. I will rip it from your son’s hand. 13 But I will not rip away the whole kingdom. One tribe I will give to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

14 Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom, as an adversary for Solomon. 15 Earlier, while David was at war with Edom, when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the dead, he struck down every male in Edom. 16 For six months Joab and all Israel stayed there until he exterminated every male in Edom. 17 But while Hadad was a young boy, he had fled with some Edomites from among his father’s servants to go to Egypt. 18 So they set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took some men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave Hadad a house and decreed an allowance of food for him and gave him land.

19 Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, so Pharaoh gave him the sister of his own wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, as his wife. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in the house of Pharaoh, so Genubath was in the house of Pharaoh with Pharaoh’s own sons.

21 Later Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me back to my own country.”

22 Pharaoh said to him, “What are you lacking here with me, so that you want to go back to your own country?”

He said, “Nothing, but please let me go.”

23 God also raised up another adversary for Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 After David had destroyed Zobah’s army, Rezon gathered men around himself and was the commander of a band of raiders. They went to Damascus and lived there and ruled Damascus. 25 He was Israel’s adversary during all the days of Solomon, in addition to all the difficulties which Hadad caused. He was hostile to Israel, and he ruled over Aram.

26 Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother’s name was Zeruah. She was a widow. Jeroboam was Solomon’s official, but he rebelled against the king. 27 This is the account of how he rebelled against the king.

When Solomon was rebuilding the Millo and repairing the gap in the wall in the city of his father David, 28 Jeroboam showed that he was a very capable man. When Solomon saw that the young man was a capable worker, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. [12] 29 At that time, when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road. [13] Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in the field. 30 Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

31 He told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.”

Look, I am tearing the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, and I will give you ten tribes. 32 But one tribe will remain with him for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. 33 This is because they have abandoned me and worshipped Ashtarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways by doing what is upright in my eyes and keeping my commands and judgments as his father David did. 34 I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand because I appointed him leader for all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and statutes. 35 However, I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand, and I will give ten tribes to you. 36 To his son I will give one tribe in order that there may be a lamp for my servant David before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.

37 But I will take you, and you will be king over all that your soul desires. You will be king over Israel. 38 If you listen to all that I command you, and if you walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes, keeping my decrees and my statutes, just as my servant David did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you, just as I built for David. I will give Israel to you. 39 Now I will humble the seed of David because of this, but not forever.

40 As a result Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Shishak king of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

41 As for the rest of Solomon’s acts, everything he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 Solomon was king over all Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.

43 Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, his father. His son Rehoboam ruled as king in his place.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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1 Kings 9:1 – 10:13 (EHV)

1 When Solomon had finished building the house for the Lord and the house for the king, and he had done all that he desired, 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, just as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him:

I have heard your prayer and the plea for mercy that you offered before me. I have consecrated this house, which you built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

4 As for you, if you walk before me in purity of heart and with integrity as your father David did, so that you carry out everything that I command you, and you keep all my statutes and my ordinances, 5 then I will maintain your royal throne over Israel forever, just as I said to your father David, “You will not fail to have a man upon the throne of Israel.”

6 But if any of you [1] or your sons turn away from me and do not keep my commands and statutes, which I set before you, but you serve other gods and bow down to them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the face of the ground which I gave them. I will take my presence away from the house which I consecrated for my Name. Israel will become proverbial as an object of ridicule for all peoples.

8 Though this house is now exalted, [2] all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss [3] and say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and to this house?”

9 They will reply, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshipped and served them. That is why the Lord brought all this evil on them.”

10 At the end of twenty years, when Solomon had completed these two buildings, the house of the Lord and the house of the king, 11 King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee, because Hiram king of Tyre had been supplying Solomon with cedar and fir wood and with as much gold as he desired. 12 So Hiram left Tyre to see the towns which Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased.

13 He said, “What kind of towns are these towns which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the Land of Kabul, [4] a name they have to this day. 14 Hiram had sent the king one hundred twenty talents [5] of gold.

