Bible-Reading.comII Chronicles 7
1Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the LORD’s glory filled the house.
2The priests could not enter into the LORD’s house, because the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.
3All the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the LORD’s glory was on the house. They bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, worshiped, and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!”
4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.
5King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God’s house.
6The priests stood, according to their positions; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks to the LORD, when David praised by their ministry, saying “For his loving kindness endures forever.” The priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.
7Moreover Solomon made the middle of the court that was before the LORD’s house holy; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat.
8So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt.
9On the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.
10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
11Thus Solomon finished the LORD’s house and the king’s house; and he successfully completed all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the LORD’s house and in his own house.
12Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.
13“If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people,
14if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer that is made in this place.
16For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.
17“As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances,
18then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.’
19But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
20then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
21This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?’
22They shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods, worshiped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all this evil on them.’”
II Chronicles 8
1At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the LORD’s house and his own house,
2Solomon built the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.
3Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it.
4He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath.
5Also he built Beth Horon the upper and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars;
6and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
7As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel—
8of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel didn’t consume—of them Solomon conscripted forced labor to this day.
9But of the children of Israel, Solomon made no servants for his work, but they were men of war, chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
10These were the chief officers of King Solomon, even two-hundred fifty, who ruled over the people.
11Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter out of David’s city to 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 where the LORD’s ark has come are holy.”
12Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar 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, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths.
14He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required, the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate, for David the man of God had so commanded.
15They didn’t depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasures.
16Now all the work of Solomon was accomplished from the day of the foundation of the LORD’s house until it was finished. So the LORD’s house was completed.
17Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom.
18Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and brought from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.
II Chronicles 9
1When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, including camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart.
2Solomon answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her.
3When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
4the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to the LORD’s house, there was no more spirit in her.
5She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom.
6However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold half of the greatness of your wisdom wasn’t told me. You exceed the fame that I heard!
7Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.
8Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you and set you on his throne to be king for the LORD your God, because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever. Therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”
9She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There was never before such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.
11The king used algum tree wood to make terraces for the LORD’s house and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah.
12King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, more than that which she had brought to 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 sixty-six talents of gold,
14in addition to that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one large shield.
16He made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
17Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.
18There were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
19Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom.
20All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.
21For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
23All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
24They each brought tribute: vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules every year.
25Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
26He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.
27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
28They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt and out of all lands.
29Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren’t they 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?
30Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
II Chronicles 10
1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.
3They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4“Your father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.”
5He said to them, “Come again to me after three days.” So the people departed.
6King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me about how to answer these people?”
7They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
8But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
9He said to them, “What counsel do you give, that we may give an answer to these people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter’?”
10The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter on us;’ thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
11Now whereas my father burdened 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 asked, saying, “Come to me again the third day.”
13The king answered them roughly; and King Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of the old men,
14and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
15So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was brought about by God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel departed to their tents.
17But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and the children of Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam hurried to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
19So Israel rebelled against David’s house to this day.
II Chronicles 11
1When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.
2But the LORD’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
3“Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,
4‘The LORD says, “You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers! Every man return to his house; for this thing is of me.”’” So they listened to the LORD’s words, and returned from going against Jeroboam.
5Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah.
6He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
7Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam,
8Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,
9Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
10Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin.
11He fortified the strongholds and put captains in them with stores of food, oil and wine.
12He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceedingly strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
13The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him out of all their territory.
14For the Levites left their pasture lands and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office to the LORD.
15He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goat and calf idols which he had made.
16After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, those who set their hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
17So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
18Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.
19She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20After her, he took Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21Rehoboam loved Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.
23He dealt wisely, and dispersed some of his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city. He gave them food in abundance; and he sought many wives for them.
II Chronicles 12
1When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the LORD’s law, and all Israel with him.
2In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against the LORD,
3with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. The people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.
4He took the fortified cities which belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.
5Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “The LORD says, ‘You have forsaken me, therefore I have 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.”
7When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the LORD’s word came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath won’t be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
8Nevertheless they will 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 LORD’s house and the treasures of the king’s house. He took it all away. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
10King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
11As often as the king entered into the LORD’s house, the guard came and bore them, then brought them back into the guard room.
12When he humbled himself, the LORD’s wrath turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether. Moreover, there were good things found in Judah.
13So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-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. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
14He did that which was evil, because he didn’t set his heart to seek the LORD.
15Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, aren’t they written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogies? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
16Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city; and Abijah his son reigned in his place.