3 Kingdoms

 

Chapter 1

 

1 And King David was old, advanced in days, and they covered him with garments, but he was not warmed.

 

2 And his servants said, "Let them seek for our lord the king a young virgin, and she shall stand before the king and shall cherish him, and she shall lie with him, and our lord the king shall be warmed."

 

3 And they sought a beautiful young woman from all the territory of Israel, and they found Abisak the Somanite, and they brought her to the king.

 

4 And the young woman was exceedingly beautiful; and she cherished the king and ministered to him, but the king did not know her.

 

5 And Adonias son of Aggith exalted himself, saying, "I shall be king." And he made for himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him.

 

6 And his father never restrained him, saying, "Why have you done this?" And he too was very handsome in appearance, and she bore him after Abessalom.

 

7 And his words were with Joab the son of Sarouia and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave help following Adonias.

 

8 But Sadok the priest and Banaias son of Jodae and Nathan the prophet and Semei and Rei and the mighty men of David were not with Adonias.

 

9 And Adonias sacrificed sheep and calves and lambs by the stone of Zoeleth, which was beside the spring of Rogel, and he called all his brothers and all the strong men of Judah, servants of the king;

 

10 but Nathan the prophet and Banaias and the mighty men and Salomon his brother he did not call.

 

11 And Nathan spoke to Bersabee the mother of Salomon, saying, "Have you not heard that Adonias son of Aggith has become king? And our lord David does not know it.

 

12 And now come, let me indeed counsel you counsel, and save your life and the life of your son Salomon.

 

13 Come, go in to King David and you shall say to him, saying, 'Did you not, my lord king, swear to your servant, saying that Salomon your son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then has Adonias become king?'

 

14 And behold, while you are still speaking there with the king, I too will come in after you and will fill up your words."

 

15 And Bersabee went in to the king into the chamber, and the king was very old, and Abisak the Somanite was ministering to the king.

 

16 And Bersabee bowed down and did obeisance to the king. And the king said, "What is it with you?"

 

17 And she said, "My lord king, you swore by the Lord your God to your servant, saying that Salomon your son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne.

 

18 And now behold, Adonias has become king, and you, my lord king, did not know it.

 

19 And he has sacrificed calves and lambs and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army; but Salomon your servant he has not called.

 

20 And you, my lord king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, to declare to them who shall sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him.

 

21 And it shall be, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Salomon shall be counted offenders."

 

22 And behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came.

 

23 And it was reported to the king, "Behold, Nathan the prophet." And he came in before the king and did obeisance to the king, on his face upon the ground.

 

24 And Nathan said, "My lord king, did you say, 'Adonias shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne'?

 

25 For he has gone down today and sacrificed calves and lambs and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king and the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest, and behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and they said, 'Long live King Adonias!'

 

26 But me myself, your servant, and Sadok the priest and Banaias son of Jodae and Salomon your servant he has not called.

 

27 Has this thing come about through my lord the king, and you did not make known to your servant who shall sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him?"

 

28 And David answered and said, "Call Bersabee to me." And she came in before the king and stood before him.

 

29 And the king swore and said, "As the Lord lives, who redeemed my soul out of all affliction,

 

30 as I swore to you by the Lord the God of Israel, saying that Salomon your son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, so will I do this day."

 

31 And Bersabee bowed with her face to the ground and did obeisance to the king and said, "May my lord King David live forever!"

 

32 And King David said, "Call to me Sadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Banaias son of Jodae." And they came in before the king.

 

33 And the king said to them, "Take the servants of your lord with you, and set my son Salomon upon my mule and bring him down to Gion.

 

34 And let Sadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel, and sound the horn and you shall say, 'Long live King Salomon!'

 

35 And he shall sit upon my throne, and he shall reign in my stead; and I have commanded that he be leader over Israel and Judah."

 

36 And Banaias son of Jodae answered the king and said, "So be it! So may the Lord the God of my lord the king confirm it.

 

37 As the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he be with Salomon, and may he magnify his throne above the throne of my lord King David."

 

38 And Sadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Banaias son of Jodae and the Chereththi and the Feleththi went down and set Salomon upon the mule of King David and led him away to Gion.

 

39 And Sadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Salomon, and he sounded the horn, and all the people said, "Long live King Salomon!"

 

40 And all the people went up after him, and they danced in dances and rejoiced with great joy, and the earth was split by their voice.

 

41 And Adonias heard, and all his invited guests, and they had finished eating; and Joab heard the sound of the horn and said, "What is this sound of the city resounding?"

 

42 While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest came, and Adonias said, "Come in, for you are a man of valor, and bring good news."

 

43 And Jonathan answered and said, "Indeed! Our lord King David has made Salomon king.

 

44 And the king sent with him Sadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Banaias son of Jodae and the Chereththi and the Feleththi, and they set him upon the king's mule.

 

45 And Sadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gion, and they went up from there rejoicing, and the city resounded. This is the sound that you heard."

 

46 And Solomon sat upon the throne of the kingdom.

 

47 And the servants of the king came in to bless our lord king David, saying, "May God make the name of Solomon your son better than your name, and magnify his throne above your throne." And the king bowed in worship upon his bed.

 

48 And moreover the king said thus: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has given this day one of my seed sitting upon my throne, and my eyes see it."

 

49 And all the guests of Adonijah were astonished and rose up, and each man went his own way.

 

50 And Adonijah was afraid before Solomon, and he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar.

 

51 And it was reported to Solomon, saying, "Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon, and he holds the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let king Solomon swear to me this day that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.'"

 

52 And Solomon said, "If he proves to be a son of valor, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness be found in him, he shall be put to death."

 

53 And king Solomon sent, and he brought him down from off the altar; and he came in and bowed down to king Solomon, and Solomon said to him, "Go to your house." 

 

Chapter 2

 

1 And the days of David drew near for him to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying,

 

2 "I am going in the way of all the earth; and you shall be strong and shall become a man,

 

3 and you shall keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that are written in the law of Moses, that you may understand what you shall do in all things, whatever I command you,

 

4 so that the Lord may establish his word which he spoke, saying, 'If your sons keep their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,' saying, 'There shall not fail you a man upon the throne of Israel.'

 

5 Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the forces of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether: he killed them and set the blood of war in peace, and put innocent blood on his belt that was on his loins and on his sandal that was on his foot.

 

6 And you shall act according to your wisdom, and you shall not bring his gray head down to Hades in peace.

 

7 And to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite you shall show mercy, and they shall be among those who eat at your table, for thus they drew near to me when I was fleeing from the face of Absalom your brother.

 

8 And behold, with you is Shimei the son of Gera, the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim; he cursed me with a grievous curse on the day I went to Mahanaim, and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

 

9 But you shall by no means hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man, and you will know what you shall do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Hades in blood."

 

10 And David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

 

11 And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem thirty-three years.

 

12 And Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father, being twelve years old, and his kingdom was firmly established.

 

13 And Adonijah the son of Haggith came in to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon and did obeisance to her. And she said, "Is your coming in peace?" And he said, "Peace.

 

14 I have a word for you." And she said to him, "Speak."

 

15 And he said to her, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel set their face on me for king, and the kingdom turned and became my brother's, for it came to him from the Lord.

 

16 And now one request I ask of you; do not turn away your face." And Bathsheba said to him, "Speak."

 

17 And he said to her, "Say, please, to Solomon the king — for he will not turn his face away from you that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife."

 

18 And Bathsheba said, "Very well; I will speak to the king concerning you."

 

19 And Bathsheba went in to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and kissed her and sat on his throne, and a throne was set for the mother of the king, and she sat at his right hand.

 

20 And she said to him, "One small request I ask of you; do not turn away your face." And the king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

 

21 And she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

 

22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "And why have you asked for Abishag for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my brother, older than I, and for him are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah, the commander-in-chief, as companion."

 

23 And King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, "May God do thus to me and more also, for against his own life Adonijah has spoken this word.

 

24 And now, as the Lord lives, who established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as the Lord spoke, today Adonijah shall be put to death."

 

25 And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he slew him, and Adonijah died on that day.

 

26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Get you away to Anathoth, to your field, for you are a man deserving of death on this day, but I will not put you to death, because you bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord before my father, and because you were afflicted in all things in which my father was afflicted."

 

27 And Solomon cast out Abiathar from being priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled which he spoke against the house of Eli in Shiloh.

 

28 And the report came to Joab the son of Zeruiah (for Joab had inclined after Adonijah, and had not inclined after Solomon), and Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar.

 

29 And it was reported to Solomon, saying, "Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he holds the horns of the altar." And Solomon sent to Joab, saying, "What has happened to you, that you have fled to the altar?" And Joab said, "Because I was afraid of your face, and I fled to the Lord." And King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go and slay him and bury him."

 

30 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada came to Joab at the tent of the Lord and said to him, "Thus says the king: Come out." And Joab said, "I will not come out, for here I will die." And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada returned and spoke to the king, saying, "Thus has Joab spoken, and thus has he answered me."

 

31 And the king said to him, "Go and do to him as he has said, and slay him and bury him, and you shall take away today the blood which Joab shed without cause, from me and from the house of my father.

 

32 And the Lord has returned the blood of his unrighteousness upon his own head, in that he fell upon the two men more righteous and better than himself and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know of their blood, Abner the son of Ner, commander-in-chief of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander-in-chief of Judah.

 

33 And their blood has returned upon his head and upon the head of his seed forever; but to David and to his seed and to his house and to his throne may there be peace forever from the Lord."

 

34 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up to Joab and put him to death and buried him in his house in the wilderness.

 

35 And the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the kingdom was set in order in Jerusalem; and Zadok the priest the king appointed as first priest in place of Abiathar.

 

35a And the Lord gave Solomon understanding and very great wisdom and breadth of heart like the sand that is by the sea,

 

35b and the understanding of Solomon was multiplied exceedingly beyond the understanding of all the ancients and beyond all the wise men of Egypt.

 

35c And he took the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her into the city of David until he had finished his own house and the house of the Lord first and the wall of Jerusalem round about. In seven years he built it and finished it.

 

35d And Solomon had seventy thousand bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers of stone in the mountain.

 

35e And Solomon made the sea and the supports and the great lavers and the pillars and the fountain of the court and the bronze sea.

 

35f And he built the citadel and its battlements, and he cut through the city of David; thus the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David to her house, which he built for her; then he built the citadel.

 

35g And Solomon offered up three times in the year whole burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built to the Lord, and he burned incense before the Lord. And he finished the house.

 

35h And these were the officers who were set over the works of Solomon: three thousand six hundred overseers of the people who did the works.

 

35i And he built Assur and Magdo and Gazer and Baithoron the upper and Baalath.

 

35k Only after he had built the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem round about, after these things he built these cities.

 

35l And while David was still living, he commanded Solomon, saying: Behold, with you is Semei son of Gera, a son of the seed of Iemini, from Hebron;

 

35m this man cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to the Camps,

 

35n and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying: He shall not be put to death by the sword;

 

35o and now do not hold him guiltless, for you are a prudent man, and you will know what you shall do to him, and you shall bring down his gray hairs in blood to Hades.

