And the king made steps for the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and lyres and harps for the singers [from] the algum wood. And there was not seen [anything] like them before in the land of Judah.

And king Solomon hath given to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, apart from that which she had brought unto the king, and she turneth and goeth to her land, she and her servants.

besides what he collected from the merchants and traders. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces,

and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces. The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest.

And six steps to the throne, and a footstool in gold holding fast to the throne, and hands from hence and from thence, upon the place of the seat, and two lions standing near the hands.

And twelve lions standing there upon the six steps, from hence and from thence. There was not made thus to any kingdom.

because the king had ships that sailed to Tarshish accompanied by Hiram's servants. Once every three years ships from Tarshish returned, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt.

They were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all the countries.

The remaining events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Visions of Iddo the Seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat.

Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years.

When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it—for he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence—Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

Thy father hardened our yoke: and now lighten from the hard servitude of thy father, and from his heavy yoke which he gave upon us, and we will serve thee.

They said to him, "If you are fair to these people, grant their request, and are cordial to them, they will be your servants from this time forward."

But he departed from the advice which the old men gave him and listened to the young men who were brought up with him, who stood before him.

And he will say to them, What counsel ye? and we will turn back word to this people who spake to me, saying, Lighten from the yoke which thy father gave upon us.

And the children which grew up with him will speak with him, saying, Thou shalt say thus to the people who spake to thee, saying, Thy father made heavy our yoke, and lighten thou from us; thus shalt thou say to them, My little finger thick above my father's loins.

And the king answered them roughly. And King Rehoboam departed from the advice of the old men,

The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that the Lord might carry out His word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

And so Israel departed from the house of David unto this day.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from Judah and Benjamin to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

But a message from the LORD came to Shemaiah, a man of God:

‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this incident has come from Me.’”

So they listened to what the Lord said and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

The priests and Levites from all their regions throughout Israel took their stand with Rehoboam,

For the Levites left their pasturelands and their property and came to Judah and to Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to Yahweh.

Those from every tribe of Israel who had determined in their hearts to seek Yahweh their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

Later, Rehoboam appointed Abijah, his son from Maacah, as senior family leader among his brothers, since he intended to establish Abijah as king.

And he will understand, and he will spread from all his sons to all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the cities of fortifications: and he will give to them food for multitude. And he will ask for a multitude of wives.

And it happened when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had made himself strong, he departed from the Law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.

with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and countless people who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiim, and Cushites.

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem from before Shishak. And he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh: 'You yourselves have abandoned me, and I myself have surely abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.'"

Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations."

and it cometh to pass, from the time of the going in of the king to the house of Jehovah, the runners have come in and lifted them up, and brought them back unto the chamber of the runners.

When Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Besides that, conditions were good in Judah.

King Rehoboam established his royal power in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king and reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning genealogies. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.

and reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah.

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not been turned away from him; we have priests who do the work of the Lord, even the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their places;

By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.

Now Jeroboam had sent an ambush around to advance from behind them. So they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

The men of Judah turned around and realized they were being attacked from the front and the rear. So they cried out for help to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets,

And the {Israelites} fled from before Judah, and God gave them into their hand.

And Abijah and his people struck a great blow against them, and the dead from Israel [that] fell [were] five hundred thousand chosen men.

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured some cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom experienced peace under him.

And he will say to Judah, We will build these cities, and surround a wall, and towers, doors and bars, and the land yet before us: for we sought Jehovah our God, and he will give to us rest from round about And they will build and prosper.

Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin bearing regular shields and drawing the bow. All these were brave warriors.

Then Asa and the army with him pursued them to Gerar. And [many] from the Cushites fell, for they had no deliverance, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before his army. And they carried away much war booty.

And they overcame all the towns round Gerar, because the Lord sent fear on them; and they took away their goods from the towns, for there were stores of wealth in them.

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.

Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.

At that time they sacrificed to the Lord 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep from all the plunder they had brought.

but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women.

