Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then he made a bronze altar, twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and ten cubits in height.

²He also made the Sea of cast metal, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and its circumference thirty cubits.

³Now figures like oxen were under it and all around it, ten cubits, entirely encircling the Sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece.

⁴It was standing on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the Sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inward.

⁵It was a hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it could hold three thousand baths.

⁶He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷Then he made the ten golden lampstands in the way prescribed for them, and he set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.

⁸He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls.

⁹Then he made the courtyard of the priests and the great courtyard, and doors for the courtyard, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

¹⁰He put the Sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast.

¹¹Huram also made the pails, the shovels, and the bowls. So Huram finished the work that he did for King Solomon in the house of God:

¹²the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars,

¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.

¹⁴He also made the stands and he made the basins on the stands,

¹⁵and the one Sea with the twelve oxen under it.

¹⁶The pails, the shovels, the forks, and all its utensils, Huram-abi made of polished bronze for King Solomon, for the house of the LORD.

¹⁷On the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸So Solomon made all these utensils in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹Solomon also made all the things that were in the house of God: the golden altar, the tables with the bread of the Presence on them,

²⁰the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary in the way prescribed;

²¹the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold, that is, of purest gold;

²²and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons, and the firepans of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the doors of the house, that is, of the main room, of gold.

¹So all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and all the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

²Then Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD up from the city of David, which is Zion.

³All the men of Israel assembled themselves before the king at the feast, that is in the seventh month.

⁴Then all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites picked up the ark.

⁵They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils that were in the tent. The Levitical priests brought them up.

⁶And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled with him before the ark were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

⁷Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.

⁸For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles.

⁹The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹When the priests came out from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions),

¹²and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets

¹³in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they raised their voices accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, and when they praised the LORD saying, “He indeed is good for His kindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud,

¹⁴so that the priests could not rise to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

¹Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

²I have built You a lofty house, And a place for Your dwelling forever.”

³Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

⁴He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David, and fulfilled it with His hands, saying,

⁵‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, so that My name might be there, nor did I choose a man to be the leader over My people Israel;

⁶but I have chosen Jerusalem so that My name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

⁷Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁸But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.

⁹Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.’

¹⁰Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹¹There I have placed the ark in which is the covenant of the LORD, which He made with the sons of Israel.”

¹²Then he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

¹³For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the courtyard; and he stood on it, knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

¹⁴He said, “LORD, God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant and Your faithfulness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart;

¹⁵You who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You promised him; You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

¹⁶Now then, LORD, God of Israel, keep to Your servant David, my father, that which You promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay attention to their way, to walk in My Law as you have walked before Me.’

¹⁷Now then, LORD, God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant David.

¹⁸“But will God really dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!

¹⁹Nevertheless, turn Your attention to the prayer of Your servant and to his plea, LORD, my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You;

²⁰that Your eye will be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

²¹Listen to the pleadings of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive.

²²“If someone sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house,

²³then hear from heaven and take action and judge Your servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by repaying him according to his righteousness.

²⁴“If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and praise Your name, and pray and plead before You in this house,

²⁵then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers.

²⁶“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

²⁷then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel; indeed, teach them the good way in which they are to walk. And provide rain on Your land, which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

²⁸“If there is a famine in the land, if there is a plague, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,

²⁹whatever prayer or plea is made by anyone or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house,

³⁰then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know—for You alone know the hearts of the sons of mankind—

³¹so that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.

³²“Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country on account of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,

³³then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and fear You as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.

³⁴“When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way You send them, and they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their pleading, and maintain their cause.

³⁶“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You are angry with them and turn them over to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near,

³⁷if they take it to heart in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and plead to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and have acted wickedly’;

³⁸if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name,

³⁹then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleadings, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

⁴⁰“Now, my God, please, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

⁴¹“Now then arise, LORD God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good.

⁴²“LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; remember Your faithfulness to Your servant David.”

¹Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

²And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’S house.

