Chapter 10
1; And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon as to the name of YAHWEH, and she came to test him with hard questions.
2; And she came to Jerusalem with a very great company, camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him all that had been in her heart.
3; And Solomon told her all her matters; there was not one thing hidden from the king that he did not declare to her.
4; And the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he built,
5; and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the standing of his ministers, and their clothing, and his cupbearers and his burnt offering that he offered in the house of YAHWEH; and there was no more spirit in her.
6; And she said to the king, The word that I heard in my land was true as to your matters and your wisdom.
7; And I did not believe the words until I had come and my eyes had seen; and behold, the half was not told to me. You have wisdom and prosperity exceeding the fame which I heard.
8; Oh the happiness of your men! Oh the happiness of your servants, these who stand before you continually, who hear your wisdom!
9; Blessed be YAHWEH your Elohim who delighted in you, putting your person on the throne of Israel, because YAHWEH loved Israel forever, therefore He appointed you king, to do judgment and righteousness.
10; And she gave to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and very many spices, and precious stones; no spice like that came any more for abundance, that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11; And also, the navy of Hiram that bore gold from Ophir brought in from Ophir almug trees, a great many, and precious stones;
12; and the king made the almug trees a support for the house of YAHWEH, and for the king's house, and harps and lyres for singers; no such almug trees have come, nor have there been seen such to this day.
13; And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, apart from that which he gave to her as a memorial of King Solomon. And she turned and went to her land, she and her servants.
14; And the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty six talents of gold,
15; apart from the merchant men, and from the traffic of the traders, and from all the Arabian kings, and from the governors of the lands.
16; And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target;
17; and three hundred shields of beaten gold: Three minas of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
18; And the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.
19; The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind; and stays were on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays;
20; and twelve lions were standing on the six steps, on this side and on that; there was not the like made in any kingdom.
21; And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of refined gold; there was none of silver; it was not counted for anything in the days of Solomon;
22; For the king had a navy of Tarshish at sea with a navy of Hiram; once in three years the navy of Tarshish would come bearing gold, and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
23; And King Solomon was greater than any of the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom;
24; and all the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that Elohim had put into his heart;
25; and they were each one bringing his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a year by year matter.
26; And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand, four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem.
27; And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as the sycamores that are in the Shefalah, for abundance.
28; And the horses that King Solomon had were brought from Egypt, and from Kue; the king's merchants received them from Kue at a price;
29; and a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria they brought them out by their means.
Chapter 11
1; And King Solomon loved many foreign women, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites;
2; of the nations which YAHWEH said to the sons of Israel, You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; they shall turn aside your heart after their Elohim; Solomon clung to these in love.
3; And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
4; And it happened, at the time Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other Elohims, and his heart was not perfect with YAHWEH his Elohim, like the heart of his father David.
5; And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites;
6; and Solomon did evil in the sight of YAHWEH, and did not go fully after YAHWEH like his father David.
7; Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the sons of Ammon;
8; and so he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their Elohims.
9; And YAHWEH was angry with Solomon, for his heart had bent away from YAHWEH, Elohim of Israel who had appeared to him twice,
10; and had given a charge to him concerning this thing, not to go after other Elohim; and he did not keep that which YAHWEH instructed.
11; And YAHWEH said to Solomon, Because this has been done by you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes that I charged on you, I shall surely tear the kingdom from you and shall give it to your servant.
12; Only, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I shall tear it out of your son's hand.
13; Only I will not tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for my servant David's sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.
14; And it happened, YAHWEH raised an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the seed of the king in Edom.
15; And it happened when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the ones who died, after he had stricken every male in Edom;
16; Joab and all Israel remained there six months until every male in Edom was cut off.
17; And Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt; and Hadad was a little child.
18; And they rose up out of Midian and came to Paran, and they took men with them out of Paran and came into Egypt, to Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And he gave him a house and instructed bread for him, and gave land to him.
19; And Hadad found much favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.
