Yahuwah Bible

¹ Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t keep warm.
² Therefore his servants said to him, “Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.”
³ So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Yisra’el, and found Abishag the ShunAmite, and brought her to the king.
⁴ The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king didn’t know her intimately.
⁵ Then Adoniyah the son of Hagit exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
⁶ His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Abshalom.
⁷ He conferred with Yo’av the son of Azariyah. and with Abiatar the priest: and they following Adoniyah helped him.
⁸ But Tzadok the priest, and Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada, and Natan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adoniyah.
⁹ Adoniyah killed sheep and cattle and fatlings by the stone of Zohelet, which is beside Ein Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Yehudah, the king’s servants:
¹⁰ but Natan the prophet, and Benaiyah. and the mighty men, and Shlomo his brother, he didn’t call.
¹¹ Then Natan spoke to Bat-Sheva the mother of Shlomo, saying, “Haven’t you heard that Adoniyah the son of Hagit reigns, and David our lord doesn’t know it?
¹² Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Shlomo.
¹³ Go in to king David, and tell him, ‘Didn’t you, my lord, king, swear to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then does Adoniyah reign?’
¹⁴ Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words.”
¹⁵ Bat-Sheva went in to the king into the room. The king was very old; and Abishag the ShunAmite was ministering to the king.
¹⁶ Bat-Sheva bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?”
¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore by Yahuwah your Elohim to your handmaid, ‘Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’
¹⁸ Now, behold, Adoniyah reigns; and you, my lord the king, don’t know it.
¹⁹ He has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiatar the priest, and Yo’av the captain of the army; but he hasn’t called Shlomo your servant.
²⁰ You, my lord the king, the eyes of all Yisra’el are on you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
²¹ Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Shlomo shall be counted offenders.”
²² Behold, while she yet talked with the king, Natan the prophet came in.
²³ They told the king, saying, “Behold, Natan the prophet!” When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
²⁴ Natan said, “My lord, king, have you said, ‘Adoniyah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?’
²⁵ For he is gone down this day, and has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, and the captains of the army, and Abiatar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and say, ‘Long live king Adoniyah!’
²⁶ But he hasn’t called me, even me your servant, and Tzadok the priest, and Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada, and your servant Shlomo.
²⁷ Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you haven’t shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
²⁸ Then king David answered, “Call to me Bat-Sheva.” She came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.
²⁹ The king swore, and said, “As Yahuwah lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
³⁰ most certainly as I swore to you by Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, saying, ‘Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;’ most certainly so will I do this day.”
³¹ Then Bat-Sheva bowed with her face to the earth, and showed respect to the king, and said, “Let my lord king David live forever!”
³² King David said, “Call to me Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, and Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada.” They came before the king.
³³ The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Shlomo my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.
³⁴ Let Tzadok the priest and Natan the prophet anoint him there king over Yisra’el. Blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live king Shlomo!’
³⁵ Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Yisra’el and over Yehudah.”
³⁶ Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada answered the king, and said, “Amen. May Yahuwah, the Elohim of my lord the king, say so.
³⁷ As Yahuwah has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Shlomo, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.”
³⁸ So Tzadok the priest, and Natan the prophet, and Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada, and the Cherethites and the Peletites, went down, and caused Shlomo to ride on king David‘s mule, and brought him to Gihon.
³⁹ Tzadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Shlomo. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live king Shlomo!”
⁴⁰ All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.
⁴¹ Adoniyah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. When Yo’av heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?”
⁴² While he yet spoke, behold, Yonatan the son of Abiatar the priest came: and Adoniyah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.”
⁴³ Yonatan answered Adoniyah, “Most certainly our lord king David has made Shlomo king.
⁴⁴ The king has sent with him Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada, and the Cheretites and the Peletites; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule.
⁴⁵ Tzadok the priest and Natan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.
⁴⁶ Also, Shlomo sits on the throne of the kingdom.
⁴⁷ Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, ‘May your Elohim make the name of Shlomo better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed.
⁴⁸ Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.’”
⁴⁹ All the guests of Adoniyah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way.
⁵⁰ Adoniyah feared because of Shlomo; and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
⁵¹ It was told Shlomo, saying, “Behold, Adoniyah fears king Shlomo; for, behold, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let king Shlomo swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”
⁵² Shlomo said, “If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of him shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die.”
⁵³ So king Shlomo sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to king Shlomo; and Shlomo said to him, “Go to your house.”

