1 Kings

(1 Kings 1:1) Now King David was old, advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, for he could not get warm.

(1 Kings 1:2) Therefore his servants said to him, Let a young woman, a virgin, be sought for our lord the king, and let her stand before the king, and serve him; and let her lie in your bosom, that our lord the king may be warm.

(1 Kings 1:3) So they sought for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

(1 Kings 1:4) The girl was very beautiful; and she served the king, and ministered to him; but the king did not know her.

(1 Kings 1:5) Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

(1 Kings 1:6) (Now his father had not hurt him at any time by saying, Why have you done so? He was also very good in appearance. And his mother had borne him after Absalom.)

(1 Kings 1:7) And he spoke with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they went after Adonijah and helped him.

(1 Kings 1:8) But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David were not with Adonijah.

(1 Kings 1:9) And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En Rogel; he also invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants.

(1 Kings 1:10) But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or Solomon his brother.

(1 Kings 1:11) So Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it?

(1 Kings 1:12) Come now, please let me counsel you with advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

(1 Kings 1:13) Depart and go to King David and say to him, Have you not sworn to your maidservant, my lord, O king, saying, Surely your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then has Adonijah become king?

(1 Kings 1:14) Then, while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.

(1 Kings 1:15) So Bathsheba came into the chamber to the king. (Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king.)

(1 Kings 1:16) And Bathsheba bowed and did homage to the king. And the king said, What can I do for you?

(1 Kings 1:17) And she said to him, My lord, you have sworn by Jehovah your God to your maidservant, saying, Surely Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.

(1 Kings 1:18) So now, behold, Adonijah has become king; and now, my lord the king, you have not known about it.

(1 Kings 1:19) He has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army; but Solomon your servant he has not invited.

(1 Kings 1:20) And as for you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, to tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

(1 Kings 1:21) Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king lies down with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted as offenders.

(1 Kings 1:22) And behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

(1 Kings 1:23) And they reported to the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he bowed down to the king with his face to the ground.

(1 Kings 1:24) And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have you said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?

(1 Kings 1:25) For he has gone down today, and has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons, 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 Adonijah!

(1 Kings 1:26) But he has not invited me; me your servant, nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon.

(1 Kings 1:27) Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king, and you have not declared to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

(1 Kings 1:28) Then King David answered and said, Summon Bathsheba to me. So she came before the king and stood before the king.

(1 Kings 1:29) And the king swore and said, As Jehovah lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress,

(1 Kings 1:30) just as I have sworn to you by Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place, thus I shall do this day.

(1 Kings 1:31) And Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did homage to the king, and said, Let my lord King David live forever!

(1 Kings 1:32) And King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came in before the king.

(1 Kings 1:33) And the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

(1 Kings 1:34) There let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel; and blow the shofar, and say, Long live King Solomon!

(1 Kings 1:35) And when you have come up after him, he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place. For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.

(1 Kings 1:36) And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, Amen! Thus says Jehovah the God of my lord the king.

(1 Kings 1:37) As Jehovah has been with my lord the king, even so shall He be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.

(1 Kings 1:38) So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.

(1 Kings 1:39) And Zadok the priest took a horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. And they blew the shofar, and all the people said, Long live King Solomon!

(1 Kings 1:40) And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth was rent with their sound.

(1 Kings 1:41) And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the shofar, he said, Why is the city in such a commotion?

(1 Kings 1:42) And while he was still speaking, behold Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest came in. And Adonijah said to him, Come in, for you are a mighty man, and bring good news.

(1 Kings 1:43) And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, No rather, our lord King David has made Solomon king.

(1 Kings 1:44) The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; and they have made him ride on the king’s mule.

(1 Kings 1:45) And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon; and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is all stirred up. This is the sound that you have heard.

(1 Kings 1:46) Also Solomon has sat down on the throne of the kingdom.

(1 Kings 1:47) And moreover the king’s servants have gone to bless our lord King David, saying, May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne. And the king bowed himself on the bed.

(1 Kings 1:48) Also the king has said, Blessed is Jehovah the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, with my eyes seeing it!

(1 Kings 1:49) So all the guests who were with Adonijah trembled, and rose up, and each one went his way.

(1 Kings 1:50) And Adonijah was afraid of Solomon; so he arose, and went and took hold of the horns of the altar.

(1 Kings 1:51) And it was reported to Solomon, saying, Behold Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; for behold, he has taken hold of 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.

(1 Kings 1:52) And Solomon said, If he is a son of worth, not one hair of him shall fall to the earth; but if evil is found in him, he shall die.

(1 Kings 1:53) So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and prostrated himself to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

(1 Kings 2:1) And the days drew near for David to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying:

(1 Kings 2:2) I am going the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and be a man.

(1 Kings 2:3) And keep the charge of Jehovah your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;

(1 Kings 2:4) that Jehovah may establish His word which He has spoken concerning me, saying, If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, He said, there shall not fail to be a man on the throne of Israel.

(1 Kings 2:5) Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed. And he shed the blood of war in peacetime, and put the blood of war on the belt around his waist, and on the sandals on his feet.

(1 Kings 2:6) Therefore do according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.

(1 Kings 2:7) But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those eating at your table, for they came to me when I fled before Absalom your brother.

(1 Kings 2:8) And behold, with you is Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with grievous cursing in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Jehovah, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.

(1 Kings 2:9) Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him; but bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.

(1 Kings 2:10) So David rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David.

(1 Kings 2:11) The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

(1 Kings 2:12) And Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

(1 Kings 2:13) And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do you come in peace? And he said, In peace.

(1 Kings 2:14) Moreover he said, I have something to say to you. And she said, Speak.

(1 Kings 2:15) And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had set their faces toward me, to reign. However, the kingdom has been turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Jehovah.

(1 Kings 2:16) Now I ask one petition of you; do not turn away my face. And she said to him, Speak.

(1 Kings 2:17) And he said, Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not turn away your face; that he would give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.

(1 Kings 2:18) And Bathsheba said, Very well, I will speak for you unto the king.

(1 Kings 2:19) Bathsheba therefore came to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; and she sat at his right hand.

(1 Kings 2:20) And she said, I am asking one small petition of you; do not turn away my face. And the king said to her, Ask it, my mother, for I will not turn away your face.

(1 Kings 2:21) So she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.

(1 Kings 2:22) And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, Now why are you asking for Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother; for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

(1 Kings 2:23) And King Solomon swore by Jehovah, saying, May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own soul!

(1 Kings 2:24) Now therefore, as Jehovah lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He has promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day!

(1 Kings 2:25) So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him and he died.

(1 Kings 2:26) And to Abiathar the priest the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are a man deserving of death; but I will not put you to death this day, because you have carried the ark of the Lord Jehovah before my father David, and because you were afflicted in every thing in which my father was afflicted.

(1 Kings 2:27) Thus Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest unto Jehovah, to fulfill the word of Jehovah which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

(1 Kings 2:28) And the news came to Joab, for Joab had turned aside after Adonijah, though he had not turned aside after Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of Jehovah, and took hold of the horns of the altar.

(1 Kings 2:29) And it was reported to King Solomon, Joab has fled to the tent of Jehovah, and behold, he is by the altar. So Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

(1 Kings 2:30) So Benaiah went to the tent of Jehovah, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come out! And he said, No, but I will die here. And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

(1 Kings 2:31) And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall upon him and bury him, that you may turn aside from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab has shed.

(1 Kings 2:32) Thus Jehovah shall return his blood upon his own head, who has fallen upon two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, without the knowledge of my father David: Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah.

(1 Kings 2:33) Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his seed forever. But upon David and his seed, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from Jehovah.

(1 Kings 2:34) So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

(1 Kings 2:35) And the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

(1 Kings 2:36) And the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.

