DASV:  1 Kings
                                              DASV:  1 Kings 1

¹ Now king David was old and advanced in years, and they covered him with blankets, but he could not get warm.

² His servants said to him, "Find a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her take care of the king.  Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may get warm."

³ So they searched throughout all the territory of Israel for a beautiful young woman, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

⁴ The damsel was very beautiful.  She took care of the king, and served him.  The king did not have sexual relations with her.

⁵ Then Adonijah the son of Haggith promoted himself, saying, "I will be king."  He prepared chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

⁶ His father had never rebuked him by saying, "Why did you do this?" He was a very handsome man born after Absalom.

⁷ He consulted with Joab the son of Zeruiah and Abiathar the priest.  They followed and helped Adonijah.

⁸ But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei and the mighty men who belonged to David, did not support Adonijah.

⁹ Adonijah slew sheep, oxen and fattened cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, near the En-rogel spring.  He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah.

¹⁰ But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men and his brother Solomon.

¹¹ Then Nathan warned Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, "Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord doesn't know it?

¹² Now therefore come, let me give you advice so that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon.

¹³ Go in at once to king David, and ask him, 'My lord, O king, didn't you swear to your servant, promising, "Solomon your son will surely reign after me, and he will sit on my throne?"  Why then has Adonijah become king?'

¹⁴ While you are still talking there with the king, I will come in after you, and confirm your words."

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went in to the king in the bedroom.  Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was taking care of the king.

¹⁶ Bathsheba bowed, prostrating herself before the king. The king asked, "What can I do for you?"

¹⁷ She replied, "My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your servant, 'Solomon your son will surely reign after me, and will sit on my throne.'

¹⁸ Now look, Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, don't even know about it.

¹⁹ He has slain many oxen, fattened calves and sheep and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest and Joab the captain of the army; but he has not invited your servant Solomon.

²⁰ Now my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

²¹ Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that my son Solomon and I will be treated as criminals."

²² While she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.

²³ The king was told, "Here is Nathan the prophet." When he came in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

²⁴ Then Nathan said, "Did my lord, O king, announce Adonijah will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne?

²⁵ For he has gone down today, and has sacrificed numerous oxen, fattened calves and sheep, and has invited all the king's sons, the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest.  They are eating and drinking before him, and proclaiming, 'Long live king Adonijah.'

²⁶ But he did not invite me, your servant,  Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon.

²⁷ Has my lord the king ordered this without letting your servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"

²⁸ Then king David answered, "Call Bathsheba to me." She came into the king's presence, and stood before the king.

²⁹ Then the king swore, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every danger,

³⁰ as I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, your son Solomon will surely reign after me, and he will sit on my throne this day in my place."

³¹ Then Bathsheba bowed her face to the ground, and prostrated herself before the king, and said, "May my lord king David live forever."

³² Then king David ordered, "Summon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada here to me." So they came before the king.

³³ Then the king commanded them, "Take with you the servants of your lord, and put my son Solomon on my personal mule, and bring him down to the Gihon spring.

³⁴ Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel there.  Then blow the trumpet, and proclaim, 'Long live king Solomon.'

³⁵ Then you shall follow him up, and he will come and sit on my throne.  He will be king in my place for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah."

³⁶ Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, "Let it be.  May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, order it so.

³⁷ As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David."

³⁸ So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, along with the Cherethites and Pelethites went down and put Solomon on king David's mule, and brought him to the Gihon spring.

³⁹ Then Zadok the priest took the horn of olive oil out of the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet, and all the people proclaimed, "Long live king Solomon."

⁴⁰ All the people came up after him, playing flutes and celebrating with great joy, so that the ground shook from the sound of them.

⁴¹ Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he asked, "Why is the city in such an uproar?"

⁴² While he was still speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived and Adonijah said, "Come in, for you are a worthy man, and must be bringing good news."

⁴³ Jonathan answered Adonijah, "No, for our lord king David has made Solomon king.

⁴⁴ The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, along with the Cherethites and Pelethites; and they have put him on the king's mule.

⁴⁵  Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at the Gihon spring.  They have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard.

⁴⁶ Solomon now sits on the royal throne."

⁴⁷ Moreover the king's officials have come to bless our lord king David, saying, "May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than your own name, and make the reign of his throne greater than your throne."  Then the king bowed himself on the bed.

⁴⁸ So the king prayed, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has granted one to sit on my throne this day and even allowed my eyes to see it."

⁴⁹ Then all the guests of Adonijah were terrified, got up and went their separate ways.

⁵⁰ Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, so he went and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.

⁵¹ Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of king Solomon for he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.'"

⁵² So Solomon promised, "If he will show himself to be a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, then he will die."

⁵³ So king Solomon sent men to bring him down from the altar. Adonijah came and prostrated himself before king Solomon.  Solomon told him, "Go home."

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 2

¹ When the time of David's death drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying,

² "I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and act like a man.

³ Keep the requirements of the LORD your God, walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his regulations, and his laws as written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in everything you do, and wherever you decide to go.

⁴ Then the LORD will keep his word that he promised me, 'If your children pay careful attention to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, then you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'

⁵ Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, when he murdered the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, shedding the blood of war in a time of peace, and putting the blood of war on his belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet.

⁶ Take care of this according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

⁷ But show loyal kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for they came to my aid when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸ Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, of Bahurim is still with you.  He cursed me with a terrible curse in the day when I fled to Mahanaim.  When he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the LORD, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

⁹ Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and you will know what you ought to do to him.  Make sure you bring his gray head down to grave with blood."

¹⁰ Then David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David.

¹¹ David reigned over Israel forty years.  He reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹² Now Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

¹³ Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She asked, "Do you come in peace?" He replied, "Yes, in peace."

¹⁴ Then he added, "I do have a favor to ask of you." She said, "Tell me about it."

¹⁵ He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel expected that I should have been the one to reign.  But the kingdom was turned around and became my brother's; for it was his from the LORD.

¹⁶ Now I ask you for just one favor, do not refuse me." She said to him, "Tell me what it is."

¹⁷ He requested, "Please ask king Solomon--for he will not refuse you--that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."

¹⁸ So Bathsheba said, "All right, I will speak to the king for you."

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to king Solomon, to speak to him on Adonijah's behalf. The king rose to meet her, and bowed himself to her, then sat down on his throne.  He had a throne brought for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand.

²⁰ Then she said, "I have just one small request to ask of you.  Do not refuse me." The king said to her, "Go ahead and make your request my mother; for I will not refuse you."

²¹ Then she requested, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife."

²² But king Solomon answered his mother, "Why are you asking for Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why not ask to give him the kingdom too, since he is my older brother.  Why ask just for him, why not for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah too?"

²³ Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his own life.

²⁴ Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established my dynasty just as he promised, Adonijah will surely be put to death today."

²⁵ So king Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and he struck down Adonijah and he died.

²⁶ Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go to Anathoth, to your fields; for you deserve to die, but I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the sovereign LORD before David my father, and because you shared in all the hardships my father went through. "

²⁷ So Solomon banished Abiathar from being a priest to the LORD, thereby fulfilling the word of the LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

²⁸ The news came to Joab, for Joab had sided with Adonijah, though he had not supported Absalom.  So Joab fled to the Tent of the LORD, and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.

²⁹ King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the Tent of the LORD, and that he was beside the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, strike him down."

³⁰ So Benaiah came to the Tent of the LORD, and told him, "This is what the king says, Come out."  But he refused, "No, I will die here." Then Benaiah reported back to the king, "This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me."

³¹ Then the king replied, "Do as he has requested.  Strike him down and bury him so that you may remove the guilt of Joab's having shed innocent blood from me and from my father's house.

³² The LORD will bring back his bloody actions on his own head, because he struck down with the sword two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David knowing it, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

³³ So their blood will come back on the head of Joab, and on the head of his descendants forever, but may the LORD grant peace to David and his descendants and to his house and his throne forever."

³⁴ Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and struck Joab down and killed him; he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

³⁵ The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army, and the king replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.

³⁶ The king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, "Build a house in Jerusalem, and live there, do not leave there to go anywhere else.

³⁷ For on the day you go out, and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die.  Your blood will be on your own head."

³⁸ Shimei answered the king, "The sentence is fair.  Your servant will do just as my lord the king has commanded." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But after three years, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath.  Shimei was told, "Look, your servants are in Gath."

⁴⁰ So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to search for his servants.  Shimei went and brought back his servants from Gath.

⁴¹ Solomon was told that Shimei had left Jerusalem to go to Gath, and had returned.

