Month: June 2020

²⁰ When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam’s return from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel. So only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the family of David.

Shemaiah’s Prophecy

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he mobilized the men of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 select troops—to fight against the men of Israel and to restore the kingdom to himself.

²² But God said to Shemaiah, the man of God, ²³ “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not fight against your relatives, the Israelites. Go back home, for what has happened is my doing!’” So they obeyed the message of the Lord and went home, as the Lord had commanded.

Jeroboam Makes Gold Calves

²⁵ Jeroboam then built up the city of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and it became his capital. Later he went and built up the town of Peniel.^[a]

²⁶ Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. ²⁷ When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.”

²⁸ So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people,^[b] “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”

²⁹ He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. ³⁰ But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.

³¹ Jeroboam also erected buildings at the pagan shrines and ordained priests from the common people—those who were not from the priestly tribe of Levi. ³² And Jeroboam instituted a religious festival in Bethel, held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month,^[c] in imitation of the annual Festival of Shelters in Judah. There at Bethel he himself offered sacrifices to the calves he had made, and he appointed priests for the pagan shrines he had made. ³³ So on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a day that he himself had designated, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar at Bethel. He instituted a religious festival for Israel, and he went up to the altar to burn incense.

A Prophet Denounces Jeroboam

13 At the Lord’s command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, arriving there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to burn incense. ² Then at the Lord’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.” ³ That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message. He said, “The Lord has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground.”

⁴ When King Jeroboam heard the man of God speaking against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him and shouted, “Seize that man!” But instantly the king’s hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn’t pull it back. ⁵ At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the Lord.

⁶ The king cried out to the man of God, “Please ask the Lord your God to restore my hand again!” So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and he could move it again.

⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place. ⁹ For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’” ¹⁰ So he left Bethel and went home another way.

¹¹ As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons^[d] came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. ¹² The old prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So they showed their father^[e] which road the man of God had taken. ¹³ “Quick, saddle the donkey,” the old man said. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.

¹⁴ Then he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under a great tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“Yes, I am,” he replied.

¹⁵ Then he said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some food.”

¹⁶ “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place. ¹⁷ For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”

¹⁸ But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’” But the old man was lying to him. ¹⁹ So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.

²⁰ Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the Lord came to the old prophet. ²¹ He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. ²² You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”

²³ After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him, ²⁴ and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. ²⁵ People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”

²⁷ Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, ²⁸ and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him. ³⁰ He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”

³¹ Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

³³ But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines. ³⁴ This became a great sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the face of the earth.

²⁶ When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! ²⁷ Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

²⁸ So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. ³⁰ When the believers^[a] heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown.

³¹ The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

Peter Heals Aeneas and Raises Dorcas

³² Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda. ³³ There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. ³⁴ Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. ³⁵ Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶ There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas^[b]). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. ³⁷ About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. ³⁸ But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”

³⁹ So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. ⁴⁰ But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! ⁴¹ He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.

⁴² The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord. ⁴³ And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.

Psalm 132

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

Solomon Turns Away from God

11 ^(A)Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. ^2 (B)He married them even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods. ³ Solomon married seven hundred princesses and also had three hundred concubines. They made him turn away from God, ⁴ and by the time he was old they had led him into the worship of foreign gods. He was not faithful to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. ⁵ He worshiped Astarte, the goddess of Sidon, and Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. ⁶ He sinned against the Lord and was not true to him as his father David had been. ⁷ On the mountain east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. ⁸ He also built places of worship where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.

^9-10 Even though the Lord, the God of Israel, had appeared to Solomon twice and had commanded him not to worship foreign gods, Solomon did not obey the Lord but turned away from him. So the Lord was angry with Solomon ¹¹ and said to him, “Because you have deliberately broken your covenant with me and disobeyed my commands, I promise that I will take the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officials. ¹² However, for the sake of your father David I will not do this in your lifetime, but during the reign of your son. ¹³ And I will not take the whole kingdom away from him; instead, I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have made my own.”

Solomon's Enemies

¹⁴ So the Lord caused Hadad, of the royal family of Edom, to turn against Solomon. ^15-16 Long before this, when David had conquered Edom, Joab the commander of his army had gone there to bury the dead. He and his men remained in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every male in Edom ¹⁷ except Hadad and some of his father's Edomite servants, who escaped to Egypt. (At that time Hadad was just a child.) ¹⁸ They left Midian and went to Paran, where some other men joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to the king, who gave Hadad some land and a house and provided him with food. ¹⁹ Hadad won the friendship of the king, and the king gave his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to Hadad in marriage. ²⁰ She bore him a son, Genubath, who was raised by the queen in the palace, where he lived with the king's sons.

