At that time Solomon observed the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very large assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.

And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.

And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

If, at my word, heaven is shut up, so that there is no rain, or if I send locusts on the land for its destruction, or if I send disease on my people;

If my people, on whom my name is named, make themselves low and come to me in prayer, searching for me and turning from their evil ways; then I will give ear from heaven, overlooking their sin, and will give life again to their land.

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments;

then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I promised to David your father, saying, 'A man shall not be cut off for you [from] ruling over Israel.'

Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

And [as for] this house, which was exalted, all who pass by it will be appalled and will say, 'Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?'

And their answer will be, Because they were turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, who took them out of the land of Egypt, and took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why he has sent all this evil on them.

Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the house of the Lord and a house for himself,

He took in hand the building up of the towns which Huram had given him, causing the children of Israel to make living-places for themselves there.

and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel,

but were descendants of those who were left in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon brought them up as forced laborers to this day.

But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen.

These men worked for Solomon as supervisors; there were a total of 250 of them who were in charge of the people.

And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.

a certain number every day, offering them up as Moses commanded for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles).

And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.

And they departed not from the command of the king concerning the priests and the Levites for every word and for the treasures.

And Solomon accomplished all the work from the day the foundation stone [was laid for] the house of Yahweh until its completion, and the house of Yahweh was finished.

And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

AND the queen Sheba heard the hearing of Solomon, and she will come to try Solomon with enigmas in Jerusalem, with very weighty power, and camels lifting up spices, and gold, for multitude, and precious stone: and she will come to Solomon and speak with him all which was with her heart.

And Solomon {answered all her questions}. Not a word was hidden from Solomon that he did not answer for her.

When the queen of Sheba had seen Solomon's wisdom for herself, the palace that he had built,

Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There never were such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she asked—far more than she had brought the king. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures of hammered gold were used for each shield.

And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.

The throne had six steps; there was a footstool covered in gold for the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps on this side, and on that: it hath not been made so for any kingdom.

And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon are of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon are of refined gold -- silver is not reckoned in the days of Solomon for anything;

For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

And king Solomon becometh greater than any of the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom;

And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses and beasts for transport, regularly year by year.

And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

And he ruled over all the kings from the river as far as the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt.

And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

And they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

As for the remainder of the words of Solomon [from] the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer, concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years.

And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem were all Israel come to make him king.

And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon,) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

and they send and call for him, and Jeroboam cometh in, and all Israel, and speak unto Rehoboam, saying,

He said to them, "Go away for three days, then return to me." So the people went away.

And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.

But Rehoboam ignored the counsel that his elder advisors had given him. Instead, he consulted the younger men who had grown up with him and worked for him.

And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou answer the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.

For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

the king answered them cruelly: for king Rehoboam left the counsel of the aged men,

So the king hearkened not unto the people: for the cause was of God, that the LORD might perform his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

So all Israel [saw] that the king would not listen to them, and the people answered the king, saying, "What portion [is there] for us in David? [We have] no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each to your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David!" And all Israel went to their own tents.

But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem; and he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men apt for war, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.

For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the LORD:

And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.

So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.

And Rehoboam took to himself Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David for a wife, and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse;

And she bore sons for him: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.

And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom. And she bore for him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters.)

And Rehoboam made Abijah the son of Maachah the chief, to be ruler among his brethren: for he thought to make him king.

And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fortified city: and he gave them victuals in abundance. And he sought for them many wives.

And it happened [that] in the fifth year of King Rehoboam (for they had acted unfaithfully against Yahweh), Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then came Shemaiah the Prophet to Rehoboam and to the lords of Judah that were gathered to Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and said to them, "Thus sayeth the LORD, 'Ye have left me, and therefore will I leave you also in the hands of Shishak.'"

And when Jehovah seeth that they have been humbled, a word of Jehovah hath been unto Shemaiah, saying, 'They have been humbled; I do not destroy them, and I have given to them as a little thing for an escape, and I pour not out My fury in Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak;

For they shall be to him for servants; and they shall know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.

And when he made himself low, the wrath of the Lord was turned back from him, and complete destruction did not come on him, for there was still some good in Judah.

So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah.

Now, the story of Rehoboam, first and last, is it not written in the story of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, for enrolling,-also the wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, all the days?

Then Abijah died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. Abijah's son Asa reigned in his place, and during his lifetime the land enjoyed rest for ten years.

He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother [was] Micaiah the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. Now there was war between Abijah and between Jeroboam.

And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.

Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

And certain foolish and good-for-nothing men were joined with him, and made themselves strong against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and untested and not able to keep them back.

And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? So whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of non-existent gods (idols).

But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:

And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.

And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

But for all that, Jeroboam sent men privily above to come behind upon them: and so they were before Judah, and the layers in wait were behind them.

And Judah, turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back; and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns.

And the men of Judah gave a loud cry; and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

And the sons of Israel are humbled at that time, and the sons of Judah are strong, for they have leant on Jehovah, God of their fathers.

Jeroboam never recovered his strength for the rest of Abijah's life. The LORD struck Jeroboam, and he died,

but Abijah continued to grow more powerful. He took fourteen wives for himself and fathered 22 sons and sixteen daughters.

So Abijah slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him in the City of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was at peace for ten years during his days.

For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:

And he commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers [to inquire of and for Him and seek Him as a vital necessity], and to observe the law [given to Moses] and the commandment.