2 Chronicles 7-12

II Chronicles 7

¹Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the 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 into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’S house.

³And all the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD was upon the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and gave thanks unto the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

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

⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶And the priests stood, according to their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks unto the LORD, for his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry: and the priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.

⁷Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat.

⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt.

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

¹⁰And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh mouth he sent the people away unto their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king’s house: and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.

¹²And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

¹³If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

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

¹⁵Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place.

¹⁶For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

¹⁷And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments;

¹⁸then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.

¹⁹But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them:

²⁰then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

²¹And this house, which is so high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?

²²And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.

II Chronicles 8

¹And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house,

²that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwelt there.

³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it.

⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel;

⁸of their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bondservants, unto this day.

⁹But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

¹⁰And these were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people,

¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch,

¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

¹⁴And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the doorkeepers also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.

¹⁵And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.

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

¹⁸And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

II Chronicles 9

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

²And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was not any thing hid from Solomon which he told her not.

³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

⁴and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants; and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

⁵And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom.

⁶Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

⁷Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.

⁸Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

⁹And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹⁰And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir; brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹And the king made of the algum trees terraces for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, and harps and psalteries for the singers; and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;

¹⁴beside that which the chapmen and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target.

¹⁶And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels of gold went to one 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.

¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.

¹⁹And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

²⁰And all 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 nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

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

²²So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

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

²⁴And they brought very man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁵And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁶And he ruled over all the kings from the River even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

²⁸And they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

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

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

³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

II Chronicles 10

¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.

²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon,) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

³And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spake to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.

⁵And he said unto them, Come again unto me after three days. And the people departed.

⁶And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?

⁷And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever.

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him.

⁹And he said unto them, What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter?

¹⁰And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.

¹¹And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the third day.

¹³And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men,

¹⁴and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

¹⁵So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So all Israel departed unto their tents.

¹⁷But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.

II Chronicles 11

¹And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.

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

³Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

⁴Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they hearkened unto the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.

⁶He built even Beth-lehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

⁷And Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,

⁸and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,

⁹and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,

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

¹¹And he fortified the strong holds, and put captains in them, and store of victual, and oil and wine.

¹²And in every several city he put shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong. And Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

¹³And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border.

¹⁴For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office unto the LORD:

¹⁵and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the he-goats, and for the calves which he had made.

¹⁶And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the LORD, the God of their fathers.

¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸And Rehoboam took him a wife; Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse;

¹⁹and she bare him sons; Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bare him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters.)

²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, even the prince among his brethren: for he was minded to make him king.

²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he sought for them many wives.

II Chronicles 12

¹And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.

²And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against the LORD,

³with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

⁴And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came unto Jerusalem.

⁵Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.

⁶Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous.

⁷And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them: but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all away: he took away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

¹⁰And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, that kept the door of the king’s house.

¹¹And it was so, that as oft as the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came and bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.

¹²And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah there were good things found.

¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

¹⁴And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek the LORD.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.