²¹ When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king, “Let me go back to my own country.”

²² “Why?” the king asked. “Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?”

“Just let me go,” Hadad answered the king. And he went back to his country.^[a]

As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.^[b]

²³ God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, ²⁴ and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. (This happened after David had defeated Hadadezer and had slaughtered his Syrian allies.) Rezon and his gang went and lived in Damascus, where his followers made him king of Syria. ²⁵ He was an enemy of Israel during the lifetime of Solomon.

God's Promise to Jeroboam

²⁶ Another man who turned against King Solomon was one of his officials, Jeroboam son of Nebat, from Zeredah in Ephraim. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. ²⁷ This is the story of the revolt.

Solomon was filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem and repairing the city walls. ²⁸ Jeroboam was an able young man, and when Solomon noticed how hard he worked, he put him in charge of all the forced labor in the territory of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. ²⁹ One day, as Jeroboam was traveling from Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him alone on the road in the open country. ³⁰ Ahijah took off the new robe he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, ³¹ and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, ‘I am going to take the kingdom away from Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. ³² Solomon will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be my own from the whole land of Israel. ³³ I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has^[c] worshiped foreign gods: Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon has^[d] disobeyed me; he has done wrong and has not kept my laws and commands as his father David did. ³⁴ But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon, and I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes, ³⁶ but I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe, so that I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshiped. ³⁷ Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel, and you will rule over all the territory that you want. ³⁸ If you obey me completely, live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did, I will always be with you. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David. ³⁹ Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not for all time.’”

⁴⁰ And so Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death.

The Death of Solomon^(C)

⁴¹ Everything else that Solomon did, his career, and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon. ⁴² He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ⁴³ He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

The Northern Tribes Revolt^(D)

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the people of northern Israel had gathered to make him king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had gone to Egypt to escape from King Solomon, heard this news, he returned from^[e] Egypt. ³ The people of the northern tribes sent for him, and then they all went together to Rehoboam and said to him, ⁴ “Your father Solomon treated us harshly and placed heavy burdens on us. If you make these burdens lighter and make life easier for us, we will be your loyal subjects.”

⁵ “Come back in three days and I will give you my answer,” he replied. So they left.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. “What answer do you advise me to give these people?” he asked.

⁷ They replied, “If you want to serve this people well, give a favorable answer to their request, and they will always serve you loyally.”

⁸ But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers. ⁹ “What do you advise me to do?” he asked. “What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?”

¹⁰ They replied, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!’ ¹¹ Tell them, ‘My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!’”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them. ¹³ The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people, ¹⁴ as the younger men had advised. He said, “My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!” ¹⁵ It was the will of the Lord to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.

^16 (E)When the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they shouted, “Down with David and his family! What have they ever done for us? People of Israel, let's go home! Let Rehoboam look out for himself!”

So the people of Israel rebelled, ¹⁷ leaving Rehoboam as king only of the people who lived in the territory of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, to go to the Israelites, but they stoned him to death. At this, Rehoboam hurriedly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Ever since that time the people of the northern kingdom of Israel have been in rebellion against the dynasty of David.

The Conversion of Saul^(A)

9 In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest ² and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.

³ As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?”

⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” he asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you persecute,” the voice said. ⁶ “But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do.”

⁷ The men who were traveling with Saul had stopped, not saying a word; they heard the voice but could not see anyone. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but could not see a thing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰ There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. He had a vision, in which the Lord said to him, “Ananias!”

“Here I am, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying, ¹² and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he might see again.”

¹³ Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and about all the terrible things he has done to your people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And he has come to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who worship you.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel. ¹⁶ And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my sake.”

¹⁷ So Ananias went, entered the house where Saul was, and placed his hands on him. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord has sent me—Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ^18 (B)At once something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood up and was baptized; ¹⁹ and after he had eaten, his strength came back.

Saul Preaches in Damascus

Saul stayed for a few days with the believers in Damascus. ²⁰ He went straight to the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.

²¹ All who heard him were amazed and asked, “Isn't he the one who in Jerusalem was killing those who worship that man Jesus? And didn't he come here for the very purpose of arresting those people and taking them back to the chief priests?”

²² But Saul's preaching became even more powerful, and his proofs that Jesus was the Messiah were so convincing that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not answer him.