15 This is the account of the forced labor, which King Solomon raised to build the house for the Lord, his own house, the Millo, [6] and the walls of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer. He burned it and killed the Canaanites who were living in the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 So Solomon built Gezer, lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, Tadmor [7] in the wilderness, 19 all of Solomon’s towns for storehouses, the towns for his chariots, the towns for charioteers, [8] and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land he ruled.

20 All the people who remained from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not part of the people of Israel— 21 their descendants who remained in the land, whom the Israelites were not able to destroy completely—were drafted for forced labor by Solomon. They are serving right up to this day. 22 But Solomon did not press the people of Israel into service. Rather, they were his warriors, his government officials, his staff, his military officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his charioteers. 23 These were the officials who were overseeing Solomon’s work. Five hundred fifty officials were overseeing the people doing the work.

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

25 Three times a year Solomon offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar which he had built before the Lord, and he burned incense before the Lord. In this way he completed the temple.

26 King Solomon built a fleet at Ezion Geber, which is near Elat on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. 27 Then, along with that fleet, Hiram sent his servants, men who worked on ships and who knew the sea, to serve with the servants of Solomon. 28 They went to Ophir, and they obtained four hundred twenty talents [9] of gold there and brought it to King Solomon.

1 The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame, which was connected with the fame of the Lord, so she came to test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great entourage [10]—with camels carrying spices and a large quantity of gold and precious stones. She came to Solomon and told him everything that was on her heart.

3 Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.

4 The Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he built, 5 and the food on his table. When she saw the council meeting of his officials, the careful attention of his ministers, [11] as well as their attire, his cupbearers, and the whole burnt offerings which he offered at the House of the Lord, [12] it took her breath away.

6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your accomplishments [13] and your wisdom is true. 7 I did not believe the report until I came and saw it with my own eyes. The truth is, not even half of it was told to me! Your wisdom and wealth surpass the report which I heard. 8 Blessed are your men, blessed are your servants, who stand before you continually hearing your wisdom! 9 May the Lord your God be blessed, who was pleased to put you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loves Israel forever, he made you king to administer justice and righteousness.”

10 Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents [14] of gold and a great quantity of spices and many precious stones. There was never again anything comparable to the huge amount of spices and incense which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11 In addition, Hiram’s fleet brought gold from Ophir and a great quantity of almug [15] wood and also precious stones. 12 The king made the almug wood into steps [16] for the Lord’s house and for the house of the king, as well as lyres and harps for his singers. So much fine almug wood has never been brought or seen to this present day.

13 King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked for, besides what he had given to her from his royal resources. Then she and her servants returned to her country.

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1 Kings 8:12-66 (EHV)

12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he dwells in thick darkness. 13 I have truly built a majestic house for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

14 Then the king turned and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, while the whole congregation of Israel was standing there. 15 Then Solomon said:

Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel. What he said with his mouth to my father David, he has fulfilled with his hand.

The Lord said, 16 “From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose a city from all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house for my Name to be there, ⎣nor did I choose any man to be a leader over my people Israel; but now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there,⎦ [1] and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”

17 It was on my father David’s heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

18 However, the Lord said to my father David, “It was on your heart to build a house for my Name. That was a good thing to desire. 19 But you will not build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my Name.”

20 So the Lord kept his word which he had spoken, and I arose in the place of my father David. I am seated on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord said. I have built this house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 I have established a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

22 Then Solomon stood in front of the altar in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. [2] 23 He said:

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heavens above or on the earth below. You keep the covenant of mercy and faithfulness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart. 24 You have kept the word which you spoke to your servant, my father David. What you have said with your mouth you have fulfilled with your hand, as it is today.

25 Now, Lord God of Israel, guard for your servant, my father David, the promise you made to him when you said, “You will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of Israel in my presence, if your sons guard their ways by walking in my law just as you have walked before me.”

26 Now, O God of Israel, let the words which you spoke to your servant, my father David, be confirmed.

27 But will God really dwell on the earth? In truth, the heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this house, which I have built! 28 But turn your face toward the prayer of your servant and toward his plea for mercy. O Lord my God, listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant offers before you today.