(1 Kings 2:37) For it shall be, on the day that you go out and have crossed over the Brook Kidron, consider to understand that you shall be executed to death; your blood shall be on your own head.

(1 Kings 2:38) And Shimei said to the king, The word is good. As my lord the king has spoken, thus your servant will do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

(1 Kings 2:39) And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei fled to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they reported to Shimei, saying, Behold, your slaves are at Gath!

(1 Kings 2:40) So Shimei rose up, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.

(1 Kings 2:41) And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.

(1 Kings 2:42) So the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, Did I not make you swear by Jehovah, and warn you, saying, Consider to understand that on the day you go out and have gone anywhere, you shall be executed to death? And you said to me, The word I have heard is good.

(1 Kings 2:43) Why then have you not kept the oath of Jehovah and the commandment that I have charged you with?

(1 Kings 2:44) The king said moreover to Shimei, You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the evil that you did to my father David; therefore Jehovah shall return your evil upon your own head.

(1 Kings 2:45) But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Jehovah forever.

(1 Kings 2:46) So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

(1 Kings 3:1) And Solomon made himself son-in-law to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; and he brought her into the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of Jehovah, and the wall all around Jerusalem.

(1 Kings 3:2) The people were sacrificing at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Jehovah until those days.

(1 Kings 3:3) And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he was sacrificing and burning incense at the high places.

(1 Kings 3:4) And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

(1 Kings 3:5) At Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, Ask; what shall I give you?

(1 Kings 3:6) And Solomon said: You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son sitting on his throne, as it is this day.

(1 Kings 3:7) Now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.

(1 Kings 3:8) And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted for multitude.

(1 Kings 3:9) Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?

(1 Kings 3:10) And the word was good in the eyes of Jehovah, that Solomon had asked this thing.

(1 Kings 3:11) And God said to him: Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice,

(1 Kings 3:12) behold, I have done according to your words; behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.

(1 Kings 3:13) And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.

(1 Kings 3:14) So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David has walked, then I will prolong your days.

(1 Kings 3:15) And Solomon awoke; and behold it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

(1 Kings 3:16) Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him.

(1 Kings 3:17) And one woman said, O my lord, this woman and I are dwelling in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house.

(1 Kings 3:18) Then it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.

(1 Kings 3:19) And this woman’s son died in the night, because she had lain on him.

(1 Kings 3:20) So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

(1 Kings 3:21) And when I arose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, behold, he was not my son whom I had borne.

(1 Kings 3:22) And the other woman said, No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son. And the first woman said, No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.

(1 Kings 3:23) And the king said, The one says, This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one; and the other says, No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.

(1 Kings 3:24) And the king said, Bring me a sword. So they brought a sword before the king.

(1 Kings 3:25) And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.

(1 Kings 3:26) Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for her womb yearned for her son; and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and do not put him to death! But the other said, Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.

(1 Kings 3:27) So the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and do not put him to death; she is his mother.

(1 Kings 3:28) And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered, and they feared his presence; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.

(1 Kings 4:1) Thus King Solomon was king over all Israel.

(1 Kings 4:2) And these were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

(1 Kings 4:3) Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

(1 Kings 4:4) Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, over the army; Zadok and Abiathar, the priests;

(1 Kings 4:5) Azariah the son of Nathan, over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest and the king’s friend;

(1 Kings 4:6) Ahishar, over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda, over the labor force.

(1 Kings 4:7) And Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month of the year.

(1 Kings 4:8) These are their names: Ben-Hur, in the mountains of Ephraim;

(1 Kings 4:9) Ben-Deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan;

(1 Kings 4:10) Ben-Hesed, in Arubboth; to him belonged Sochoh and all the land of Hepher;

(1 Kings 4:11) Ben-Abinadab, in all the regions of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife;

(1 Kings 4:12) Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth Shean, which is beside Zaretan below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as the other side of Jokneam;

(1 Kings 4:13) Ben-Geber, in Ramoth Gilead; to him belonged the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, in Gilead; to him also belonged the region of Argob in Bashan; sixty large cities with walls and bronze gate-bars;

(1 Kings 4:14) Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

(1 Kings 4:15) Ahimaaz, in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife;

(1 Kings 4:16) Baanah the son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth;

(1 Kings 4:17) Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

(1 Kings 4:18) Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin;

(1 Kings 4:19) Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan. He was the only deputy who was in the land.

(1 Kings 4:20) Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing.

(1 Kings 4:21) And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

(1 Kings 4:22) And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal,

(1 Kings 4:23) ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

(1 Kings 4:24) For he was ruling over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him.

(1 Kings 4:25) And Judah and Israel dwelt securely, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

(1 Kings 4:26) Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

(1 Kings 4:27) And these deputies, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table. They left nothing lacking.

(1 Kings 4:28) They also brought barley and straw to the assigned places, for the horses and steeds, each man according to his charge.

(1 Kings 4:29) And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and breadth of heart like the sand on the seashore.

(1 Kings 4:30) Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.

(1 Kings 4:31) For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.

(1 Kings 4:32) He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.

(1 Kings 4:33) He also spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.

(1 Kings 4:34) And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

(1 Kings 5:1) And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had loved David all his days.

(1 Kings 5:2) And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

(1 Kings 5:3) You know how my father David could not build a house unto the name of Jehovah his God because of the wars that were around him on every side, until Jehovah had put them under the soles of his feet.

(1 Kings 5:4) But now Jehovah my God has given me rest all around; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence.

(1 Kings 5:5) And behold, I am intending to build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God, as Jehovah has spoken to my father David, saying, Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house unto My name.

(1 Kings 5:6) Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.

(1 Kings 5:7) And so it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed is Jehovah this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!

(1 Kings 5:8) And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have agreed to the things which you have sent me, and I will do all your desire concerning the cedar and cypress timber.

(1 Kings 5:9) My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you direct me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household.

(1 Kings 5:10) And Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress timber according to all his desire.

(1 Kings 5:11) And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of beaten oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

(1 Kings 5:12) Thus Jehovah gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made an alliance together.

(1 Kings 5:13) And King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.

(1 Kings 5:14) And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the labor force.

(1 Kings 5:15) And Solomon had seventy thousand carrying burdens, and eighty thousand hewing stone in the mountains,

(1 Kings 5:16) besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who ruled the people who did the work.

(1 Kings 5:17) And the king commanded, and they quarried large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

(1 Kings 5:18) Thus Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Giblites cut and prepared timber and stones to build the house.

(1 Kings 6:1) And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah.

(1 Kings 6:2) Now the house which King Solomon built for Jehovah, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

(1 Kings 6:3) The porch in front of the sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of the porch extended ten cubits from the front of the house.

(1 Kings 6:4) And for the house he made window frames with shutters.

(1 Kings 6:5) Against the wall of the house he built chambers all around, against the walls of the house, all around the temple and the inner sanctuary. Thus he made chambers all around.

(1 Kings 6:6) The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the house, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the house.

(1 Kings 6:7) And the house, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.

(1 Kings 6:8) The doorway for the middle level was on the right side of the house. They went up by a winding staircase to the middle level, and from the middle to the third.

(1 Kings 6:9) Thus he built the house and finished it, and he paneled the house with beams and planks of cedar.

(1 Kings 6:10) And he built chambers against the entire house, each five cubits high; they were attached to the house with cedar beams.

(1 Kings 6:11) And the Word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying:

(1 Kings 6:12) Concerning this house which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments to walk in them, then I will establish My word with you, which I have spoken unto your father David.

(1 Kings 6:13) And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.

(1 Kings 6:14) Thus Solomon built the house and finished it.

(1 Kings 6:15) And he built the walls of the house on the inside with cedar boards; from the walls of the house to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with planks of cypress.

(1 Kings 6:16) And he built twenty-cubits at the rear of the house, from floor to the walls, with cedar boards; he built it inside for the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.