^23 (C)After many days had gone by, the Jews met together and made plans to kill Saul, ²⁴ but he was told of their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him. ²⁵ But one night Saul's followers took him and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

A Prayer of Humble Trust^[a]

⁴ Evil people listen to evil ideas, and liars listen to lies.

⁵ If you make fun of poor people, you insult the God who made them. You will be punished if you take pleasure in someone's misfortune.

God Appears to Solomon Again^(A)

9 After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build, ^2 (B)the Lord appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time. ⁴ If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you, ^5 (C)I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. ⁶ But if you or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods, ⁷ then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt. ^8 (D)This Temple will become a pile of ruins,^[a] and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?’ they will ask. ⁹ People will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.’”

Solomon's Agreement with Hiram^(E)

¹⁰ It took Solomon twenty years to build the Temple and his palace. ¹¹ King Hiram of Tyre had provided him with all the cedar and pine and with all the gold he wanted for this work. After it was finished, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. ¹² Hiram went to see them, and he did not like them. ¹³ So he said to Solomon, “So these, my brother, are the towns you have given me!” For this reason the area is still called Cabul.^{[b] 14} Hiram had sent Solomon almost five tons of gold.

Further Achievements of Solomon^(F)

¹⁵ King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. (¹⁶ The king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it, killing its inhabitants and setting fire to the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon, ¹⁷ and Solomon rebuilt it.) Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness of Judah, ¹⁹ the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom. ^20-21 For his forced labor Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, whose descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time. ²² Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites; they served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and cavalry.

²³ There were 550 officials in charge of the forced labor working on Solomon's various building projects.

²⁴ Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her.

^25 (G)Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to the Lord. He also burned incense^[c] to the Lord. And so he finished building the Temple.

²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. ²⁷ King Hiram sent some experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men. ²⁸ They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba^(H)

10 ^(I)The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame,^[d] and she traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. ² She brought with her a large group of attendants, as well as camels loaded with spices, jewels, and a large amount of gold. When she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of. ³ He answered them all; there was nothing too difficult for him to explain. ⁴ The queen of Sheba heard Solomon's wisdom and saw the palace he had built. ⁵ She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his officials, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms they wore, the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered in the Temple. It left her breathless and amazed. ⁶ She said to King Solomon, “What I heard in my own country about you^[e] and your wisdom is true! ⁷ But I couldn't believe it until I had come and seen it all for myself. But I didn't hear even half of it; your wisdom and wealth are much greater than what I was told. ⁸ How fortunate are your wives!^[f] And how fortunate your servants, who are always in your presence and are privileged to hear your wise sayings! ⁹ Praise the Lord your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king of Israel. Because his love for Israel is eternal, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice.”

¹⁰ She presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons of gold and a very large amount of spices and jewels. The amount of spices she gave him was by far the greatest that he ever received at any time.

(¹¹ Hiram's fleet, which had brought gold from Ophir, also brought from there a large amount of juniper wood and jewels. ¹² Solomon used the wood to build railings in the Temple and the palace, and also to make harps and lyres for the musicians. It was the finest juniper wood ever imported into Israel; none like it has ever been seen again.)

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she asked for, besides all the other customary gifts that he had generously given her. Then she and her attendants returned to the land of Sheba.

King Solomon's Wealth^(J)

¹⁴ Every year King Solomon received over twenty-five tons of gold, ¹⁵ in addition to the taxes^[g] paid by merchants, the profits from trade, and tribute paid by the Arabian kings and the governors of the Israelite districts.

¹⁶ Solomon made two hundred large shields and had each one overlaid with almost fifteen pounds of gold. ¹⁷ He also made three hundred smaller shields, overlaying each one of them with nearly four pounds of gold. He had all these shields placed in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.^[h]

¹⁸ He also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with the finest gold. ^19-20 The throne had six steps leading up to it, with the figure of a lion at each end of every step, a total of twelve lions. At the back of the throne was the figure of a bull's head, and beside each of the two armrests was the figure of a lion. No throne like this had ever existed in any other kingdom.

²¹ All of Solomon's drinking cups were made of gold, and all the utensils in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. No silver was used, since it was not considered valuable in Solomon's day. ²² He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with Hiram's fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

²³ King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king, ²⁴ and the whole world wanted to come and listen to the wisdom that God had given him. ²⁵ Everyone who came brought him a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This continued year after year.

