The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday June 12, 2022 (NIV)

9 After Solomon had constructed the Eternal’s temple, his own palace, and many other building projects that he desired, ² the Eternal came to Solomon again just as He had at Gibeon.

¹⁰ Twenty years passed, and Solomon had constructed the two houses: the temple of the Eternal and the palace of the king. ¹¹ Tyre’s king, Hiram, had given Solomon all the cedar, cypress, and gold he desired for those projects, so Solomon granted Hiram twenty cities in Galilee.

¹² Hiram traveled from Tyre to view the cities Solomon was giving to him, but he was not satisfied.

People still refer to these cities as the land of Cabul, meaning “worthless,” even today.

¹⁴ Hiram gave approximately 9,000 pounds^[b] of gold to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon used foreign slave laborers, taken from cities he conquered, for the construction of the Eternal’s temple, the king’s palace, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. What follows is the report of it:

¹⁶ Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, had captured Gezer, set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who were dwelling there, and then given the entire city as a dowry for his daughter who married Solomon. ¹⁷ Solomon restored the border areas of Gezer, the lower part of Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath and Tamar in Judah’s desert country, ¹⁹ all the cities he used for storage, as well as the cities he used for his chariots and horsemen. Solomon also built whatever he desired in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all lands he reigned over. ²⁰ All the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who still remained in his territories even though they were not Israelites, ²¹ the Israelites sought to annihilate; but from those who remained, Solomon assembled his conscripted labor force. This is still done today. ²² Solomon did not turn the Israelites into slaves. The Israelites were soldiers, servants, princes, captains, charioteers, and cavalrymen. ²³ All these men—550 in all—were the most important officials involved in Solomon’s work, controlling all the workers.

²⁴ Pharaoh’s daughter traveled from the city of David to visit the house which Solomon had raised for her. Solomon then constructed the Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year, Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar he constructed in honor of the Eternal One. He burned incense on this altar which stood before the Eternal. His work on the temple was finished.

²⁶ King Solomon constructed a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is in the land of Edom near Eloth on the Red Sea. ²⁷ Hiram commanded some of his most experienced sailors to be the crew of the fleet. These sailors were in the company of Solomon’s servants. ²⁸ They traveled to Ophir. When they got there, they gathered 16 tons of gold and transported it back to King Solomon.

10 The queen of Sheba was fascinated when she heard about the famous Solomon and his devotion to the name of the Eternal One. She traveled a long way to meet him and to challenge him with her difficult questions. ² She arrived in Jerusalem accompanied by many advisors, assistants, and camels carrying spices and a lot of gold and rare jewels. When she met Solomon, she asked him about everything she could think of.

³ Solomon gave her an answer to every question. The king knew all the answers, and he explained all she asked. ⁴ When the queen recognized Solomon’s wisdom and observed the palace he had envisioned and constructed, ⁵ the food on his table, the orderly arrangement of his servants, the attentive service and fine dress of his waiters, his wine servers, and the beautiful stairway^[c] that led up to the Eternal’s temple, she was in complete awe.

¹⁰ The queen then presented Solomon with 9,000 pounds^[d] of gold and a large gift of spices and rare jewels. No other gift of spices given to the king ever compared to the gift the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹³ King Solomon granted the queen of Sheba everything her heart desired (besides the usual royal gift). She then departed and returned to her own country with all those who were in her service.^[e]

¹¹ Hiram’s ships—the ones that transported all the gold from Ophir—also transported a large amount of almug trees and rare jewels. ¹² The king transformed the almug trees into steps for the Eternal’s temple and the palace. He also made lyres and harps for the musicians. Almug trees like these had never before entered Israel, and they never have since.