And all Judah will rejoice at the oath: for with all their heart they sware, and with all their desire they sought him, and he will be found to them: and Jehovah will give rest to them from round about.

King Asa also removed Maacah, his grandmother, from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image, then crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted his entire life.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.

So Asa brought out the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent it to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who lived in Damascus, saying,

“There’s a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go break your treaty with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will withdraw from me.”

When Baasha learned of the attack, he withdrew from Ramah and stopped his interdiction.

And king Asa took all Judah; and they carried away the stones and the timber from Ramah, with which Baasha had been building, and he built with them Geba and Mizpah.

At that time, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Aram and have not depended on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

For the eyes of Yahweh roam throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His. You have been foolish in this matter. Therefore, you will have wars from now on.”

And Asa will be indignant to the seer, and he will give him to the house of the stocks, for he was in anger with him for this And Asa will oppress from the people in that time.

Note that the events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a foot disease. Even though he suffered greatly, he never sought the LORD, but instead looked to doctors.

His mind rejoiced in the Lord’s ways, and he again removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

They taught throughout Judah from a copy of the Book of the Law of the LORD that they took with them as they passed through all the cities of Judah, teaching among all the people.

Now the dread of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat tribute, including a load of silver. The Arabs brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats from their flocks.

These were their divisions by families: There were a thousand officers from Judah. Adnah the commander led 300,000 skilled warriors,

from Benjamin, Eliada, a brave warrior, and 200,000 with him armed with bow and shield;

These are those serving the king, apart from those whom the king put in the cities of fortress, in all Judah.

Then Jehoshaphat added, "First seek an oracle from the Lord."

And Jehoshaphat saith, 'Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah still, and we seek from him?'

And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, 'Still -- one man to seek Jehovah from him, and I -- I have hated him, for he is not prophesying concerning me of good, but all his days of evil, he is Micaiah son of Imlah;' and Jehoshaphat saith, 'Let not the king say so.'

Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto you?

And Micah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go from chamber to chamber to hide thyself.

And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they surrounded him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God led them to depart from him.

For it came to pass, that, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again from pursuing him.

Now a certain man drew the bow {at random} and struck the king of Israel between the soldering of [his] breastplate armor. Then he said to the chariot driver, "{Turn around}; get me away from the [war] camp, for I am wounded."

And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath came upon you from the LORD.

However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have decided to seek God.”

And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beer-sheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.

Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat set from the Levites and the priests, and from the heads of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of LORD, and for controversies. And they returned to Jerusalem.

for every dispute that comes to you from your brothers who dwell in their cities—whether it regards differences of bloodguilt, law, commandment, statutes, or judgments—you are to warn them, so they will not incur guilt before the Lord and wrath will not come on you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not incur guilt.

And it will be after this, the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon came, and with them from the Ammonites against Jehoshaphat for war.

Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against you from beyond the sea on this side of Edom; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.

who gathered to seek the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek Him.

Art not, thou, our God, who didst dispossess the inhabitants of this land, from before thy people Israel, - and didst give it unto the seed of Abraham who loved thee, unto times age-abiding?

If evil shall come upon us, the sword, judgment, and death and famine, we shall stand before this house and before thee, for thy name is upon this house, and we will cry to thee from our straits, and thou wilt hear, and thou wilt save.

And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;

now behold, they are rewarding us by coming to dispossess us from your possession which you gave us as an inheritance.

In the middle of the congregation, the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel (son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite from Asaph’s descendants),

And he will say, Attend all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou, king Jehoshaphat. Thus said Jehovah to you, Ye shall not fear, and ye shall not be terrified from the face of this great multitude; for not to you the battle but to God.

Then the Levites from the sons of the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel shouting with a loud voice.

When they began to shout and praise, the Lord suddenly attacked the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

The Ammonites and Moabites attacked the men from Mount Seir and annihilated them. When they had finished off the men of Seir, they attacked and destroyed one another.

And Jehoshaphat and his people went to rob away the spoil of them and found among them abundance of goods and raiment and of pleasant Jewels, and caught from them more than they could carry away: so that they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.