 

36 And the king called Semei and said to him: Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and you shall not go out from there anywhere;

 

37 and it shall be, on the day of your going out, when you cross the brook Kedron, know assuredly that you shall surely die; your blood shall be upon your head. And the king made him swear on that day.

 

38 And Semei said to the king: Good is the word which you have spoken, my lord king; so will your servant do. And Semei dwelt in Jerusalem three years.

 

39 And it came to pass after three years that two servants of Semei ran away to Anchous son of Maacha, king of Geth, and it was reported to Semei, saying: Behold, your servants are in Geth.

 

40 And Semei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Geth to Anchous to seek out his servants, and Semei went and brought his servants back from Geth.

 

41 And it was reported to Solomon, saying: Semei went from Jerusalem to Geth and has brought back his servants.

 

42 And the king sent and called Semei and said to him: Did I not make you swear by the Lord and testify to you, saying: On whatever day you go out from Jerusalem and go to the right or to the left, know assuredly that you shall surely die?

 

43 And why is it that you have not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandment which I commanded concerning you?

 

44 And the king said to Semei: You know all your wickedness which your heart knew, what you did to David my father, and the Lord has repaid your wickedness upon your head;

 

45 and king Solomon is blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.

 

46 And king Solomon commanded Banaia son of Iodae, and he went out and slew him, and he died.

 

46a And king Solomon was exceedingly prudent and wise, and Judah and Israel were exceedingly many, as the sand upon the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing;

 

46b and Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms, and they brought gifts and served Solomon all the days of his life.

 

46c And Solomon began to open up the strongholds of Lebanon,

 

46d and he himself built Thermai in the wilderness.

 

46e And this was the provision for Solomon: thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of pounded meal, ten choice calves and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and gazelles and choice fatted fowl.

 

46f For he was ruler over all beyond the river, from Raphi to Gaza, over all the kings beyond the river;

 

46g and he had peace on all his sides round about, and Judah and Israel dwelt in confidence, each under his vine and under his fig tree, eating and drinking, from Dan even to Bersabee, all the days of Solomon.

 

46h And these were the officers of Solomon: Azarion son of Sadok the priest, and Orniou son of Nathan chief of the officers in charge, and Edram over his house, and Souba the scribe, and Basa son of Achithalam the recorder, and Abi son of Joab commander-in-chief, and Achire son of Edrai over the levies, and Banaia son of Iodae over the court and over the brickworks, and Zachour son of Nathan the counselor.

 

46i And Solomon had forty thousand brood mares for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.

 

46k And he was ruler over all the kings from the river even to the land of the Philistines and to the borders of Egypt.

 

46l Solomon son of David reigned over Israel and Judah in Jerusalem. 

 

Chapter 3

 

2 Only the people were burning incense on the high places, because a house had not been built to the name of the Lord until now.

 

3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the ordinances of David his father; only he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

 

4 And he arose and went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the highest and great; Solomon offered a thousand whole burnt offerings on the altar in Gibeon.

 

5 And the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and the Lord said to Solomon, "Ask some request for yourself."

 

6 And Solomon said, "You showed great mercy to your servant David my father, as he walked before you in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you, and you kept for him this great mercy, to give his son upon his throne, as it is this day.

 

7 And now, O Lord my God, you have given your servant in place of David my father, and I am a little child and do not know my going out and my coming in,

 

8 and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered.

 

9 And you shall give your servant a heart to hear and to judge your people in righteousness, to discern between good and evil; for who will be able to judge this weighty people of yours?"

 

10 And it was pleasing before the Lord that Solomon asked this thing,

 

11 and the Lord said to him, "Because you asked this thing of me, and did not ask for yourself many days, nor did you ask for riches, nor did you ask for the lives of your enemies, but asked for yourself understanding to hear judgment,

 

12 behold, I have done according to your word; behold, I have given you a prudent and wise heart; there has been none like you before you, and after you there shall not arise anyone like you.

 

13 And what you did not ask, I have given you, both riches and glory, so that there has been no man like you among kings.

 

14 And if you walk in my way, to keep my commandments and my ordinances, as David your father walked, then I will multiply your days."

 

15 And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he arose and came to Jerusalem and stood before the altar that was before the ark of the covenant of the Lord in Zion, and he offered whole burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a great feast for himself and for all his servants.

 

16 Then two women, harlots, appeared before the king and stood before him.

 

17 And the one woman said, "Hear me, my lord: I and this woman dwell in one house, and we gave birth in the house.

 

18 And it came to pass on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth; and we were together, and there was no one with us except the two of us in the house.

 

19 And the son of this woman died in the night, because she lay upon him;

 

20 and she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my arms and laid him in her bosom, and her dead son she laid in my bosom.

 

21 And I arose in the morning to nurse my son, and he was dead; and behold, I examined him in the morning, and behold, it was not my son whom I had borne."

 

22 And the other woman said, "No, but my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one." And they spoke before the king.

 

23 And the king said to them, "You say, 'This is my son, the living one, and this woman's son is the dead one'; and you say, 'No, but my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.'"

 

24 And the king said, "Bring me a sword." And they brought the sword before the king.

 

25 And the king said, "Divide the living nursing child in two, and give half of it to this woman and half of it to that one."

 

26 And the woman whose son was the living one answered and said to the king—for her womb was stirred over her son and she said, "Hear me, my lord, give her the child, and by no means put him to death." But the other said, "Let it be neither mine nor hers; divide it."

 

27 And the king answered and said, "Give the child to the one who said, 'Give it to her, and by no means put him to death'; she is his mother."

 

28 And all Israel heard this judgment which the king judged, and they feared before the face of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. 

 

Chapter 4

 

1 And King Solomon was reigning over Israel.

 

2 And these were the officials who were his: Azariou son of Sadok,

 

3 and Eliareph and Achia son of Saba, scribes, and Josaphat son of Achilid, recorder,

 

4 and Sadouch and Abiathar, priests,

 

5 and Ornia son of Nathan, over those appointed, and Zabouth son of Nathan, the king's companion,

 

6 and Achiel, steward, and Eliab son of Saph, over the family, and Adoniram son of Ephra, over the tributes.

 

7 And Solomon had twelve men appointed over all Israel, to supply the king and his household; one month in the year it fell to each one to supply.

 

8 And these are their names: Benor in the hill country of Ephraim, one;

 

9 son of Rhechab in Machemas and Bethalamin and Baithsamys and Ailon as far as Baithanan, one;

 

10 son of Esoth, Berbethnema, Lousamencha and Rhespharsa;

 

11 Chinanadab and Anaphathi, a man of Tableth, a daughter of Solomon was his wife, one;

 

12 Baccha son of Achilid, Thaanach and Mekedo and all the house of San which is by Sesathan below Esrae, and from Baisaphoud Ebelmaola as far as Maeber Loukam, one;

 

13 son of Gaber in Remath Galaad, to this man the allotment of Eregaba, which is in Basan, sixty great walled cities with bronze bars, one;

 

14 Achinadab son of Achel, Maanain, one;

 

15 Achimaas in Nephthali and this man took Basemmath the daughter of Solomon as wife, one;

 

16 Baana son of Chousi in Maalath, one;

 

17 Samaa son of Ela in Benjamin;

 

18 Gaber son of Adai in the land of Gad, the land of Seon king of Esebon and Og king of Basan; and one officer in the land of Judah;

 

19 Josaphat son of Phouasoud in Issachar. 

 

Chapter 5

 

1 And the appointed officers thus provided for King Salomon, and all the orders for the king's table, each in his month; they did not alter a word. And they brought the barley and the straw for the horses and for the chariots to the place where the king might be, each according to his appointed charge.

 

2 And these were the provisions for Salomon in one day: thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of ground meal,

 

3 and ten choice calves and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides stags and gazelles and choice fowls, fattened.

 

4 For he was ruler beyond the river, and he had peace on all sides round about.

 

9 And the Lord gave understanding to Salomon and very great wisdom and largeness of heart like the sand that is by the sea,

 

10 and Salomon abounded exceedingly beyond the understanding of all the ancient men and beyond all the wise men of Egypt,

 

11 and he was wiser than all men, and he was wiser than Gaithan the Ezraite and Haiman and Chalkal and Darda, the sons of Mal.

 

12 And Salomon spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were five thousand.

 

13 And he spoke about the trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that comes out through the wall; and he spoke about the beasts and about the birds and about the creeping things and about the fish.

 

14 And all the peoples came to hear the wisdom of Salomon, and he received gifts from all the kings of the earth, as many as heard of his wisdom.

 

14a And Salomon took the daughter of Pharaoh to himself as wife, and he brought her into the city of David until he had finished the house of the Lord and his own house and the wall of Jerusalem.

 

14b Then Pharaoh king of Egypt went up and took Gazer beforehand and burned it, and the Canaanite who dwelt in Mergab; and Pharaoh gave them as a dowry to his daughter, Salomon's wife, and Salomon rebuilt Gazer.

 

15 And Chiram king of Tyre sent his servants to anoint Salomon in place of David his father, for Chiram loved David all his days.

 

16 And Salomon sent to Chiram, saying,

 

17 "You know that David my father was not able to build a house to the name of the Lord my God because of the wars that surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.

 

18 And now the Lord my God has given me rest round about; there is no plotter and no evil occurrence.

 

19 And behold, I intend to build a house to the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord God spoke to David my father, saying, 'Your son, whom I shall set in your place upon your throne, he shall build the house to my name.'

 

20 And now give command, and let them cut timber for me from Lebanon; and behold, my servants shall be with your servants; and I will give you the wages of your service according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."

 

21 And it came to pass, when Chiram heard the words of Salomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, "Blessed be God this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."

 

22 And he sent to Salomon, saying, "I have heard concerning all the things about which you have sent to me; I will do all your desire: cedar timbers and pine timbers.

 

23 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will make them into rafts as far as the place which you send word to me, and I will discharge them there, and you shall take them up; and you shall do my desire, to give bread to my house."

 

24 And Chiram gave Salomon cedars and all his desire.

 

25 And Salomon gave Chiram twenty thousand kors of wheat, and machir for his house, and twenty thousand baths of beaten oil; thus Salomon gave to Chiram year by year.

 

26 And the Lord gave wisdom to Salomon, as he had spoken to him; and there was peace between Chiram and Salomon, and they made a covenant between themselves.

 

27 And the king raised a levy out of all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men.

 

28 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, in shifts; a month they were in Lebanon and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the levy.

 

29 And Salomon had seventy thousand bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers of stone in the mountain,

 

30 besides the rulers appointed over the works of Salomon: three thousand six hundred overseers who did the work.

 

32 And they prepared the stones and the timber for three years. 

  

Chapter 6

 

1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and fortieth year after the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the fourth year, in the second month of the reign of King Solomon over Israel,

 

1a that the king commanded, and they brought great costly stones for the foundation of the house, and unhewn stones.

 

1b And the sons of Solomon and the sons of Hiram hewed them and laid them.

 

1c In the fourth year he laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, in the month Niso, the second month;

 

1d in the eleventh year, in the month Baal (this is the eighth month), the house was finished according to all its plan and according to all its arrangement.