⁴² The king summoned Shimei and said to him, "Didn’t I make you swear by the LORD, and warn you, 'Know for sure that on the day you leave to go out anywhere, you will surely die?' You promised me, 'The sentence is fair, I accept it.'

⁴³ Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD, and the command I have charged you?"

⁴⁴ The king also said to Shimei, "You know all the wicked things you did to my father David; so the LORD will return your wickedness on your own head.

⁴⁵ But king Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the LORD forever."

⁴⁶ So the king ordered Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was firmly established in Solomon’s hand.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 3

¹ Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married Pharaoh's daughter.  He brought her into the City of David, until he had finished building his own house, the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem.

² The people were still sacrificing at the high places, because the temple had not yet been built for the name of the LORD.

³ Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except he sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.

⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for there was the great high place there.  Solomon offered on that altar a thousand burnt offerings.

⁵ In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.  God said, "Ask for anything you want me to give you."

⁶ Solomon replied, "You have shown to your servant David my father great loyal love, because he walked before you in truth, righteousness and uprightness of heart.  You have continued this great loyal love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne to this very day.

⁷ Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father, but I am only a little child not knowing how to go out or come in.

⁸ Your servant is in the midst of your chosen people, a great people so numerous they cannot be counted or numbered.

⁹ Give your servant therefore a listening heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?"

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this.

¹¹ So God said to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for long life, or riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the death of your enemies, but have asked for understanding to discern justice,

¹² I will do what you have requested.  I will give you a wise and an understanding heart so that there never has been anyone like you before nor will there be after you.

¹³ Plus I will also give you what you have not asked for, both riches and honor, so that no other king will compare to you all the rest of your life.

¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways, keep my statutes and commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your life."

¹⁵ Solomon awoke and realized it was a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings. He held a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶ Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

¹⁷ The one woman said, "Please my lord, this woman and I live in the same house.  I gave birth while she was in the house.

¹⁸ Three days after I had given birth, this woman also gave birth.  We were together and there was no one else with us in the house except for the two of us.

¹⁹ This woman's child died in the night because she laid on top of him.

²⁰ She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping.  She laid him at her breast, then laid her dead son at my breast.

²¹ When I got up in the morning to nurse my child, he was dead.  But when I had looked at him in the morning light, I discovered it was not my son whom I had borne."

²² The other woman objected, "No.  The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first one responded, "No. The dead one is your son, and the living one is my son." This is how they each argued their case before the king.

²³ Then said the king, "The one says, 'This is my son that is alive, and your son is the dead one,' while the other says, 'No, but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one."

²⁴ The king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king.

²⁵ Then the king said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one mother, and half to the other."

²⁶ Then the mother of the living child spoke up to the king, for her heart had compassion on her son, so she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, only don't kill him." But the other woman blurted, "Neither one of us should have him.  Cut him in two."

²⁷ Then the king ruled, "Give her the living child, and do not kill him, for she is his mother."

²⁸ When all Israel heard of the decision the king had rendered, they stood in awe of the king, because they saw that he had the wisdom of God to administer justice.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 4

¹ Now Solomon was king over all Israel.

² These were his high officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest.

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were court scribes. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the court recorder.

⁴ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was commander over the army.  Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

⁵ Azariah the son of Nathan was over the district governors.  Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and the king's personal advisor.

⁶ Ahishar was manager of the palace.  Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

⁷ Solomon had twelve district governors over all Israel, who were responsible for providing food for the king and his household.  Each one had to supply provisions for a month in the year.

⁸ These are their names: Ben-hur, in the hill-country of Ephraim;

⁹ Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

¹⁰ Ben-hesed, in Arubboth, including Socoh and all the land of Hepher;

¹¹ Ben-abinadab, in all the Naphath-Dor, who married Taphath, Solomon’s daughter;

¹² Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shan near Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shan to Abel Meholah, and beyond Jokmeam;

¹³ Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead he was over the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh in Gilead; along with the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large towns with walls and bronze gate bars;

¹⁴ Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naphtali who married Basemath, Solomon’s daughter;

¹⁶ Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth;

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸ Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹ Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, including the former territory of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan.  He was the only governor over that area.

²⁰ The people Judah and Israel were as innumerable as the sand of the sea; they ate and drank and were happy.

²¹ Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, down to the border of Egypt.  These kingdoms brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²² Solomon's provision for one day was 150 bushels of fine flour, and 300 bushels of meal,

²³ ten pen-fattened cattle, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

²⁴ He ruled over all kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides around him.

²⁵ During Solomon’s lifetime, Judah and Israel lived in safety, everyone under his vine and fig tree.

²⁶ Solomon had 40,000 stalls for his chariot horses, and 12,000 horsemen.

²⁷ The district governors supplied provisions for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, each one in his month; they made sure nothing was lacking.

²⁸ They also brought to the required place barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses, each according to his charge.

²⁹ God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore.

³⁰ Solomon's wisdom surpassed all the wise men of the east, and all the sages of Egypt.

³¹ He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol.  His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.

³² He spoke 3,000 proverbs and composed 1005 songs.

³³ He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall.  He spoke about animals, birds, creeping things and fish.

³⁴ People came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 5

¹ Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, because Hiram had always been a friend of David.

² Solomon sent this message to Hiram,

³ "You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars his enemies waged all around him, until the LORD subjugated them under the soles of his feet.

⁴ But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is no adversary or misfortune.

⁵ So I have decided to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to my father David, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for my name.'

⁶ Now then give the order to cut cedar trees from Lebanon for me.  My workers will be with yours; and I will give you wages for your workers according to whatever wage you set, for you know that no one among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he was overjoyed, and said, "Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given to David such a wise son to rule over this great nation."

⁸ Hiram sent word to Solomon, "I have received the message you have sent me. I will provide you all the cedar and cypress timber you need.

⁹ My workers will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea.  I will turn them into rafts to float them by sea to the place you stipulate and will break the rafts into logs there, so you can haul them away.  In return, you will accommodate my wishes by providing food for my household."

¹⁰ So Hiram gave Solomon as much cedar and cypress timber as he wanted.

¹¹ Solomon gave Hiram 100,000 bushels of wheat to feed his household, and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil.  Solomon provided this for Hiram year after year.

¹² The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he promised him.  There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty together.

¹³ King Solomon conscripted 30,000 men as forced labor out of all Israel.

¹⁴ He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 per month in shifts.  They would spend a month in Lebanon, and then two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor crews.

¹⁵ Solomon also had 70,000 who transported materials, and 80,000 who were stone-cutters in the mountains.

¹⁶ This was besides Solomon's 3,300 supervisors who oversaw the work.  They were put in charge of the people actually doing the work.

¹⁷ Then the king gave the order and they cut out large costly stones, to lay the foundation of the temple with chiseled stone.

¹⁸ Solomon's and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites did the stone-cutting preparing the timber and stones to build the temple.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 6

¹ In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD.
² The temple king Solomon built for the LORD was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high.
³ The porch in front of the entry hall of the temple was 30 feet long matching the width of the temple.  It extended 15 feet out from the front of the temple.
⁴ He made windows with recessed framed lattice work for it.
⁵ He built attached structures to the wall of the temple all the way around its main room in which he made side-chambers.
⁶ The lowest story was 7.5 feet wide, and the middle floor was 9 feet wide and the third story was 10.5 feet wide.  The outside rooms he connected with beams set on ledges on the wall of the temple around it, in order that the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls of the temple.
⁷ As the temple was being built, the stones were prepared at the quarry.  There was no sound of hammer, axe or any tool of iron heard in the temple area while it was being built.
⁸ The entrance for the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple with a winding stair way up to the middle floor, and another flight of stairs from the middle to the third story.
⁹ So he built the temple and finished it.  He covered the ceiling with beams and planks of cedar.
¹⁰ He built the side rooms against the whole temple, each was 7.5 feet high and they were attached to the house by cedar beams.

¹¹ The word of the LORD came to Solomon,
¹² "Concerning this temple you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my regulations, and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then will I fulfill my promise through you, that I made with your father David.
¹³ I will dwell among the Israelites, and will not forsake my people Israel."

¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple, and finished it.
¹⁵ He lined the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards from the floor of the temple to the ceiling.  He covered the floor of the temple with cypress boards.
¹⁶ He lined the inner sanctuary of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the  ceiling 30 feet long. He built an inner sanctuary as the most holy place.
¹⁷ The main room of the temple, in front of the inner sanctuary, was 60 feet long.
¹⁸ The cedar paneling within the temple totally covered the walls so no stone was seen.  It had carvings of gourds and flowers.
¹⁹ He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
²⁰ The interior of the inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide and 30 feet high. He overlaid it with pure gold as well as the cedar altar.
²¹ Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold.  He draped gold chains across in front of the most holy place which he had overlaid with gold.
²² So he finished overlaying the whole interior of the temple with gold.  He also overlaid the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold.
²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each 15 feet high.
²⁴ The one wing of the cherub was 7.5 feet long and the other wing of the cherub was also 7.5 feet long.  The total wingspan from one tip to the other was 15 feet.
²⁵ The other cherub also had a 15 foot wingspan; both cherubim were the same shape and size.
²⁶ The height of the one cherub was 15 feet, as was the other cherub.
²⁷ He set the cherubim inside the inner sanctuary of the temple.  The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, with their wings touching one another in the middle of the room.
²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He carved on all the walls around the temple figures of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, both in the inner and outer rooms.
³⁰ The floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both in the inner and outer rooms.

³¹ For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood with the lintel and door posts being five sided.
³² So on the two doors of olive wood he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, then overlaid them with gold.  He plated the cherubim and the palm trees with hammered gold.
³³ He also made for the entrance of the temple door posts of four-sided olive wood.
³⁴ There were two cypress doors each with the two folding leaves.
³⁵ He carved on them cherubim, palm trees and open flowers and then overlaid them with hammered gold evenly applied on the carved work.
³⁶ He built the inner court with three courses of chiseled stone, and a row of cedar beams.
³⁷ The foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid in the month of Ziv of the fourth year.
³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to all its specifications. So he took seven years to build it.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 7

¹ Solomon took thirteen years to finish building his own palace.

² He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon which was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.  There were four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams set on the pillars.

³ It was roofed with forty-five cedar beams, that were set on the pillars; fifteen per row.

⁴ There were three rows of windows set in groups of three.

⁵ All the doors and posts were made square with beams and arranged in sets of three.

⁶ He made a Hall of Pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. There was a porch in front of it with pillars and a canopy.

⁷ He also built a throne room where he pronounced judgment, it was called the Hall of Justice. It was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.

⁸ His house where he was to live, in the other court back of the hall was of similar construction. Solomon also built a house similar to this hall for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had married.

⁹ All these were built with costly stones, chiseled to fit, and sawed on all sides, even from the foundation unto the eaves, and from the outside to the great court.

¹⁰ The foundation was made of large costly stones, some stones were 15 feet long and others 12 feet.

¹¹ Above the foundation were costly stones, cut to fit, and cedar beams.

¹² Around the great court were three courses of chiseled stone, and a row of cedar beams, like the inner court of the temple of the LORD with its front porch.

¹³ King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.

¹⁴ He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali.  His father was an artisan from Tyre, a skillful craftsman in bronze.   Hiram was filled with wisdom, understanding and skill, in any work in bronze. He came to king Solomon and did all his assigned work.

¹⁵ He fashioned the two bronze pillars, each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference.

¹⁶ He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars.  The height of each  capital was 7.5 feet.

¹⁷ There were nets of lattice work, and wreaths of chain works set for the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, seven for the each capital.

¹⁸ On the pillars he made two rows of pomegranates on the lattice work to decorate the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars.  He did the same for the each capital.

¹⁹ The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies, 6 feet tall.

²⁰ The capitals on top of the two pillars, right by the buldge beside the lattice work had 200 pomegranates in rows around each of the capitals.

²¹ He set up the pillars at the front portico of the temple.  He set up the pillar on the south and named it Jakin [he establishes], and set up the pillar on the north, and named it Boaz [in him is strength].

²² The top of the pillars were shaped like lilies.  So the construction of the pillars were completed.

²³ Then Hiram made the large metal basin of 15 feet from rim to rim, and 7.5 feet high.  Its circumference was about 45 feet.

²⁴ Under its rim there were two rows of decorative gourds, six gourds per foot all the way around it and were cast with it when the Sea was cast.

²⁵ The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east.  The Sea was set on top of them, and all their back sides were set inward.

²⁶ It was 3 inches thick, and the rim was made like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom.  It held 11,500 gallons.

²⁷ He also made the ten bronze portable stands; each 6 feet long, 6 feet wide and 4.5 feet high.

²⁸ The stands were constructed of side panels framed with crossbracing.

²⁹ On the panels that were between the bracings were ornamental lions, oxen and cherubim.  Above and beneath the lions and oxen were decorative wreaths.

³⁰ Every stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles; with four supports for a basin.  The supports were cast with the wreaths on each side.

³¹ The top of the stand was an opening projected 1.5 feet above the stand and its opening was 2.25 feet across.  Around its opening there were carvings, and their panels were square, not round.

³² The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles for the wheels were one piece with the stand.  The stand wheels were 2.25 feet high.

³³ The wheels were shaped like chariot wheels with their axles, rims, spokes and hubs, all made of cast metal.

³⁴ There were four supports at each of the four corners.  The supports were also one piece with the stand itself.

³⁵ In the top of the stand there was a rim about nine inches high.  The top of the stand had supports and panels which were one piece with it.

³⁶ On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space, with wreaths all around.

³⁷ This is the way he made the ten stands:  all of them were cast in one mold being the same size and shape.

³⁸ Hiram made ten basins of bronze, one for each stand.  Each basin held 230 gallons and was six feet across.

³⁹ He set the stands, five on the south side of the temple, and five on the north.  He set the Sea on the southeast corner of the temple.

⁴⁰ Hiram made the pots, shovels and bowls.  So Hiram completed all the work that he had been assigned for king Solomon in the temple of the LORD.

⁴¹ The two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the top of the pillars, the latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

⁴² the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks; two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars,

⁴³ the ten portable stands, and their ten basins,

⁴⁴ the Sea, and the twelve oxen under the Sea,

⁴⁵ the pots, the shovels, and the bowls, were made by Hiram for king Solomon for the temple of the LORD. They were all of burnished bronze.

⁴⁶ The king had them cast in the Jordan River plain in clay molds between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them.  The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the vessels that were in the temple of LORD: the golden altar, the gold table for the Bread of the Presence,

⁴⁹ the pure gold lampstands, five on the south side, and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; with the flowers, lamps, and tongs also of gold.

⁵⁰ The cups, the lamp snuffers, sprinkling bowls, and the firepans, were all pure gold.  The hinges, both for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the most holy place, and for the doors of the main room of the temple were also made of gold.

⁵¹ So when king Solomon finished building the temple of the LORD, he brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, gold, and the other articles, and put them in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD.

                                               DASV:  1 Kings 8

¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the Israelite families to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

² All the people of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the festival, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

³ When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the ark.

⁴ They brought up the ark of the LORD, the Tent of Meeting and all the holy furnishings that were in the Tent.  The priests and Levites brought them up.

⁵ Then king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled before him in front of the ark, were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

⁶ The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim.

⁷ The cherubim spread their wings over the place where the ark was, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles.

⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from the outside.  They remain there to this day.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone Moses had put in it at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the temple of the LORD.

¹¹ The priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD.

¹² Then Solomon spoke, "The LORD has said that he would live in thick darkness.

¹³ I have certainly built you a majestic temple for you to live in forever."

¹⁴ Then the king turned his head around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel while the entire assembly of Israel stood there.

¹⁵ He said, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has with his hand fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David, saying,

¹⁶ 'Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel as a place to build a temple, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, 'It was good for your heart to want to build a temple for my name.

¹⁹ Nevertheless you will not build the temple; but your own son, who will be born to you, he will build the temple for my name.'

²⁰ The LORD has kept the promise that he made, for I have succeeded my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised.  I have now built the temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

²¹ I have made a place for the ark, containing the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our forefathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

²² Solomon stood in front of the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven

²³ and prayed, "O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath.  You keep your covenant and loyal love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

²⁴ You have kept your promise with my father your servant David.  Yes, you promised with your own mouth, and have fulfilled it with your own hands this day.

²⁵ Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep the promise you made with my father your servant David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will guard their ways, making sure to walk before me just as you have walked before me.'

²⁶ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your promise, I pray, be fulfilled, which you spoke to my father your servant David.

²⁷ But will God really live on the earth? Even the heaven and highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple that I have built!

²⁸ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant, and to his plea, O LORD my God, listen to the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying before you this day.

²⁹ May your eyes watch over this temple night and day, even this place of which you said, 'My name will be there,' that you may listen to the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

³⁰ Listen to the plea of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place.  Yes, hear in heaven your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

³¹ If someone sins against his neighbor and is required to swear to his innocence before your altar in this temple;

³² then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked by bring his conduct back on his own head, and justifying the righteous, rewarding him according to his righteousness.

³³ When your people Israel are smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against you; if they turn to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this temple,

³⁴ then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land you have given to their forefathers.