29 Let your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward this place where you said, “My Name will be there,” to hear the prayer which your servant offers toward this place.

30 When you hear the plea for mercy of your servant and of your people Israel, which they pray toward this place, then hear in your dwelling place in heaven—hear and forgive.

31 When a man sins against his neighbor, and his neighbor places him under an oath, and the oath is presented before your altar in this house, 32 then hear from heaven and take action. Provide justice for your servants by declaring the wicked person guilty and bringing his ways down on his own head, and by declaring the righteous person innocent and dealing with him according to his righteousness.

33 When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they sinned against you, and when they return to you and praise your Name and pray and seek your favor in this house, 34 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers.

35 When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain because they sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place, and they praise your Name and turn from their sin because you have humbled them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Yes, teach them the good way in which they are to walk, and provide rain for the land which you gave to your people as an inheritance.

37 When there is famine in the land, when there is plague, when there is blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, when their enemies are in the land besieging their gates, in every disease, in every sickness, 38 hear every prayer and every plea for mercy which any individual presents or which your whole people Israel presents. When each one knows the affliction of his own heart, when he spreads out his hands toward this house, 39 hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Then act and give to each person according to all his ways, because you know his heart (yes, you alone know the heart of every human being), 40 so that they may fear you all the days they live on the soil which you gave to our fathers.

41 Also for the foreigner, who is not one of your people Israel, but who comes from a distant land because of your Name 42 (for they will hear about your great Name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm, and they will come and pray toward this house), 43 for that foreigner, hear in heaven, which is your dwelling place, and do everything for which that foreigner cries out to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your Name and fear you, just as your people Israel do, and because they know that your Name is proclaimed in this house which I have built.

44 When your people go out for battle against their enemy on whatever way you send them, and when they pray to the Lord facing toward the city which you have chosen and toward the house which I have built for your Name, 45 then from heaven hear their prayer and their plea for mercy, and provide justice for them.

46 When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin) and you become angry with them, and you give them up to their enemies, and their captors exile them to an enemy land, whether distant or near, 47 when they are in the land where they were exiled and they turn their hearts back, and they repent and pray to you in the land of their exile and say, “We have sinned and become guilty and done evil,” 48 when they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies where they were exiled, and they pray in the direction of their land, which you gave to their fathers, toward the city which you chose and toward the house which I have built for your Name, 49 then hear their prayers and their plea for mercy from heaven, your dwelling place, and provide justice for them. 50 Pardon your people who have sinned against you and all their rebellious deeds that they have committed against you. Have compassion by causing their enemies to show them compassion. 51 For they are your people and your possession, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelting furnace.

52 Let your eyes be open to the plea for mercy from your servant and to the plea for mercy from your people Israel. Hear them whenever they cry out to you. 53 For you singled them out for yourself as your possession from all the peoples of the earth, just as you said through Moses your servant when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.

54 When Solomon finished offering all these prayers and pleas for mercy to the Lord, he got up from the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55 Then he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:

56 Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he said he would. Not one word has failed [3] from all his good words which he spoke through Moses his servant. 57 May the Lord our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers. May he never leave us or abandon us. 58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to listen to his commands, regulations, and ordinances, which he commanded to our fathers. 59 May these words which I have prayed before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night so that he provides justice for his servant and for his people Israel forever, 60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other. 61 May your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, in order to walk in his regulations and to keep his commands, just as is the case today.

62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. 63 Solomon sacrificed fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the House of the Lord.

64 On that day the king consecrated the center of the courtyard which was in front of the House of the Lord, so that he could offer whole burnt offerings and grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there, because the bronze altar which was before the Lord was too small to hold the whole burnt offerings and grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

65 At that time Solomon kept the festival, and all Israel kept the festival with him. They were a great congregation that had come from throughout the land, from Lebo Hamath to the Stream of Egypt before the Lord our God. ⎣⎦ [4] The festival lasted seven days, and then seven days more, fourteen days in all. 66 On the eighth day he sent them home, and they blessed the king. Then they went home, and their hearts were glad because of all the good which the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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1 Kings 7:13 – 8:11 (EHV)

13 King Solomon sent for Hiram [1] from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, but his father was a craftsman in bronze from Tyre. Hiram too was filled with wisdom, understanding, and skill for all kinds of work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and performed the work for him.