¹ Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he commanded Shlomo his son, saying,
² “I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;
³ and keep the instruction of Yahuwah your Elohim, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moshe, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.
⁴ That Yahuwah may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘a man on the throne of Yisra’el.’
⁵ “Moreover you know also what Yo’av the son of Azariyah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Yisra’el, to Avner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Yeter, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
⁶ Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
⁷ But show kindness to the sons of Barzilai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Abshalom your brother.
⁸ “Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Binyaminite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Yarden, and I swore to him by Yahuwah, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’
⁹ Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”
¹⁰ David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
¹¹ The days that David reigned over Yisra’el were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Yerushalayim.
¹² Shlomo sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.
¹³ Then Adoniyah the son of Hagit came to Bat-Sheva the mother of Shlomo. She said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.
¹⁴ He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.”
¹⁵ He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Yisra’el set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Yahuwah.
¹⁶ Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.” She said to him, “Say on.”
¹⁷ He said, “Please speak to Shlomo the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunamite as wife.”
¹⁸ Bat-Sheva said, “Alright. I will speak for you to the king.”
¹⁹ Bat-Sheva therefore went to king Shlomo, to speak to him for Adoniyah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand.
²⁰ Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.” The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you.”
²¹ She said, “Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to Adoniyah your brother as wife.”
²² King Shlomo answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunamite for Adoniyah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiatar the priest, and for Yo’av the son of Azariyah.”
²³ Then king Shlomo swore by Yahuwah, saying, “Elohim do so to me, and more also, if Adoniyah has not spoken this word against his own life.
²⁴ Now therefore as Yahuwah lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adoniyah shall be put to death this day.”
²⁵ King Shlomo sent by Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.
²⁶ To Abiatar the priest the king said, “Go to Anatoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord Yahuwah before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.”
²⁷ So Shlomo thrust out Abiatar from being priest to Yahuwah, that he might fulfill the word of Yahuwah, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
²⁸ The news came to Yo’av; for Yo’av had turned after Adoniyah, though he didn’t turn after Abshalom. Yo’av fled to the Tent of Yahuwah, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
²⁹ It was told king Shlomo, “Yo’av has fled to the Tent of Yahuwah, and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Shlomo sent Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.”
³⁰ Benaiyah came to the Tent of Yahuwah, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come forth!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiyah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Yo’av, and thus he answered me.”
³¹ The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Yo’av shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.
³² Yahuwah will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Avner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Yisra’el, and Amasa the son of Yeter, captain of the army of Yehudah.
³³ So shall their blood return on the head of Yo’av, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from Yahuwah.”
³⁴ Then Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
³⁵ The king put Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada in his place over the army; and the king put Tzadok the priest in the place of Abiatar.
³⁶ The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Yerushalayim, and dwell there, and don’t go out from there anywhere.
³⁷ For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head.”
³⁸ Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shimei lived in Yerushalayim many days.
³⁹ It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gat. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gat.”
⁴⁰ Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gat to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gat.
⁴¹ It was told Shlomo that Shimei had gone from Yerushalayim to Gat, and had come again.
⁴² The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by Yahuwah, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?’ You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’
⁴³ Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahuwah, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?”
⁴⁴ The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahuwah shall return your wickedness on your own head.
⁴⁵ But king Shlomo shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahuwah forever.”
⁴⁶ So the king commanded Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Shlomo.

¹ Shlomo made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh‘s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of Yahuwah, and the wall of Yerushalayim all around.
² Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahuwah until those days.
³ Shlomo loved Yahuwah, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Shlomo offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
⁵ In Gibeon Yahuwah appeared to Shlomo in a dream by night; and Elohim said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
⁶ Shlomo said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
⁷ Now, Yahuwah my Elohim, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am but a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.
⁸ Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered nor counted for multitude.
⁹ Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?”
¹⁰ The speech pleased the Lord, that Shlomo had asked this thing.
¹¹ Elohim said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;
¹² behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.
¹³ I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.
¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
¹⁵ Shlomo awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Yerushalayim, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Yahuwah, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
¹⁶ Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.
¹⁷ The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.
¹⁸ It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.
¹⁹ This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it.
²⁰ She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
²¹ When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.”
²² The other woman said, “No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son.” This said, “No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.
²³ Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;’ and the other says, ‘No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”
²⁴ The king said, “Get me a sword.” They brought a sword before the king.
²⁵ The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”
²⁶ Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it!” But the other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it.”
²⁷ Then the king answered, “Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is its mother.”
²⁸ All Yisra’el heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of Elohim was in him, to do justice.