(1 Kings 6:17) And in front of the inner house the rest of the temple was forty cubits long.

(1 Kings 6:18) And on the cedar inside the house were carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was of cedar; no stone was seen.

(1 Kings 6:19) And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the house, to set the ark of the covenant of Jehovah there.

(1 Kings 6:20) The faces of the inner sanctuary were twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. And he overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar with cedar.

(1 Kings 6:21) And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.

(1 Kings 6:22) The whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also he overlaid with gold the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

(1 Kings 6:23) Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

(1 Kings 6:24) One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end of the other.

(1 Kings 6:25) And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and the same shape.

(1 Kings 6:26) The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.

(1 Kings 6:27) And he set the cherubim inside the inner house; and they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the house.

(1 Kings 6:28) He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

(1 Kings 6:29) And he carved all the walls of the house all around, inside and out, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

(1 Kings 6:30) And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, both inside and out.

(1 Kings 6:31) For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were one-fifth.

(1 Kings 6:32) The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he beat out the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

(1 Kings 6:33) And for the door of the temple he also made doorposts of olive wood; one-fourth.

(1 Kings 6:34) And the two doors were of cypress wood; two panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door.

(1 Kings 6:35) And he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold smoothly fitted to the carved work.

(1 Kings 6:36) And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.

(1 Kings 6:37) In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid, in the month of Ziv.

(1 Kings 6:38) And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. Thus he was seven years in building it.

(1 Kings 7:1) And Solomon took thirteen years to build his own house; and he finished all his house.

(1 Kings 7:2) He also built the house of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars.

(1 Kings 7:3) And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row.

(1 Kings 7:4) There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

(1 Kings 7:5) And all the doorways and doorposts were squared; and window was opposite window in three tiers.

(1 Kings 7:6) He also made the porch of pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and in front of them was a porch with pillars, and a threshold in front of them.

(1 Kings 7:7) – – –

(1 Kings 7:8) And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the porch, of similar workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as wife.

(1 Kings 7:9) All these were of costly stones cut to size, sawn with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the coping, and also on the outside to the great court.

(1 Kings 7:10) The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

(1 Kings 7:11) And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar.

(1 Kings 7:12) The great court was of three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of Jehovah and the porch of the house.

(1 Kings 7:13) Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.

(1 Kings 7:14) He was the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, engraving in bronze; he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to work in all workmanship in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.

(1 Kings 7:15) And he cast two pillars of bronze, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits circled all the way around.

(1 Kings 7:16) And he made two capitals of cast bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

(1 Kings 7:17) He made a lattice network, with braids of chainwork, for the capitals on top of the pillars: seven for one capital and seven for the other capital.

(1 Kings 7:18) And he made the pillars, and two rows of pomegranates above the network all around to cover the capitals on top; and thus he did for the other capital.

(1 Kings 7:19) The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were made like lilies, four cubits.

(1 Kings 7:20) The capitals on the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the belly which was next to the network; and there were two hundred such pomegranates in rows on the other capital all around.

(1 Kings 7:21) And he set up the pillars by the porch of the temple; he set up the pillar on the right and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz.

(1 Kings 7:22) The tops of the pillars were made like lilies. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

(1 Kings 7:23) And he made the cast sea of ten cubits from brim to brim; it was round all around. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits made a circuit all the way around.

(1 Kings 7:24) Below its brim round about were gourds all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the sea. The gourds were cast in two rows when it was cast.

(1 Kings 7:25) It stood on twelve oxen: three turned toward the north, three turned toward the west, three turned toward the south, and three turned toward the east; the sea was set on top of them, and all their back parts were inward.

(1 Kings 7:26) Its thickness was a handbreadth; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; and it could hold two thousand baths.

(1 Kings 7:27) And he made ten carts of bronze; four cubits the length of the one cart, and four cubits the breadth, and three cubits the height.

(1 Kings 7:28) And this was the work of the cart: they had borders, and there were borders between the stays.

(1 Kings 7:29) And on the borders that were between the stays were lions, oxen, and cherubim. And a pedestal was on the stays above. And below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

(1 Kings 7:30) And each cart had four wheels of bronze, and axles of bronze. And its four feet were supports to them; under the basin were cast supports with wreaths at each side.

(1 Kings 7:31) And its opening within and above the capital was a cubit; and its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. And also on its opening were carvings; and their borders were square, not round.

(1 Kings 7:32) And the four wheels were under the borders. And the axles of the wheels were attached to the cart; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

(1 Kings 7:33) The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.

(1 Kings 7:34) And there were four supports at the four corners of each cart; its supports were part of the cart itself.

(1 Kings 7:35) On the top of the cart was a round compass a half cubit in height. And on the top of the cart, its stays and its supports were of the same casting.

(1 Kings 7:36) On the plates of its stays and on its borders he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was a clear space on each, with wreaths all around.

(1 Kings 7:37) Thus he made the ten carts. All of them were of the same cast, one measure, and one shape.

(1 Kings 7:38) And he made ten basins of bronze; each basin could hold forty baths, and each basin was four cubits. On each of the ten carts was a basin.

(1 Kings 7:39) And he put five carts on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward toward the south.

(1 Kings 7:40) Hiram made the basins, the shovels and the bowls. Thus Hiram finished doing all the work that he did for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah:

(1 Kings 7:41) the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks covering the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars;

(1 Kings 7:42) four hundred pomegranates for the two networks (two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars);

(1 Kings 7:43) the ten carts, and ten basins on the carts;

(1 Kings 7:44) the one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

(1 Kings 7:45) the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. All these articles which Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah were of burnished bronze.

(1 Kings 7:46) In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zaretan.

(1 Kings 7:47) And Solomon did not weigh all the articles, because there were so very many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

(1 Kings 7:48) Thus Solomon had all the articles made for the house of Jehovah: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the Bread of the Presence;

(1 Kings 7:49) the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the tongs of gold;

(1 Kings 7:50) the basins, the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house (the Holy of Holies) and for the doors of the house of the temple.

(1 Kings 7:51) Thus all the work that King Solomon had done for the house of Jehovah was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had consecrated: the silver and the gold and the articles, and He put them in the treasuries of the house of Jehovah.

(1 Kings 8:1) Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon at Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the City of David, which is Zion.

(1 Kings 8:2) Therefore all the men of Israel assembled unto King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

(1 Kings 8:3) So all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

(1 Kings 8:4) And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up.

(1 Kings 8:5) And King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

(1 Kings 8:6) And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim.

(1 Kings 8:7) For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered over the ark and its poles.

(1 Kings 8:8) The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.

(1 Kings 8:9) Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses had put there at Horeb, when Jehovah had made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

(1 Kings 8:10) And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah,

(1 Kings 8:11) such that the priests were not able to stand to minister before the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of Jehovah.

(1 Kings 8:12) Then Solomon spoke: Jehovah has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

(1 Kings 8:13) I have built to establish for You an exalted house, a fixed place for You to abide continually.

(1 Kings 8:14) And the king turned his face around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

(1 Kings 8:15) And he said: Blessed is Jehovah the God of Israel, who has spoke with His mouth to my father David, and with His hand has fulfilled it, saying,

(1 Kings 8:16) Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, for My name to be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.

(1 Kings 8:17) Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

(1 Kings 8:18) But Jehovah said to my father David, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.

(1 Kings 8:19) Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall come from your body, he shall build the house for My name.

(1 Kings 8:20) Thus Jehovah has fulfilled His word which He has spoken; and I have risen up in place of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah has promised; and I have built a house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

(1 Kings 8:21) And there I have fixed a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Jehovah which He had made with our fathers, when He brought them out from the land of Egypt.