15 He cast two bronze pillars, each twenty-seven feet tall. Their circumference was eighteen feet.

16 He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars. The height of one capital was seven and a half feet, and the height of the other capital was seven and a half feet. 17 The capitals that sat on top of the pillars were decorated with a latticework of interwoven chains. There were seven rows of decoration on one capital and seven rows on the other capital. 18 This is how he made the pillars: He made two rows of pomegranates to go above the latticework on the capitals that were on top of the pillars. [2] He did this for each pillar. 19 The capitals that were on top of the pillars for the porch were shaped like lilies, six feet tall. 20 On top of each pillar, above the bulge, beside the latticework, there were two hundred pomegranates arranged in rows all the way around. [3]

21 He set up the pillars on the porch of the temple building. He set up one pillar on the south and named it Jakin, [4] and he set up the other pillar on the north and named it Boaz. [5] 22 The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. In this way the work for the pillars was finished.

23 He made the sea of cast metal. It was round, fifteen feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high. Its circumference was forty-five feet. 24 Under its rim all the way around there were round, gourd-shaped ornaments, one every two inches, all the way around the sea. [6] The ornaments were in two rows, cast as one piece with the sea. 25 The sea stood on twelve cattle, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them. All their hindquarters faced toward the center of the sea. 26 The sea was three inches [7] thick. Its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held twelve thousand gallons. [8]

27 He made ten bronze carts. Each cart was six feet long and six feet wide and four and a half feet tall. 28 This is how the carts were constructed: They had side panels between supporting frames. 29 The panels between the frames were decorated with lions, cattle, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and cattle, there were wreaths hanging down. [9] 30 Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and at each of the four corners of the cart there were supports for the basin, with wreaths beside each of them. 31 The opening on top of the cart within a crowning structure was a foot and a half deep. The opening was round. It had a supporting pedestal a little more than two feet tall. [10] Around the opening there were engravings, and the panel that surrounded the opening was square, not round.

32 The four wheels were underneath the side panels, and the axles for the wheels were inserted through the cart. The height of each wheel was twenty-seven inches. 33 The wheels were made like a chariot wheel. Their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. 34 There were supports at each of the four corners of each cart. The supports were part of the cart itself. 35 In the top of the cart there was a round opening nine inches deep. [11] On top of the cart the supports and its panels were one piece with it. 36 On the panels between the supports he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees wherever there was room, with wreaths all around. 37 That is how he made the carts. All of them were cast with the same mold, so they had the same size and shape.

38 He made ten bronze basins. Each basin contained two hundred forty gallons. [12] Each basin was six feet in diameter, and there was one basin for every one of the ten carts. 39 He placed five carts on the south side of the temple and five on the north side of the temple. He set the sea on the south side of the temple near the southeast corner.

40 Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls.

So Hiram completed all the work that he had been assigned by King Solomon for the House of the Lord: 41 the two pillars, the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, the two latticeworks that covered the two globe-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars, 42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks (two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the globe-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars), 43 the ten carts, the ten basins on the carts, 44 the one sea, the twelve cattle under the sea, 45 the pots, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls. All these items, which Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord, were burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the ground, in the plain of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon did not weigh all the vessels, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze was never determined.

48 Solomon made all the furnishings that were in the House of the Lord: the gold altar and the table for the Bread of the Presence, which was also gold. 49 The lampstands were placed in front of the inner room of the sanctuary, five on the south side, and five on the north. They also were made of pure gold, [13] as were the flowers, the lamps, and the gold tongs, 50 the basins, the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, the small dishes, and the fire pans of pure gold, and the gold hinges, [14] both those for the doors of the inner sanctuary, that is, the Most Holy Place, and also those for the doors of the front room. 51 In this way all the work that King Solomon did for the House of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the House of the Lord.