^26 (K)Solomon built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem and the rest he stationed in various other cities. ^27 (L)During his reign silver was as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. ^28 (M)The king's agents controlled the export of horses from Musri^[i] and Cilicia,^{[j] 29} and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for 150 each.

¹⁴ The apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had received the word of God, so they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ When they arrived, they prayed for the believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ For the Holy Spirit had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ Simon saw that the Spirit had been given to the believers when the apostles placed their hands on them. So he offered money to Peter and John, ¹⁹ and said, “Give this power to me too, so that anyone I place my hands on will receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ But Peter answered him, “May you and your money go to hell, for thinking that you can buy God's gift with money! ²¹ You have no part or share in our work, because your heart is not right in God's sight. ²² Repent, then, of this evil plan of yours, and pray to the Lord that he will forgive you for thinking such a thing as this. ²³ For I see that you are full of bitter envy and are a prisoner of sin.”

²⁴ Simon said to Peter and John, “Please pray to the Lord for me, so that none of these things you spoke of will happen to me.”

²⁵ After they had given their testimony and proclaimed the Lord's message, Peter and John went back to Jerusalem. On their way they preached the Good News in many villages of Samaria.

Philip and the Ethiopian Official

²⁶ An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south^[a] to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This road is not used nowadays.)^{[b] 27-28} So Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia, was on his way home. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that carriage and stay close to it.” ³⁰ Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹ The official replied, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him. ^32 (A)The passage of scripture which he was reading was this:

³⁴ The official asked Philip, “Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus. ³⁶ As they traveled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, “Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?” ^37 [c]

³⁸ The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official did not see him again, but continued on his way, full of joy. ⁴⁰ Philip found himself in Azotus; he went on to Caesarea, and on the way he preached the Good News in every town.

A Prayer for Help

² A shrewd servant will gain authority over a master's worthless son and receive a part of the inheritance.

³ Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person's heart is tested by the Lord.

The Covenant Box Is Brought to the Temple^(A)

8 ^(B)Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem in order to take the Lord's Covenant Box from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. ^2 (C)They all assembled during the Festival of Shelters in the seventh month, in the month of Ethanim. ³ When all the leaders had gathered, the priests lifted the Covenant Box ⁴ and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of the Lord's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. ⁵ King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle—too many to count. ⁶ Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures. ⁷ Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. ⁸ The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.) ^9 (D)There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.

^10 (E)As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud ¹¹ shining with the dazzling light of the Lord's presence, and they could not go back in to perform their duties. ^12 (F)Then Solomon prayed:

Solomon's Address to the People^(G)

¹⁴ As the people stood there, King Solomon turned to face them, and he asked God's blessing on them. ¹⁵ He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him, ^16 (H)‘From the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.’”

^17 (I)And Solomon continued, “My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel, ¹⁸ but the Lord said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, ^19 (J)but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.’

²⁰ “And now the Lord has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹ I have also provided a place in the Temple for the Covenant Box containing the stone tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

Solomon's Prayer^(K)

²² Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms ²³ and prayed, “Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. ²⁴ You have kept the promise you made to my father David; today every word has been fulfilled. ^25 (L)And now, Lord God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. ²⁶ So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your servant.

^27 (M)“But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough? ²⁸ Lord my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today. ^29 (N)Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. ³⁰ Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people when they face this place and pray. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us.

³¹ “When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, ³² O Lord, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one as he deserves, and acquit the one who is innocent.

³³ “When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and then when they turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness, ³⁴ listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land which you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵ “When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you, and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you, ³⁶ listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O Lord, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession.

³⁷ “When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or the crops are destroyed by scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when your people are attacked by their enemies, or when there is disease or sickness among them, ³⁸ listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple, ³⁹ hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, forgive them, and help them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person as he deserves, ⁴⁰ so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land which you gave to our ancestors.

^41-42 “When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, ⁴³ listen to his prayer. In heaven, where you live, hear him and do what he asks you to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know you and obey you, as your people Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where you are to be worshiped.

⁴⁴ “When you command your people to go into battle against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, facing this city which you have chosen and this Temple which I have built for you, ⁴⁵ listen to their prayers. Hear them in heaven and give them victory.