(1 Kings 8:22) Then Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in front of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward the heavens;

(1 Kings 8:23) and he said: Jehovah the God of Israel, there is no god in the heavens above or on the earth below like You, who keeps Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

(1 Kings 8:24) You have kept what You have promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

(1 Kings 8:25) Therefore, Jehovah the God of Israel, now keep what You have promised Your servant David my father, saying, You shall not fail to have a man sitting before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me as you have walked before Me.

(1 Kings 8:26) And now I pray, O God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed, which You have spoken to Your servant David my father.

(1 Kings 8:27) But will God truly dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house which I have built!

(1 Kings 8:28) Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Jehovah my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today:

(1 Kings 8:29) that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My name shall be there, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place.

(1 Kings 8:30) And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in Heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.

(1 Kings 8:31) When anyone sins against his neighbor, and is required to take an oath, and has come to swear an oath before Your altar in this house,

(1 Kings 8:32) then hear in Heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, to condemn the wicked, to bring his way upon his head, and to justify the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

(1 Kings 8:33) When Your people Israel are struck down before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this house,

(1 Kings 8:34) then hear in Heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to their fathers.

(1 Kings 8:35) When the heavens are restrained and there is no rain because they have sinned against You; when they have prayed toward this place and confessed Your name, and turned from their sin because You afflicted them,

(1 Kings 8:36) then hear in Heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

(1 Kings 8:37) When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land in their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is;

(1 Kings 8:38) whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this house:

(1 Kings 8:39) then hear in Heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone have known the hearts of all the sons of men),

(1 Kings 8:40) that they may fear You all the days that they are alive on the face of the land which You have given to our fathers.

(1 Kings 8:41) Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a distant land on account of Your name

(1 Kings 8:42) (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he has come and prayed toward this house,

(1 Kings 8:43) hear in Heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls upon You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.

(1 Kings 8:44) When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to Jehovah toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

(1 Kings 8:45) then hear in Heaven their prayer and their supplication, and attend to their cause.

(1 Kings 8:46) When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You have become angry with them and delivered them to the enemy, and they have taken them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near;

(1 Kings 8:47) yet when they have returned in their minds in the land where they have been carried captive, and have repented in their hearts, and made supplication to You in the land of those holding them captive, saying, We have sinned and done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

(1 Kings 8:48) and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and have prayed to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name:

(1 Kings 8:49) then hear in Heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and attend to their cause,

(1 Kings 8:50) and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them

(1 Kings 8:51) (for they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have brought out of Egypt, out of the midst of the iron furnace),

(1 Kings 8:52) that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call unto You.

(1 Kings 8:53) For as You have spoken by the hand of Your servant Moses, You have separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.

(1 Kings 8:54) And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication unto Jehovah, that he arose before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to the heavens.

(1 Kings 8:55) And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying:

(1 Kings 8:56) Blessed is Jehovah, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He has spoken. There has not failed one word of all His good word, which He has spoken by the hand of His servant Moses.

(1 Kings 8:57) Jehovah our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us,

(1 Kings 8:58) that He may incline our hearts unto Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He has commanded our fathers.

(1 Kings 8:59) And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, be near Jehovah our God day and night, that He may attend to the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, each matter from day to day,

(1 Kings 8:60) that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is God; there is no other.

(1 Kings 8:61) Let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.

(1 Kings 8:62) And the king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices before Jehovah.

(1 Kings 8:63) And Solomon offered sacrifices of peace offerings, which he offered unto Jehovah, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. Thus the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.

(1 Kings 8:64) And for that day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of Jehovah; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Jehovah was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

(1 Kings 8:65) And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven more days; fourteen days.

(1 Kings 8:66) On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that Jehovah had done for His servant David, and for Israel His people.

(1 Kings 9:1) And it came to pass, when Solomon was finished building the house of Jehovah and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he had taken delight to do,

(1 Kings 9:2) that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

(1 Kings 9:3) And Jehovah said to him: I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there always; and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days.

(1 Kings 9:4) Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments,

(1 Kings 9:5) then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I have spoken to David your father, saying, You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.

(1 Kings 9:6) But if you or your sons go back to turn away from after Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and bow down to them,

(1 Kings 9:7) then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will send away from before My face; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

(1 Kings 9:8) And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shall hiss, and say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house?

(1 Kings 9:9) Then they will answer, Because they have forsaken Jehovah their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken up with other gods, and bowed down to them and served them; therefore Jehovah has brought all this evil upon them.

(1 Kings 9:10) And it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king’s house

(1 Kings 9:11) (Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

(1 Kings 9:12) And Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they were not pleasing to his eyes.

(1 Kings 9:13) So he said, What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul, to this day.

(1 Kings 9:14) And Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

(1 Kings 9:15) And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of Jehovah, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

(1 Kings 9:16) (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.)

(1 Kings 9:17) And Solomon built Gezer, lower Beth Horon,

(1 Kings 9:18) Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

(1 Kings 9:19) all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

(1 Kings 9:20) All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel;

(1 Kings 9:21) that is, their sons who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely; from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day.

(1 Kings 9:22) But of the children of Israel Solomon made no slaves, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.

(1 Kings 9:23) Others were chiefs of the officers who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

(1 Kings 9:24) When Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, then he built the Millo.

(1 Kings 9:25) Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built unto Jehovah, and he burned incense on the altar that was before Jehovah. Thus he finished the house.

(1 Kings 9:26) King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

(1 Kings 9:27) And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.

(1 Kings 9:28) And they came to Ophir, and carried away four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

(1 Kings 10:1) Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to test him with hard questions.

(1 Kings 10:2) She came to Jerusalem with a very great company, with camels bearing spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was on her heart.

(1 Kings 10:3) And Solomon made known all her matters; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her.

(1 Kings 10:4) And when the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,

(1 Kings 10:5) the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, it took her breath away.

(1 Kings 10:6) Then she said to the king: It was a true word which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

(1 Kings 10:7) However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I have heard.

(1 Kings 10:8) Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

(1 Kings 10:9) Blessed is Jehovah your God, who has delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because of Jehovah’s eternal love for Israel, therefore He made you king, to execute justice and righteousness.

(1 Kings 10:10) And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

(1 Kings 10:11) And the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought great quantities of almug wood and precious stones from Ophir.

(1 Kings 10:12) And the king made pillars of the almug wood for the house of Jehovah and for the king’s house, and harps and lutes for the singers. There never again came such almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day.

(1 Kings 10:13) And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given to her according to the hand of the king. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

(1 Kings 10:14) The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

(1 Kings 10:15) besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the land.

(1 Kings 10:16) And King Solomon made two hundred shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.

(1 Kings 10:17) He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon.

(1 Kings 10:18) Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

(1 Kings 10:19) The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests.

(1 Kings 10:20) Twelve lions were standing there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

(1 Kings 10:21) All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

(1 Kings 10:22) For the king had a fleet of ships at sea from Tarshish along with the fleet of Hiram; and once every three years the ships from Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

(1 Kings 10:23) Thus King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

(1 Kings 10:24) And all the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his heart.

(1 Kings 10:25) Each man was bringing his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

(1 Kings 10:26) And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

(1 Kings 10:27) The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.

(1 Kings 10:28) Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Mikveh; the king’s merchants got them at Mikveh for a price.

(1 Kings 10:29) Now a chariot that came up out from Egypt was six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; and thus, by their hand, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

(1 Kings 11:1) But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites;

(1 Kings 11:2) from the nations of whom Jehovah had said to the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, nor they to you. Truly they will thrust aside your hearts after their gods. These, Solomon clung to in love.

(1 Kings 11:3) And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives thrust away his heart.

(1 Kings 11:4) For so it was, when Solomon was old, that his wives thrust his heart aside after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of his father David.

(1 Kings 11:5) For Solomon departed after Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

(1 Kings 11:6) Solomon did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and did not fully follow after Jehovah, like his father David.