20; And the sister of Tahpenes bore him a son, Genubath, and Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons.
21; And Hadad had heard in Egypt that David had slept with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. And Hadad said to Pharaoh, Send me away and I will go to my land.
22; And Pharaoh said to him, But what are you lacking with me, that, lo, you are seeking to go to your land? And he said, Nothing. However, you shall certainly send me away.
23; And Elohim raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who fled from his master Hadadezer the king of Zobah.
24; And he gathered men to himself, and was head of a troop when David killed them. And they went to Damascus and lived in it, and reigned in Damascus.
25; And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the evil that Hadad did; and he despised Israel and reigned over Syria.
26; And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, a servant of Solomon he also lifted up a hand against the king.
27; And this was the thing for which he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and closed up the breaks of the city of his father David.
28; And the man Jeroboam was a mighty warrior. And Solomon saw the young man, that he was doing work. And he appointed him to all the burden of the house of Joseph.
29; And at that time it happened that Jeroboam had gone out from Jerusalem, and Ahijah the Shilonite, the prophet, found him in the way. And he covered himself with a new garment, and both of them were by themselves in a field.
30; And Ahijah laid hold on the new garment on him and tore it into twelve pieces.
31; And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten pieces for yourself. For so says YAHWEH, Elohim of Israel, Behold, I am tearing the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and giving to you the ten tribes.
32; And he shall have the one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
33; Because they have forsaken Me, and bow themselves to Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh the god of Moab, to Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and have not walked in My ways, to do the right in My eyes, and My statutes and My judgments, as his father David did.
34; But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for My servant David's sake, whom I chose, because he kept My instructions and My statutes.
35; But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it to you, ten tribes.
36; And I will give one tribe to his son, that there may be a lamp to My servant David before Me all the days in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen to Myself, to put My name there.
37; And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel.
38; And it shall be, if you shall hear all that I command you, and shall walk in My ways, and do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I shall be with you and shall build a sure house for you, as I built for David, and shall give Israel to you.
39; And for this I will afflict the seed of David; but not forever.
40; And Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, and Jeroboam rose up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt; and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
41; And the rest of the matters of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?
42; And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years;
43; and Solomon lay with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
Chapter 12
1; And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2; And it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard,
3; that they sent and called for him; and they came, Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4; Your father made our yoke hard; and now you should lighten some of the hard service of your father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve you.
5; And he said to them, Go; yet in three days come back to me. And the people went.
6; And King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had been standing before the face of his father Solomon while he was alive, saying, How do you advise in order to answer this people?
7; And they spoke to him, saying, If you are servant to this people today, and will serve them, and answer them and speak to them good words, then they will be servants to you forever.
8; But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they advised him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, who were standing before him.
9; And he said to them, What do you advise, and we shall answer the people who have spoken to me, saying, Lighten some of the yoke that your father put upon us?
10; And they spoke to him, the young men who had grown up with him, saying, So you shall say to this people who have spoken to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, and you make it light on us; so you shall speak to them, My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father,
11; and now my father laid a heavy yoke on you, and I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I will surely chastise you with scorpions.
12; And they came, Jeroboam and all the people, to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, Come back to me on the third day.
13; And the king replied to the people harshly, and forsook the counsel of the elders which they advised him,
14; and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I shall add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I will surely chastise you with scorpions.
15; And the king did not listen to the people, for the turn of events was from YAHWEH, in order to lift up His Word that YAHWEH spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16; And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people sent the king back word, saying, What portion do we have in David? Yea, there is no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see to your house, O David! And Israel went to its tents.
17; As to the sons of Israel, those living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18; And King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the tribute, and all Israel threw stones at him, and he died. And King Rehoboam made haste to go up into a chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
19; And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
20; And it happened when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the company, and caused him to reign over all Israel; none followed after the house of David except the tribe of Judah only.