³⁵ When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place, confess your name and turn from their sin because you are punishing them,

³⁶ then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and your people Israel. Then teach them the good way in which they should walk.  Send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

³⁷ If there is in the land a famine, plague, crop disease, mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in any of the cities in the land, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,

³⁸ and if any person from all your people Israel will pray and plead, each one knowing the pain of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this temple,

³⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to everyone according to all his ways, since you know their heart, for only you know every human heart.

⁴⁰ Then they will fear you all the days they live in the land you have given to our forefathers.

⁴¹ Likewise when a foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake,

⁴² for they will hear about your great name and your mighty hand and outstretched arm, when he prays toward this temple,

⁴³ hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner has asked you for.  Then all the nations of the earth will know your name and fear you, just like your people Israel do.  They will realize that this temple I have built is indeed called by your name.

⁴⁴ If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you will send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name,

⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ If they sin against you, for there is no one who doesn't sin, and you get angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them off captive to the land of the enemy, whether it is far away or near,

⁴⁷ yet if they come to their senses in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent, and pray to you in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned, and have done wrong, we have acted wickedly,'

⁴⁸ if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land you gave to their forefathers, the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name,

⁴⁹ then hear their prayer and their plea in heaven your dwelling place, and maintain their cause.

⁵⁰ Forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their offences they committed against you, and give them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they may have compassion on them,

⁵¹ for they are your people, and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of an iron-smelting furnace.

⁵² May your eyes be open to the plea of your servant, and to the plea of your people Israel.  May you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.

⁵³ For you separated them from among all the nations of the earth to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our forefathers out of Egypt, O sovereign LORD."

⁵⁴ When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and plea to the LORD, he got up from before the altar of the LORD where he had been kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.

⁵⁵ Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶ "Praise the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word of his good promise has failed, which he promised through his servant Moses.

⁵⁷ The LORD our God be with us, as he has been with our forefathers.  Let him never leave or abandon us.

⁵⁸ May he bend our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, statutes, and regulations that he commanded our forefathers.

⁵⁹ Let these my words, by which I have made requests before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he vindicate the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.

⁶⁰ Then all the nations of the earth will know that the LORD, he is God, there is no other.

⁶¹ Let your heart therefore be absolutely committed to the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as you are doing today."

⁶² The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the LORD.

⁶³ Solomon offered for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.

⁶⁴ That same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the temple of the LORD.  There he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ At that time Solomon held the feast and all Israel with him.  It was a great gathering before the LORD our God, with people from the Lebo-hamath all the way down to the brook of Egypt for seven days for the consecration and seven days for the festival, fourteen days total.

⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went unto their homes joyful and glad of heart because of all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 9

¹ When Solomon had finished the building of the temple of the LORD, the king's palace, and everything else Solomon desired to build,

² the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³ The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your request, that you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple you have built to put my name there forever.  My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

⁴ As for you, if you will walk before me with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father walked, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my regulations,

⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, saying, 'You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'

⁶ But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and statutes I have set before you, but go, serve and worship other gods,

⁷ then will I cut off Israel from the land I have given them and this temple I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will be a proverb and a slogan of ridicule among all nations.

⁸ Though this temple is so impressive, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will scornfully hiss and say, 'Why has the LORD done this to this land, and to this temple?'

⁹ Then they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their forefathers out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshipped and served them.  Therefore the LORD has brought all this evil on them.'"

¹⁰ It took twenty years for Solomon to build the two houses, the temple for the LORD and the king's palace.

¹¹ King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee because Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with all the cedar and cypress trees and gold he wanted.

¹² Hiram left Tyre to inspect the cities Solomon had given him, but they did not please him.

¹³ So he grumbled, "What kind of towns are these that you have given me, my brother?" He called them the land of Cabul [worthless] as it is called to this day.

¹⁴ Now Hiram had sent to the king 9,000 pounds of gold.

¹⁵ Here is the account of the forced labor king Solomon conscripted, to build the temple of the LORD, his own palace, Millo terraces and the wall of Jerusalem, along with Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.

¹⁶ Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer.  He burned it and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, and lower Beth-horon,

¹⁸ Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, within his land.

¹⁹ Solomon built the storage cities and the cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen.  Whatever Solomon wanted he built in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout all the land he ruled over.

²⁰ As for all the survivors of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites,

²¹ their descendants who were left in the land, whom the Israelites were not able to totally destroy, Solomon conscripted them into forced labor to this day.

²² But Solomon did not make the Israelites do forced labor, but they were the men of war, his officials, leaders, captains and commanders of his chariots and horsemen.

²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's construction efforts, 550 who supervised the people who actually did the work.

²⁴ But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which Solomon had built specially for her.  Then he built the Millo terraces.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he built to the LORD, burning incense along with them before the LORD. So he finished the temple.

²⁶ King Solomon made navy of ships at Eziongeber, which is near Elath in the land of Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.

²⁷ Hiram sent his fleet and his sailors who had knowledge of the sea with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸ They went to Ophir, and brought back 16 tons of gold from there, and brought it to king Solomon.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 10

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon because of the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.

² She arrived in Jerusalem with a very great number of attendants, with camels that bore spices, a large amount of gold and precious stones.  When she came to Solomon, she consulted with him about all that was on her heart.

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

⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the palace he had built,

⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attendance of his servants, their clothes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the house of the LORD; it took her breath away.

⁶ She confessed to the king, "The report I heard in my own country of your acts and of your wisdom was true.

⁷ Although I did not believe the reports, until I came and saw it with my own eyes.  In fact, not even half of it was told me.  Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the report I had heard.

⁸ Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you, and hear your wisdom.

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

¹⁰ She gave the king 9,000 pounds of gold, a huge quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again was there such abundance of spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹¹ The navy of Hiram also brought gold from Ophir, as well as bringing from Ophir great quantities of almug wood and precious stones.

¹² The king made from the almug wood supports for the temple of the LORD, and the king's palace, and also harps and lyres for the musicians.  So much almug wood has not been seen to this day.

¹³ King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked for, besides the customary gifts Solomon had given her out of his royal bounty. So she and her attendants returned to her own land.

¹⁴ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year totaled twenty-five tons of gold,

¹⁵ besides what came from the merchants and traders, and from all the Arabian kings, and of the governors of the land.

¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold with 15 pounds of gold used to make each shield.

¹⁷ He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold with four pounds of gold going into each of these shields. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ The king made a great ivory throne, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

¹⁹ There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne had a rounded back.  The throne had two armrests with a lion statue standing beside each of the armrests.

²⁰ Twelve lions stood there with one on each side of the six steps.  Nothing like it was ever made in any other kingdom.

²¹ All king Solomon's goblets were made of gold, and all the utensils for the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were also made of pure gold.  None were made of silver for silver was worth very little in the days of Solomon.

²² The king had a fleet of merchant ships at sea along with Hiram's fleet, once every three years the merchant ships returned bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

²³ So king Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.

²⁴ All the earth sought an audience with Solomon, to hear the wisdom which God had put in his heart.

²⁵ Each of them brought gifts, items of silver and gold, clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules, year after year.

²⁶ Solomon accumulated chariots and horsemen.  He had 1,400 chariots, and 12,000 horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and also with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁷ The king made silver to be as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamore fig trees are in the Shephelah foothills.

²⁸ The horses Solomon had were brought from Egypt and from Cilicia; and the king's traders acquired them from Cilicia at a standard price.

²⁹ A chariot imported from Egypt cost 600 shekels of silver, and a horse was 150.  They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 11

¹ Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh. There were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.

² They were from the nations concerning which the LORD had warned the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods."  Yet Solomon clung to them in love.

³ He had 700 wives of royal birth, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.

⁴ As Solomon aged, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not faithfully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.

⁵ Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

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

⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain to the east across from Jerusalem.

⁸ This is what he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

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

¹⁰ He had commanded him concerning this very issue, that he should not worship other gods.  But he did not do what the LORD commanded.

¹¹ So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.

¹² Yet for your father David's sake, I will not do it in your lifetime, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹³ I will not, however, tear away all the kingdom.  I will give one tribe to your son, for my servant David's sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

¹⁴ The LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite who was of the royal line in Edom.

¹⁵ When David was in Edom, and Joab, the commander of the army, had gone up to bury the dead, he attempted to kill every male in Edom.

¹⁶ For Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months until he had eliminated every male in Edom.

¹⁷ But Hadad, being a young boy, escaped to Egypt along with some other Edomites who were his father's servants.

¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to Paran and mustered more men out of Paran.  They went to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him provisions and even gave him land.