 

2 And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord was forty cubits in its length, and twenty cubits in its breadth, and twenty-five cubits in its height.

 

3 And the porch in front of the temple: twenty cubits its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits its breadth, in front of the house. And he built the house and finished it.

 

4 And he made for the house windows, latticed, concealed.

 

5 And he set against the wall of the house chambers round about the temple and the dabir, and he made side-chambers round about.

 

6 The lowest side-chamber was five cubits in its breadth, and the middle one six, and the third seven cubits in its breadth; for he made a recess for the house round about, on the outside of the house, so that they should not fasten into the walls of the house.

 

7 And the house, when it was being built, was built with rough hewn stones, and hammer and axe and every iron tool were not heard in the house while it was being built.

 

8 And the gateway of the lowest side-chamber was under the right shoulder of the house, and there was a winding ascent to the middle story, and from the middle to the third story.

 

9 And he built the house and finished it; and he ceiled the house with cedars.

 

10 And he built the bindings throughout the whole house, five cubits its height, and he fastened the binding with cedar timbers.

 

15 And he built the walls of the house with cedar timbers, from the floor of the house up to the beams and up to the walls; he ceiled it, fastened with wood within, and he covered the interior of the house with sides of pine.

 

16 And he built the twenty cubits from the end of the house, the one side from the floor up to the beams, and he made it from the dabir into the holy of holies.

 

17 And the temple was forty cubits in front

 

19 of the dabir in the midst of the house within, to put there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

 

20 Twenty cubits its length, and twenty cubits its breadth, and twenty cubits its height; and he covered it with enclosed gold. And he made an altar

 

21 in front of the dabir and covered it with gold.

 

22 And he covered the whole house with gold, until the whole house was finished.

 

23 And he made in the dabir two cherubim of ten cubits, measured in size.

 

24 And the wing of the one cherub was five cubits, and its second wing five cubits, ten cubits from the tip of its one wing to the tip of its other wing;

 

25 so also for the second cherub: with one measure, one finish for both.

 

26 And the height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so also the second cherub.

 

27 And both the cherubim were in the midst of the innermost house; and they spread out their wings, and one wing touched the wall, and a wing touched the second wall, and their wings that were in the midst of the house touched, wing to wing.

 

28 And he covered the cherubim with gold.

 

29 And on all the walls of the house round about he carved engravings with a stylus—cherubim, and palm trees within and without.

 

30 And the floor of the house he covered with gold, of the innermost and the outermost part.

 

31 And for the doorway of the dabir he made doors of juniper wood, and doorposts of five parts,

 

32 and two doors of pine wood, and carvings upon them—engraved cherubim and palm trees and spread-out petals; and he covered them with gold, and the gold came down upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees.

 

33 And so he made for the gateway of the temple: doorposts of juniper wood, porches fourfold.

 

34 And in both doors pine wood: two folds the one door, with their pivots, and two folds the second door, turning;

 

35 engraved cherubim and palm trees and spread-out petals, and covered with gold laid over the carved work.

 

36 And he built the innermost court: three rows of unhewn stones, and a row of wrought cedar round about.

 

36a And he built the curtain of the court of the porch of the house that was in front of the temple. 

 

Chapter 7

 

1 And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram from Tyre,

 

2 the son of a widow woman, and he was of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a Tyrian man, a worker in bronze, and filled with skill and understanding and knowledge to do every work in bronze; and he was brought in to King Solomon, and he made all the works.

 

3 And he cast the two pillars for the porch of the house: eighteen cubits was the height of the pillar, and a circumference of fourteen cubits encompassed it, and the thickness of the pillar was four fingers, being hollow; and thus was the second pillar.

 

4 And he made two capitals to set upon the heads of the pillars, of cast bronze: five cubits was the height of the one capital, and five cubits the height of the second capital.

 

5 And he made two nets to cover the capital of the pillars: a net for the one capital, and a net for the second capital.

 

6 And hanging work, two rows of bronze pomegranates worked as network, hanging work, row upon row; and thus he did for the second capital.

 

7 And he set up the pillars of the porch of the temple; and he set up the one pillar and called its name Jachum, and he set up the second pillar and called its name Baaz.

 

8 And upon the heads of the pillars was lily-work, at the porch, of four cubits.

 

9 And a lintel was upon both the pillars, and above the sides was a capital, the lintel in thickness.

 

10 And he made the sea, ten cubits from its brim to its brim, the same being round all about: five cubits was its height, and a line of thirty-three cubits encompassed it round about.

 

11 And supports were underneath its brim round about, encircling it; ten in a cubit, surrounding the sea round about.

 

12 And its brim was like the work of the brim of a cup, a lily blossom, and its thickness a handbreadth.

 

13 And twelve oxen were under the sea: three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the sea, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and all their hindquarters were toward the house, and the sea was upon them, above.

 

14 And he made ten bronze bases: five cubits was the length of the one base, and four cubits its breadth, and six cubits its height.

 

15 And this was the work of the bases: there was a border to them, and a border between the projecting ledges.

 

16 And on their borders between the projecting ledges were lions and oxen and cherubim, and on the ledges likewise; and above and below the lions and the oxen were spaces, work of descending work.

 

17 And there were four bronze wheels to the one base, and their fittings of bronze, and their four parts had shoulder-pieces underneath the lavers.

 

18 And there were axles in the wheels on the base, and the height of the one wheel was a cubit and a half.

 

19 And the work of the wheels was like the work of chariot wheels: their axles and their rims and their workmanship were all cast.

 

20 The four shoulder-pieces were at the four corners of the one base; its shoulders were of one piece with the base.

 

21 And on the top of the base was a rounded compass of half a cubit round about, upon the top of the base; and the beginning of its stays and its borders, and it opened at the beginnings of its stays.

 

22 And its borders were cherubim and lions and standing palm trees, each one joined face to face, within and round about.

 

23 According to the same pattern he made all the ten bases, one order and one measure for all.

 

24 And he made ten bronze lavers, each laver holding forty measures by measure; each single laver was upon one base, for the ten bases.

 

25 And he placed the ten bases: five on the side of the house at the right, and five on the side of the house at the left; and the sea was at the side of the house on the right, toward the east, from the south side.

 

26 And Hiram made the caldrons and the fire-pans and the bowls; and Hiram finished making all the works that he made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord:

 

27 two pillars and the twisted wreaths of the pillars upon the heads of the two pillars, and the two nets to cover both the twisted wreaths of the carvings that were on the pillars;

 

28 the four hundred pomegranates for both the nets, two rows of pomegranates for the one net, to cover both the twisted wreaths upon both the pillars;

 

29 and the ten bases and the ten lavers upon the bases;

 

30 and the one sea and the twelve oxen underneath the sea;

 

31 and the caldrons and the fire-pans and the bowls and all the vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord; and the forty-eight pillars of the house of the king and of the house of the Lord. All the works of the king which Hiram made were entirely of bronze.

 

32 There was no weighing of the bronze of which he made all these works, because of its very great abundance; there was no limit to the weight of the bronze.

 

33 In the country round the Jordan the king cast them, in the thick clay of the ground, between Succoth and Zira.

 

34 And King Solomon gave the vessels which he made into the house of the Lord: the golden altar and the table on which was the bread of the offering, of gold;

 

35 and the lampstands, five on the right and five on the left, before the dabir, of pure gold, and the lamp-holders and the lamps and the oil-vessels of gold;

 

36 and the doorways, and the nails, and the bowls, and the dishes, and the censers of gold, of pure work; and the door-panels of the doors of the innermost house, the holy of holies, and the doors of the house of the temple, of gold.

 

37 And all the work which Solomon made for the house of the Lord was completed, and Solomon brought in the holy things of David his father, and all the holy things of Solomon: the silver and the gold and the vessels he gave into the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

 

38 And Solomon built his own house in thirteen years.

 

39 And he built the house of the forest of Lebanon: a hundred cubits was its length, and fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height; with three rows of cedar pillars, and cedar shoulder-pieces upon the pillars.

 

40 And he covered the house above upon the sides of the pillars; and the number of the pillars was forty-five, fifteen in a row.

 

41 And there were three lintels, and space upon space in three tiers.

 

42 And all the doorways and the spaces were square, framed with lintels, and from doorway to door in three tiers.

 

43 And the porch of the pillars was fifty cubits in length and thirty in breadth, joined together, a porch in front of them; and pillars and thick beams in front of it, for the porches.

 

44 And the porch of the thrones, where he was to judge, the porch of judgment.

 

45 And a house for himself, in which he was to sit there: one court adjoining these, according to this work; and he made a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken, like this porch.

 

46 All these were of costly stones, hewn to measure, within, from the foundation to the coping, and outside, to the great court,

 

47 which was founded with costly great stones, stones of ten cubits and of eight cubits,

 

48 and above with costly stones according to measure, unhewn, and with cedars.

 

49 Round about the great court were three rows of unhewn stones and a row of carved cedar.

 

50 And Solomon finished all his house. 

 

Chapter 8

 

1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and his own house after twenty years, then King Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel in Zion, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David,

 

2 in the month Athanin.

 

3 And the priests took up the ark,

 

4 and the tabernacle of testimony and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle of testimony,

 

5 and the king and all Israel were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen without number.

 

6 And the priests bring the ark into its place, into the dabir of the house, into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim;

 

7 for the cherubim were spread out with their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered over the ark and over its holy things from above.

 

8 And the sanctified things projected, and the heads of the sanctified things were seen from the holy place toward the face of the dabir, and they were not seen outside.

 

9 There was nothing in the ark except two stone tablets, tablets of the covenant, which Moses placed there in Horeb, which the Lord covenanted with the sons of Israel when they went out of the land of Egypt.

 

10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house;

 

11 and the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house.

 

14 And the king turned his face, and the king blessed all Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.

 

15 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel today, who spoke with his mouth concerning David my father, and fulfilled it with his hands, saying,

 

16 From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose in a city, among any one tribe of Israel, to build a house, that my name should be there; and I chose Jerusalem, that my name should be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.

 

17 And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

 

18 And the Lord said to David my father, Because it came into your heart to build a house to my name, you did well that it came into your heart;

 

19 nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who came forth from your loins, he shall build the house to my name.

 

20 And the Lord has raised up his word which he spoke; and I have arisen in the place of David my father, and I have sat on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

 

21 And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is there the covenant of the Lord, which the Lord covenanted with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

 

22 And Solomon stood before the face of the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven,

 

23 and said, Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above and on the earth below, keeping covenant and mercy for your servant who walks before you with all his heart,

 

24 which you have kept for your servant David my father; and you spoke with your mouth, and with your hands you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.

 

25 And now, Lord God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you spoke to him, saying, There shall not fail you a man from before my face sitting on the throne of Israel, provided only that your children guard their ways, to walk before me as you walked before me.

 

26 And now, Lord God of Israel, let your word to David my father be confirmed.

 

27 For will God truly dwell with men upon the earth? If heaven and the heaven of heaven will not suffice you, how much less even this house which I have built to your name?