1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of tribes, and the leading fathers of the people of Israel to appear before him in Jerusalem, in order to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the City of David, that is, from Zion. 2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, [15] during the festival. [16] It was the seventh month. 3 Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted up the ark. 4 They brought up the Ark of the Lord, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels which were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up.

5 King Solomon, along with the whole congregation of Israel who had gathered with him in front of the ark, was sacrificing sheep and cattle, too many to be counted.

6 The priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim, 7 for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place for the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles with their wings. 8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets, which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 When the priests came out from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the House of the Lord. 11 The priests were not able to take their positions to minister in the presence of the cloud, because the Glory of the Lord had filled the House of the Lord.

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1 Kings 6:1 – 7:12 (EHV)

1 In the four hundred eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month named Ziv, [1] which is the second month, Solomon began to build the house for the Lord.

2 The house which King Solomon built for the Lord was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. [2] 3 The porch [3] in front of the temple building [4] was thirty feet wide, the same as the width of the building. It extended out fifteen feet from the front of the building.

4 He made latticed windows [5] high on the walls of the building.

5 He added a structure along the outer walls of the building, all the way around the three sides of the building. It was built against the walls of both the front room [6] and the inner room [7] of the sanctuary. In this structure he constructed three levels of storage rooms, all the way around the building. 6 The width of the rooms on the lowest story was seven and a half feet. The rooms of the middle story were nine feet wide, and the rooms of the third story were ten and a half feet wide, because he had built three receding ledges into the outside wall of the temple building all the way around, so that the floor beams of each story would not have to be inserted into the walls of the main building.

7 While the building was under construction, only stones that had been finished at the quarry were used in the building. No hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the building while it was under construction. 8 The entrance into the lowest story [8] of the side rooms was on the south side [9] of the building. Winding stairs [10] went up to the middle floor, and also from the middle floor to the third floor. 9 So Solomon finished building the house, and he covered [11] the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built the floors for the storerooms that were all around the house. Each story was seven and a half feet high. Each story was supported by cedar timbers which rested on the receding ledges constructed along the walls of the building. [12]

11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon. He said, 12 “In regard to this house which you are building, if you walk according to my statutes and carry out my ordinances and keep all my commands by walking according to them, you will be the one through whom I will fulfill my promise which I spoke to your father David. 13 I will dwell among the descendants of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”

14 So Solomon finished building the house. 15 He paneled the inside walls of the building with cedar boards, from the floor of the building to the rafters [13] of the ceiling. He covered the inside walls with wood. He also covered the floor of the building with boards of fir wood.

16 Thirty feet from the back wall of the building he built a wall of cedar boards from the floor to the ceiling. He built this wall inside the building to create an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.

17 The front part of the building became a main room sixty feet long. 18 Gourds [14] and open flowers were carved into the cedar on the inside of the building. Everything was covered with cedar. No stone was visible.

19 He prepared the inner room of the sanctuary inside the building as a place to set the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. 20 The inner sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high, and he overlaid it with pure gold.

He also overlaid the cedar altar with gold. 21 So Solomon covered the inside of the building with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid the sanctuary with gold. 22 He overlaid the whole building with gold, until the whole building had been covered. He also overlaid the whole altar, which was in front of the inner sanctuary, with gold.

23 For the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim [15] of olive wood. Each one was fifteen feet tall. 24 Seven and a half feet was the length of one wing of a cherub, and seven and a half feet was the length of the other wing of a cherub. The distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was fifteen feet. [16] 25 The other cherub also was fifteen feet wide. Both of the cherubim were the same size and looked the same. 26 One cherub was fifteen feet tall, and so was the other cherub. 27 He set the cherubim inside the inner sanctuary of the house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the outer wing of the first one touched the wall, and the outer wing of the other cherub touched the opposite wall, and their wings touched one another in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 He decorated the walls on all sides of both rooms of the building with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30 He overlaid the floor of the building with gold in both the inner and outer rooms.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors with five-sided frames. [17] 32 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold. He shaped sheets of hammered gold to cover the cherubim and the palm trees.