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

²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son, Genubath.  Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh's palace and Genubath grew up in Pharaoh's palace along with the sons of Pharaoh.

²¹ When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, that I may go back to my own country."

²² Then Pharaoh asked him, "But what have you lacked with me that makes you want to go back to own country?" He answered, "Nothing, but please let me go."

²³ God raised up another adversary against Solomon, Rezon the son of Eliada, who fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴ He gathered men, and became commander over an army after David killed many of them.  They went to Damascus, and settled there and he became king in Damascus.

²⁵ He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the trouble caused by Hadad.  He despised Israel, and reigned over Aram.

²⁶ Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, was one of Solomon's officials, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, he also lifted up his hand in rebellion against king Solomon.

²⁷ This was the reason why he lifted up his hand in rebellion against the king.  Solomon built Millo terraces, and closed up the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.

²⁸ Now Jeroboam was a very talented young man; and when Solomon saw the young man was industrious, he put him in charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

²⁹ One time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road.  Ahijah had clothed himself with a new garment and the two of them were alone in the field.

³⁰ Ahijah grabbed a hold of the new robe he was wearing, and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces.  For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says, 'I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you.

³² But he will retain one tribe, for my servant David's sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

³³ I will do this because they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites.  They have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, by keeping my statutes and regulations, as his father David did.

³⁴ Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; but I will allow him to rule all the days of his life, for my servant David's sake whom I chose and who did keep my commandments and my statutes.

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

³⁶ To his son will I give one tribe, that my servant David may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.

³⁷ I have chosen you, and you will reign over all your soul desires, and you will be king over Israel.

³⁸ If you obey all that I command you and will walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes to keep my statutes and my commandments, as my servant David did, then I will be with you, and will build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.

³⁹ Because of this I will punish David's descendants, but not forever.'"

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt.  He stayed in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did and his wisdom, are they not written in the Scroll of the Acts of Solomon?

⁴² Solomon reigned over all Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.

⁴³ Then Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of his father David and Rehoboam his son ruled in his place.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 12

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

² When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard this, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled to escape from king Solomon.

³ They sent for him, so Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,

⁴ "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the burdensome labor and harsh service your father put on us, and we will serve you."

⁵ He replied to them, "Go away for three days, then come back to me."  So the people left.

⁶ Then king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who had stood before his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How would you advise me to answer this people?"

⁷ They responded, "If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them, and give them a favorable answer, then they will be your servants forever."

⁸ But he rejected the advice the old men had given him, and consulted with the young men with whom he had grown up and were now his advisers.

⁹ He asked them, "What advice would you give?  How should we answer this people, who have told to me, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter'?"

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him told him, "This is what you should say to those people who said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make it lighter.' Tell them, 'My little finger will be thicker than my father's thighs.

¹¹ My father put a heavy yoke on you, but I will make it even heavier.  My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. '"

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had requested, "Come back to me after three days."

¹³ The king answered the people harshly, and rejected the advice the old men had given him.

¹⁴ Instead he spoke to them following the advice of the young men, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will make it even heavier.  My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions."

¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, because the LORD was bringing about this turn of events so that he might fulfill his word spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king back, "What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.  To your tents, O Israel.  Take care of your own house, David." So Israel went home.

¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam still reigned over them.

¹⁸ Now king Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was over the forced labor crews; and all Israel stoned him to death. So king Rehoboam quickly jumped into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly, and made him king over all Israel.  No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah.

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to make war against the house of Israel, attempting to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

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

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

²⁴ 'This is what the LORD says, "Do not go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites.  Go home all of you; for this thing is from me."'" So they listened to the word of the LORD, and went home again just as the LORD had ordered them to do.

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there; from there he went on and built up Penuel.

²⁶ Jeroboam thought in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house of David.

²⁷ If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of LORD at Jerusalem, then their heart will turn back to their former master, Rehoboam king of Judah.  They may kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

²⁸ So the king sought counsel, and made two gold calves. Then he said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.  Look, here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

²⁹ He set the one up in Bethel, and the other he set up in Dan.

³⁰ This thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to worship before one of them.

³¹ He built temples on the high places, and made priests from among all kinds of people, even those who were not Levites.

³² Jeroboam instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah.  He offered up sacrifices on the altar at Bethel, offering sacrifices to the calves he had made.  He installed in Bethel the priests for the high places that he had made.

³³ He went up to the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart and he ordained a feast for the Israelites, and approached the altar to burn incense.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 13

¹ Now a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD and went to Bethel, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar about to burn incense.

² He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, "O altar, altar.  This is what the LORD says.  A son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name.  On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense on you.  Human bones will be  burned on you."

³ That same day he also gave a sign, "This is the sign the LORD has spoken: This altar will split apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out."

⁴ When the king heard what the man of God cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam reached out his hand from the altar ordering, "Seize him." But the hand he stretched out against him became paralyzed so that he could not pull it back.

⁵ The altar split apart and the ashes poured out of the altar, just as the sign the man of God had announced by the word of the LORD.

⁶ The king answered and said to the man of God, "Please ask for the favor of the LORD your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored." So the man of God asked the LORD, and the king's hand was restored becoming as it was before.

⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift."

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, "If you would give me half of your house, I will not go with you, nor will I eat any food or drink water in this place.

⁹ For I was ordered by the word of the LORD, 'You must not eat any food, or drink any water, or return by the way you came.'"

¹⁰ So he took another way and returned a different way than how he had come to Bethel.

¹¹ Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel.  His sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and told their father all the words he had spoken to the king.

¹² Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" His sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken.

¹³ He said to his sons, "Saddle my donkey." So they saddled his donkey and he mounted it.

¹⁴ He set out after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree, and he asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He replied, "Yes, I am."

¹⁵ Then old prophet said to him, "Come home with me, and eat some food."

¹⁶ But he replied, "I can't turn back or go with you, or eat food or drink water with you in this place.

¹⁷ For I was ordered by the word of the LORD, 'You must not eat any bread or drink any water there, or turn again to go back by the way that you came.'"

¹⁸ Then the old prophet said to him, "I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat some food and drink some water.'" But the old prophet was lying to him.

¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate food and drank water in his house.

²⁰ As they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who brought him back.

²¹ He cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, "This is what the LORD says, 'Because you disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment the LORD your God gave you,

²² but came back, and have eaten food and drank water in the place where he told you, "Do not eat any food or drink water," your body will not be buried in the tomb of your forefathers.'"

²³ After he had eaten food and drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back.

²⁴ As he went on his way a lion met him on the road, and killed him. His body was thrown onto the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood by the body.

²⁵ People passed by, and saw the body lying in the road, and the lion standing by the body.  They came and told the city where the old prophet lived about it.

²⁶ When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard the report, he said, "It is the man of God, who disobeyed the word of the LORD.  The LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him up, and killed him, just as the word of the LORD, told him."

²⁷ He ordered his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," so they saddled it.

²⁸ Then he went and found his body lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body.  The lion had not eaten the corpse or attacked the donkey.

²⁹ The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city of the old prophet, to mourn and to bury him.

³⁰ The old prophet laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹ After he had buried him, he requested of his sons, "When I am dead, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried.  Put my bones beside his bones."

³² For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places that are in the towns of Samaria, will surely come to pass."

³³ Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but continued to install all kinds of people as priests of the high places.  Anyone who wanted, he consecrated as a priest of the high places.

³⁴ This issue became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so that it came to an end and was destroyed from off the face of the earth.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 14

¹ At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.

² Jeroboam told his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so that you will not be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam.  Then go to Shiloh, for Ahijah the prophet is there.  He is the one who told me that I would be king over this people.

³ Take ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him.  He will tell you what will happen to the child."

⁴ So Jeroboam's wife did it, and went to Shiloh where she came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyesight was gone because of his age.

⁵ The LORD said to Ahijah, "The wife of Jeroboam is coming to you to inquire concerning her son, for he is sick.  Tell her thus and so, for when she arrives she will disguise herself pretending to be another woman."

⁶ When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came through the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam.  Why do you disguise yourself pretending to be someone else? For I have come with bad news for you.

⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says, "I exalted you from among the people, and made you a leader over my people Israel.

⁸ I tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you.  Yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments, and followed me with all his heart doing only what was right in my eyes.

⁹ You have done evil above everyone who has been before you, and have gone and made other gods and metal idols, provoking me to anger, and have turned your back on me.

¹⁰ Therefore, I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off every one of Jeroboam's male children, slave or free everywhere in Israel.  I will totally burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns manure until it is all gone.

¹¹ Anyone in Jeroboam's family who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs; and the one who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat, for the LORD has decreed it.