³All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying, “Certainly He is good, certainly His faithfulness is everlasting.”

⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD.

⁵King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with the musical instruments for the LORD, which King David had made for giving praise to the LORD—“for His faithfulness is everlasting”—whenever David gave praise through their ministry; the priests on the other side blew trumpets and all Israel was standing.

⁷Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was before the house of the LORD, for he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings there, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat.

⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly that came from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt.

⁹And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, because they held the dedication of the altar for seven days, and the feast for seven days.

¹⁰Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy in heart because of the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to His people Israel.

¹¹So Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s palace, and successfully completed everything that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace.

¹²Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

¹³If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

¹⁴and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

¹⁵Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

¹⁶For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there always.

¹⁷As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, to do according to everything that I have commanded you, and keep My statutes and My ordinances,

¹⁸then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹“But if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

²⁰then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight; and I will make it a proverb and an object of scorn among all peoples.

²¹As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done these things to this land and to this house?’

²²And they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’ ”

¹Now it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house,

²that he built the cities which Huram had given him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath.

⁵He also built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, which were fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land under his rule.

⁷All of the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

⁸that is, from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, Solomon raised them as forced laborers to this day.

⁹But Solomon did not make slaves from the sons of Israel for his work; for they were men of war, his chief captains and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250 who ruled over the people.

¹¹Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD which he had built in front of the porch;

¹³and he did so according to the daily rule, offering them up according to the commandment of Moses, 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.

¹⁴Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for this is what David, the man of God, had commanded.

¹⁵And they did not deviate from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any matter or regarding the storehouses.

¹⁶So all the work of Solomon was carried out from the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And by his servants Huram sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and took from there 450 talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.

¹Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very large entourage, with camels carrying balsam oil and a large amount of gold and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her heart.

²Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not explain to her.

³When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built,

⁴the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, she was breathless.

⁵Then she said to the king, “It was a true story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

⁶But I did not believe their stories until I came and my own eyes saw it all. And behold, not even half of the greatness of your wisdom was reported to me. You have surpassed the report that I heard.

⁷How blessed are your men, how blessed are these servants of yours, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!

⁸Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you, setting you on His throne as king for the LORD your God; because your God loved Israel, establishing them forever, He made you king over them, to carry out justice and righteousness.”

⁹Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold and a very great amount of balsam oil and precious stones; there had never been balsam oil like that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹⁰The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹From the algum trees the king made steps to the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and nothing like them was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she requested, besides gifts equal to what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her own land with her servants.

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,

¹⁴besides what the traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold, using six hundred shekels of beaten gold on each large shield.

¹⁶He made three hundred shields of beaten gold, using three hundred shekels of gold on each shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

¹⁸There were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms.

¹⁹Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

²⁰All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

²¹For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²²So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.

²³And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.

²⁴They were bringing, each of them his gift: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, balsam oil, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁵Now Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

²⁶He was ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.

²⁷And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

²⁸And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

³¹And Solomon lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

¹Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

²When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it (he was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

³So they sent word and summoned him. When Jeroboam and all Israel came, they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴“Your father made our yoke hard; but now, lighten the hard labor imposed by your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵He said to them, “Return to me again in three days.” So the people departed.

⁶And then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”

⁷They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to this people and please them and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants always.”

⁸But he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and served him.

⁹He said to them, “What advice do you give, so that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “This is what you should say to the people who spoke to you, saying: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us!’ You should speak this way to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹Now then, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke; yet I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’ ”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had directed, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”

¹³The king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam ignored the advice of the elders.

¹⁴He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of events from God so that the LORD might establish His word, which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people replied to the king, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Everyone to your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So all Israel went away to their tents.

¹⁷But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

¹Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

²But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

³“Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

⁴‘This is what the LORD says: “You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives; return, every man, to his house, for this event is from Me.” ’ ” So they listened to the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah.

⁶He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

⁷Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

¹¹He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and supplies of food, oil, and wine.

¹²He put shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel also stood with him from all their districts.