⁴⁶ “When your people sin against you—and there is no one who does not sin—and in your anger you let their enemies defeat them and take them as prisoners to some other land, even if that land is far away, ⁴⁷ listen to your people's prayers. If there in that land they repent and pray to you, confessing how sinful and wicked they have been, hear their prayers, O Lord. ⁴⁸ If in that land they truly and sincerely repent and pray to you as they face toward this land which you gave to our ancestors, this city which you have chosen, and this Temple which I have built for you, ⁴⁹ then listen to their prayers. In your home in heaven hear them and be merciful to them. ⁵⁰ Forgive all their sins and their rebellion against you, and make their enemies treat them with kindness. ⁵¹ They are your own people, whom you brought out of Egypt, that blazing furnace.

⁵² “Sovereign Lord, may you always look with favor on your people Israel and their king, and hear their prayer whenever they call to you for help. ⁵³ You chose them from all the peoples to be your own people, as you told them through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

The Final Prayer

⁵⁴ After Solomon had finished praying to the Lord, he stood up in front of the altar, where he had been kneeling with uplifted hands. ⁵⁵ In a loud voice he asked God's blessings on all the people assembled there. He said, ^56 (O)“Praise the Lord who has given his people peace, as he promised he would. He has kept all the generous promises he made through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us; ⁵⁸ may he make us obedient to him, so that we will always live as he wants us to live, keeping all the laws and commands he gave our ancestors. ⁵⁹ May the Lord our God remember at all times this prayer and these petitions I have made to him. May he always be merciful to the people of Israel and to their king, according to their daily needs. ⁶⁰ And so all the nations of the world will know that the Lord alone is God—there is no other. ⁶¹ May you, his people, always be faithful to the Lord our God, obeying all his laws and commands as you do today.”

The Dedication of the Temple^(P)

⁶² Then King Solomon and all the people there offered sacrifices to the Lord. ⁶³ He sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple. ⁶⁴ That same day he also consecrated the central part of the courtyard, the area in front of the Temple, and then he offered there the sacrifices burned whole, the grain offerings, and the fat of the animals for the fellowship offerings. He did this because the bronze altar was too small for all these offerings.

⁶⁵ There at the Temple, Solomon and all the people of Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters for seven^[b] days. There was a huge crowd of people from as far away as Hamath Pass in the north and the Egyptian border in the south. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day Solomon sent the people home. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the blessings that the Lord had given his servant David and his people Israel.

^51 (A)“How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. ⁵³ You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels—yet you have not obeyed it!”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. ⁵⁶ “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”

⁵⁷ With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, ⁵⁸ threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.

8 And Saul approved of his murder.

Saul Persecutes the Church

That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria. ² Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries.

^3 (B)But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.

The Gospel Is Preached in Samaria

⁴ The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the message. ⁵ Philip went to the principal city^[a] in Samaria and preached the Messiah to the people there. ⁶ The crowds paid close attention to what Philip said, as they listened to him and saw the miracles that he performed. ⁷ Evil spirits came out from many people with a loud cry, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

⁹ A man named Simon lived there, who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great, ¹⁰ and everyone in the city, from all classes of society, paid close attention to him. “He is that power of God known as ‘The Great Power,’” they said. ¹¹ They paid this attention to him because for such a long time he had astonished them with his magic. ¹² But when they believed Philip's message about the good news of the Kingdom of God and about Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³ Simon himself also believed; and after being baptized, he stayed close to Philip and was astounded when he saw the great wonders and miracles that were being performed.

A Prayer against Israel's Enemies

17 Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than have a banquet in a house full of trouble.

Solomon's Palace

7 Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years. ^2-3 The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon^[a] was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had three^[b] rows of cedar pillars, 15 in each row, with cedar beams resting on them. The ceiling was of cedar, extending over storerooms, which were supported by the pillars. ⁴ On each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows. ⁵ The doorways and the windows^[c] had rectangular frames, and the three rows of windows in each wall faced the opposite rows.

⁶ The Hall of Columns was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. It had a covered porch, supported by columns.

⁷ The Throne Room, also called the Hall of Judgment, where Solomon decided cases, had cedar panels from the floor to the rafters.^[d]

^8 (A)Solomon's own quarters, in another court behind the Hall of Judgment, were made like the other buildings. He also built the same kind of house for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt.

⁹ All these buildings and the great court were made of fine stones from the foundations to the eaves. The stones were prepared at the quarry and cut to measure, with their inner and outer sides trimmed with saws. ¹⁰ The foundations were made of large stones prepared at the quarry, some of them twelve feet long and others fifteen feet long. ¹¹ On top of them were other stones, cut to measure, and cedar beams. ¹² The palace court, the inner court of the Temple, and the entrance room of the Temple had walls with one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of cut stones.