21; And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen makers of war to fight with the house of Israel, to bring back the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon,
22; then the Word of Elohim came to Shemaiah a man of Elohim, saying,
23; Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying,
24; So says YAHWEH, You shall not go up nor fight with your brothers the sons of Israel. Each turn back to his house, for this thing has been from Me. And they heard the Word of YAHWEH, and turned to go back, according to the Word of YAHWEH.
25; And Jeroboam built Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and lived in it, and went out from there and built Penuel.
26; And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom shall turn back to the house of David;
27; if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of YAHWEH at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people shall turn again to their master, to Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they will kill me and go again to Rehoboam the king of Judah.
28; And the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
29; And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
30; And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, to Dan.
31; And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32; And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah; and he offered on the altar, so he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he made; and he made stand in Bethel the priests of the high places that he made.
33; And he offered up on the altar that he made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and offered on the altar, to burn incense.
Chapter 13
1; And, behold, a man of Elohim had come from Judah to Bethel, by the Word of YAHWEH, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2; And he cried against the altar, by the Word of YAHWEH, and said, Altar! Altar! So says YAHWEH, Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, his name Josiah, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you, and they shall burn the bones of man on you.
3; And on that day he gave a sign, saying, This is the sign that YAHWEH has spoken, Behold, the altar is torn, and the ashes that are on it poured out.
4; And it happened when the king heard the saying of the man of Elohim which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, Jereboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, Seize him. And his hand which he put out against him withered, and he was not able to bring it back to him.
5; And the altar was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of Elohim had given by the Word of YAHWEH.
6; And the king answered and said to the man of Elohim, Please entreat the face of YAHWEH your Elohim, and pray for me, and my hand shall come back to me. And the man of Elohim entreated the face of YAHWEH, and the hand of the king came back to him, and it was as at the beginning.
7; And the king spoke to the man of Elohim, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.
8; And the man of Elohim said to the king, If you would give me the half of your house, I would not go in with you, nor will I eat bread, nor will I drink water in this place.
9; For so He instructed me by the Word of YAHWEH, saying, You shall not eat bread nor drink water, nor turn back in the way that you have come.
10; And he went on another way, and did not turn back in the way in which he came into Bethel.
11; And a certain aged prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and told him all the deeds that the man of Elohim had done that day in Bethel, the words that he had spoken to the king; yea, they told them to their father.
12; And their father said to them, Where is this man, what way did he go? And his sons saw the way that the man of Elohim from Judah had gone.
13; And he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it,
14; and went after the man of Elohim, and found him sitting under an oak tree. And he said to him, are you the man of Elohim who has come from Judah? And he said, I am.
15; Then he said to him, Come home with me and eat bread.
16; And he said, I am not able to go back with you, and to go in with you, nor may I eat bread or drink water with you in this place;
17; for a word came to me by the Word of YAHWEH, You shall not eat bread nor drink water there; you shall not turn back to go in the way in which you came.
18; And he said to him, I also am a prophet like yourself, and an cherub spoke to me by the Word of YAHWEH, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, and he shall eat bread and water.
19; And he turned back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20; And it happened as they were sitting at the table, and a Word of YAHWEH came to the prophet who brought him back;
21; and he cried to the man of Elohim who came from Judah, saying, So says YAHWEH, Because you have resisted the mouth of YAHWEH, and have not kept the command that YAHWEH your Elohim charged you,
22; and turned back and ate bread and drank water in the place of which He said to you, You shall not eat bread nor drink water; your carcass shall not come to the burying place of your fathers.
23; And after he ate bread and after he drank, it happened that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24; And he left, and a lion found him in the way and killed him; and his carcass was thrown down in the way, and the donkey was standing near it, and the lion was standing near the carcass.
25; And behold, men were passing by and saw the carcass thrown in the way, and the lion standing near the carcass; and they came and spoke of it in the city in which the old prophet lived.
26; And the prophet who brought him back out of the way heard and said, It is the man of Elohim who provoked the mouth of YAHWEH, and YAHWEH gave him to the lion, and it tore him apart and killed him, according to the Word of YAHWEH that He spoke to him.