¹² Get up and go home.  When your feet enter the city the boy will die.

¹³ All Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam descendants who will have a proper burial, because in him there is found some things pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

¹⁴ Furthermore the LORD will raise up a king over Israel, who will cut off Jeroboam's descendants today, it is ready to happen right now.

¹⁵ For the LORD will strike Israel, like a reed swaying in the water.  He will root up Israel out of this good land he gave to their forefathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.

¹⁶ He will abandon Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned and by which he made Israel to sin."'"

¹⁷ Jeroboam's wife got up, left and came to Tirzah.  When she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died.

¹⁸ All Israel buried and mourned for him, just as the word of the LORD had predicted through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

¹⁹ The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, his wars and how he reigned, they are written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

²⁰ Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years and he slept with his fathers.  Then Nadab his son reigned in his place.

²¹ Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there.  His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

²² Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with the sins they committed, beyond all that their forefathers had done.

²³ For they also built high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles, on every high hill and under every green tree.

²⁴ There were also male shrine prostitutes in the land.  They committed all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD drove out before the Israelites.

²⁵ In the fifth year of king Rehoboam,  Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

²⁶ He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the king's palace.  He carried off everything including all the shields of gold Solomon had made.

²⁷ King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields, and assigned them to the hands of the royal guard, who guarded the entrance of the king's palace.

²⁸ Whenever the king went to the temple of the LORD, the guards carried them, and then returned them into the guardroom.

²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?

³⁰ There was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

³¹ Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David.  His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 15

¹ Now Abijam began to reign over Judah in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

² He reigned three years in Jerusalem.  His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

³ He walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed.  His heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.

⁴ Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by giving him a son to succeed him and by establishing Jerusalem.

⁵ It was because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and did not turn aside from anything he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the incident of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Abijam's life.

⁷ The rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? There was constant war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

⁸ Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David.  Asa his son reigned in his place.

⁹ Asa began to reign over Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel.

¹⁰ He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem.  His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹ Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his forefather David had done.

¹² He expelled the male temple prostitutes out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

¹³ He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she had made an abominable Asherah pole.  Asa cut down her idolatrous pole, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁴ But the high places were not removed.  Nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the LORD all his days.

¹⁵ He brought into the temple of the LORD the things that he and his father had dedicated, silver, gold and other items.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

¹⁷ Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built up Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to enter or leave the land of Asa king of Judah.

¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD, and the treasuries of the king's palace.  He gave it to his servants and sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus, along with this request,

¹⁹ "Let us make a treaty like my father and your father had.  I have sent you a present of silver and gold, go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may leave me alone."

²⁰ So Ben-hadad listened to king Asa, and sent the commanders of his army against the towns of Israel, and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah and all Kinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

²¹ When Baasha heard it, he stopped fortifying Ramah, and pulled back to Tirzah.

²² Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, no one was exempt from carrying away the stones and timber of Ramah that Baasha had used to build up Ramah.  King Asa used them to fortify Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

²³ Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his power, all that he did and the towns he built, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age, his feet became diseased.

²⁴ Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his forefather.  Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

²⁵ Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah.  He reigned two years over Israel.

²⁶ He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin by which he caused Israel to sin.

²⁷ Baasha the son of Ahijah, from the house of Issachar, conspired against him, and assassinated him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

²⁸ So Baasha killed him and reigned in his place in the third year of Asa king of Judah.

²⁹ As soon as he became king, he eliminated all the house of Jeroboam.  He left not one of Jeroboam's descendants breathing, but destroyed them all, fulfilling the word of the LORD spoken by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.

³⁰ This happened because of the sins which Jeroboam committed, and by which he caused Israel to sin, and because he provoked the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel.

³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

³² There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

³³ Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel from Tirzah, in the third year of Asa king of Judah.  He reigned for twenty-four years.

³⁴ He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he caused Israel to sin.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 16

¹ The word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

² "I exalted you from the dust, and made you leader over my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins.

³ I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

⁴ Those in Baasha's family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs; and those who die in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat."

⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did, and his power, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

⁶ Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah.  Elah his son reigned in his place.

⁷ The word of the LORD against Baasha and his house came through the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani, because of all the evil he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, by being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he destroyed it.

⁸ Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah for two years in the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah.

⁹ His servant Zimri, commander of half of his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was supervisor of the palace in Tirzah.

¹⁰ Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

¹¹ When he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, he executed the entire house of Baasha.  He did not leave a single male child alive, including his relatives and friends.

¹² So Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, fulfilling the word of the LORD that he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet.

¹³ This happened because of all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of his son Elah, which they had committed, and by which they caused Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel to anger with their worthless idols.

¹⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

¹⁶ The troops who were camped heard the news, "Zimri has conspired, and has assassinated the king."  So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.

¹⁷ Omri and all Israel went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.

¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's palace, and burned down the king's house over himself--so he died.

¹⁹ This happened because the sins he committed were evil in the sight of the LORD, by walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, causing Israel to sin.

²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his conspiracy that he carried out, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

²¹ Then the people of Israel were split into two factions.  Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and other half followed Omri.

²² But the people that followed Omri overcame the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath.  So Tibni died, and Omri became king.

²³ Omri began to reign over Israel in the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah.  He reigned twelve years total with six of them in Tirzah.

²⁴ He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for 150 pounds of silver.  He built a town on the hill, and named the town Samaria, after Shemer, the former owner of the hill.

²⁵ Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, doing more evil than all who had come before him.

²⁶ For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins by which he caused Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.

²⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Omri, and his power that he showed, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

²⁸ So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria.  His son Ahab reigned in his place.

²⁹ Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah.  Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

³⁰ Ahab the son of Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD above all who were before him.

³¹ As if it was trivial for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him.

³² He built an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal he had built in Samaria.

³³ Ahab made an Asherah pole.  Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who preceded him.

³⁴ In his days, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho.  He laid its foundation at the cost of his firstborn Abiram, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, just as the word of the LORD had spoken by Joshua the son of Nun.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 17

¹ Elijah the Tishbite, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there will not be dew or rain these years, except when I give the word."

² The word of the LORD came to him, saying,

³ "Leave here and go to the east, and hide by the Kerith Valley, east of the Jordan River.

⁴ Drink from the brook, and I have told the ravens to feed you there."

⁵ So he went and did what he was told by the word of the LORD.  He went and stayed by the Kerith Valley, that is east of the Jordan River.

⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

⁷ After a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸ Then the word of LORD came to him, saying,

⁹ "Get up and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there.  I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

¹⁰ So he got up and went to Zarephath.  When he came to the gate of the city, there was a widow gathering sticks there.  He called to her, "Please bring me, a little cup of water, so that I may have a drink."

¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her, "Please bring me, a piece of bread in your hand too."

¹² She said, "As the LORD your God lives, I don't have any food except a handful of flour in a jar, and a little olive oil in a jug.  Now I am gathering a couple sticks that I may go home and cook it for my son and me, so that we may eat it and die."

¹³ Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid, go and do just as you have said, but first make me a little cake from it, then bring it to me, and afterward make some for you and your son.

¹⁴ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour will not be emptied, and the jug of olive oil will not run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.'"

¹⁵ So she went and did exactly as Elijah told her.  The result was that she, Elijah and her house ate it for many days.

¹⁶ The jar of flour was not emptied, and the jug of olive oil did not fail, exactly as the word of the LORD had declared through Elijah.

¹⁷ After this, the son of the woman who owned the house, fell sick and his sickness was so severe that he stopped breathing.

¹⁸ She complained to Elijah, "What do you have against me, O man of God? You have come to me only to expose my sin, and to slay my son!"

¹⁹ He said to her, "Give me your son." Then he took him out of her arms, and carried the boy up to his guestroom, and laid him down on his own bed.

²⁰ Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, why have you brought disaster on this widow I am staying with, by killing her son?"

²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried to the LORD, and said, "O LORD my God, please let this child's life come back into him."

²² The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child's life returned to him, and he revived.

²³ Then Elijah took the child, and brought him down from the upper room into the house.  He presented him to his mother, and Elijah announced, "See, your son is alive."

²⁴ The woman confessed to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth."

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 18

¹ After a while the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year of the famine, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, for I will send rain on the land."

² So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.

³ Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was manager of the palace.  Now Obadiah was devoted to the LORD.

⁴ When Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them with fifty in each cave and supplied them with food and water.

⁵ Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs and all the valleys.  Perhaps we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we don't lose all the animals."

⁶ So they split up the land between them to search through it.  Ahab went one way and Obadiah went the other.

⁷ As Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him, and he recognized him, falling on his face, he asked, "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?"

⁸ Elijah replied, "Yes, it is I.  Go, tell your master, Elijah is here.'