(1 Kings 11:7) And Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

(1 Kings 11:8) And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

(1 Kings 11:9) And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned aside from Jehovah the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

(1 Kings 11:10) and had charged him concerning this thing, that he should not depart after other gods; but he had not kept what Jehovah had charged.

(1 Kings 11:11) Therefore Jehovah said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have charged you, I will rend to tear the kingdom away from you, and have given it to your servant.

(1 Kings 11:12) Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I shall tear it out of the hand of your son.

(1 Kings 11:13) However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I shall give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.

(1 Kings 11:14) And Jehovah raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the seed of the king in Edom.

(1 Kings 11:15) For it happened, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, after he had killed every male in Edom

(1 Kings 11:16) (because for six months Joab remained there with all Israel, until he had cut down every male in Edom),

(1 Kings 11:17) that Hadad fled to go to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him. Hadad was still a little child.

(1 Kings 11:18) And they rose up out of Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, apportioned food for him, and gave him land.

(1 Kings 11:19) And Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, that is, the sister of Queen Tahpenes.

(1 Kings 11:20) And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh.

(1 Kings 11:21) So when Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army had died, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to my own land.

(1 Kings 11:22) And Pharaoh said to him, But what have you lacked with me, that behold you are seeking to go to your own land? And he answered, Nothing, however send me away to let me go.

(1 Kings 11:23) And God raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

(1 Kings 11:24) So he gathered men to him and became leader over a band of raiders, when David killed those of Zobah. And they went to Damascus and dwelt there, and reigned in Damascus.

(1 Kings 11:25) He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon (besides the evil that Hadad did); and he loathed Israel, and reigned over Syria.

(1 Kings 11:26) And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Solomon’s servant, an Ephrathite from Zereda, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, also lifted up his hand against the king.

(1 Kings 11:27) And this was the matter for which he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and repaired the breaches to the City of David his father.

(1 Kings 11:28) And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, and made him overseer over the burden bearers of the house of Joseph.

(1 Kings 11:29) And it happened at that time, when Jeroboam had gone out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he was clothed with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field.

(1 Kings 11:30) And Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces.

(1 Kings 11:31) And he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: Behold, I am tearing the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and have given ten tribes to you

(1 Kings 11:32) (but he shall have one tribe 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),

(1 Kings 11:33) because they have forsaken Me, and bowed down to Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and to keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.

(1 Kings 11:34) However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I have chosen because he has kept My commandments and My statutes.

(1 Kings 11:35) But I have taken the kingdom out of his son’s hand and given it to you; ten tribes.

(1 Kings 11:36) And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.

(1 Kings 11:37) And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all your soul’s desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

(1 Kings 11:38) And it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David has done, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I have built for David, and will give Israel to you.

(1 Kings 11:39) And I will afflict the seed of David because of this, but not for all time.

(1 Kings 11:40) Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

(1 Kings 11:41) Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the Acts of Solomon.

(1 Kings 11:42) And the days that Solomon had reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

(1 Kings 11:43) And Solomon rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 12:1) And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

(1 Kings 12:2) So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from before King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt),

(1 Kings 12:3) that they sent and called for him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

(1 Kings 12:4) Your father had made our yoke severe; now therefore, lighten the hard service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he had put on us, and we will serve you.

(1 Kings 12:5) So he said to them, Go away for three days, then come back to me. And the people departed.

(1 Kings 12:6) And King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, How do you counsel me to answer these people?

(1 Kings 12:7) And they spoke to him, saying, If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak agreeable words to them, then they will be your servants all your days.

(1 Kings 12:8) But he rejected the counsel which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who were standing before him.

(1 Kings 12:9) And he said to them, What counsel do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, Lighten the yoke which your father has put on us?

(1 Kings 12:10) And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus you shall speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us; thus you shall say to them: My little finger has become fatter than my father’s loins!

(1 Kings 12:11) And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions!

(1 Kings 12:12) So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, Come back to me the third day.

(1 Kings 12:13) And the king answered the people harshly, and rejected the counsel which the elders had given him;

(1 Kings 12:14) and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions!

(1 Kings 12:15) Thus the king did not give heed to the people; for the turn of events was from Jehovah, to establish His word, which Jehovah had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

(1 Kings 12:16) And when all Israel saw that the king had not heeded them, the people answered the king, saying: What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David! And Israel departed to their tents.

(1 Kings 12:17) Thus Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

(1 Kings 12:18) And King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute, but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem.

(1 Kings 12:19) Thus Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

(1 Kings 12:20) And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, that they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was no one who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

(1 Kings 12:21) And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand choice men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

(1 Kings 12:22) But the Word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

(1 Kings 12:23) Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,

(1 Kings 12:24) Thus says Jehovah: You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing has come about from Me. Therefore they obeyed the Word of Jehovah, and returned to go back, according to the Word of Jehovah.

(1 Kings 12:25) And Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel.

(1 Kings 12:26) And Jeroboam thought in his heart, Now the kingdom may return to the house of David:

(1 Kings 12:27) If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.

(1 Kings 12:28) Therefore the king took counsel, made two calves of gold, and said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!

(1 Kings 12:29) And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

(1 Kings 12:30) Now this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, even as far as Dan.

(1 Kings 12:31) He made houses on the high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

(1 Kings 12:32) And Jeroboam instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.

(1 Kings 12:33) Thus he offered up on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had contrived in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

(1 Kings 13:1) And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the Word of Jehovah, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

(1 Kings 13:2) And he cried out against the altar by the Word of Jehovah, and said, O altar, altar! Thus says Jehovah: Behold, a son, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.

(1 Kings 13:3) And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign that Jehovah has spoken this: Behold, the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.

(1 Kings 13:4) So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the utterance of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying, Arrest him! And his hand, which he had stretched forth toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself.

(1 Kings 13:5) The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the Word of Jehovah.

(1 Kings 13:6) And the king answered and said to the man of God, Please entreat the face of Jehovah your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. So the man of God entreated Jehovah, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

(1 Kings 13:7) And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

(1 Kings 13:8) But the man of God said to the king, If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place.

(1 Kings 13:9) For so it was commanded me by the Word of Jehovah, saying, You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you have come.

(1 Kings 13:10) So he went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

(1 Kings 13:11) Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and recounted to him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.

(1 Kings 13:12) And their father said to them, Which way did he go? For his sons had seen which way the man of God had gone, who had come from Judah.

(1 Kings 13:13) And he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it,

(1 Kings 13:14) and 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, I am.

(1 Kings 13:15) And he said to him, Come home with me and eat bread.

(1 Kings 13:16) And he said, I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.

(1 Kings 13:17) For I have been told by the Word of Jehovah, You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.

(1 Kings 13:18) And he said to him, I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel has spoken to me by the Word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him.

(1 Kings 13:19) So he turned back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

(1 Kings 13:20) And it happened, as they sat at the table, that the Word of Jehovah came to the prophet who had brought him back;

(1 Kings 13:21) and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Because you have disobeyed the Word of Jehovah, and have not kept the commandment with which Jehovah your God has charged you,

(1 Kings 13:22) but you turned back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which He said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.

(1 Kings 13:23) So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back.

(1 Kings 13:24) And when he left, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing by it. The lion also was standing by the corpse.

(1 Kings 13:25) And behold, men were passing by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. And they came and spoke of it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

(1 Kings 13:26) Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, It is the man of God who had been rebellious against the mouth of Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the Word of Jehovah which He had spoken to him.

(1 Kings 13:27) And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled it.

(1 Kings 13:28) And he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey.

(1 Kings 13:29) And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him.