 

28 Yet look upon my supplication, Lord God of Israel, to hear the entreaty which your servant prays before you to you today,

 

29 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which you said, My name shall be there; to hear the prayer which your servant prays toward this place day and night.

 

30 And you shall hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel, whatever they pray toward this place; and you shall hear in the place of your dwelling in heaven, and you shall act and be merciful.

 

31 Whatever each man sins against his neighbor, and if he takes upon him an oath to make him swear, and he comes and confesses before the face of your altar in this house,

 

32 then you shall hear from heaven, and act, and judge your people Israel: to condemn the lawless, to bring his way upon his own head, and to justify the righteous, to give to him according to his righteousness.

 

33 When your people Israel fall before enemies, because they sin against you, and they turn back and confess your name, and pray and make supplication in this house,

 

34 then you shall hear from heaven, and be merciful to the sins of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers.

 

35 When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they sin against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name, and turn from their sins when you humble them,

 

36 then you shall hear from heaven, and be merciful to the sins of your servant and of your people Israel; for you shall show them the good way to walk in it, and you shall give rain upon the land which you gave to your people for an inheritance.

 

37 If famine should come, if death should come, because there shall be blight, locust, if mildew should come, and if his enemy afflict him in any one of his cities, every calamity, every affliction,

 

38 every prayer, every supplication, if it come to any man, so that each one knows the affliction of his own heart and spreads out his hands toward this house,

 

39 then you shall hear from heaven, from your prepared dwelling place, and be merciful, and act, and give to a man according to his ways, as you know his heart—for you alone know the heart of all the sons of men

 

40 that they may fear you all the days that they live upon the land which you gave to our fathers.

 

41 And also for the stranger, who is not of your people,

 

42 when they come and pray toward this place,

 

43 then you shall hear from heaven, from your prepared dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls upon you for; that all the peoples may know your name and fear you, as does your people Israel, and may know that your name has been called upon this house which I have built.

 

44 If your people go out to war against their enemies by the way in which you shall turn them, and they pray in the name of the Lord toward the way of the city which you have chosen for yourself, and of the house which I have built for your name,

 

45 then you will hear from heaven their supplication and their prayer, and you will execute justice for them.

 

46 If they sin against you, for there is no man who will not sin and you bring upon them and deliver them up before enemies, and those who take them captive carry them off captive into a land far off or near,

 

47 and they turn their hearts in the land where they were carried away, and turn back and make supplication to you in the land of their sojourning, saying, "We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have done wrong,"

 

48 and they turn to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, where you carried them away, and they pray to you toward the way of their land which you gave to their fathers, of the city which you have chosen, and of the house which I have built for your name,

 

49 then you will hear from heaven, from your established dwelling place,

 

50 and you will be merciful concerning their iniquities, wherein they sinned against you, and concerning all their breaches of faith, whereby they broke faith with you; and you will grant them compassion before those who hold them captive, and they will have compassion on them;

 

51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the midst of a furnace of iron.

 

52 And let your eyes and your ears be opened to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Israel, to hearken to them in all things wherein they call upon you;

 

53 for you set them apart for yourself as an inheritance out of all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke by the hand of your servant Moses, when you brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, O Lord, Lord.

 

53a Then Solomon spoke concerning the house, when he had finished building it: "The Lord made the sun known in heaven; he said that he would dwell in thick darkness: Build my house, a house of distinction for yourself, that you may dwell in newness." Behold, is this not written in the book of the song?

 

54 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished praying to the Lord all this prayer and supplication, that he rose up from before the altar of the Lord, having knelt upon his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.

 

55 And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

 

56 "Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he spoke; not one word has failed among all his good words which he spoke by the hand of Moses his servant.

 

57 May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; may he not forsake us nor turn us away,

 

58 so as to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep all his commandments and his ordinances which he commanded our fathers.

 

59 And let these words, which I have prayed before the Lord our God, be near to the Lord our God day and night, to execute justice for your servant and justice for your people Israel, each day's matter in its own day,

 

60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God, he alone is God and there is no other.

 

61 And let our hearts be perfect toward the Lord our God, to walk piously in his ordinances and to keep his commandments, as at this day."

 

62 And the king and all the sons of Israel offered sacrifice before the Lord.

 

63 And King Solomon offered the sacrifices of peace offerings which he sacrificed to the Lord: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

 

64 On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court that is in front of the house of the Lord, for he offered there the whole burnt offering and the sacrifices and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that is before the Lord was too small to be able to bear the whole burnt offering and the sacrifices of the peace offerings.

 

65 And Solomon kept the feast on that day, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath as far as the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God in the house which he had built, eating and drinking and rejoicing before the Lord our God for seven days.

 

66 And on the eighth day he sent the people away and blessed them, and they departed, each to his own dwelling, rejoicing and glad of heart because of the good things which the Lord had done for David his servant and for Israel his people. 

  

Chapter 9

 

1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the house of the king and all the work of Solomon, whatever he desired to do,

 

2 that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared at Gibeon.

 

3 And the Lord said to him, "I have heard the voice of your prayer and your supplication, which you made before me; I have done for you according to all your prayer; I have hallowed this house which you have built, to set my name there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there all the days.

 

4 And if you walk before me as David your father walked, in holiness of heart and in uprightness, so as to do according to all that I commanded him, and if you keep my ordinances and my commandments,

 

5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I spoke to David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man to rule in Israel.'

 

6 But if you turn away, you and your children, from me, and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances which Moses set before you, and you go and serve other gods and worship them,

 

7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I gave them, and this house which I hallowed to my name I will cast away from my presence, and Israel shall become a desolation and a byword among all peoples.

 

8 And as for this lofty house, everyone passing by it shall be astonished and shall hiss, and they shall say, 'For what reason has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?'

 

9 And they shall say, 'Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and they took hold of foreign gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought upon them this evil.'"

 

9a Then Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to his house, which he had built for himself in those days.

 

10 During the twenty years in which Solomon built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the house of the king,

 

11 Hiram king of Tyre supported Solomon with cedar timber and pine timber and with gold and with everything he desired. Then the king gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

 

12 And Hiram went out from Tyre and traveled to Galilee to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.

 

13 And he said, "What are these cities which you have given me, brother?" And he called them Border to this day.

 

14 And Hiram brought Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold,

 

26 and a ship besides, which King Solomon made at Ezion-geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the farthest sea in the land of Edom.

 

27 And Hiram sent in the ship, of his servants, seafaring men who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.

 

28 And they came to Sophera, and took from there one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon. 

 

Chapter 10

 

1 And the queen of Sheba heard the name of Solomon and the name of the Lord, and she came to test him with riddles.

 

2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stone; and she came in to Solomon and spoke to him all that was in her heart.

 

3 And Solomon answered her all her questions; there was no matter overlooked by the king which he did not declare to her.

 

4 And the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

 

5 and the food of Solomon, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and his clothing, and his cupbearers, and his whole burnt offering which he offered in the house of the Lord; and she was beside herself.

 

6 And she said to king Solomon, "True is the report which I heard in my land concerning your word and concerning your wisdom,

 

7 and I did not believe those who told me until I came and my eyes saw; and behold, not even the half was as they reported to me, you have added good things to them beyond all the report which I heard in my land.

 

8 Blessed are your wives, blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually, who hear all your wisdom.

 

9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who was pleased in you to set you upon the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel to establish it forever, and he set you as king over them, to execute judgment with righteousness and in their judgments."

 

10 And she gave Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and very many spices, and precious stone; there had never yet come such an abundance of spices as those which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

 

13 And king Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked, besides all that he had given her by the hand of king Solomon; and she turned and went to her own land, she and all her servants.

 

14 And the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

 

15 apart from the tributes of those subjected, and the merchants, and all the kings beyond the river, and the satraps of the land.

 

16 And Solomon made three hundred spears of beaten gold — three hundred pieces of gold went into one spear

 

17 and three hundred shields of beaten gold, three minas of gold were in one shield and he put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

 

18 And the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.

 

19 The throne had six steps, and calves' heads projected from the back of the throne, and there were arms on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms,

 

20 and twelve lions standing upon the six steps on either side; nothing like it had been made in any kingdom.

 

21 And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and the basins were of gold; all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were bound with gold, there was no silver, for it was not accounted anything in the days of Solomon;

 

22 for the king had a ship of Tarshish on the sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years a ship came to the king from Tarshish, with gold and silver and carved and hewn stones.

 

22a This was the business of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of the Lord and the house of the king and the wall of Jerusalem and the citadel, to fortify the enclosure of the city of David, and Assur and Magdan and Gezer and Beth-horon the upper and Jethermath, and all the cities of the chariots and all the cities of the horsemen, and the enterprise of Solomon which he undertook to build in Jerusalem and in all the land, so that none should rule over him.

 

22b All the people left over from the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite and the Girgashite, who were not of the sons of Israel, their children who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able to destroy utterly, these Solomon raised as a levy to this day.

 

22c But of the sons of Israel Solomon gave none to the work, for they were the men of war, and his servants, and the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.

 

23 And Solomon was magnified above all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.

 

24 And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which the Lord had put in his heart.

 

25 And they brought, each one, his gifts: vessels of gold and clothing, oil of myrrh and spices and horses and mules, year by year.

 

26 And Solomon had four thousand mares for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

 

26a And he was ruler over all the kings from the river to the land of the Philistines and to the borders of Egypt.

 

27 And the king made gold and silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and cedars he made as the sycamores in the plain for abundance.

 

28 And the export of Solomon's horses was from Egypt and from Tekoa; the king's merchants procured them from Tekoa by barter;

 

29 and the export from Egypt went up: a chariot for a hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for fifty pieces of silver; and so for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria they went out by sea. 

 

Chapter 11

 

1 And King Solomon was a lover of women. And he had seven hundred ruling wives and three hundred concubines. And he took foreign women, and the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite women, Ammanite women, Syrian and Idumean women, Chettite and Amorrite women,

 

2 from among the nations concerning which the Lord had forbidden the sons of Israel, saying, "You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you, lest they turn aside your hearts after their idols", to these Solomon clung, so as to love them.

 

4 And it came to pass at the time of Solomon's old age that his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father, and the foreign women turned aside his heart after their gods.

 

5 Then Solomon built a high place for Chamos, the idol of Moab, and for their king, the idol of the sons of Ammon,

 

6 and for Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians,

 

7 and thus he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their idols;

 

8 and Solomon did what was evil before the Lord; he did not walk after the Lord as David his father did.

 

9 And the Lord was angered against Solomon, because he turned aside his heart from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice

 

10 and had charged him concerning this matter, that he should by no means walk after other gods, and that he should take care to do what the Lord God had commanded him;

 

11 and the Lord said to Solomon, "Because these things have come to be with you, and you have not kept my commandments and my ordinances which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from your hand and give it to your servant.

 

12 Nevertheless in your days I will not do these things, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will take it.

 

13 Yet I will not take the whole kingdom; one scepter I will give to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen."

 

14 And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon: Hader the Idumean, and Esrom son of Eliadae, who was in Raemmath, and Adrazar king of Souba, his lord; and men gathered together against him, and he was the leader of a band, and he seized Damasek beforehand; and they were adversaries to Israel all the days of Solomon. And Hader the Idumean was of the royal seed in Idumea.

