May 18
     2 Chronicles 7:11 — 10:19
 

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of Jehovah and the house of the king; and in everything that had come into Solomon’s heart to do regarding the house of Jehovah and his own house he proved successful. 12 Jehovah now appeared to Solomon during the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens that no rain may occur and when I command the grasshoppers to eat up the land and if I send a pestilence among my people, 14 and my people upon whom my name has been called humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn back from their bad ways, then I myself shall hear from the heavens and forgive their sin, and I shall heal their land. 15 Now my own eyes will prove to be opened and my ears attentive to prayer at this place. 16 And now I do choose and sanctify this house that my name may prove to be there to time indefinite, and my eyes and my heart will certainly prove to be there always.

17 “And if you yourself will walk before me, just as David your father walked, even by doing according to all that I have commanded you, and you will keep my regulations and my judicial decisions, 18 I will also establish the throne of your kingship, just as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘There will not a man of yours be cut off from ruling over Israel.’ 19 But if YOU yourselves turn back and actually leave my statutes and my commandments that I have put before YOU, and YOU actually go and serve other gods and bow down to them, 20 I will also uproot them from off my ground that I have given them; and this house that I have sanctified for my name, I shall throw away from before my face, and I shall make it a proverbial saying and a taunt among all the peoples. 21 As for this house that had become heaps of ruins, everyone passing by it will stare in amazement and be certain to say, ‘For what reason did Jehovah do like that to this land and to this house?’ 22 And they will have to say, ‘It was for the reason that they left Jehovah the God of their forefathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they proceeded to take hold of other gods and bow down to them and serve them. That is why he brought upon them all this calamity.’”

8 And it came about at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house, 2 that the cities that Hiram had given to Solomon—Solomon rebuilt them and then caused the sons of Israel to dwell there. 3 Furthermore, Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and prevailed over it. 4 Then he rebuilt Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities that he had built in Hamath. 5 And he went on to build Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, doors and bar, 6 and Baalath and all the storage cities that had become Solomon’s and all the chariot cities and the cities for the horsemen and every desirable thing of Solomon that he had desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

7 As for all the people that were left over of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were no part of Israel, 8 from their sons that had been left behind them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not exterminated, Solomon kept levying men for forced labor until this day. 9 But there were none out of the sons of Israel that Solomon constituted slaves for his work; for they were warriors and chiefs of his adjutants and chiefs of his charioteers and of his horsemen. 10 These were the chiefs of the deputies that belonged to King Solomon, two hundred and fifty, the foremen over the people.

11 And Pharaoh’s daughter Solomon brought up out of the City of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said: “Although a wife of mine, she should not dwell in the house of David the king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of Jehovah has come are something holy.”

12 It was then that Solomon offered up burnt sacrifices to Jehovah upon the altar of Jehovah that he had built before the porch, 13 even as a daily matter of course to make offerings according to the commandment of Moses for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the appointed festivals three times in the year, at the festival of unfermented cakes and at the festival of the weeks and at the festival of the booths. 14 Further, he set the divisions of the priests over their services according to the rule of David his father, and the Levites at their posts of duty, to praise and to minister in front of the priests as a daily matter of course, and the gatekeepers in their divisions for the different gates, for such was the commandment of David the man of the [true] God. 15 And they did not turn aside from the king’s commandment to the priests and the Levites concerning any matter and concerning the supplies. 16 So Solomon’s work was all in a prepared state from the day of the foundation-laying of the house of Jehovah until it was finished. [So] the house of Jehovah was complete.

17 It was then that Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth upon the shore of the sea in the land of Edom. 18 And Hiram regularly sent to him by means of his servants ships and servants having a knowledge of the sea, and they would come with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and take from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold and bring it to King Solomon.

9 And the queen of Sheba herself heard the report about Solomon, and she proceeded to come to test Solomon with perplexing questions at Jerusalem, along with a very impressive train and camels carrying balsam oil, and gold in great quantity, and precious stones. At length she came in to Solomon and spoke with him about everything that happened to be close to her heart. 2 Solomon, in turn, went on to tell her all her matters, and no matter was hidden from Solomon that he did not tell her.

3 When the queen of Sheba got to see Solomon’s wisdom and the house that he had built, 4 and the food of his table and the sitting of his servants and the table service of his waiters and their attire and his drinking service and their attire, and his burnt sacrifices that he regularly offered up at the house of Jehovah, then there proved to be no more spirit in her. 5 So she said to the king: “True was the word that I heard in my own land about your matters and about your wisdom. 6 And I did not put faith in their words until I had come that my own eyes might see; and, look! there has not been told me the half of the abundance of your wisdom. You have surpassed the report that I have heard. 7 Happy are your men, and happy are these servants of yours who are standing before you constantly and listening to your wisdom. 8 May Jehovah your God come to be blessed, who has taken delight in you by putting you upon his throne as king for Jehovah your God; because your God loved Israel, to make it stand to time indefinite, so that he put you over them as king to execute judicial decision and righteousness.”