Huram's Task

¹³ King Solomon sent for a man named Huram, a craftsman living in the city of Tyre, who was skilled in bronze work. ¹⁴ His father, who was no longer living, was from Tyre, and had also been a skilled bronze craftsman; his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram was an intelligent and experienced craftsman. He accepted King Solomon's invitation to be in charge of all the bronze work.

The Two Bronze Columns^(B)

¹⁵ Huram cast two bronze columns, each one 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference,^[e] and placed them at the entrance of the Temple. ¹⁶ He also made two bronze capitals, each one 7½ feet tall, to be placed on top of the columns. ¹⁷ The top of each column was decorated with a design of interwoven chains^{[f] 18} and two rows of bronze pomegranates.

¹⁹ The capitals were shaped like lilies, 6 feet tall, ²⁰ and were placed on a rounded section which was above the chain design. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows around each^[g] capital.

²¹ Huram placed these two bronze columns in front of the entrance of the Temple: the one on the south side was named Jachin^[h] and the one on the north was named Boaz.^{[i] 22} The lily-shaped bronze capitals were on top of the columns.

And so the work on the columns was completed.

The Bronze Tank^(C)

²³ Huram made a round tank of bronze, 7½ feet deep, 15 feet in diameter, and 45 feet in circumference. ²⁴ All around the outer edge of the rim of the tank^[j] were two rows of bronze gourds, which had been cast all in one piece with the rest of the tank. ²⁵ The tank rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward, three facing in each direction. ²⁶ The sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, curving outward like the petals of a lily. The tank held about 10,000 gallons.

The Bronze Carts

²⁷ Huram also made ten bronze carts; each was 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4½ feet high. ²⁸ They were made of square panels which were set in frames, ²⁹ with the figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures on the panels; and on the frames, above and underneath the lions and bulls, there were spiral figures in relief. ³⁰ Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the four corners were bronze supports for a basin; the supports were decorated with spiral figures in relief. ³¹ There was a circular frame on top for the basin. It projected upward 18 inches from the top of the cart and 7 inches down into it. It had carvings around it. ³² The wheels were 25 inches high; they were under the panels, and the axles were of one piece with the carts. ³³ The wheels were like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of bronze. ³⁴ There were four supports at the bottom corners of each cart, which were of one piece with the cart. ³⁵ There was a 9-inch band around the top of each cart; its supports and the panels were of one piece with the cart. ³⁶ The supports and panels were decorated with figures of winged creatures, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space for them, with spiral figures all around. ³⁷ This, then, is how the carts were made; they were all alike, having the same size and shape.

^38 (D)Huram also made ten basins, one for each cart. Each basin was 6 feet in diameter and held 200 gallons. ³⁹ He placed five of the carts on the south side of the Temple, and the other five on the north side; the tank he placed at the southeast corner.

Summary List of Temple Furnishings^(E)

^40-45 Huram also made pots, shovels, and bowls. He completed all his work for King Solomon for the Lord's Temple. This is what he made:

All this equipment for the Temple, which Huram made for King Solomon, was of polished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had it all made in the foundry between Sukkoth and Zarethan, in the Jordan Valley. ⁴⁷ Solomon did not have these bronze objects weighed, because there were too many of them, and so their weight was never determined.

^48 (F)Solomon also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar, the table for the bread offered to God, ^49 (G)the ten lampstands that stood in front of the Most Holy Place, five on the south side and five on the north; the flowers, lamps, and tongs; ⁵⁰ the cups, lamp snuffers, bowls, dishes for incense, and the pans used for carrying live coals; and the hinges for the doors of the Most Holy Place and of the outer doors of the Temple. All these furnishings were made of gold.

^51 (H)When King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, he placed in the Temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to the Lord—the silver, gold, and other articles.

^30 (A)“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: ³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. ³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’

^35 (B)“Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush. ^36 (C)He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. ^37 (D)Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me,^[a] and he will be one of your own people.’ ^38 (E)He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.

³⁹ “But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt. ^40 (F)So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ ^41 (G)It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made. ^42 (H)So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

^44 (I)“Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. ^45 (J)Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. ^46 (K)He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^{[b] 47 (L)}But it was Solomon who built him a house.

⁴⁸ “But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,

The Reward of Obedience to the Lord

³¹ Long life is the reward of the righteous; gray hair is a glorious crown.

³² It is better to be patient than powerful. It is better to win control over yourself than over whole cities.

³³ People cast lots to learn God's will, but God himself determines the answer.