 

15 And it happened, when David was destroying Edom, when Joab the commander of the army went to bury the slain, they cut down every male in Idumea

 

16 for six months Joab and all Israel remained encamped there in Idumea, until he had utterly destroyed every male out of Idumea

 

17 and Hader fled, he and all the Idumean men of his father's servants with him, and they came into Egypt, and Hader was a small boy.

 

18 And men rose up out of the city of Madiam and came to Pharan, and they took men with them and came to Pharaoh king of Egypt; and Hader came in to Pharaoh, and he gave him a house and appointed him bread.

 

19 And Hader found favor before Pharaoh exceedingly, and he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the elder sister of Thekemina;

 

20 and the sister of Thekemina bore to Hader Ganebath her son, and Thekemina reared him in the midst of Pharaoh's sons, and Ganebath was in the midst of Pharaoh's sons.

 

21 And Hader heard in Egypt that David had fallen asleep with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army had died; and Hader said to Pharaoh, "Send me away, and I shall return to my own land."

 

22 And Pharaoh said to Hader, "In what do you lack while with me? And behold, you seek to depart to your own land!" And Hader said to him, "Only send me away by all means." And Hader returned to his own land.

 

25 This is the mischief which Hader did; and he was grievous against Israel, and he reigned in the land of Edom.

 

26 And Jeroboam son of Nabat, the Ephrathite from Sarira, the son of a widow woman, was a servant of Solomon,

 

27 and this is the matter, how he lifted up his hands against King Solomon: he built the citadel, he closed up the breach of the city of David his father;

 

28 and the man Jeroboam was mighty in strength, and Solomon saw the young man, that he was a man of works, and he set him over the burden-bearers of the house of Joseph.

 

29 And it happened at that time that Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and Achias the Selonite, the prophet, found him on the way and turned him aside from the way; and Achias was clothed with a new garment, and both of them were in the plain.

 

30 And Achia took hold of his new garment that was upon him and tore it into twelve pieces,

 

31 and he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I am tearing the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten scepters,

 

32 and two scepters shall be his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,

 

33 because he forsook me and made offering to Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chamos and the idols of Moab, and to their king, the loathsome thing of the sons of Ammon, and he did not walk in my ways, doing what is right before me, as David his father did.

 

34 Yet I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand, because I will surely set myself against him all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose.

 

35 And I will take the kingdom out of the hand of his son and will give you the ten scepters,

 

36 but to his son I will give the two scepters, so that there may be a standing place for my servant David all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I chose for myself, to set my name there.

 

37 And you I will take, and you shall reign over whatever your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

 

38 And it shall be, if you keep all that I command you, and walk in my ways, and do what is right before me, keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as David my servant did, then I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David.'"

 

40 And Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, and he arose and fled to Egypt, to Sousakim king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until Solomon died.

 

41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and all his wisdom — behold, are these things not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

 

42 And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem were forty years.

 

43 And Solomon fell asleep with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam son of Nabat heard, while he was still in Egypt, since he had fled from before Solomon and was dwelling in Egypt, he set out straightway and came to his city, to the land of Sarira in the hill country of Ephraim. And King Solomon fell asleep with his fathers, and Roboam his son reigned in his place. 

  

Chapter 12

 

1 And King Rehoboam goes to Shechem, for all Israel were coming to Shechem to make him king.

 

3 And the people spoke to King Rehoboam, saying,

 

4 "Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore lighten the hard servitude of your father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve you."

 

5 And he said to them, "Go away for three days and return to me." And they departed.

 

6 And the king gave orders to the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he was still living, saying, "How do you counsel, that I may answer this people a word?"

 

7 And they spoke to him, saying, "If on this day you will be a servant to this people and serve them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all the days."

 

8 And he forsook the counsel of the elders, which they had counseled him, and took counsel with the young men who had been brought up with him, who stood before his face.

 

9 And he said to them, "What do you counsel? And what shall I answer to this people who spoke to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put upon us'?"

 

10 And the young men who had been brought up with him, who stood before his face, spoke to him, saying, "Thus shall you speak to this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, and now lighten it from us', thus shall you speak to them: 'My littleness is thicker than my father's loins.

 

11 And now, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, and I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

 

12 And all Israel came to King Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken to them, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

 

13 And the king answered the people harshly, and Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders, which they had counseled him,

 

14 and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I will chastise you with scorpions."

 

15 And the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from the Lord, that he might establish his word which he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat.

 

16 And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? And we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Run away, Israel, to your tents! Now feed your own house, David!" And Israel went away to their tents.

 

18 And the king sent Adoniram, who was over the tribute, and all Israel stoned him with stones and he died; and King Rehoboam managed to get up to flee to Jerusalem.

 

19 And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

 

20 And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over Israel; and none followed the house of David except the scepter of Judah and Benjamin alone.

 

21 And Rehoboam entered Jerusalem and assembled the congregation of Judah and the scepter of Benjamin, a hundred and twenty thousand young men waging war, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

 

22 And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

 

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

 

24 'Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up nor make war with your brothers the sons of Israel; let each return to his own house, for this thing has come from me.'" And they heard the word of the Lord and ceased from going, according to the word of the Lord.

 

24a And King Solomon sleeps with his fathers and is buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place in Jerusalem, being sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twelve years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Naanan, daughter of Anan son of Nahash, king of the sons of Ammon. And he did evil before the Lord and did not walk in the way of David his father.

 

24b And there was a man from Mount Ephraim, a servant of Solomon, and his name was Jeroboam, and his mother's name was Sarira, a harlot; and Solomon made him overseer of the levy over the burdens of the house of Joseph, and he built for Solomon Sarira in Mount Ephraim; and he had three hundred chariots of horses. He built the citadel with the levies of the house of Ephraim; he enclosed the city of David and was lifting himself up toward the kingdom.

 

24c And Solomon sought to put him to death, and he was afraid and fled to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was with him until Solomon died.

 

24d And Jeroboam heard in Egypt that Solomon was dead, and he spoke in the ears of Shishak, king of Egypt, saying, "Send me away, and I will go to my land." And Shishak said to him, "Ask any request, and I will give it to you."

 

24e And Shishak gave to Jeroboam Ano, the elder sister of Tahpenes his wife, to him as wife; she was great among the daughters of the king, and she bore to Jeroboam Abijah his son.

 

24f And Jeroboam said to Shishak, "Truly send me away, and I will depart." And Jeroboam went out of Egypt and came to the land of Sarira in Mount Ephraim; and there all the scepter of Ephraim gathers; and Jeroboam built a fortification there.

 

24g And his child fell sick with a very severe sickness; and Jeroboam went to inquire concerning the child; and he said to Ano his wife, "Arise and go, inquire of God concerning the child, whether he will live through his sickness."

 

24h And there was a man in Shiloh, and his name was Ahijah, and he was sixty years old, and the word of the Lord was with him. And Jeroboam said to his wife, "Arise and take in your hand for the man of God loaves and cakes for his children and grapes and a jar of honey."

 

24i And the woman arose and took in her hand loaves and two cakes and grapes and a jar of honey for Ahijah; and the man was old, and his eyes were too dim to see.

 

24k And she arose from Sarira and goes; and it came to pass, as she entered the city to Ahijah the Shilonite, that Ahijah said to his servant, "Go out now to meet Ano the wife of Jeroboam, and you shall say to her, 'Come in and do not stand still, for thus says the Lord: I am sending hard things upon you.'"

 

24l And Ano came in to the man of God, and Ahijah said to her, "Why have you brought me loaves and grapes and cakes and a jar of honey? Thus says the Lord: Behold, you shall depart from me, and it shall be, when you enter the gate at Sarira, that your girls shall come out to meet you and shall say to you, "The little boy is dead."

 

24m For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will utterly destroy of Jeroboam him that urinates against a wall, and the dead of Jeroboam in the city the dogs shall devour, and him that is dead in the field the birds of heaven shall devour. And for the little boy they shall wail, "Alas, Lord!" because there was found in him a good word concerning the Lord.

 

24n And the woman went away, when she heard, and it happened, as she entered into Sarira, that the little boy died, and the wailing went out to meet her.

 

24o And Jeroboam went to Sikima, the one in the hill country of Ephraim, and gathered together there the tribes of Israel, and Roboam son of Solomon went up there. And a word of the Lord came to Samaias the Elamite, saying: Take for yourself a new garment which has not gone into water, and tear it into twelve pieces, and you shall give them to Jeroboam and shall say to him, "Thus says the Lord: Take for yourself ten pieces to clothe yourself." And Jeroboam took them; and Samaias said: Thus says the Lord concerning the ten tribes of Israel.

 

24p And the people said to Roboam son of Solomon: Your father made his yoke-collar heavy upon us and made heavy the foods of his table; and now, if you will lighten it upon us, then we will be subject to you. And Roboam said to the people: Three days more, and I will answer you a word.

 

24q And Roboam said: Bring in to me the elders, and I will take counsel with them what word I should answer to the people on the third day. And Roboam spoke into their ears just as the people had sent word to him, and the elders of the people said: Thus the people spoke to you.

 

24r And Roboam dismissed their counsel, and it was not pleasing before him; and he sent and brought in his foster-companions and spoke to them the same things: And these things the people sent to me, saying. And his foster-companions said: Thus shall you speak to the people, saying, "My little part is thicker than my father's loins; my father used to flog you with whips, but I will rule over you with scorpions."

 

24s And the word was pleasing before Roboam, and he answered the people just as his foster-companions, the young lads, had counseled him.

 

24t And all the people spoke as one man, each to his neighbor, and they all cried out, saying: We have no portion in David nor inheritance in the son of Jessai; to your tents, Israel, for this man is not fit for a ruler nor for a leader.

 

24u And all the people was scattered from Sikima, and each went away to his tent. And Roboam prevailed, and he went away and mounted his chariot and entered into Jerusalem, and there go after him all the scepter of Judah and all the scepter of Benjamin.

 

24x And it happened, when the year came round, that Roboam gathered together every man of Judah and Benjamin and went up to make war against Jeroboam at Sikima.

 

24y And a word of the Lord came to Samaias, a man of God, saying: Speak to Roboam king of Judah and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the remnant of the people, saying, "Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up nor make war against your brothers the sons of Israel; return each to his own house, for from me has this thing come to pass."

 

24z And they listened to the word of the Lord and refrained from going, according to the word of the Lord.

 

25 And Jeroboam built Sikima, the one in the hill country of Ephraim, and dwelt in it; and he went out from there and built Phanouel.

 

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart: Behold, now the kingdom will return to the house of David;

 

27 if this people goes up to offer up sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of the people will turn back to the Lord and to their lord, to Roboam king of Judah, and they will kill me.

 

28 And the king took counsel and went and made two golden heifers and said to the people: Let it be enough for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

 

29 And he set the one in Baithel, and the other he placed in Dan.

 

30 And this thing became a sin; and the people went before the face of the one as far as Dan.

 

31 And he made houses on the high places, and he made priests of a certain portion of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

 

32 And Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in the land of Judah, and he went up onto the altar which he had made in Baithel, to sacrifice to the heifers which he had made, and he stationed in Baithel the priests of the high places which he had made.