33 He did the same for the entrance to the front room. It had door posts of olive wood that were four-sided 34 and two doors of fir wood. The door on one side was made with two folding leaves, and the door on the other side was made with two folding leaves. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and he overlaid them with gold leaf, shaped to the carvings.

36 He built the inner courtyard with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the Lord’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month named Ziv. [18] 38 In the eleventh year, in the month named Bul, [19] which is the eighth month, all the parts of the house were finished according to all its specifications. Solomon had spent seven years building it.

1 It took Solomon thirteen years to finish building his whole palace complex.

2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was one hundred fifty feet long. It was seventy-five feet wide and forty-five feet high. It had four rows [20] of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the forty-five beams that rested on the pillars, fifteen beams in each row. [21]

4 There were three rows [22] of windows with recessed frames on each side of the building. 5 All the doors and posts were made with square beams. [23] They were arranged in groups of three.

6 He built a pillared entry hall. [24] It was seventy-five feet wide and forty-five feet deep. There was another porch in front of the pillars, and more pillars and a canopy in front of them.

7 He made another hall, named the Hall of Justice. The throne from which he judged cases was located there. The hall was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling. [25]

8 His house in which he lived was made the same way. It was on the other side of a courtyard behind the Hall of Pillars. [26] Solomon also made another house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

9 All of these were made of high-quality stone, precisely cut to the exact measure, trimmed with saws on both sides. Such stones were used from the foundation to the edge of the roof, from the outside of the complex to the great courtyard on the inside. 10 The foundation was made of high-quality stones, huge stones, twelve or fifteen feet long. 11 Above this were high-quality stones, precisely cut, with layers of cedar wood in between. 12 The great courtyard all the way around had three courses of cut stone and then a course of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the House of the Lord and the porch of that building.

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1 Kings 5 (EHV)

1 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon because he heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father’s place, and because Hiram had been a dear friend of David all his days. [1]

2 Solomon sent the following message to Hiram.

3 You know that my father David was not able to build a house for the Name of the Lord his God, because of the wars that swirled around him until the Lord put his enemies under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. I have no adversary and face no dangerous situations. 5 Listen to this! I intend to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord told my father, “Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, will build the house for my Name.” 6 Now give the order to cut cedar logs for me from Lebanon. My servants will work with your servants, and I will reimburse you whatever you specify as the pay for your servants, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut lumber like the Sidonians.

7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he was very happy and he said:

Blessed be the Lord this day because he has given David a wise son to rule over this great people.

8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon:

I have heard the message you sent me. I will provide all the cedar and fir logs that you desire. 9 My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will put them into the sea as rafts and float them to the place that you tell me. Then we will dismantle them there, and you can transport them up from there. In exchange, you will provide all the food I desire for my palace.

10 So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and fir that he desired. 11 In return, Solomon gave Hiram one hundred twenty thousand bushels [2] of wheat as provisions for his palace and one hundred twenty thousand gallons [3] of beaten [4] olive oil. Solomon gave this amount to Hiram every year. 12 The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon just as he had promised him, so there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty.

13 King Solomon drafted a labor force from all over Israel. It numbered thirty thousand men. 14 He sent ten thousand men per month to Lebanon in shifts. They would spend one month in Lebanon. Then for two months they would be at home. Adoniram was in charge of this forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand men to transport materials and eighty thousand men to quarry stones in the mountains, 16 not counting the officials who were overseeing the work for Solomon. There were thirty-three hundred men supervising the people who were doing the work. 17 The king gave a command, and they quarried large, high-quality stones to serve as a foundation for the temple building, which was made of trimmed stones. 18 Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men from Gebal [5] cut and prepared the wood and stones to construct the temple building. [6]

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1 Kings 3 – 4 (EHV)

1 Solomon had made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the City of David until he had finished building his own house, the Lord’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2 The people were still offering sacrifices at the high places [1] because a house for the Name of the Lord had not yet been built in those days. 3 Solomon loved the Lord, so he followed the instructions of his father David, though he was still offering sacrifices and burning incense at the high places.