⁹ Obadiah responded, "How have I sinned, that you would hand your servant over to Ahab, to kill me?

¹⁰ As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not searched for you.  When they said, 'He is not here,' he made that kingdom or nation take an oath that they had not found you there.

¹¹ Now you are telling me, 'Go, tell your master, Elijah is here.'

¹² But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of LORD may carry you off to who knows where, and so when I come and tell Ahab and when he still can't find you, he will kill me.  But I, your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.

¹³ Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD's prophets with fifty of them in each cave, and fed them with food and water?

¹⁴ Now you are telling me, 'Go, tell your master, Elijah is here.'  Then he will certainly kill me."

¹⁵ Elijah said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today."

¹⁶ So Obadiah went and told Ahab, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it really you, you troubler of Israel?"

¹⁸ Elijah answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals.

¹⁹ Now summon and assemble all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, including the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table."

²⁰ So Ahab summoned all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

²¹ Elijah approached all the people, and declared, "How long will you go swaying between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him, but if Baal is, then follow him." But the people would not answer him a word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, "I am the only prophet of the LORD who is left; but there are 450 prophets of Baal.

²³ Let two bulls be provided.  Let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but do not set it on fire.  Then I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but not set it on fire.

²⁴ Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD and the God that answers by fire, he is the real God." So all the people agreed, "Good idea."

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves, and prepare it first, since there are so many of you.  Call on the name of your god, but do not set it on fire."

²⁶ So they took the bull that had been given to them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, "O Baal, hear us." But there was not a sound and no answer. So they ritually limped around the altar they had made.

²⁷ At noon, Elijah mocked them, jeering, "Yell louder; for surely he is a god.  Perhaps he is deep in thought, or is relieving himself, or is away on business.  Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

²⁸ So they shouted louder, and cut themselves with knives and swords, till the blood gushed out all over them, as was their usual ritual.

²⁹ As midday passed, they continued raving in a prophetic frenzy until the time of the evening sacrifice.  But there still was not a sound, answer, or any response.

³⁰ Then Elijah told all the people, "Come here to me."  All the people approached him.  He repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.

³¹ Then Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, "Israel will be your name."

³² With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD.  He dug a trench around the altar, large enough to hold three gallons of seed.

³³ Then he arranged the wood, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said, "Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood."

³⁴ He said, "Do it again."  So they did it the second time. Then he said, "Do it a third time." So they did it a third time.

³⁵ The water ran all over the altar and even the trench was filled with water.

³⁶ At the time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar, and prayed, "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day proving that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

³⁷ Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are attempting to turn their hearts back again."

³⁸ Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, along with the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they exclaimed, "The LORD, he is God!  The LORD, he is God!"

⁴⁰ Then Elijah ordered, "Seize the prophets of Baal, let none of them escape." So they grabbed them; and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley, and killed them there.

⁴¹ Elijah told Ahab, "Go get something to eat and drink; for there is the sound of a heavy rain storm coming."

⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.  He bowed himself down to the ground, and put his face between his knees.

⁴³ He said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up, looked, and reported, "There is nothing." Elijah sent him back seven times.

⁴⁴ On the seventh time, he declared, "Look, a cloud as small as a man's hand is rising out of the sea."  Elijah said, "Go, tell Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and get down from here before the rain stops you. '"

⁴⁵ Shortly after that, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain storm. Ahab rode off and went back to Jezreel.

⁴⁶ The hand of the LORD was on Elijah, so he tucked up his robe, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 19

¹ Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow."

³ Elijah was afraid, got up, and fled for his life.  He came to Beersheba in Judah, and left his servant there,

⁴ while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness.  He went and sat down under a broom tree and he prayed that he might die.  He said, "I've had enough. O LORD, take my life; for I am no better than my fathers."

⁵ Then he laid down and slept under a broom tree.  All of a sudden an angel touched him, and told him, "Get up and eat."

⁶ He looked, and there was by his head some bread baked on the coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank, then laid down again.

⁷ The angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, because the journey is too much for you."

⁸ He got up, ate and drank, and went on the strength gained from that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

⁹ There he came to a cave and spent the night.  The word of the LORD came to him, and asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

¹⁰ Elijah replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.  I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too."

¹¹ The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.  Then a great gale blasted the mountains, and even the rocks broke in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind.  After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

¹² After the earthquake, a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a sound like a gentle whisper.

¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his robe, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

¹⁴ He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

¹⁵ The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, then proceed to the wilderness of Damascus.  When you arrive there anoint Hazael to be king over Aram.

¹⁶ Then anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.

¹⁷ It will be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael will be killed by Jehu; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu will be killed by Elisha.

¹⁸ I have 7,000 left in Israel, all of whom have never bowed the knee to Baal or have kissed him with their mouths."

¹⁹ So he left there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen ahead of him. He was plowing with the twelfth pair.  Elijah came up to him, and threw his mantle over him.

²⁰ Elisha left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother good-bye, then I will follow you." Elijah said to him, "Go back again, but think about what I have done to you?"

²¹ So Elisha left him and took the yoke of oxen and slew them.  Lighting a fire made from the yoke, he cooked the meat of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and became his assistant.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 20

¹ Now Benhadad the king of Aram gathered all his army together, including thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots.  He went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it.

² He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, "This is what Ben-hadad says,

³ 'Your silver and gold are mine, the best of your wives and children, are also mine.'"

⁴ The king of Israel answered, "It is just as you have said, my lord, O king. I and all that I have are yours."

⁵ The messengers came again and said, "This is what Ben-hadad says, 'I sent to you, saying, "You must hand over to me your silver, gold, your wives and children."

⁶ But I will send my servants to you about this time tomorrow, and they will search your house, and the houses of your servants.  They will seize everything you have of value and take it away.'"

⁷ Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land, and said, "Please note how this man is looking for trouble.  I did not refuse when he sent to me for my wives and children, and for my silver and gold."

⁸ Then all the elders and all the people advised him, "Do not listen or consent."

⁹ So he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, "Tell my lord the king, 'All that you first demanded of your servant I will do; but this latest demand I cannot agree to.'" The messengers left, and brought back his answer to Ben-hadad.

¹⁰ Ben-hadad sent another message to him: "The gods do so to me, and more also, if there remains enough dirt in Samaria for each of my soldiers who follow me to scoop up a handful."

¹¹ The king of Israel replied, "Tell him, 'Let not him who puts on his armor boast like one who takes it off.'"

¹² When Ben-hadad heard this message, he and the other kings were drinking in their tents.  He told his servants, "Prepare to attack."  So they prepared to attack the city.

¹³ Now a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel, and said, "This is what the LORD says, 'Have you seen this great multitude? I will deliver it into your hand today.  Then you will know that I am the LORD.'"

¹⁴ Ahab said, "By whom will he do it?" He said, "This is what the LORD says, 'By the young men of the district governors." Then Ahab asked, "Who will begin the battle?" He answered, "You will."

¹⁵ Then he mustered the 232 young men from the district governors, and after them he mustered all the people, even all the Israelites.  There were 7,000.

¹⁶ They went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the tents, he and the thirty-two kings who were allied with him.

¹⁷ The young men of the district governors went out first. Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, "There are troops coming out of Samaria."

¹⁸ He ordered, "Whether they have come out for peace or war, take them alive."

¹⁹ So the young men of the district governors went out of the city with the army following them.

²⁰ Each one killed his enemy opponent.  The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them, but Ben-hadad the king of Aram escaped on horseback with some horsemen.

²¹ The king of Israel went out, and destroyed the horses and chariots, and struck down the Arameans with a great slaughter.

²² Meanwhile the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said to him, "Go, strengthen yourself, and be careful, figure out what you must do for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against you again."

²³ The servants of the king of Syria advised him, "Their god is a god of the hills.  So they were stronger than we were, but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they are.

²⁴ Do this: remove the kings every one of them out of his position, and put captains in their place.

²⁵ Muster an army like the one you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot.  Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they are." So he listened to their voice, and that is what he did.

²⁶ Next spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans, and went to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

²⁷ The Israelites were mustered and got their provisions, they went out against them.  The Israelites camped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the country.

²⁸ A man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says, 'Because the Syrians have said, "The LORD is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys," I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you will know that I am the LORD.'"

²⁹ They camped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day the battle began.  The Israelites killed 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in one day.

³⁰ But the rest fled into the town of Aphek, but the wall fell on 27,000 of the survivors. Now Ben-hadad had fled into the town and was hiding in an inner room.

³¹ His servants said to him, "Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful.  Let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, and give ourselves up to the king of Israel, perhaps he will spare your life."