 

33 And he went up onto the altar which he had made, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, at the festival which he had contrived out of his own heart, and he made a festival for the sons of Israel and went up onto the altar to offer sacrifice. 

  

Chapter 13

 

1 And behold, a man of God came from Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to sacrifice.

 

2 And he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, "Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: Behold, a son is born to the house of David, Josiah is his name, and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who sacrifice upon you, and he shall burn men's bones upon you."

 

3 And he gave a sign on that day, saying, "This is the word which the Lord has spoken, saying: Behold, the altar is torn apart, and the fatness that is upon it shall be poured out."

 

4 And it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the words of the man of God who cried out against the altar at Bethel, that the king stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." And behold, his hand which he stretched out against him withered, and he was not able to draw it back to himself.

 

5 And the altar was torn apart, and the fatness was poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God gave by the word of the Lord.

 

6 And King Jeroboam said to the man of God, "Entreat the face of the Lord your God, and let my hand be restored to me." And the man of God entreated the face of the Lord, and he restored the king's hand to him, and it became as before.

 

7 And the king spoke to the man of God, "Come with me into the house and dine, and I will give you a gift."

 

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

 

9 For thus the Lord commanded me by word, saying: You shall not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the way in which you went."

 

10 And he departed by another way and did not return by the way by which he had come to Bethel.

 

11 Now a certain old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and recounted to him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words which he had spoken to the king; and they turned the face of their father.

 

12 And their father spoke to them, saying, "By what way did he go?" And his sons showed him the way by which the man of God who came from Judah had gone up.

 

13 And he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted upon it.

 

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

 

15 And he said to him, "Come with me and eat bread."

 

16 And he said, "I cannot return with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water in this place.

 

17 For thus the Lord has commanded me by word, saying: You shall not eat bread there nor drink water there, nor return by the way in which you went."

 

18 And he said to him, "I too am a prophet like you, and an angel has spoken to me by the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with you to your house, and let him eat bread and drink water." But he lied to him.

 

19 And he brought him back, and he ate bread and drank water in his house.

 

20 And it came to pass, as they were sitting at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back,

 

21 and he said to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord: Because you have provoked the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,

 

22 and you returned and ate bread and drank water in this place, concerning which he spoke to you, saying: You shall not eat bread nor drink water—your body shall not enter the tomb of your fathers."

 

23 And it came to pass after he ate bread and drank water, that he saddled the donkey for him, and he turned back.

 

24 And he departed, and a lion found him on the way and killed him, and his body was cast down in the way, and the donkey stood beside it, and the lion stood beside the body.

 

25 And behold, men passing by saw the carcass cast down in the way, and the lion standing near the carcass; and they went in and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

 

26 And he who had brought him back from the way heard it and said, "This is the man of God who provoked the word of the Lord."

 

28 And he went and found his body cast down in the way, and the donkey and the lion were standing beside the body, and the lion had not eaten the body of the man of God, nor had it mauled the donkey.

 

29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it upon the donkey, and the prophet brought him back to the city to bury him

 

30 in his own tomb; and they mourned him: "Alas, brother!"

 

31 And it came to pass after he had mourned him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in this tomb where the man of God is buried; lay me beside his bones, that my bones may be preserved with his bones.

 

32 For the word which he spoke by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against the high houses in Samaria shall surely come to pass."

 

33 And after this word, Jeroboam did not turn from his wickedness, but turned and made priests of the high places from a portion of the people: whoever wished, he would fill his hand, and he became a priest for the high places.

 

34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, and destruction, and annihilation from the face of the earth. 

 

Chapter 14

 

21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned over Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there; and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.

 

22 And Rehoboam did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and provoked him to jealousy in all the things which their fathers had done, and in their sins which they sinned;

 

23 and they built for themselves high places and pillars and groves on every high hill and under every shady tree.

 

24 And a conspiracy arose in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had removed from before the sons of Israel.

 

25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,

 

26 and he took all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and the golden spears which David had taken from the hand of the servants of Hadadezer king of Zobah and had brought into Jerusalem; he took everything, the golden shields.

 

27 And King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place. And the captains of the runners, who guarded the gate of the king's house, were set over him.

 

28 And it came to pass, whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, that the runners took them up and set them back in the chamber of the runners.

 

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

 

30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

 

31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place. 

  

Chapter 15

 

1 And in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nabat, Abiu son of Roboam became king over Judah,

 

2 and he reigned six years; and his mother's name was Maacha, daughter of Abessalom.

 

3 And he walked in the sins of his father, which he had committed before him, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.

 

4 For because of David the Lord gave him a remnant, that he might establish his children after him and establish Jerusalem,

 

5 forasmuch as David did what was right before the Lord; he did not turn aside from all that he commanded him all the days of his life.

 

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

 

8 And Abiu slept with his fathers in the twenty-fourth year of Jeroboam, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

 

9 In the twenty-fourth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah,

 

10 and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Ana, daughter of Abessalom.

 

11 And Asa did what was right before the Lord, as David his father.

 

12 And he removed the rites from the land, and did away with all the practices which his fathers had made.

 

13 And Ana his mother he removed from being ruler, because she had made an assembly in her grove; and Asa cut down her retreats and burned them with fire in the brook Kedron.

 

14 But the high places he did not take away; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days.

 

15 And he brought in the pillars of his father, and his own pillars he brought into the house of the Lord, of silver and of gold, and vessels.

 

16 And there was war between Asa and Baasa king of Israel all their days.

 

17 And Baasa king of Israel went up against Judah and built Rama, so that no one might go out or come in for Asa king of Judah.

 

18 And Asa took the silver and the gold that was found in the treasuries of the king's house, and gave them into the hands of his servants; and King Asa sent them to the son of Ader, son of Taberemman, son of Azin, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

 

19 "Make a covenant between me and you, and between my father and your father; behold, I have sent you gifts of silver and gold. Come, break your covenant with Baasa king of Israel, so that he will go up away from me."

 

20 And the son of Ader hearkened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his forces against the cities of Israel, and he smote Ain and Dan and Abelmaa and all Chezrath, as far as all the land of Nephthali.

 

21 And it came to pass, when Baasa heard, that he ceased building Rama and returned to Thersa.

 

22 And King Asa gave command to all Judah at Ainakim, and they took up the stones of Rama and its timber, with which Baasa had built; and with them King Asa built every hill of Benjamin and the watchtower.

 

23 And the rest of the acts of Asa, and all his mighty power which he wrought, behold, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless, in the time of his old age he suffered in his feet.

 

24 And Asa slept and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Josaphat his son reigned in his stead.

 

25 And Nadab son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

 

26 And he did evil before the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and in his sins, wherewith he made Israel sin.

 

27 And Baasa son of Achia, of the house of Belaan, besieged him, and smote him at Gabathon of the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gabathon.

 

28 And Baasa put him to death in the third year of Asa son of Abiu, king of Judah, and reigned.

 

29 And it came to pass, when he became king, that he smote the house of Jeroboam, and left not any breathing thing of Jeroboam until he had destroyed him utterly, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Achia the Selonite,

 

30 concerning the sins of Jeroboam, how he made Israel sin, and in his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.

 

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

 

33 And in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasa son of Achia became king over Israel at Thersa, for twenty-four years.

 

34 And he did evil before the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam son of Nabat and in his sins, as he made Israel sin. 

  

Chapter 16

 

1 And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha:

 

2 "Because I raised you up from the earth and made you leader over my people Israel, and you walked in the way of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin, so as to provoke me to anger with their vanities,

 

3 behold, I am raising up after Baasha and after his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nabat:

 

4 him of Baasha's who dies in the city, the dogs shall devour, and him of his who dies in the field, the birds of the sky shall devour."

 

5 And the rest of the acts of Baasha and all that he did, and his mighty deeds, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

6 And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of King Asa.

 

7 And by the hand of Jehu son of Hanani the Lord spoke against Baasha and against his house all the evil that he did before the Lord, provoking him to anger by the works of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him down.

 

8 And Elah son of Baasha reigned over Israel two years in Tirzah.

 

9 And Zimri, the commander of half the cavalry, conspired against him, while he was in Tirzah drinking, drunk, in the house of Arza the steward in Tirzah.

 

10 And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him and reigned in his place.

 

11 And it came to pass, when he became king, when he sat on his throne, that he struck down the whole house of Baasha,

 

12 according to the word that the Lord spoke against the house of Baasha to Jehu the prophet,

 

13 concerning all the sins of Baasha and of Elah his son, in that he caused Israel to sin, so as to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

 

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

 

15 And Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. And the camp of Israel was against Gibbethon of the Philistines,

 

16 and the people in the camp heard it said, "Zimri has conspired and struck the king"; and they made Omri, the leader of the army over Israel, king in Israel on that day in the camp.

 

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

 

18 And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that his city was taken, that he went into the inner chamber of the king's house and burned the king's house down upon himself with fire, and he died,

 

19 for his sins that he committed, doing evil before the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam son of Nabat and in his sins, in that he caused Israel to sin.

 

20 And the rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracies that he made, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

21 Then the people of Israel were divided: half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and half the people followed Omri.

 

22 The people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni son of Ginath, and Tibni died, and Joram his brother, at that time, and Omri reigned after Tibni.

 

23 In the thirty-first year of King Asa, Omri reigned over Israel twelve years. In Tirzah he reigned six years.

 

24 And Omri bought the hill of Semeron from Shemer, the owner of the hill, for two talents of silver, and he built upon the hill and called the name of the hill that he built after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria.

 

25 And Omri did evil before the Lord and did more wickedly than all who were before him.

 

26 And he walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nabat and in his sins, by which he caused Israel to sin, so as to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

 

27 And the rest of the acts of Omri and all that he did, and his mighty deeds, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

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

 

28a And in the eleventh year of Omri, Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to reign, being thirty-five years old at his accession, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

 

28b And he walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right before the Lord; only they did not remove the high places; they sacrificed on the high places and burned incense.

 

28c And the covenants that Jehoshaphat made, and all his might that he showed, and those against whom he made war, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

28d And the rest of the sodomites who had established themselves in the days of Asa his father he removed from the land.

 

28e And there was no king in Syria, but a deputy.

 

28f And King Jehoshaphat made a ship for Tarshish, to go to Ophir for gold; but it did not go, because the ship was broken at Ezion-geber.

 

28g Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will send your servants and my servants in the ship"; but Jehoshaphat was not willing.

 

28h And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Joram his son reigned in his place.

 

29 In the second year of Jehoshaphat, Ahab son of Omri began to reign; he reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

 

30 And Ahab did evil before the Lord; he acted more wickedly than all who were before him.

 

31 And it was not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nabat; he also took as wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him.

 

32 And he set up an altar to Baal in the house of his abominations, which he built in Samaria.

 

33 And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab went further, doing provocations to provoke his own soul to anger, so as to be utterly destroyed; he did evil beyond all the kings of Israel who were before him.