¹ King Shlomo was king over all Yisra’el.
² These were the princes whom he had: Azariyah the son of Tzadok, the priest;
³ Elihoref and Ahiyah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Yahushafat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;
⁴ and Benaiyah the son of Yahuiada was over the army; and Tzadok and Abiatar were priests;
⁵ and Azariyah the son of Natan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Natan was chief minister, the king’s friend;
⁶ and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.
⁷ Shlomo had twelve officers over all Yisra’el, who provided food for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.
⁸ These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Efrayim;
⁹ Ben Deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beit Shemes, and Elon Beit Hanan;
¹⁰ Ben Hesed, in Arubot (to him belonged Socoh, and all the land of Hefer);
¹¹ Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Tafat the daughter of Shlomo as wife);
¹² Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megido, and all Beit Shean which is beside Tzarean, beneath Yezreel, from Beit Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Yokmeam;
¹³ Ben Geber, in Ramot Gilead (to him belonged the towns of Yair the son of Menasheh, which are in Gilead; to him belonged the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
¹⁴ Ahinadab the son of Ido, in Mahanaim;
¹⁵ Ahimaaz, in Naftali (he also took Basemat the daughter of Shlomo as wife);
¹⁶ Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealot;
¹⁷ Yahushafat the son of Paruah, in Yisachar;
¹⁸ Shimei the son of Ela, in Binyamin;
¹⁹ Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer who was in the land.
²⁰ Yehudah and Yisra’el were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.
²¹ Shlomo ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Shlomo all the days of his life.
²² Shlomo‘s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal,
²³ ten head of fat cattle, and twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.
²⁴ For he had dominion over all on this side the River, from Tifsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides around him.
²⁵ Yehudah and Yisra’el lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Shlomo.
²⁶ Shlomo had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
²⁷ Those officers provided food for king Shlomo, and for all who came to king Shlomo‘s table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.
²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they to the place where the officers were, every man according to his duty.
²⁹ Elohim gave Shlomo wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.
³⁰ Shlomo‘s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
³¹ For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around.
³² He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.
³³ He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.
³⁴ There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

¹ Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Shlomo; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
² Shlomo sent to Hiram, saying,
³ “You know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahuwah his Elohim for the wars which were about him on every side, until Yahuwah put them under the soles of his feet.
⁴ But now Yahuwah my Elohim has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence.
⁵ Behold, I purpose to build a house for the name of Yahuwah my Elohim, as Yahuwah spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for my name.’
⁶ Now therefore command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon. My servants shall be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that there is not among us any who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
⁷ It happened, when Hiram heard the words of Shlomo, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed is Yahuwah this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.”
⁸ Hiram sent to Shlomo, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.
⁹ My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you shall receive them. You shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.”
¹⁰ So Hiram gave Shlomo timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire.
¹¹ Shlomo gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil. Shlomo gave this to Hiram year by year.
¹² Yahuwah gave Shlomo wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Shlomo; and they two made a treaty together.
¹³ King Shlomo raised a levy out of all Yisra’el; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
¹⁴ He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor.
¹⁵ Shlomo had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;
¹⁶ besides Shlomo‘s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.
¹⁷ The king commanded, and they cut out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.
¹⁸ Shlomo‘s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