¹⁴ Solomon received 25 tons of gold each year. ¹⁵ This amount does not include the amount of gold received through taxation of explorers, traders, and merchants and revenue from the Arab kings and provincial governors. ¹⁶ King Solomon crafted 200 large shields, each made from 7½ pounds of hammered gold. ¹⁷ Then he crafted 300 shields made from 60 ounces of hammered gold. He kept them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ He also crafted an ivory throne and covered it with the purest gold. ¹⁹ There were 6 steps leading up to the throne. The back of the throne was rounded, and a lion stood next to each armrest. ²⁰ There were 12 lions on the 6 steps: 6 lions on one side and 6 on the other. Nothing anywhere in the world compared to it. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s cups were made out of gold, and all the cups in the house of the forest of Lebanon were made out of the purest gold as well. Nothing was crafted out of silver because silver was worthless during that time. ²² Tarshish’s ships and Hiram’s ships were out at sea under the rule of Solomon. Tarshish’s ships brought gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks^[f] to Solomon once every 3 years.

²³ King Solomon became mightier than any other king in the entire world. He was wealthy in material and in wisdom. ²⁴ People from around the world wanted to meet the famous Solomon. They desired to learn the wisdom God had planted in his heart. ²⁵ They brought gifts—silver, gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. The gifts accumulated as the years passed.

²⁶ Solomon summoned his chariots and cavalrymen. He commanded 1,400 chariots and 12,000 cavalrymen, and he sent them to the appointed cities (known as chariot cities) or to guard Jerusalem’s king. ²⁷ The king had made silver as common as stones are in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as common as sycamore trees are in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon brought his horses from Egypt^[g] and Kue, and the king’s businessmen paid the people of Kue for the horses. ²⁹ One chariot was bought from Egypt for 15 pounds of silver, and one horse was bought for 60 ounces of silver. Some chariots and horses were then exported to the Hittite and Aramean kings along the route from Kue back to Israel.

¹⁴ Meanwhile word had reached the Lord’s emissaries^[a] in Jerusalem that the message of God was welcomed in Samaria—a land of half-breeds and heretics in the minds of many Judeans. They sent Peter and John ¹⁵ to pray for the Samaritans. They were especially eager to see if the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit ¹⁶ because until this point they had been baptized^[b] in the name of the Lord Jesus but had not experienced the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ When Peter and John laid hands on the people, the Holy Spirit did indeed come upon them all.

¹⁸ Simon watched all this closely. He saw the Holy Spirit coming to the people when the apostles laid hands on them. So he came to Peter and John and offered them money.

²⁵ Peter and John preached to and talked with the Samaritans about the message of the Lord; and then they returned to Jerusalem, stopping in many other Samaritan villages along the way to proclaim the good news.

²⁶ A heavenly messenger brought this short message from the Lord to Philip during his time preaching in Samaria:

The message was especially unusual because this road runs through the middle of uninhabited desert. ²⁷ But Philip got up, left the excitement of Samaria, and did as he was told to do. Along this road, Philip saw a chariot in the distance. In the chariot was a dignitary from Ethiopia (the treasurer for Queen Candace), an African man who had been castrated. He had gone north to Jerusalem to worship at the Jewish temple, ²⁸ and he was now heading southwest on his way home. He was seated in the chariot and was reading aloud from a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ Philip received another prompting from the Holy Spirit:

³⁰ So he started running until he was even with the chariot. Philip heard the Ethiopian reading aloud and recognized the words from the prophet Isaiah.

Then he invited Philip to sit in the chariot. ³² Here’s the passage he was reading from the Hebrew Scriptures:

³⁵ That began a conversation in which Philip used the passage to explain the good news of Jesus. ³⁶ Eventually the chariot passed a body of water beside the road.

The Ethiopian said that he believed.]^[e]

³⁸ He commanded the charioteer to stop the horses. Then Philip and the Ethiopian official walked together into the water. There Philip baptized^[f] him, initiating him as a fellow disciple. ³⁹ When they came out of the water, Philip was immediately caught up by the Holy Spirit and taken from the sight of the Ethiopian, who climbed back into his chariot and continued on his journey, overflowing with joy. ⁴⁰ Philip found himself at a town called Azotus (formerly the Philistine capital city of Ashdod, on the Mediterranean); and from there he traveled north again, proclaiming the good news in town after town until he came to Caesarea.

Psalm 130

A song for those journeying to worship.