 

34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho: at the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his younger son he set up its gates, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of Joshua son of Nun.

 

Chapter 17

 

1 And Elijah the prophet, the Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord lives, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by the word of my mouth."

 

2 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah:

 

3 "Go from here toward the east and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is before the Jordan;

 

4 and it shall be that you will drink water from the brook, and I will command the ravens to feed you there."

 

5 And Elijah did according to the word of the Lord, and he settled by the brook Cherith, before the Jordan.

 

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

 

7 And it came to pass after some days that the brook dried up, because there was no rain upon the land.

 

8 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah:

 

9 "Arise and go to Zarephath of Sidon; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to feed you."

 

10 And he arose and went to Zarephath, to the gate of the city, and behold, a widow woman was there gathering sticks; and Elijah called after her and said to her, "Bring me, please, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."

 

11 And she went to get it, and Elijah called after her and said, "Bring me, please, a morsel of bread in your hand."

 

12 And the woman said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have no cake, but only a handful of meal in the jar and a little oil in the flask; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, and I will go in and make it for myself and my children, and we shall eat it and die."

 

13 And Elijah said to her, "Take courage; go in and do according to your word; but make me from it a little cake first and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for yourself and your children.

 

14 For thus says the Lord: The jar of meal shall not fail, and the flask of oil shall not diminish, until the day the Lord gives rain upon the earth."

 

15 And the woman went and did so; and she ate, and he, and her children.

 

16 And the jar of meal did not fail, and the flask of oil did not diminish, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of Elijah.

 

17 And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was very severe, until no breath was left in him.

 

18 And she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my iniquities to remembrance and to put my son to death?"

 

19 And Elijah said to the woman, "Give me your son." And he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him upon his bed.

 

20 And Elijah cried out and said, "Alas, O Lord, the witness of the widow with whom I dwell—have you afflicted her by putting her son to death?"

 

21 And he breathed upon the child three times and called upon the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I pray, return into him."

 

22 And it was so, and the child cried out.

 

23 And he brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son lives."

 

24 And the woman said to Elijah, "Behold, I know that you are a man of God, and the word of the Lord in your mouth is true." 

 

Chapter 18

 

1 And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go and appear to Ahab, and I will give rain upon the face of the earth."

 

2 And Elijah went to appear to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria.

 

3 And Ahab called Obadiah the steward.

 

5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, "Come, and let us go through the land, to the springs of water and to the brooks, if perhaps we may find grass and may keep the horses and mules alive, and they will not be cut off from the livestock."

 

6 And they divided the road between themselves to pass through it: Ahab went by one way alone, and Obadiah went by another way alone.

 

7 And Obadiah was on the road alone, and Elijah came to meet him alone. And Obadiah hastened and fell on his face and said, "Is it you yourself, my lord Elijah?"

 

8 And Elijah said to him, "It is I. Go, say to your lord, 'Behold, Elijah.'"

 

9 And Obadiah said, "How have I sinned, that you give your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

 

10 As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my lord has not sent to seek you; and when they said, 'He is not here,' he set fire to the kingdom and its territories, because he had not found you.

 

11 And now you say, 'Go, report to your lord, "Behold, Elijah."'

 

12 And it will be that when I depart from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to a land which I do not know, and I will go in to report to Ahab, and he will kill me. Yet your servant has feared the Lord from his youth.

 

13 Has it not been told to you, my lord, what things I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord that I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord, fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

 

14 And now you say to me, 'Go, say to your lord, "Behold, Elijah,"' and he will kill me."

 

15 And Elijah said, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, today I will appear to him."

 

16 And Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab ran out and went to meet Elijah.

 

17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to Elijah, "Is it you, the one who perverts Israel?"

 

18 And Elijah said, "I do not pervert Israel; rather it is you and your father's house, in your forsaking the Lord your God, and you went after the Baals.

 

19 And now send, gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and the prophets of shame, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves, four hundred, who eat at Jezebel's table."

 

20 And Ahab sent to all Israel and gathered all the prophets to Mount Carmel.

 

21 And Elijah drew near to them all, and Elijah said to them, "How long will you go limping on both legs? If the Lord is God, go after him; but if Baal is he, go after him." And the people did not answer a word.

 

22 And Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, and the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men, and the prophets of the grove four hundred.

 

23 Let them give us two oxen, and let them choose one for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under; and I will prepare the other ox, and I will put no fire.

 

24 And cry out in the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord my God; and it shall be that the god who answers by fire, he is God." And all the people answered and said, "Good is the word which you have spoken."

 

25 And Elijah said to the prophets of shame, "Choose for yourselves the one calf and prepare it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire."

 

26 And they took the calf and prepared it, and they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon and said, "Hear us, O Baal, hear us." And there was no voice and there was no hearing; and they ran about upon the altar which they had made.

 

27 And it was noon, and Elijah the Tishbite mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; for he is engaged in meditation, or perhaps he is attending to business, or perhaps he is asleep and will awake."

 

28 And they called out with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with knives and lances, until blood gushed out upon them.

 

29 And they prophesied until the afternoon had passed. And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the sacrifice, that there was no voice, and Elijah the Tishbite spoke to the prophets of the abominations, saying, "Withdraw now, and I will offer my whole burnt offering." And they withdrew and departed.

 

30 And Elijah said to the people, "Come near to me." And all the people came near to him.

 

31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, as the Lord had spoken to him, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

 

32 And he built up the stones in the name of the Lord and repaired the altar that had been torn down, and he made a trench holding two measures of seed around the altar.

 

33 And he piled the split wood on the altar which he had made, and cut the whole burnt offering in pieces and laid it on the wood, and piled it on the altar.

 

34 And he said, "Fetch me four pitchers of water and pour it on the whole burnt offering and on the wood." And they did so. And he said, "Do it a second time"; and they did it a second time. And he said, "Do it a third time"; and they did it a third time.

 

35 And the water ran around the altar, and they filled the trench with water.

 

36 And Elijah cried aloud to heaven and said, "O Lord, God of Abraham and Isaac and Israel, hear me, O Lord, hear me today by fire, and let all this people know that you are the Lord, the God of Israel, and I am your servant, and for your sake I have done these deeds.

 

37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me by fire, and let this people know that you are the Lord God, and you have turned back the heart of this people."

 

38 And fire fell from the Lord out of heaven and consumed the whole burnt offering and the wood and the water that was in the trench, and the fire licked up the stones and the dust.

 

39 And all the people fell on their faces and said, "Truly the Lord is God; he is God."

 

40 And Elijah said to the people, "Seize the prophets of Baal; let none of them escape." And they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

 

41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up and eat and drink, for there is the sound of the feet of the rain."

 

42 And Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up onto Carmel and bowed down upon the ground and put his face between his knees.

 

43 And he said to his young servant, "Go up and look toward the sea." And the young servant looked and said, "There is nothing." And Elijah said, "Then go back seven times"; and the young servant went back seven times.

 

44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, behold, a little cloud like a man's footprint, bringing up water. And he said, "Go up and say to Ahab, 'Harness your chariot and go down, lest the rain overtake you.'"

 

45 And it came to pass in a little while that the heaven grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain; and Ahab wept and went to Jezreel.

 

46 And the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab as far as Jezreel. 

 

Chapter 19

 

1 And Ahab told Jezebel his wife everything that Elijah had done, and how he had killed the prophets with the sword.

 

2 And Jezebel sent to Elijah and said, "If you are Elijah and I am Jezebel, may God do thus to me and add thus also, for at this hour tomorrow I will make your life like the life of one of them."

 

3 And Elijah was afraid, and he arose and went away for his life, and he came to Beersheba of Judah, and he left his servant boy there.

 

4 And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a broom tree, and he asked for his life to die, and said, "It is enough now; take my life from me, O Lord, for I am no better than my fathers."

 

5 And he lay down and slept there under a plant, and behold, someone touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat."

 

6 And Elijah looked, and behold, at his head was a cake baked on coals of spelt and a jar of water; and he arose and ate and drank. And he turned and lay down again.

 

7 And the angel of the Lord returned a second time and touched him and said to him, "Arise, eat, for the journey is long for you."

 

8 And he arose and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb.

 

9 And he entered there into the cave and lodged there; and behold, a word of the Lord came to him, and he said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

 

10 And Elijah said, "I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty, for the sons of Israel have forsaken you; they have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it."

 

11 And he said, "You shall go out tomorrow and stand before the Lord on the mountain; behold, the Lord will pass by. And a great and mighty wind, rending mountains and shattering rocks before the Lord, the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake — the Lord was not in the earthquake;

 

12 and after the earthquake a fire, the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire the sound of a gentle breeze, and there was the Lord.

 

13 And it came to pass, when Elijah heard it, that he covered his face with his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave; and behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

 

14 And Elijah said, "I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty, for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant; they have pulled down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it."

 

15 And the Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way, and you shall come to the road of the wilderness of Damascus, and you shall anoint Hazael as king of Syria;

 

16 and you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.

 

17 And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.

 

18 And you shall leave in Israel seven thousand men, all the knees that have not bowed the knee to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."

 

19 And he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with oxen, twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he himself with the twelfth and he came up to him and cast his mantle upon him.

 

20 And Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Let me kiss my father, and I will follow after you." And Elijah said, "Return, for I have done something to you."

 

21 And he turned back from following him, and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled them with the implements of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate; and he arose and went after Elijah and ministered to him. 

  

Chapter 20

 

1 And Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard beside the threshing floor of Ahab king of Samaria.

 

2 And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, and it shall be to me a garden of herbs, for it is near my house, and I will give you another vineyard better than it; but if it pleases you, I will give you silver in exchange for this vineyard of yours, and it shall be to me a garden of herbs."

 

3 And Naboth said to Ahab, "May it not be to me from my God to give the inheritance of my fathers to you."

 

4 And the spirit of Ahab was troubled, and he lay down on his bed and covered his face and did not eat bread.

 

5 And Jezebel his wife came in to him and spoke to him, "Why is your spirit troubled, and why are you not eating bread?"

 

6 And he said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, saying, 'Give me your vineyard for silver; or if you wish, I will give you another vineyard in its place'; and he said, 'I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.'"

 

7 And Jezebel his wife said to him, "Is this how you now act as king over Israel? Arise, eat bread, and be yourself; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

 

8 And she wrote a letter in the name of Ahab and sealed it with his seal and sent the letter to the elders and the freemen who dwelt with Naboth.

 

9 And it was written in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people;

 

10 and set two men, sons of lawless ones, opposite him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'He blessed God and the king'; and let them lead him out and stone him, and let him die."

 

11 And the men of his city, the elders and the freemen who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel sent to them, as it was written in the letters which she sent to them.

 

12 They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people,

 

13 and two men, sons of lawless ones, came and sat opposite him and testified against him, saying, "You have blessed God and the king"; and they led him outside the city and stoned him with stones, and he died.

 

14 And they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned and is dead."

 

15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard it, that she said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who would not give it to you for silver, for Naboth is not alive, for he is dead."

 

16 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth the Jezreelite was dead, that he tore his garments and put on sackcloth; and it came to pass after these things that Ahab arose and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.

