Meanwhile, about this time Haggith's son Adonijah began to seek a reputation for himself and decided, "I'm going to be king!" So he prepared chariots, cavalry, and 50 soldiers to serve as a security detail to guard him.

He had the support of Zeruiah's son Joab and of Abiathar the priest, who followed Adonijah and assisted him,

but Zadok the priest, Jehoiada's son Benaiah, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David's personal elite forces would have nothing to do with Adonijah.

"Haven't you heard?" Nathan asked Solomon's mother Bathsheba. "Haggith's son Adonijah has become king and David, our true king, isn't aware of it.

If you listen to me, you'll save your life and the life of your son Solomon.

Go right now to King David and ask him, "Your majesty, you promised your servant that "Your son Solomon will certainly become king after me and will sit on my throne," didn't you? So why has Adonijah become king?'

"Your majesty," she replied, "you promised your servant in the name of the LORD your God, "Your son Solomon will certainly become king after me and will sit on my throne.'

Otherwise, as soon as your majesty is laid to rest with his ancestors, my son Solomon and I will be branded as traitors."

Of course, he never invited me, Zadok the priest, Jehoiada's son Benaiah, nor your servant Solomon.

I certainly did tell you in the name of the LORD God of Israel, "Your son Solomon will be king after me and will sit on my throne in my place.' I'm certainly going to make this happen today!"

"Get me Zadok the priest," King David said, "along with Nathan the prophet, and Jehoiada's son Benaiah." So they were ushered into the king's presence

and David addressed them. "Take your lord's servants, have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and take him down to Gihon.

"Amen!" replied Jehoiada's son Benaiah to the king. "May the LORD God of your majesty make this happen!

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Jehoiada's son Benaiah, the special forces and mercenaries went out and had Solomon ride the king's mule all the way to Gihon.

While he was still asking that question, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest arrived, so Adonijah told him, "Come on in, since you're a worthy man and are bringing us good news!"

The king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Jehoiada's son Benaiah, the special forces and mercenaries, along with Solomon, who is riding the king's personal mule.

and said "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has provided someone to sit on my throne today. I've seen it with my own eyes!'"

As David's time to die approached, he addressed his son Solomon with these words:

"Furthermore, you're aware of what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner's son Abner and Jether's son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet.

"Pay attention now! You have with you Gera's son Shimei the descendant of Benjamin from Bahurim. He cursed me violently that day when I had to leave for Mahanaim. When he visited me at the Jordan River, I made an oath to the LORD and told him, "I won't execute you with a sword.'

Later, Haggith's son Adonijah approached Solomon's mother. "Are you here on a peaceful mission?" she asked.

But King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why not ask me to give up the kingdom for him, since he's my older brother, and why not ask for Abiathar the priest, and for Zeruiah's son Joab?"

So King Solomon sent for Jehoiada's son Benaiah, who attacked and killed Adonijah.

Somebody informed King Solomon, "Joab just ran to the LORD's tent and now he's standing beside the altar!" But Solomon ordered Jehoiada's son Benaiah, "Go kill him!"

The LORD will repay him for his bloodshed because, without my father David's consent he attacked and murdered two men more righteous and better than he, Ner's son Abner, the commander of Israel's army and Jether's son Amasa, commander of Judah's army.

Jehoiada's son Benaiah then approached Joab, attacked him, killed him, and had him buried at Joab's home in the wilderness.

The king appointed Jehoiada's son Benaiah in charge of the army to replace Joab and also appointed Zadok the priest to replace Abiathar.

But three years later, two of Shimei's servants escaped to Maacah's son Achish, the king of Gath.

So the king gave orders to Jehoiada's son Benaiah to go out, attack Shimei, and kill him. That is how the kingdom was established under Solomon's control.

"You have demonstrated abundant gracious love to your servant David, my father, as he lived in your presence truthfully, righteously, and uprightly in his heart. In addition, you have kept on showing this abundant gracious love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today. Now, LORD my God, you have set me as king to replace my father David, but I'm still young. I don't have any leadership skills.

This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him.

She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me.

The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!"

"Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king.

The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.'

The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us."

Here's a list of his officials: Zadok's son Azariah was priest,

Shisha's sons Elihoreph and Ahijah were his secretaries, Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat was recorder,

Jehoiada's son Benaiah commanded the army, Zadok and Abiathar served as priests,

Nathan's son Azariah supervised the governors, Nathan's son Zabud the priest was the king's counselor,

Ahishar supervised palace matters, and Abda's son Adoniram supervised conscripted labor.

Ahilud's son Baana served Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth-shean near Zarethan below Jezreel, including from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

Iddo's son Ahinadab served in Mahanaim;

Hushai's son Baana served in Asher and Bealoth;

Paruah's son Jehoshaphat served in Issachar;

Ela's son Shimei served in Benjamin;

and Uri's son Geber served in the territory of Gilead, the territory formerly ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan (he was the only governor over that territory).

