Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard the noise as they finished eating. Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn and said, “Why is the town in such an uproar?”

However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built.

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there.

and these were his officials:

Azariah son of Zadok, priest;

These were their names:

Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

Solomon’s provisions for one day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal,

He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one’s wing touched one wall while the second cherub’s wing touched the other wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing.

For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors. The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided.

The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees.

The two doors were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels.

There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers.

All of these buildings were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard.

Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood.

Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.

And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, six feet high.

The capitals on the two pillars were also immediately above the rounded surface next to the grating, and 200 pomegranates were in rows encircling each capital.

The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed.

Ornamental gourds encircled it below the brim, 10 every half yard, completely encircling the reservoir. The gourds were cast in two rows when the reservoir was cast.

It stood on 12 oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The reservoir was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center.

This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces,

and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath.

And the water cart’s opening inside the crown on top was 18 inches wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal 27 inches wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round.

There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was 27 inches tall.

The wheels’ design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart.

At the top of the cart was a band nine inches high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it.

two pillars; bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;

and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins. All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at the Lord’s temple were made of burnished bronze.

Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim, at the festival.

The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent.

King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many.

For the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.

The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside the sanctuary; they are there to this day.

and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

The king turned around and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing.

and when they come to their senses
in the land where they were deported
and repent and petition You in their captors’ land:
“We have sinned and done wrong;
we have been wicked,”

The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence.

As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites—

their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to completely destroy—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way until today.

But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.

These were the deputies who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work.

Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.

All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time,

Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price.

He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away from the Lord.

He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.

During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.

Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and set up priests from every class of people who were not Levites.

But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your house, I still wouldn’t go with you, and I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water in this place,

While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back,

There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.

tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. But you were not like My servant David, who kept My commands and followed Me with all of his heart, doing only what is right in My eyes.

You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you. In order to provoke Me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images, but you have flung Me behind your back.

there were even male cult prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

The high places were not taken away; but Asa’s heart was completely devoted to the Lord his entire life.

Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.

In the twenty-seventh year of Judah’s King Asa, Zimri became king for seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines.

At that time the people of Israel were divided: half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.

Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he did more evil than all who were before him.

But Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight more than all who were before him.

Then, as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a trivial matter, he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then proceeded to serve Baal and worship him.

Ahab also made an Asherah pole. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat as he was plowing. Twelve teams of oxen were in front of him, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah walked by him and threw his mantle over him.

Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Thirty-two kings, along with horses and chariots, were with him. He marched up, besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

When Ben-hadad heard this response, while he and the kings were drinking in the tents, he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they took their positions against the city.

So Ahab counted the young men of the provincial leaders, and there were 232. After them he counted all the Israelite troops: 7,000.

They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings who were helping him were getting drunk in the tents.

Now the king of Aram’s servants said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hill country. That’s why they were stronger than we were. Instead, we should fight with them on the plain; then we will certainly be stronger than they will be.

Now the men were looking for a sign of hope, so they quickly picked up on this and responded, “Yes, it is your brother Ben-hadad.”

Then he said, “Go and bring him.”

So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab had him come up into the chariot.

Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria’s gate, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

And all the prophets were prophesying the same: “March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

He removed from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa.

Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.