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¹Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with riddles.

²So she came to Jerusalem with a very large caravan (entourage), with camels carrying spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her mind [to discover the extent of his wisdom].

³Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king which he did not explain to her.

⁴When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house (palace) which he had built,

⁵the food on his table, the seating of his servants (court officials), the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, his stairway by which he went up to the house (temple) of the LORD, she was breathless and awed [by the wonder of it all].

⁶Then she told the king, "The report which I heard in my own land about your words and wisdom is true!

⁷I did not believe the report until I came and saw it with my own eyes. Behold, the half of it was not told to me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.

⁸How blessed (fortunate, happy) are your men! How blessed are these your servants who stand continually before you, hearing your wisdom!

⁹Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, He made you king to execute justice and righteousness."

¹⁰She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again did such an abundance of spices come in [to Israel] as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹¹Also the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood (sandalwood) and precious stones.

¹²From the almug wood (sandalwood) the king made pillars for the house of the LORD and for the king's palace, and also lyres and harps for the singers. Such almug wood did not come in [to Israel] again, nor has it been seen to this day.

¹³King Solomon [in turn] gave to the queen of Sheba everything that she wanted, whatever she asked, besides what he gave to her from his royal bounty. So she returned to her own country, she and her servants.

¹⁴Now the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one [particular] year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

¹⁵besides the taxes from the traders and from the wares of the merchants, and [the tribute money] from all the kings of the Arabs (Bedouins) and the governors of the country.

¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten (hammered) gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.

¹⁷He made three hundred smaller shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon [the king's armory].

¹⁸Also the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold.

¹⁹The throne had six steps, and a round top was attached to the throne from the back. On either side of the seat were armrests, and two lions stood beside the armrests.

²⁰Twelve lions stood there, one on either end of each of the six steps; there was nothing like it made for any other kingdom.

²¹All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

²²For the king had at sea the [large cargo] ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

²³So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.

²⁴All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his mind.

²⁵Every man brought a gift [of tribute]: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁶Now Solomon collected chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

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

²⁸Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue, and the king's merchants acquired them from Kue, for a price.

²⁹A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and in the same way they exported them, by the king's merchants, to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram (Syria).

¹Now king Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

²from the very nations of whom the LORD said to the Israelites, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for the result will be that they will turn away your hearts to follow their gods." Yet Solomon clung to these in love.

³He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away [from God].

⁴For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not completely devoted to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.

⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the [fertility] goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the horror (detestable idol) of the Ammonites.

⁶Solomon did evil [things] in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as his father David had done.

⁷Then Solomon built a high place for [worshiping] Chemosh the horror (detestable idol) of Moab, on the hill which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the horror (detestable idol) of the sons of Ammon.

⁸And he did the same for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹So the LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

¹⁰and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe (remember, obey) what the LORD had commanded.

¹¹Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

¹²However, I will not do it in your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son (Rehoboam).

¹³However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe (Judah) to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."

¹⁴Then the LORD stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of royal descent in Edom.

¹⁵For it came about, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed [in battle] and had struck down every male in Edom

¹⁶(for Joab and all [the army of] Israel stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom),

¹⁷that Hadad escaped to Egypt, he and some Edomites from his father's servants with him, while Hadad was [still] a little boy.

¹⁸They set out from Midian [south of Edom] and came to Paran, and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave [young] Hadad a house and ordered food and provisions for him and gave him land.

¹⁹Hadad found great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave Hadad in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

²⁰The sister of Tahpenes gave birth to Genubath, Hadad's son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh's household among the sons of Pharaoh.

²¹But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, so that I may go to my own country."

²²Then Pharaoh said to him, "But what have you lacked with me that now you ask to go to your own country?" He replied, "Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go."

²³God also stirred up another adversary for Solomon, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴Rezon gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, after David killed those in Zobah. They went to Damascus and stayed there and they reigned in Damascus.

²⁵So Rezon was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the evil that Hadad inflicted. Rezon hated Israel and reigned over Aram (Syria).

²⁶Jeroboam, Solomon's servant, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zeredah whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.

²⁷Now this is the reason why he rebelled against the king: Solomon built the Millo (fortification) and he repaired and closed the breach of the city of his father David.

²⁸The man Jeroboam was a brave warrior and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

²⁹It came about at that time, when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Now Ahijah had covered himself with a new cloak; and the two of them were alone in the field.

³⁰Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹He said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am going to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes—

³²but he [and his descendants] shall have one tribe (Benjamin was annexed to Judah), for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel—

³³because they have abandoned Me and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways and followed My commandments, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances as did his father David.

³⁴However, I will not take the entire kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.

³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you: ten tribes.

³⁶Yet to his son I will give one tribe, so that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put My Name and Presence.

³⁷I will take you [Jeroboam], and you shall reign over whatever your soul desires; and you shall be king over Israel (the ten northern tribes).

³⁸Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, keeping and observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹And in this way I will afflict the descendants of David for this (their sin), but not forever.'"

⁴⁰So Solomon attempted to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam set out and escaped to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

⁴¹The rest of the acts of Solomon—and all that he did, and his wisdom—are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

⁴²The time Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

⁴³And Solomon slept [in death] with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

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

²Now when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it, he was living in Egypt (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon).

³So they sent word and called for him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴"Your father made our yoke (burden) heavy; so now lighten the hard labor and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, and we will serve you."

⁵Rehoboam replied to them, "Leave for three days, then come back to me [for my decision]." So the people left.

⁶King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served and advised his father Solomon while he was still alive and said, "How do you advise me to answer this people?"

⁷They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant their request, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."

⁸But he ignored the advice which the elders gave him and consulted the young men who grew up with him and served him.

⁹He said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke (burden) which your father put on us'?"

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him answered, "This is what you should say to this people who told you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but as for you, make our yoke lighter'—say this to them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins [and my reign will be even more severe].

¹¹And now, whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'"

¹²Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had instructed, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

¹³The king answered the people harshly and ignored the advice which the elders had given him,

¹⁴and spoke to them in accordance with the advice of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but as for me, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions."

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; for the situation was from the LORD, so that He might fulfill His word which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶So when all [the ten northern tribes of] Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people replied to the king, saying, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Look now after your own house, David!" Then Israel went back to their tents.

¹⁷But as for the sons (descendants) of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah [including Benjamin], Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor [to represent him], and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to escape to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel (the ten northern tribes) has rebelled against the house (royal line) of David to this day (the date of this writing).

²⁰It came about when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent word and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. None followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah [including Benjamin].

²¹Now when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled all the [fighting men from the] house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

²²But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

²³"Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the house (fighting men) of Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people,

²⁴'Thus says the LORD, "You shall not go up and fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing has come about from Me."'" So they listened to the word of the LORD and returned to go home, in accordance with the word of the LORD.

²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem [as his royal city] in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He went out from there and rebuilt Penuel [as a stronghold].

²⁶Jeroboam [doubted God's promise to him and] said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

²⁷If these people go up to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, then their heart will turn to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

²⁸So the king took counsel [and followed bad advice] and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "It is too much for you to go [all the way] up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

²⁹He set the one [golden calf] in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

³⁰Now this thing became a sin [for Israel]; because the people went to worship before the one [or the other of them] as far as Dan.

³¹And Jeroboam also made houses on high places, and he made priests from all people who were not of the sons (descendants) of Levi.

³²Jeroboam held a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast which is kept in Judah, and he went up to the altar; he did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

³³So he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart [in defiance of God's commandments]; and he held a feast for the Israelites and he went up to the altar to burn incense [in defiance of God's law.]