27; And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled.
28; And he went and found the carcass thrown down in the way, and the donkey and the lion were standing near the carcass; the lion had not eaten the carcass nor had he torn apart the donkey.
29; And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of Elohim and placed it on the donkey, and brought it back; and the old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him.
30; And he placed his carcass in his own grave, and they mourned for him, O my brother!
31; And it happened, after he buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, At my death, you shall bury me in the burying place in which the man of Elohim is buried; place my bones beside his bones;
32; for the word that he cried by the Word of YAHWEH concerning the altar in Bethel, and concerning all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely occur.
33; After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but turned again and made from the lowest of the people priests of high places; he who desired, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
34; And in this thing is the sin of the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it from off the face of the earth.
Chapter 14
1; At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam was sick.
2; And Jeroboam said to his wife, Please rise up and disguise yourself, that you may not be known to be the wife of Jeroboam. And you shall go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there. He spoke to me of being king over this people.
3; And you shall take ten loaves in your hand, and biscuits, and a flask of honey, and come to him. He will tell you what shall become of the boy.
4; And Jeroboam's wife did so, and rose up and went to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah. And Ahijah was not able to see, for his eyes were set because of his age.
5; And YAHWEH said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask a thing of you for her son, for he is sick. You shall say this and this to her, and it shall be when she comes in, she will act as a foreigner.
6; And it happened when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the door, he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you acting as a foreigner? And I am sent to you with a hard thing.
7; Go, say to Jeroboam, So says YAHWEH, Elohim of Israel, Because I have exalted you from among the people, and have appointed you leader over My people Israel;
8; and have torn the kingdom from the house of David, and have given it to you, and you have not been as My servant David who kept My commandments, and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only that which is right in My eyes;
9; and you did evil above all who have been before you, and went and made for yourself other Elohim and cast images to provoke Me to anger; and you have cast Me behind your back
10; therefore, behold, I am bringing evil to the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him who urinates against the wall, bound and free in Israel; and will sweep away the rest of the house of Jeroboam as a man sweeps away the dung, until it is all gone.
11; The dogs shall eat those of Jeroboam who die in the city. And the birds of the heavens shall eat those who die in a field; for YAHWEH has spoken.
12; And you, rise up, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy shall die.
13; And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him, for only this one of Jeroboam shall come to the grave because there has been found in him a good thing toward YAHWEH, Elohim of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14; And YAHWEH shall raise up a king over Israel for Himself, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. And what? Even now!
15; And YAHWEH shall strike Israel as the reed waves in the water, and shall pluck up Israel from off this good land that He gave to their fathers. And He shall scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherahs, provoking YAHWEH to anger.
16; And He shall give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned, and that he caused Israel to sin.
17; And Jeroboam's wife rose up and left, and came to Tirzah. She came in to the threshold of the house, and the boy died.
18; And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the Word of YAHWEH that He spoke by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19; And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel.
20; And the days that Jeroboam reigned were twenty two years. And he lay with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.
21; And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty one years old when he began to reign. And he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which YAHWEH chose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
22; And Judah did evil in the sight of YAHWEH, and they provoked Him to jealousy above all their fathers did by their sins that they had sinned.
23; And they also built high places for themselves, and standing pillars, and Asherahs on every high hill, and under every green tree.
24; And also the sodomite was in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that YAHWEH dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
25; And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak the king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem.
26; And he took the treasures of the house of YAHWEH, and the treasures of the king's house; yea, he took all. And he took all the golden shields that Solomon had made.
27; And King Rehoboam made in their place bronze shields. And he gave them into the hand of the commander of the runners, who kept the door of the king's house.
28; And it happened, when the king went to the house of YAHWEH, the runners bore them, and brought them back to the room of the runners.
29; And the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah?
30; And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
31; And Rehoboam lay with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.