³² So they put sackcloth around their waists, and put ropes on their heads, and came out to the king of Israel, and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'I beg you, let me live.'" Ahab asked, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."

³³ Now the men took this as a good omen, and quickly picked up on his words.  They added, "Yes, it is your brother Ben-hadad." Then Ahab told them, "Go, get him." Then Ben-hadad came out to him; and Ahab had him come up into his chariot.

³⁴ Then Ben-hadad said, "The cities my father took from your father I will give back; and you may set up markets for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." Then Ahab said, "I will let you go on the basis of this treaty." So Ahab made a treaty with him, and let him go.

³⁵ One of the sons of the prophets ordered his companion by the word of the LORD, "Please hit me." But the man refused to hit him.

³⁶ Then said he to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you leave me, a lion will kill you." No sooner had he left than a lion attacked him, and killed him.

³⁷ The prophet found another man, and ordered, "Please hit me." The man struck him and wounded him.

³⁸ Then the prophet left and waited for the king by the road.  He disguised himself with his bandage over his eyes.

³⁹ As the king passed by, he cried out to the king "Your servant went out into the thick of the battle.  A man turned aside and brought me a prisoner, and said, 'Guard this man. If he ends up missing, then it will be your life for his, or else you will have to pay 75 pounds of silver.

⁴⁰ As your servant got busy here and there, the prisoner escaped." So the king of Israel said to him, "So that’s what your judgment will be.  You have decided it yourself."

⁴¹ He quickly pulled the bandage away from his eyes.  The king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets.

⁴² Then he said to him, "This is what the LORD says, 'Because you have released from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, therefore you will pay with your life in exchange for his life, and your people for his people.'"

⁴³ So the king of Israel went home to Samaria sullen and resentful.

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 21

¹ After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

² Ahab asked Naboth, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my palace.  I will give you a better vineyard for it, or if you want I will pay you what it's worth."

³ But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers."

⁴ Ahab went into his palace sullen and angry because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, for he said, 'I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.'" Ahab laid down sulking on his bed, turned away his pouting face, and would not eat.

⁵ But Jezebel his wife came to him, and asked him, "Why are you so sad, that you won't even eat?"

⁶ So he told her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and asked him, 'Sell me your vineyard or else, if you want, I will give you another vineyard for it.'  He replied, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"

⁷ Jezebel his wife said to him, "Are you the king of Israel or not?  Get up and eat some food and let your heart cheer up. I will get you the vineyard from Naboth the Jezreelite."

⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and nobles that live in Naboth's town with him.

⁹ She wrote in the letters, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth in a place of honor among the people.

¹⁰ Then seat two scoundrels, across from him, and let them accuse him, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then carry him out and stone him to death."

¹¹ The men of his town, the elders and the town leaders, did as Jezebel had ordered, just as it was written in the letters she sent them.

¹² They proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth at head of the people.

¹³ The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him. The scoundrels testified against Naboth, in the presence of the people, alleging, "Naboth cursed God and the king." Then they carried him out of the town, and stoned him to death.

¹⁴ Then they reported to Jezebel, "Naboth has been stoned, and he is dead."

¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned, and was dead, Jezebel told Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you, for Naboth is no longer alive."

¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up to go down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

¹⁷ But the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

¹⁸ "Get up, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria.  He is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone to take possession of it.

¹⁹ Tell him, 'This is what the LORD says, "Haven't you murdered a man and now taken possession of his property?' You shall say to him, 'This is what the LORD says, 'In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick up your blood, yes yours.'"

²⁰ Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" Elijah answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD. 

²¹ He says, 'I will bring disaster on you, and will totally consume you and will cut off every male descendant from Ahab, slave or free, anywhere in Israel.

²² I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah because you have provoked me to anger, and led Israel into sin.'

²³ Also concerning Jezebel the LORD says, 'Dogs will eat Jezebel by the outer wall of Jezreel.'

²⁴ Any of Ahab’s family who dies in the town the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat."

²⁵ There was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.

²⁶ He did disgusting things in worshipping idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the Israelites.

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his bare skin, and fasted.  He even slept in sackcloth and went around dejectedly.

²⁸ The word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

²⁹ "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his lifetime, but in I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."

                                             DASV:  1 Kings 22

¹ For three years there was no war between Syria and Israel.

² In the third year, Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to visit the king of Israel.

³ The king of Israel said to his servants, "Do you realize that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the hand of the king of Aram?”

⁴ He asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to battle for Ramoth in Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "Yes, I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

⁵ Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Let’s first inquire what the word of the LORD is concerning this."

⁶ So the king of Israel summoned the prophets together, about 400 of them, and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I wait?" They replied, "Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king."

⁷ But Jehoshaphat objected, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here that we may inquire of him?"

⁸ The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he does not prophesy anything good about me, only disaster."  Jehoshaphat said, "The king shouldn’t talk like that."

⁹ So the king of Israel summoned an officer, and said, "Quickly, go get Micaiah the son of Imlah."

¹⁰ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were each sitting on his throne, attired in their royal robes, at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria.  All the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

¹¹ Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah made iron horns, and said, "This is what the LORD says, 'With these will you push the Arameans, until they are destroyed.'"

¹² All the prophets prophesied the same thing, saying, "Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and be victorious, for the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king."

¹³ The messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him, saying, "Now look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable to the king.  Let your word, be in agreement with theirs, give a favorable prediction."

¹⁴ Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, whatever the LORD tells me, that is what I will speak."

¹⁵ When he came to the king, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall we wait?" He answered, "Go up and be victorious, and the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king."

¹⁶ Then the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?"

¹⁷ Micaiah replied, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.  The LORD said, 'These have no master; let each of them go home in peace.'"

¹⁸ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he would not prophesy anything good concerning me, but only disaster?"

¹⁹  Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: 'I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

²⁰ Then the LORD asked, 'Who will entice Ahab, so that he will go up and die at Ramoth Gilead?'  One proposed this and another that.

²¹ Then a spirit came forward, and stood before the LORD, and said, "I will entice him."

²² The LORD asked him, "How?" He said, "I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." Then he said, "Go entice him, and you will succeed.  Go and do it."

²³ So now look, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours and the LORD has pronounced disaster on you.'"

²⁴ Then Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah approached Micaiah and slapped him on the cheek, and snarled, "Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?"

²⁵ Micaiah replied, "You will see on the day when you hide yourself in an inner room."

²⁶ The king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city, and to the king's son, Joash."

²⁷ Tell him, "This is what the king says, 'Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him only a meager ration of bread and water, until I return safely.'"

²⁸ But Micaiah said, "If you return safely, then the LORD has not spoken through me." He continued, "Listen, you peoples, all of you."

²⁹ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

³⁰ The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "I am going to disguise myself before going into the battle; but you put on your royal robes."  So the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. 
³¹ Now the king of Syria had ordered thirty-two of his chariot commanders, "Don't bother fighting just anyone whether small or great, focus your attack only on the king of Israel." 
³² When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, "Surely he is the king of Israel." So they turned to fight against him; but Jehoshaphat cried out. 
³³ When the chariot commanders realized that it was not the king of Israel, they broke off their pursuit of him. 

³⁴ Now a certain man drew his bow at random, and shot the king of Israel between the joints of his armor.  So he told the driver of his chariot, "Turn around, and get me out of the battle, because I have been wounded." 
³⁵ The battle raged all that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot in front of the Arameans.  The blood ran from the wound into the bottom of the chariot and he died that evening. 
³⁶ Then at sunset there went a cry throughout the troops, "Everyone return to his own town and everyone go back to his own land." 
³⁷ So the king died, and was brought to Samaria.  They buried the king in Samaria. 

³⁸ As they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood in the place where the prostitutes usually washed themselves; just as the word of the LORD had said. 
³⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the towns he built, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the kings of Israel? 
⁴⁰ So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. 

⁴¹ Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 
⁴² Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 
⁴³ He walked in all the ways of Asa his father, he did not turn aside from it.  He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, although the high places were not removed.  The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 
⁴⁴ Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. 
⁴⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his power that he showed, and his military ventures, are they not written in the Scroll of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 
⁴⁶ The male prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa, he removed from the land. 
⁴⁷ There was no king in Edom at that time, an appointed governor was ruler. 
⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat built merchant ships and had them go to Ophir for gold, although they never made the trip because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. 
⁴⁹ Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants sail with your servants in the ships." But Jehoshaphat refused. 
⁵⁰ Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father.  His son Jehoram reigned in his place. 

⁵¹ Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 
⁵² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 
⁵³ He served and worshipped Baal and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel to anger, just like his father had done.