¹⁴For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priests to the LORD.

¹⁵He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and the calves which he had made.

¹⁶Those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers.

¹⁷They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

¹⁸Then Rehoboam married Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse,

¹⁹and she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as head and leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.

²³He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the territories of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them plenty of provisions. And he sought many wives for them.

¹When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the Law of the LORD.

²And it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

³with 1,200 chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were innumerable: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

⁴And he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

⁵Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have abandoned Me, so I also have abandoned you to Shishak.’ ”

⁶So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”

⁷When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them; and I will grant them a little deliverance, and My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.

⁸But they will become his slaves, so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s palace. He took everything; he even took the gold shields which Solomon had made.

¹⁰Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guards who guarded the entrance of the king’s house.

¹¹As often as the king entered the house of the LORD, the guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the guards’ room.

¹²And when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and conditions were also good in Judah.

¹³So King Rehoboam became powerful in Jerusalem and reigned there. For Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

¹⁴But he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, according to genealogical enrollment? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

¹⁶And Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and his son Abijah became king in his place.

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

²He reigned in Jerusalem for three years; and his mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³Abijah began the battle with an army of warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men who were valiant warriors.

⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master,

⁷and worthless men gathered to him, wicked men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.

⁸“So now you intend to assert yourselves against the kingdom of the LORD through the sons of David, being a great multitude and having with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods.

⁹Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of things that are not gods.

¹⁰But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not abandoned Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the LORD as priests, and the Levites attend to their work.

¹¹Every morning and evening they burn to the LORD burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and the showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we perform our duty to the LORD our God, but you have abandoned Him.

¹²Now behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the war cry against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³But Jeroboam had set an ambush to come from behind, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴When Judah turned around, behold, they were attacked both from front and rear; so they cried out to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶When the sons of Israel fled from Judah, God handed them over to them.

¹⁷Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁸The sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah conquered because they trusted in the LORD, the God of their fathers.

¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephron with its villages.

²⁰Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him and he died.

²¹But Abijah became powerful, and he took fourteen wives for himself, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the treatise of Iddo the prophet.

¹So Abijah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.

²And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the LORD his God,

³for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the memorial stones, cut down the Asherim,

⁴and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers and to comply with the Law and the commandment.

⁵He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him.

⁶He built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and there was no one at war with him during those years, because the LORD had given him rest.

⁷For he said to Judah, “Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸Now Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, carrying large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, carrying shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

⁹Now Zerah the Ethiopian went out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

¹⁰So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; help us, LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You.”

¹²So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover, for they were shattered before the LORD and before His army. And they carried away a very large amount of plunder.

¹⁴They destroyed all the cities around Gerar, for the dread of the LORD had fallen on them; and they pillaged all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.

¹⁵They also fatally struck those who owned livestock, and they led away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

¹Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded,

²and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.

³For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without the Law.

⁴But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.

⁵In those times there was no peace for him who went out or him who came in, because many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.

⁷But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is a reward for your work.”

⁸Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD which was in front of the porch of the LORD.

⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

¹⁰So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.

¹¹They sacrificed to the LORD on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought.

¹²They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and soul;

¹³and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

¹⁴Moreover, they made an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, trumpets, and with horns.

¹⁵All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So the LORD gave them rest on every side.

¹⁶He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made an abominable image as an Asherah, and Asa cut down her abominable image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.

¹⁷But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days.

¹⁸He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver, gold, and utensils.

¹⁹And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

¹In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

²Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and sent it to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,

³“A treaty must be made between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

⁵When Baasha heard about it, he stopped fortifying Ramah and put an end to his work.

⁶Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with it he fortified Geba and Mizpah.

⁷At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, for that reason the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

⁸Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He handed them over to you.

⁹For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will have wars.”

¹⁰Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at the same time.

¹¹Now, the acts of Asa from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹²In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.

¹³So Asa lay down with his fathers, and died in the forty-first year of his reign.

¹⁴They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.