¹ It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Yisra’el had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Shlomo‘s reign over Yisra’el, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yahuwah.
² The house which king Shlomo built for Yahuwah, its length was sixty cubits, and its breadth twenty, and its height thirty cubits.
³ The porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was its length, according to the breadth of the house. Ten cubits was its breadth before the house.
⁴ For the house he made windows of fixed lattice work.
⁵ Against the wall of the house he built stories all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the oracle; and he made side rooms all around.
⁶ The nethermost story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not have hold in the walls of the house.
⁷ The house, when it was in building, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
⁸ The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle story, and out of the middle into the third.
⁹ So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.
¹⁰ He built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
¹¹ The word of Yahuwah came to Shlomo, saying,
¹² “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
¹³ I will dwell among the children of Yisra’el, and will not forsake my people Yisra’el.”
¹⁴ So Shlomo built the house, and finished it.
¹⁵ He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.
¹⁶ He built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling: he built them for it within, for an oracle, even for the most holy place.
¹⁷ In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits.
¹⁸ There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
¹⁹ He prepared an oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Yahuwah.
²⁰ Within the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
²¹ So Shlomo overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he drew chains of gold across before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
²² The whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished: also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold.
²³ In the oracle he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
²⁴ Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing to the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
²⁵ The other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.
²⁶ The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.
²⁷ He set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
²⁹ He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, inside and outside.
³⁰ The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, inside and outside.
³¹ For the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive wood: the lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.
³² So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim, and on the palm trees.
³³ So also made he for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall;
³⁴ and two doors of fir wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
³⁵ He carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work.
³⁶ He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams.
³⁷ In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Yahuwah laid, in the month Ziv.
³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all its parts, and according to all its fashion. So was he seven years in building it.

¹ Shlomo was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
² For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
³ It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars; fifteen in a row.
⁴ There were beams in three rows, and window was over against window in three ranks.
⁵ All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was over against window in three ranks.
⁶ He made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and a threshold before them.
⁷ He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.
⁸ His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh‘s daughter (whom Shlomo had taken as wife), like this porch.
⁹ All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.
¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
¹¹ Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.
¹² The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of Yahuwah, and the porch of the house.
¹³ King Shlomo sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naftali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Shlomo, and performed all his work.
¹⁵ For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them about.
¹⁶ He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
¹⁷ There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.
¹⁸ So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital.
¹⁹ The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.
²⁰ There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows around on the other capital.
²¹ He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Yachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.
²² On the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
²³ He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.
²⁴ Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea: the buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.
²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick: and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.
²⁷ He made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits its breadth, and three cubits its height.
²⁸ The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;
²⁹ and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
³⁰ Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports: beneath the basin were the supports molten, with wreaths at the side of each.
³¹ The mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit: and its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round.
³² The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
³³ The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.
³⁴ There were four supports at the four corners of each base: its supports were of the base itself.
³⁵ In the top of the base was there a round compass half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its stays and its panels were of the same.
³⁶ On the plates of its stays, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.
³⁷ In this way, he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.
³⁸ He made ten basins of brass: one basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.
³⁹ He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.
⁴⁰ Hiram made the basins, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he worked for king Shlomo in the house of Yahuwah:
⁴¹ the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;
⁴² and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;
⁴³ and the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases;
⁴⁴ and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea;
⁴⁵ and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Shlomo, in the house of Yahuwah, were of burnished brass.
⁴⁶ The king cast them in the plain of the Yarden, in the clay ground between Sukot and Tzaretan.
⁴⁷ Shlomo left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: the weight of the brass could not be found out.
⁴⁸ Shlomo made all the vessels that were in the house of Yahuwah: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the show bread was, of gold;
⁴⁹ and the Menorahs, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;
⁵⁰ and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.
⁵¹ Thus all the work that king Shlomo worked in the house of Yahuwah was finished. Shlomo brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of Yahuwah.