9 Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and balsam oil in very great quantity, and precious stones; and there had not come to be the like of that balsam oil which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

10 And, besides, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir brought timbers of algum trees and precious stones. 11 And the king proceeded to make out of the timbers of the algum trees stairs for the house of Jehovah and for the king’s house and also harps and stringed instruments for the singers, and the like of them had never been seen before in the land of Judah.

12 And King Solomon himself gave the queen of Sheba all her delight for which she had asked, besides [the value of] what she brought to the king. So she turned about and went to her own land, she together with her servants.

13 And the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year amounted to six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 14 aside from the men of travel and the merchants who were bringing in and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land who were bringing in gold and silver to Solomon.

15 And King Solomon went on to make two hundred large shields of alloyed gold (six hundred [shekels] of alloyed gold he proceeded to lay upon each large shield), 16 and three hundred bucklers of alloyed gold (three minas of gold he proceeded to lay upon each buckler). Then the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

17 Further, the king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 And there were six steps to the throne, and there was a footstool in gold to the throne (they were attached), and there were armrests on this side and on that side by the place of sitting, and two lions were standing beside the armrests. 19 And there were twelve lions standing there upon the six steps on this side and on that side. No other kingdom had any made just like it. 20 And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. There was nothing of silver; it was considered as nothing at all in the days of Solomon. 21 For ships belonging to the king were going to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years ships of Tarshish would come in, carrying gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks.

22 So King Solomon was greater than all the other kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which the [true] God had put in his heart. 24 And they were bringing each his gift, articles of silver and articles of gold and garments, armor and balsam oil, horses and mules as a yearly matter of course. 25 And Solomon came to have four thousand stalls of horses and chariots and twelve thousand steeds, and he kept them stationed in the chariot cities and close by the king in Jerusalem. 26 And he came to be ruler over all the kings from the River down to the land of the Philistines and down to the boundary of Egypt. 27 Furthermore, the king made the silver in Jerusalem like the stones; and cedarwood he made like the sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah for abundance. 28 And there were those bringing out horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all the other lands.

29 As for the rest of the affairs of Solomon, the first and the last, are they not written among the words of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the record of visions of Iddo the visionary concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30 And Solomon continued to reign in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 31 Finally Solomon lay down with his forefathers. So they buried him in the City of David his father; and Rehoboam his son began to reign in place of him.

10 And Rehoboam proceeded to go to Shechem, for it was to Shechem that all the Israelites came to make him king. 2 And it came about that as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it while he was yet in Egypt, (because he had run away on account of Solomon the king,) Jeroboam immediately came back from Egypt. 3 So they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying: 4 “Your father, for his part, made our yoke hard; and now make the hard service of your father and the heavy yoke that he put upon us lighter, and we shall serve you.”

5 At this he said to them: “Let there be yet three days. Then return to me.” So the people went away. 6 And King Rehoboam began to take counsel with the older men that were continually attending upon Solomon his father while he continued alive, saying: “How are YOU advising to reply to this people?” 7 Accordingly they spoke to him, saying: “If you would prove yourself good to this people and actually be pleasing to them and indeed speak good words to them, they also will certainly become your servants always.”

8 However, he left the counsel of the older men with which they had advised him, and he began to take counsel with the young men that had grown up with him, who were the ones attending upon him. 9 And he went on to say to them: “What is it that YOU are offering in counsel that we may reply to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put upon us lighter’?” 10 In turn the young men that had grown up with him spoke with him, saying: “This is what you should say to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father, for his part, made our yoke heavy, but, as for you, make it lighter upon us’; this is what you should say to them, ‘My own little finger will certainly be thicker than my father’s hips. 11 And now my father, for his part, loaded upon YOU a heavy yoke, but I, for my part, shall add to YOUR yoke. My father, for his part, chastised YOU with whips, but I, for my part, with scourges.’”

12 And Jeroboam and all the people proceeded to come to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying: “Return to me on the third day.” 13 And the king began to answer them harshly. Thus King Rehoboam left the counsel of the older men, 14 and he went on to speak to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: “I shall make YOUR yoke heavier, and I, for my part, shall add to it. My father, for his part, chastised YOU with whips, but I, for my part, with scourges.” 15 And the king did not listen to the people; for it proved to be a turn of affairs from the [true] God in order that Jehovah might carry out his word that he had spoken by means of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 As for all Israel, because the king did not listen to them, the people now replied to the king, saying: “What share do we have in David? And there is no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each one to your gods, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David.” With that all Israel began to go to its tents.

17 As for the sons of Israel that were dwelling in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam continued to reign over them.

18 Subsequently King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over those conscripted for forced labor, but the sons of Israel pelted him with stones, so that he died. And King Rehoboam himself managed to get up into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 And the Israelites kept up their revolt against the house of David down to this day.