(1 Kings 13:30) And he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

(1 Kings 13:31) So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

(1 Kings 13:32) For the word which he has cried out by the Word of Jehovah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

(1 Kings 13:33) After these events Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he went back to making priests from among all the people for the high places; whoever wished, he confirmed his hand, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

(1 Kings 13:34) And this matter was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to annihilate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

(1 Kings 14:1) At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam was sick.

(1 Kings 14:2) And Jeroboam said to his wife, Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I would be king over this people.

(1 Kings 14:3) Also take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what shall become of the child.

(1 Kings 14:4) And Jeroboam’s wife did so; she arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes had become fixed by reason of his age.

(1 Kings 14:5) And Jehovah had said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.

(1 Kings 14:6) And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the door, that he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why do you pretend to be another person? For I am sent to you with a difficult message.

(1 Kings 14:7) Go, say to Jeroboam, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: Because I have exalted you from among the people, and appointed you ruler over My people Israel,

(1 Kings 14:8) and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes;

(1 Kings 14:9) but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back;

(1 Kings 14:10) therefore behold, I am bringing calamity upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him who urinates against a wall, both bond and free in Israel; I will consume the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away the dung for burning until it is all gone.

(1 Kings 14:11) The dogs shall eat whoever of Jeroboam dies in the city, and the birds of the heavens shall eat whoever dies in the field; for Jehovah has spoken!

(1 Kings 14:12) Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

(1 Kings 14:13) And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave; because out of the whole house of Jeroboam, only in him there is found something good toward Jehovah the God of Israel.

(1 Kings 14:14) Moreover Jehovah shall raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. What? Even straightaway!

(1 Kings 14:15) For Jehovah shall strike Israel, as a reed flutters in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He has given to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their groves, provoking Jehovah to anger.

(1 Kings 14:16) And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who has sinned and has made Israel sin.

(1 Kings 14:17) And Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. And as she was entering the threshold of the house, the boy died.

(1 Kings 14:18) And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the Word of Jehovah which He had spoken by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet.

(1 Kings 14:19) Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 14:20) The days that Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years. And he rested with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 14:21) And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.

(1 Kings 14:22) And Judah did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they sinned, more than all that their fathers had done.

(1 Kings 14:23) For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and groves on every high hill and under every green tree.

(1 Kings 14:24) And there were also male temple prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah had cast out before the children of Israel.

(1 Kings 14:25) And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

(1 Kings 14:26) And he took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made.

(1 Kings 14:27) And King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the chief runners who guarded the door to the king’s house.

(1 Kings 14:28) And whenever the king went to the house of Jehovah, the runners carried them, then brought them back into the guardroom.

(1 Kings 14:29) Now 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.

(1 Kings 14:30) And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

(1 Kings 14:31) So Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 15:1) In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.

(1 Kings 15:2) He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom.

(1 Kings 15:3) And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not perfect toward Jehovah his God, as was the heart of his father David.

(1 Kings 15:4) Nevertheless for David’s sake Jehovah his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him to establish Jerusalem;

(1 Kings 15:5) because David had done what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and had not turned aside from anything that He had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

(1 Kings 15:6) And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

(1 Kings 15:7) And the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah. And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

(1 Kings 15:8) And Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 15:9) In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.

(1 Kings 15:10) And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom.

(1 Kings 15:11) Asa did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, as did his father David.

(1 Kings 15:12) And he took away the male temple prostitutes from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

(1 Kings 15:13) Also he removed Maachah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrible thing in a grove. And Asa cut down her horrible thing and burned it by the Brook Kidron.

(1 Kings 15:14) But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect toward Jehovah all his days.

(1 Kings 15:15) He also brought into the house of Jehovah the things which his father had set apart, and the things which he himself had set apart: silver and gold and utensils.

(1 Kings 15:16) And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

(1 Kings 15:17) And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might let no one go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

(1 Kings 15:18) Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of Jehovah and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

(1 Kings 15:19) Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.

(1 Kings 15:20) So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the commanders of his forces against the cities of Israel. And he struck Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinnereth, with all the land of Naphtali.

(1 Kings 15:21) Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in Tirzah.

(1 Kings 15:22) Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; no one was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

(1 Kings 15:23) The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah. But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

(1 Kings 15:24) So Asa rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 15:25) Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam had become king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

(1 Kings 15:26) And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of his father, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

(1 Kings 15:27) And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel was laying siege to Gibbethon.

(1 Kings 15:28) Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 15:29) And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the Word of Jehovah which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

(1 Kings 15:30) because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he had provoked Jehovah the God of Israel to anger.

(1 Kings 15:31) Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 15:32) And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

(1 Kings 15:33) In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah, and reigned twenty-four years.

(1 Kings 15:34) He did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

(1 Kings 16:1) Then the Word of Jehovah came to Jehu the son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying:

(1 Kings 16:2) Inasmuch as I raised you up out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and you have walked in the ways of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins,

(1 Kings 16:3) behold, I will consume away after Baasha and after his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

(1 Kings 16:4) The dogs shall eat whoever dies of Baasha in the city, and the birds of the heavens shall eat whoever dies in the fields.

(1 Kings 16:5) Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 16:6) So Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 16:7) And also the Word of Jehovah came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil that he had done in the eyes of Jehovah to provoke Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he killed them.

(1 Kings 16:8) In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel, and reigned two years in Tirzah.

(1 Kings 16:9) Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah.

(1 Kings 16:10) And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 16:11) And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave him one who urinates against a wall, neither of his kinsmen nor of his friends.

(1 Kings 16:12) Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, according to the Word of Jehovah, which He had spoken against Baasha by the hand of Jehu the prophet,

(1 Kings 16:13) for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking Jehovah the God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

(1 Kings 16:14) Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 16:15) In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Tirzah seven days. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

(1 Kings 16:16) And the people who were encamped heard it said, Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king. So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.

(1 Kings 16:17) And Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah.

(1 Kings 16:18) And it happened, when Zimri saw that the city had been taken, that he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house down upon himself with fire, and died,

(1 Kings 16:19) because of the sins which he had sinned in doing evil in the eyes of Jehovah, in walking in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he had done to make Israel sin.

(1 Kings 16:20) Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the treason he committed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 16:21) Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed after Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half after Omri.

(1 Kings 16:22) But the people following after Omri prevailed over the people following after Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned.

(1 Kings 16:23) In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah.

(1 Kings 16:24) And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill.

(1 Kings 16:25) And Omri did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and did worse than all who were before him;

(1 Kings 16:26) for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, to provoke Jehovah the God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

(1 Kings 16:27) Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 16:28) So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And Ahab his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 16:29) In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

(1 Kings 16:30) And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, more than all who were before him.

(1 Kings 16:31) And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and bowed down to him.

(1 Kings 16:32) And he set up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

(1 Kings 16:33) And Ahab made a grove. Ahab did more to provoke Jehovah the God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

(1 Kings 16:34) In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the Word of Jehovah, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.

(1 Kings 17:1) And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Jehovah the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except according to my word.

(1 Kings 17:2) And the Word of Jehovah came to him, saying,

(1 Kings 17:3) Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.

(1 Kings 17:4) And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

(1 Kings 17:5) So he went and did according to the Word of Jehovah, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which is before the Jordan.

(1 Kings 17:6) And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

(1 Kings 17:7) And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

(1 Kings 17:8) And the Word of Jehovah came to him, saying,

(1 Kings 17:9) Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to provide for you.

(1 Kings 17:10) So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold the widow woman was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, Please bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

(1 Kings 17:11) And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

(1 Kings 17:12) And she said, As Jehovah your God lives, I do not have a cake, only a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; and behold, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

(1 Kings 17:13) And Elijah said to her, Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.

(1 Kings 17:14) For thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: The jar of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jug of oil become empty, until the day that Jehovah sends rain upon the face of the earth.

(1 Kings 17:15) So she went and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate many days.

(1 Kings 17:16) The jar of flour was not used up, nor did the jug of oil become empty, according to the Word of Jehovah which He had spoken by the hand of Elijah.