4 So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because it was the most important high place. Solomon offered one thousand whole burnt offerings on that altar. 5 The Lord appeared to Solomon in Gibeon in a dream at night.

God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

6 Solomon said, “You have shown great mercy and faithfulness [2] to your servant, my father David, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward you. You have shown this great mercy and faithfulness to him and have given him a son who is seated on his throne to this very day. 7 O Lord my God, now you have made your servant king in the place of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And I, your servant, am among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, who cannot be counted or numbered because they are so many. 9 Now give to your servant a perceptive heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”

10 In the eyes of the Lord, Solomon’s request was good. 11 So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and you have not asked for a long life, nor have you asked for riches, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but you have asked for discernment to reach just verdicts, 12 therefore I will act according to your words. Yes, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you before you, nor will anyone like you rise up after you. 13 In addition, I will give you what you have not asked for: such riches and honor that there will not be anyone like you among the other kings throughout all your days. 14 If you walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and commands just as your father David did, then I will give you a long life.”

15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it was a dream. So Solomon went to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. [3] He offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and he made a feast for all his officials.

16 Later, two prostitutes came and stood before the king.

17 One woman said, “Hear me, my lord! This woman and I live in the same house. While she was living in the house, I gave birth. 18 Three days after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together. There was no one else in the house with us. Only the two of us were there. 19 One night this woman’s son died because she lay on top of him. 20 Then she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I, your servant, was sleeping. She laid him next to her, and her dead son she laid next to me. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, there he was—dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, I saw it was not my son, to whom I had given birth!”

22 But the other woman said, “No! The living child is really my son, and your son is the dead one!”

But the first one kept saying, “No! Your son is really the dead one, and my son is the living one!” They kept arguing like this before the king.

23 The king said, “This woman says, ‘My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.’ But this other woman says, ‘No, your son is really the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 So the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king.

25 Then the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to this woman and half to that woman.”

26 But the woman to whom the living child belonged spoke up, because her feelings for her son were very strong. She said, “Listen to me, my lord. Give her the living child. Please don’t kill him.”

But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”

27 The king answered, “Give the living child to the first woman, and do not kill him. She is his mother.”

28 All Israel heard about the judgment which the king had rendered. They were filled with awe [4] in his presence, because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to administer justice.

1 So King Solomon ruled over all Israel. 2 These were his officials:

Azariah son [5] of Zadok was the priest.

7 Solomon had twelve governors, who were over all Israel. They supplied provisions for the king and for his palace. Each of them was assigned one month of the year during which he was responsible for supplying provisions. 8 These were their names:

Ben Hur [8] in the hill country of Ephraim,

20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea. They were eating, drinking, and rejoicing. 21 Solomon was ruling all the kingdoms from the River [10] to the land of the Philistines, up to the border of Egypt. They sent tribute and workers to Solomon all the days of his life. [11] 22 Solomon’s provisions for one day were one hundred eighty bushels [12] of fine flour and three hundred sixty bushels [13] of plain flour, 23 ten stall-fed cattle, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and one hundred sheep, not to mention deer, gazelle, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

24 Since Solomon was ruling over everything west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kingdoms west of the River, he had peace on all sides. 25 Judah and Israel lived in safety, with every man sitting under his own vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, throughout Solomon’s days. 26 Solomon had four thousand [14] teams [15] of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand charioteers.

27 His governors supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all those who gathered at King Solomon’s table. Each governor was responsible for one month, so the court lacked nothing. 28 They brought the barley and straw for the horses and steeds [16] to the location assigned to each one of them.

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great understanding and breadth of knowledge [17] like the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than all the wisdom of the men of the East and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any man, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, Kalkol, or Darda, the sons of Mahol. His name was known in all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand and five. 33 He spoke about trees, from the cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, reptiles and other crawling things, and fish. 34 From all the peoples and from all the kings of the earth who heard about Solomon’s wisdom, people came to listen to his wisdom.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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