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Chapter 9
The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon
1When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind.
2Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her.
3When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built,
4the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made atOr the ascent by which he went up to the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed.
5She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.
6But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard.
7How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
8Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the LORD your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.”
9Then she gave the king 120 talentsThat is, about 4 1/2 tons (about 4 metric tons) of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10(The men of Hiram and the men of Solomon brought gold from Ophir; they also brought algumwoodProbably a variant of almugwood and precious stones.
11The king used the algumwood to make steps for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah.)
12King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for; he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.
Solomon's Splendor
13The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,That is, about 25 tons (about 23 metric tons)
14not including the revenues brought in by merchants and traders. Also all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekasThat is, about 7 1/2 pounds (about 3.5 kilograms) of hammered gold went into each shield.
16He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three hundred bekasThat is, about 3 3/4 pounds (about 1.7 kilograms) of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
17Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with pure gold.
18The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.
19Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.
20All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's day.
21The king had a fleet of trading shipsHebrew of ships that could go to Tarshish manned by Hiram'sHebrew Huram, a variant of Hiram men. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.
22King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.
23All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
24Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, and robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
25Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses,Or charioteers which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
26He ruled over all the kings from the RiverThat is, the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt.
27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.
28Solomon's horses were imported from EgyptOr possibly Muzur, a region in Cilicia and from all other countries.
Solomon's Death
29As for the other events of Solomon's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?
30Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
Chapter 10
Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam
1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king.
2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt.
3So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him:
4“Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.
6Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.
7They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
8But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
9He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10The young men who had grown up with him replied, “Tell the people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’—tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.
11My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
12Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.”
13The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders,
14he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”
15So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
“What share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse's son?
To your tents, O Israel!
Look after your own house, O David!”
So all the Israelites went home.
17But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
18King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,Hebrew Hadoram, a variant of Adoniram who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.
19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
Chapter 11
1When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the house of Judah and Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men—to make war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam.
2But this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God:
3“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin,
4‘This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the words of the LORD and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
Rehoboam Fortifies Judah
5Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defense in Judah:
6Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
7Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam,
8Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,
9Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
10Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
11He strengthened their defenses and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine.
12He put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.
13The priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel sided with him.
14The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property, and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.
15And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols he had made.
16Those from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
17They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon three years, walking in the ways of David and Solomon during this time.
Rehoboam's Family
18Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab.
19She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham.
20Then he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith.
21Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah to be the chief prince among his brothers, in order to make him king.
23He acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for them.

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