(1 Kings 17:17) Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was very severe until there was no breath left in him.

(1 Kings 17:18) So she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance, and to kill my son?

(1 Kings 17:19) And he said to her, Give me your son. So he took him out of her bosom and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.

(1 Kings 17:20) And he cried out unto Jehovah and said, O Jehovah my God, have You also brought tragedy upon the widow woman who is showing me hospitality, by killing her son?

(1 Kings 17:21) And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out unto Jehovah and said, O Jehovah my God, I pray, let this child’s soul return into him.

(1 Kings 17:22) And Jehovah heeded the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back into him, and he revived.

(1 Kings 17:23) And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, See, your son lives!

(1 Kings 17:24) Then the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the Word of Jehovah in your mouth is truth.

(1 Kings 18:1) And it came to pass after many days that the Word of Jehovah came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.

(1 Kings 18:2) So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and the famine was severe in Samaria.

(1 Kings 18:3) And Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly.

(1 Kings 18:4) For so it was, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.)

(1 Kings 18:5) And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go into the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we will not have to destroy any of the livestock.

(1 Kings 18:6) So they divided the land between them, to pass through it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

(1 Kings 18:7) And as Obadiah was on his way, behold Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, Is that you, my lord Elijah?

(1 Kings 18:8) And he answered him, It is I. Go, tell your master, Behold, Elijah is here.

(1 Kings 18:9) And he said, How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?

(1 Kings 18:10) As Jehovah your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, He is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they did not find you.

(1 Kings 18:11) And now you are saying, Go, tell your master, Behold Elijah is here!

(1 Kings 18:12) And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of Jehovah will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared Jehovah from my youth.

(1 Kings 18:13) Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Jehovah, how I hid one hundred men of the prophets of Jehovah, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

(1 Kings 18:14) And now you say, Go, tell your master, Behold Elijah is here. He will kill me!

(1 Kings 18:15) And Elijah said, As Jehovah of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.

(1 Kings 18:16) So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and reported to him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

(1 Kings 18:17) And it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Is that you, O troubler of Israel?

(1 Kings 18:18) And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah and have gone after the Baals.

(1 Kings 18:19) Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the groves, who eat at Jezebel’s table.

(1 Kings 18:20) So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel.

(1 Kings 18:21) And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long will you be limping between two divided opinions? If Jehovah is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow after him. But the people answered him not a word.

(1 Kings 18:22) Then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of Jehovah; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

(1 Kings 18:23) Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

(1 Kings 18:24) Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of Jehovah; and the god who answers by fire, He is God. So all the people answered and said, The word is good.

(1 Kings 18:25) And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.

(1 Kings 18:26) So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, O Baal, hear us! But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

(1 Kings 18:27) And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.

(1 Kings 18:28) So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

(1 Kings 18:29) And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

(1 Kings 18:30) Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah that was broken down.

(1 Kings 18:31) And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Word of Jehovah had come, saying, Israel shall be your name.

(1 Kings 18:32) And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.

(1 Kings 18:33) And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.

(1 Kings 18:34) Then 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.

(1 Kings 18:35) And the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

(1 Kings 18:36) And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your Word.

(1 Kings 18:37) Testify, O Jehovah, testify, that this people may know that You are Jehovah God, and that You have turned their hearts around back to You.

(1 Kings 18:38) Then the fire of Jehovah fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

(1 Kings 18:39) And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, Jehovah, He is God! Jehovah, He is God!

(1 Kings 18:40) And Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape! So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

(1 Kings 18:41) And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

(1 Kings 18:42) So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,

(1 Kings 18:43) and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. So he went up and looked, and said, There is nothing. And seven times he said, Go back.

(1 Kings 18:44) And it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea! So he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.

(1 Kings 18:45) And it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

(1 Kings 18:46) And the hand of Jehovah came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

(1 Kings 19:1) And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

(1 Kings 19:2) And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.

(1 Kings 19:3) And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and came to Beer-sheba of Judah, and left his servant there.

(1 Kings 19:4) But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he requested for his soul that he might die, and said, It is enough! Now, Jehovah, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!

(1 Kings 19:5) And as he lay and slept under a broom tree, behold an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat.

(1 Kings 19:6) And he looked, and behold, by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and turned and lay down.

(1 Kings 19:7) And the Angel of Jehovah came back the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.

(1 Kings 19:8) And he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

(1 Kings 19:9) And there he came into a cave, and spent the night there; and behold, the Word of Jehovah came to him, and He said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

(1 Kings 19:10) And he said, I have been very zealous for Jehovah the God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek my soul, to take it away.

(1 Kings 19:11) And He said, Go out, and stand on the mountain before Jehovah. And behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before Jehovah, but Jehovah was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but Jehovah was not in the earthquake;

(1 Kings 19:12) and after the earthquake a fire, but Jehovah was not in the fire; and after the fire a whisper of a small voice.

(1 Kings 19:13) And so it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave; and behold, a voice came to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

(1 Kings 19:14) And he said, I have been very zealous for Jehovah the God of Hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek my soul, to take it away.

(1 Kings 19:15) And Jehovah said to him: Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you have come there, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.

(1 Kings 19:16) Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

(1 Kings 19:17) It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill.

(1 Kings 19:18) Yet I have left in Israel seven thousand, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

(1 Kings 19:19) So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. And Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.

(1 Kings 19:20) And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow after you. And he said to him, Turn and go back, for what have I done to you?

(1 Kings 19:21) So Elisha turned back from after him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s implements, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah, and served him.

(1 Kings 20:1) Now Ben-Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his forces together; thirty-two kings were with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it.

(1 Kings 20:2) And he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, Thus says Ben-Hadad:

(1 Kings 20:3) Your silver and your gold are mine; your lovely wives and children are mine.

(1 Kings 20:4) And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours.

(1 Kings 20:5) And the messengers came back and said, Thus says Ben-Hadad, saying, Indeed I have sent to you, saying, You shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children;

(1 Kings 20:6) but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall put it in their hands and take it away.

(1 Kings 20:7) So the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Notice, please, and see how this man seeks evil, for he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold; and I have not withheld from him.

(1 Kings 20:8) And all the elders and all the people said to him, Do not listen or consent.

(1 Kings 20:9) Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that you sent for to your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers departed and brought back word to him.

(1 Kings 20:10) And Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people who follow me.

(1 Kings 20:11) And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.

(1 Kings 20:12) And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking at the booths, that he said to his servants, Get ready. And they stationed themselves against the city.

(1 Kings 20:13) And behold, a certain prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I am delivering it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

(1 Kings 20:14) So Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says Jehovah: By the young rulers of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he answered, You.

(1 Kings 20:15) Then he mustered the young rulers of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel; seven thousand.

(1 Kings 20:16) So they went out at noon. Meanwhile Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings helping him were getting drunk in the booths.

(1 Kings 20:17) And the young rulers of the provinces went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out, and they reported to him, saying, Men have come out of Samaria!

(1 Kings 20:18) And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out for war, take them alive.

(1 Kings 20:19) And the young rulers of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them.

(1 Kings 20:20) And each one struck his man; so the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them; and Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen.

(1 Kings 20:21) And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots, and struck the Syrians with a great slaughter.

(1 Kings 20:22) And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.

(1 Kings 20:23) And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than us; but if we fight against them in the plain, will we not be stronger than them.

(1 Kings 20:24) So do this thing: Remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their places;

(1 Kings 20:25) and you shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we shall fight against them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than them. And he heeded their voice and did so.

(1 Kings 20:26) So it was, at the turn of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

(1 Kings 20:27) And the sons of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the sons of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the land.

(1 Kings 20:28) And a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, Thus says Jehovah: Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

(1 Kings 20:29) And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day.