So now I'm planning to build a temple dedicated to the LORD my God, just as the LORD told my father when he said, "Your son, whom I will set on your throne to replace you, will build the Temple dedicated to me.'

As soon as Hiram received the message from Solomon, he became so ecstatic that he exclaimed, "Blessed be the LORD today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people!" Then he sent this message to Solomon:

Cedar carvings in the form of gourds and blooming flowers covered the entire interior of the Temple so that no stone could be seen.

the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, whose father was from Tyre. A bronze worker, he was wise, knowledgeable, and was skilled in all sorts of bronze working. He went to King Solomon and did all of his work.

Then Solomon gathered together the elders of Israel, including all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the ancestral households of the Israelis, to meet with him in Jerusalem so they could bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day.

"Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so. Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.'

"If a man should sin against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple,

then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to their ancestors.

"When heaven remains closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them,

then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

"When they sin against you because there isn't a single human being who doesn't sin and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to the land that belongs to their enemy, whether near or far away,

As soon as Pharaoh's daughter arrived from the City of David to live in her house that Solomon had built for her, then he fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David.

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

"but I didn't believe it at first! But then I came here and I've seen it for myself! It's amazing! I wasn't told half of what's really great about your wisdom. You're far better in person than what the reports have said about you!

The king used the algum wood to have supports made for the LORD's Temple and for the royal palace, as well as lyres and harps for the choir, and nothing like that wood has ever come again or even been seen since right to this day.

I'm not going to do this during your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of your son's control.

For the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, I won't tear away the entire kingdom. I'll leave one tribe for your son to govern."

Queen Tahpenes' sister bore him his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's palace while Genubath lived in Pharaoh's palace with the Pharaoh's own sons.

God also raised up Eliada's son Rezon, who had escaped from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah.

Solomon had a servant, Nebat's son Jeroboam, who was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother was named Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon,

but I will take the kingdom away from his son's control and give ten tribes to you.

I'll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name.

Then Solomon died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Nebat's son Jeroboam heard about it while he was still in Egypt, where he had fled to get away from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt

The king would not listen to the people, because the turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill his prediction that the LORD spoke by means of Ahijah the Shilonite to Nebat's son Jeroboam

As soon as Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled 180,000 elite soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, intending to attack the dynasty of Israel and restore the kingdom to Solomon's son Rehoboam.

"Tell Solomon's son Rehoboam, king of Judah, all the dynasty of Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people,

He cursed the altar in this message from the LORD: "Hey altar! Hey altar! This is what the LORD says: "Pay attention to this! A son is going to be born in David's dynasty. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice the priests who burn incense on you in these high places. Human bones will be burned on you!'"

Right at that time, Jeroboam's son Abijah became ill,

Meanwhile, the LORD had spoken to Ahijah, "Be on your guard! Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is ill. You're to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else!"

He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam's sins that he committed and by which Jeroboam caused Israel to sin."

Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left for Tirzah. As soon as she set foot over the threshold of the house, the child died.

Jeroboam reigned for 22 years and then died, as had his ancestors, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.

Meanwhile, Solomon's son Rehoboam reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to place his Name. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

but eventually Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother's name had been Naamah the Ammonite, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.

Abijah reigned over Judah starting in the eighteenth year of Nebat's son Jeroboam's reign.

Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God maintained a lamp for David in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him so that Jerusalem would be established,

Eventually, Abijah died, as did his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

But Asa removed all the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord's Temple and from his royal palace, placed them into the care of some servants, and then sent them to Tabrimmon's son King Ben-hadad of Aram, the grandson of Hezion, who lived in Damascus.

Then Asa died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, his ancestor. His son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.

Jeroboam's son Nadab became king over Israel during the second year of the reign of King Asa over Judah. He reigned over Israel for two years,

practicing what the LORD considered to be evil, living the way his father did, committing sins, and leading Israel to sin.

So Ahijah's son Baasha from the household of Issachar conspired against him and killed Nadab at Gibbethon in Philistia while Nadab and all of Israel were attacking Gibbethon.

As soon as he was established as king, he killed everyone in the household of Jeroboam. He left not even one single person alive. He destroyed them completely, just as the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because he led Israel into sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to become angry.

During the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahijah's son Baasha became king over all of Israel. He reigned for 24 years at Tirzah.

He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, living like Jeroboam did and leading Israel into sin.

Later, a message came from the LORD to Hanani's son Jehu. It was directed to rebuke Baasha, and this is what it said:

"I raised you from the dirt to become Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel, but you've been living like Jeroboam, you've been leading my people Israel into sin, and you've been provoking me to anger with their sins.

So watch out! I'm going to devour Baasha and his household. I'm going to make your household just like the household of Jeroboam, Nebat's son.

Eventually, Baasha died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah was installed as king in his place.

In addition, a message from the LORD came through Hanani's son Jehu the prophet against Baasha and his household, not only because of all of the things that Baasha did that the LORD considered to be evil, including provoking the LORD to anger by what he did and by being like the household of Jeroboam, but also because Baasha had destroyed Jeroboam's household.