 

17 And the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

 

18 "Arise and go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, for he has gone down there to take possession of it.

 

19 And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: As you have murdered and taken possession, therefore thus says the Lord: In every place where the swine and the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there the dogs shall lick up your blood, and the harlots shall wash themselves in your blood.'"

 

20 And Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" And he said, "I have found you, because you have vainly sold yourself to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

 

21 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am bringing evils upon you, and I will kindle a fire after you, and I will utterly destroy from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left behind in Israel;

 

22 and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nabat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because of the provocations with which you provoked me and made Israel to sin."

 

23 And the Lord spoke to Jezebel, saying, "The dogs shall devour her within the rampart of Jezreel.

 

24 Him of Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and him of his who dies in the field the birds of the sky shall eat."

 

25 But Ahab acted foolishly, in that he sold himself to do evil before the Lord, as Jezebel his wife led him astray;

 

26 and he became exceedingly abominable in going after abominations, according to all that the Amorite did, whom the Lord destroyed from before the sons of Israel.

 

27 And because of this word, when Ahab was pricked in heart before the Lord, he went weeping, and tore his tunic and girded sackcloth upon his body and fasted and put on sackcloth in the day that he struck down Naboth the Jezreelite,

 

28 and the word of the Lord came by the hand of his servant Elijah concerning Ahab, and the Lord said,

 

29 "Have you seen how Ahab has been pricked in heart before me? I will not bring the evil in his days, but in the days of his son I will bring the evil." 

 

Chapter 21

 

1 And the son of Hader gathered together all his army and went up and besieged Samaria, and thirty-two kings with him, and every horse and chariot; and they went up and besieged Samaria and made war against it.

 

2 And he sent to Ahab king of Israel into the city

 

3 and said to him, Thus says the son of Hader: Your silver and your gold are mine, and your wives and your children are mine.

 

4 And the king of Israel answered and said, As you have spoken, my lord king, I am yours, and all that is mine.

 

5 And the messengers returned and said, Thus says the son of Hader: I have sent to you, saying, Your silver and your gold and your wives and your children you shall give to me;

 

6 for at this hour tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants, and it shall be that the desirable things of their eyes, on whatever they lay their hands, they will take.

 

7 And the king of Israel called all the elders and said, Know now and see that this man seeks evil, for he has sent to me concerning my wives and concerning my sons and concerning my daughters; my silver and my gold I did not withhold from him.

 

8 And the elders and all the people said to him, Do not listen, and do not consent.

 

9 And he said to the messengers of the son of Hader, Say to your lord: All that you sent to your servant at first I will do, but this thing I shall not be able to do. And the men departed and brought back word to him.

 

10 And the son of Hader sent back to him, saying, May God do thus to me and add thus, if the dust of Samaria will suffice for the foxes, for all the people, my foot soldiers.

 

11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Let it be enough; let not the crooked man boast like the upright.

 

12 And it came to pass, when he answered him this word, he was drinking, he and all the kings with him, in tents; and he said to his servants, Build a rampart. And they set a rampart against the city.

 

13 And behold, one prophet came to the king of Israel and said, Thus says the Lord: Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I give it today into your hands, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

 

14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says the Lord: By the young men of the rulers of the districts. And Ahab said, Who shall join the battle? And he said, You.

 

15 And Ahab mustered the young men of the rulers of the districts, and they were two hundred and thirty; and after this he mustered the people, every son of might, sixty thousand.

 

16 And he went out at midday; and the son of Hader was drinking, drunk, in Sokchoth, he and the kings, thirty-two kings his allies with him.

 

17 And the young men of the rulers of the districts went out first. And they send and report to the king of Syria, saying, Men have come out of Samaria.

 

18 And he said to them, If they come out for peace, take them alive; and if for war, take them alive.

 

19 And let not the young men of the rulers of the districts go out of the city. And the army was behind them;

 

20 each struck the one opposite him, and each struck again the one opposite him, and Syria fled, and Israel pursued them; and the son of Hader, king of Syria, escaped on the horse of a horseman.

 

21 And the king of Israel went out and took all the horses and the chariots and struck a great blow upon Syria.

 

22 And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, Be strong, and know and see what you will do, for at the turn of the year the son of Hader, king of Syria, comes up against you.

 

23 And the servants of the king of Syria said, The God of Israel is a God of mountains and not a God of valleys; therefore he prevailed over us; but if we fight them on level ground, surely we shall prevail over them.

 

24 And do this thing: remove the kings, each to his place, and set satraps in their stead,

 

25 and we will exchange for you a force like the force that fell from you, and horse for horse, and chariots for chariots, and we will fight against them on level ground and prevail over them. And he listened to their voice and did so.

 

26 And it came to pass at the turn of the year that the son of Hader mustered Syria and went up to Aphek for war against Israel.

 

27 And the sons of Israel were mustered and went to meet them, and Israel encamped over against them like two little flocks of goats, and Syria filled the land.

 

28 And the man of God came and said to the king of Israel, Thus says the Lord: Because Syria has said, The Lord God of Israel is a God of mountains and he is not a God of valleys, therefore I will give this great army into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

 

29 And these encamped opposite those for seven days, and it came to pass on the seventh day that the battle was joined, and Israel struck Syria, a hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day.

 

30 And the rest fled to Aphek, into the city, and the wall fell upon twenty-seven thousand men of those left. And the son of Hader fled and went into the house of the bedchamber, into the inner room.

 

31 And he said to his servants, I know that the kings of Israel are kings of mercy; let us now put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and let us go out to the king of Israel, if perhaps he will save our lives.

 

32 And they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their heads and said to the king of Israel, Your servant the son of Hader says, Let my soul live. And he said, Is he still alive? He is my brother.

 

33 And the men took it as an omen and made haste and caught up the word from his mouth and said, Your brother, the son of Hader. And he said, Go in and bring him. And the son of Hader came out to him, and they bring him up to him on the chariot.

 

34 And he said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore to you, and you shall set up streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father set up in Samaria; and I will send you away with a covenant. And he made a covenant with him and sent him away.

 

35 And one man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of the Lord, Strike me, please. And the man refused to strike him.

 

36 And he said to him, Because you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as you depart from me, a lion will strike you. And he went away from him, and a lion finds him and struck him.

 

37 And he finds another man and said, Strike me, please. And the man struck him, striking, and wounded him.

 

38 And the prophet went and stood before the king of Israel on the road and bound his eyes with a bandage.

 

39 And it came to pass as the king passed by, that he cried out to the king and said, Your servant went out to the army of the battle, and behold, a man brought a man to me and said to me, Guard this man; but if he by any means escapes, then your life shall be for his life, or you shall weigh out a talent of silver.

 

40 And it came to pass that your servant looked here and there, and he was not there. And the king of Israel said to him, Behold, this too is a trap; with me you have slain.

 

41 And he made haste and removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was of the prophets.

 

42 And he said to him, Thus says the Lord: Because you have let go out of your hand a man appointed to destruction, your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.

 

43 And the king of Israel went away confounded and faint, and comes to Samaria. 

  

Chapter 22

 

1 And they continued three years, and there was no war between Syria and Israel.

 

2 And it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to the king of Israel.

 

3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you know that Ramoth Gilead is ours, and we are silent about taking it out of the hand of the king of Syria?

 

4 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go up with us to Ramoth Gilead to battle? And Jehoshaphat said, As I am, so also are you; as my people, so is your people; as my horses, so are your horses.

 

5 And Jehoshaphat king of Judah said to the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray, of the Lord today.

 

6 And the king of Israel gathered together all the prophets, about four hundred men, and the king said to them, Shall I go up to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and the Lord will surely deliver it into the hands of the king.

 

7 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?

 

8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom to inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not speak good concerning me, but only evil: Micaiah son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat king of Judah said, Let not the king say so.

 

9 And the king of Israel called one eunuch and said, Quickly, Micaiah son of Imlah.

 

10 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, armed, in the gates of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

 

11 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, Thus says the Lord: With these you shall gore Syria until it is consumed.

 

12 And all the prophets prophesied thus, saying, Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and it shall prosper, and the Lord shall deliver even the king of Syria into your hands.

 

13 And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold now, all the prophets speak with one mouth good things concerning the king; let your words also, I pray, be as the words of one of them, and speak good things.

 

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

 

15 And he came to the king, and the king said to him, Micaiah, shall I go up to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go up, and it shall prosper, and the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

 

16 And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me the truth in the name of the Lord?

 

17 And Micaiah said, Not so: I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like a flock that has no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no lord; let each one return to his house in peace.

 

18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Did I not tell you that this man does not prophesy good things to me, but only evil?

 

19 And Micaiah said, Not so, not I; hear the word of the Lord, it is not so: I saw the Lord God of Israel sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing about him, on his right hand and on his left.

 

20 And the Lord said, Who shall deceive Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one spoke this way, and another spoke that way.

 

21 And a spirit came forth and stood before the Lord and said, I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him, By what means?

 

22 And he said, I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You shall deceive him, and indeed you shall prevail; go forth, and do so.

 

23 And now, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil concerning you.

 

24 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, What sort of spirit of the Lord has spoken in you?

 

25 And Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day, when you go into an innermost chamber to hide yourself.

 

26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city; and to Joash the king's son

 

27 say, Put this man in prison, and let him eat the bread of affliction and the water of affliction until I return in peace.

 

28 And Micaiah said, If you indeed return in peace, then the Lord has not spoken by me.

 

29 And the king of Israel went up, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah with him, to Ramoth Gilead.

 

30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle, but you put on my apparel. And the king of Israel disguised himself and entered into the battle.

 

31 And the king of Syria commanded the captains of his chariots, thirty-two, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, but only with the king of Israel alone.

 

32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat king of Judah, they said, This appears to be the king of Israel; and they surrounded him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cried out.

 

33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that this was not the king of Israel, they turned back from him.

 

34 And a certain man drew his bow with true aim and struck the king of Israel between the lungs and the breastplate. And he said to his charioteer, Turn your hands and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.

 

35 And the battle turned that day, and the king was standing in his chariot facing Syria from morning until evening, and the blood flowed out of the wound into the hollow of the chariot; and he died at evening, and the blood of the wound ran out into the hollow of the chariot.

 

36 And the herald of the army stood at the setting of the sun, saying, Every man to his own city and to his own land,

 

37 for the king is dead. And they came to Samaria and buried the king in Samaria.

 

38 And they washed the chariot at the fountain of Samaria, and the swine and the dogs licked up the blood, and the harlots washed themselves in the blood, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.

 

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

 

40 And Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

 

41 And Jehoshaphat son of Asa reigned over Judah. In the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel he began to reign.

 

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

 

43 And he walked in all the way of Asa his father; he did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

 

44 Only he did not take away the high places; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

 

45 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

 

46 And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his mighty deeds, all that he did behold, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

51 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried beside his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

 

52 And Ahaziah son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years.

 

53 And he did evil before the Lord and walked in the way of Ahab his father, and in the way of Jezebel his mother, and in the sins of the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

 

54 And he served the Baals and worshipped them, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, according to all that had been done before him.