(1 Kings 20:30) And the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; where a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

(1 Kings 20:31) And his servants said to him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will preserve alive your soul.

(1 Kings 20:32) So they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-Hadad says, Please preserve my soul alive. And he said, Is he still alive? He is my brother.

(1 Kings 20:33) Now the men observed carefully, and they quickly grasped at this word and said, Your brother Ben-Hadad. And he said, Go, bring him. Then Ben-Hadad came out to him; and he had him come up into the chariot.

(1 Kings 20:34) And Ben-Hadad said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. And Ahab said, I will send you away with this treaty. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

(1 Kings 20:35) And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor, By the Word of Jehovah, Strike me, please. And the man refused to strike him.

(1 Kings 20:36) And he said to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, behold, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you. And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him.

(1 Kings 20:37) And he found another man, and said, Strike me, please. So the man struck him, to strike and wound him.

(1 Kings 20:38) And the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a cover over his eyes.

(1 Kings 20:39) And as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and there, a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your soul shall be for his soul, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.

(1 Kings 20:40) And while your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said to him, So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.

(1 Kings 20:41) And he hastened to take the covering away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

(1 Kings 20:42) And he said to him, Thus says Jehovah: Because you have sent away out of your hand a man whom I devoted to utter destruction, therefore your soul shall go for his soul, and your people for his people.

(1 Kings 20:43) So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.

(1 Kings 21:1) And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

(1 Kings 21:2) And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it is good in your eyes, I will give you its price in money.

(1 Kings 21:3) But Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!

(1 Kings 21:4) So Ahab went into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food.

(1 Kings 21:5) And Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is your spirit so sullen that you are not eating food?

(1 Kings 21:6) And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.

(1 Kings 21:7) And Jezebel his wife said to him, Do you now rule over Israel? Arise, eat food, and let your heart be joyful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

(1 Kings 21:8) And she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth.

(1 Kings 21:9) She wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the people;

(1 Kings 21:10) and seat two men, sons of worthlessness, before him to bear witness against him, saying, You have blasphemed God and the king. Then take him out, and stone him, that he may die.

(1 Kings 21:11) So the men of his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.

(1 Kings 21:12) They proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth at the head of the people.

(1 Kings 21:13) And two men, sons of worthlessness, came in and sat before him; and the men of worthlessness testified against him, against Naboth, before the people, saying, Naboth has blasphemed God and the king! Then they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones, so that he died.

(1 Kings 21:14) Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead.

(1 Kings 21:15) And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but has died.

(1 Kings 21:16) So it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth had died, that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

(1 Kings 21:17) And the Word of Jehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

(1 Kings 21:18) Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.

(1 Kings 21:19) And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Have you murdered and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Jehovah: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.

(1 Kings 21:20) So Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Jehovah:

(1 Kings 21:21) Behold, I shall bring evil upon you. I shall take away your posterity, and shall cut off from Ahab in Israel everyone who urinates against a wall, both bond and free.

(1 Kings 21:22) I have delivered up your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.

(1 Kings 21:23) And concerning Jezebel Jehovah also spoke, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.

(1 Kings 21:24) The dogs shall eat whoever of Ahab dies in the city, and the birds of the heavens shall eat whoever dies in the field.

(1 Kings 21:25) Surely there had not been one like Ahab who had sold himself to do wickedness in the eyes of Jehovah, which his wife Jezebel had instigated.

(1 Kings 21:26) And he did exceedingly abominably to follow after the idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom Jehovah had cast out before the children of Israel.

(1 Kings 21:27) So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and walked about softly.

(1 Kings 21:28) And the Word of Jehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

(1 Kings 21:29) Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring about the evil in his days; but in the days of his son I will bring about the evil upon his house.

(1 Kings 22:1) Now three years passed without war between Syria and Israel.

(1 Kings 22:2) And it came to pass, in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel.

(1 Kings 22:3) And the king of Israel said to his servants, Have you known that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we are being inactive to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?

(1 Kings 22:4) And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

(1 Kings 22:5) Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Please inquire at the Word of Jehovah today.

(1 Kings 22:6) So the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain? And they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.

(1 Kings 22:7) And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not still a prophet of Jehovah here, that we may inquire of Him?

(1 Kings 22:8) And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of Jehovah; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so!

(1 Kings 22:9) Then the king of Israel summoned a certain official and said, Bring Micaiah the son of Imlah quickly!

(1 Kings 22:10) And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on his throne, at a vacant spot at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

(1 Kings 22:11) And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself; and he said, Thus says Jehovah: With these you shall thrust at the Syrians to destroy them.

(1 Kings 22:12) And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for Jehovah will deliver it into the king’s hand.

(1 Kings 22:13) And the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets with one mouth are agreeable to the king. Please, let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak pleasant things.

(1 Kings 22:14) And Micaiah said, As Jehovah lives, whatever Jehovah says to me, that I will speak.

(1 Kings 22:15) So he came to the king; and the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall we refrain? And he answered him, Go and prosper, for Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king!

(1 Kings 22:16) And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Jehovah?

(1 Kings 22:17) Then he said, I have seen all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep having no shepherd. And Jehovah said, These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.

(1 Kings 22:18) And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?

(1 Kings 22:19) And Micaiah said, Therefore hear the Word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left.

(1 Kings 22:20) And Jehovah said, Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead? So one said this, and another was saying that.

(1 Kings 22:21) Then a spirit came forward and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him.

(1 Kings 22:22) And Jehovah said to him, In what way? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets. And Jehovah said, You shall entice him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.

(1 Kings 22:23) Therefore now behold, Jehovah has put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and Jehovah has spoken calamity against you.

(1 Kings 22:24) Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way did the spirit from Jehovah go from me to speak to you?

(1 Kings 22:25) And Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide!

(1 Kings 22:26) So the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son;

(1 Kings 22:27) and say, Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace.

(1 Kings 22:28) And Micaiah said, If you return to come back in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said, All you people, pay attention!

(1 Kings 22:29) So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

(1 Kings 22:30) And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.

(1 Kings 22:31) Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, saying, Fight with no one small or great, but only with the king of Israel.

(1 Kings 22:32) And so it was, when the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel! Therefore they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out.

(1 Kings 22:33) And it happened, when the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.

(1 Kings 22:34) Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn your hand and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.

(1 Kings 22:35) And the battle increased that day; and the king was propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and died at evening. And the blood ran out from the wound onto the floor of the chariot.

(1 Kings 22:36) And as the sun was going down, a shout went throughout the camp, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own land!

(1 Kings 22:37) So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria.

(1 Kings 22:38) And someone washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according to the Word of Jehovah which He had spoken.

(1 Kings 22:39) Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, the ivory house which he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

(1 Kings 22:40) So Ahab rested with his fathers. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 22:41) Jehoshaphat the son of Asa had become king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

(1 Kings 22:42) Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

(1 Kings 22:43) And he walked in all the ways of his father Asa. He did not turn aside from them, doing what was right in the eyes of Jehovah. Nevertheless the high places were not taken away, for the people offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

(1 Kings 22:44) Also Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

(1 Kings 22:45) Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, the might that he showed, and how he made war, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah.

(1 Kings 22:46) And the rest of the male temple prostitutes, who had remained in the days of his father Asa, he removed out of the land.

(1 Kings 22:47) There was then no king in Edom, only a deputy of the king.

(1 Kings 22:48) Jehoshaphat had made merchant ships to go to Ophir for gold; but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion Geber.

(1 Kings 22:49) Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with your servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.

(1 Kings 22:50) And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. And Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

(1 Kings 22:51) Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.

(1 Kings 22:52) And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of his father and in the ways of his mother and in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin;

(1 Kings 22:53) for he served Baal and bowed down to him, and provoked Jehovah the God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done.