¹ Then Shlomo assembled the elders of Yisra’el, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Yisra’el, to king Shlomo in Yerushalayim, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahuwah out of the city of David, which is Tzion.
² All the men of Yisra’el assembled themselves to king Shlomo at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
³ All the elders of Yisra’el came, and the priests took up the ark.
⁴ They brought up the ark of Yahuwah, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these the priests and the Levites brought up.
⁵ King Shlomo and all the congregation of Yisra’el, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.
⁶ The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahuwah to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.
⁷ For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.
⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there they are to this day.
⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moshe put there at Horeb, when Yahuwah made a covenant with the children of Yisra’el, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
¹⁰ It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Yahuwah,
¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Yahuwah filled the house of Yahuwah.
¹² Then Shlomo said, “Yahuwah has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
¹³ I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
¹⁴ The king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Yisra’el: and all the assembly of Yisra’el stood.
¹⁵ He said, “Blessed is Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,
¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought my people Yisra’el out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Yisra’el to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Yisra’el.’
¹⁷ “Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el.
¹⁸ But Yahuwah said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
¹⁹ Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’
²⁰ Yahuwah has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Yisra’el, as Yahuwah promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el.
²¹ There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahuwah, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
²² Shlomo stood before the altar of Yahuwah in the presence of all the assembly of Yisra’el, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;
²³ and he said, “Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, there is no Elohim like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;
²⁴ who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
²⁵ Now therefore, may Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Yisra’el, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
²⁶ “Now therefore, Elohim of Yisra’el, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.
²⁷ But will Elohim in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
²⁸ Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahuwah my Elohim, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day;
²⁹ that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.
³⁰ Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Yisra’el, when they shall pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
³¹ “If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swear before your altar in this house;
³² then hear in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
³³ “When your people Yisra’el are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house:
³⁴ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Yisra’el, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.
³⁵ “When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:
³⁶ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Yisra’el, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
³⁷ “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;
³⁸ whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Yisra’el, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
³⁹ then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)
⁴⁰ that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
⁴¹ “Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Yisra’el, when he shall come out of a far country for your name’s sake
⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;
⁴³ hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Yisra’el, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
⁴⁴ “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahuwah toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;
⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
⁴⁶ If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;
⁴⁷ yet if they shall repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;’
⁴⁸ if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:
⁴⁹ then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause;
⁵⁰ and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
⁵¹ (for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron);
⁵² that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Yisra’el, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.
⁵³ For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moshe your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord Yahuwah.”
⁵⁴ It was so, that when Shlomo had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahuwah, he arose from before the altar of Yahuwah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.
⁵⁵ He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Yisra’el with a loud voice, saying,
⁵⁶ “Blessed be Yahuwah, who has given rest to his people Yisra’el, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moshe his servant.
⁵⁷ May Yahuwah our Elohim be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us;
⁵⁸ that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
⁵⁹ Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Yahuwah, be near to Yahuwah our Elohim day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Yisra’el, as every day shall require;
⁶⁰ that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahuwah, he is Elohim. There is none else.
⁶¹ “Let your heart therefore be perfect with Yahuwah our Elohim, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.”
⁶² The king, and all Yisra’el with him, offered sacrifice before Yahuwah.
⁶³ Shlomo offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Yahuwah, two and twenty thousand head of cattle, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Yisra’el dedicated the house of Yahuwah.
⁶⁴ The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the house of Yahuwah; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahuwah was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.
⁶⁵ So Shlomo held the feast at that time, and all Yisra’el with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamat to the brook of Egypt, before Yahuwah our Elohim, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Yahuwah had shown to David his servant, and to Yisra’el his people.

¹ It happened, when Shlomo had finished the building of the house of Yahuwah, and the king’s house, and all Shlomo‘s desire which he was pleased to do,
² that Yahuwah appeared to Shlomo the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
³ Yahuwah said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
⁴ As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;
⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Yisra’el forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Yisra’el.’
⁶ But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other elohim, and worship them;
⁷ then will I cut off Yisra’el out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Yisra’el shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
⁸ Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, ‘Why has Yahuwah done thus to this land, and to this house?’
⁹ and they shall answer, ‘Because they forsook Yahuwah their Elohim, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other elohim, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore Yahuwah has brought all this evil on them.’”
¹⁰ It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Shlomo had built the two houses, the house of Yahuwah and the king’s house
¹¹ (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Shlomo with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then king Shlomo gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of HaGalil.
¹² Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Shlomo had given him; and they didn’t please him.
¹³ He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day.
¹⁴ Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
¹⁵ This is the reason of the levy which king Shlomo raised, to build the house of Yahuwah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Yerushalayim, and Hazor, and Megido, and Gezer.
¹⁶ Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Kanaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Shlomo‘s wife.
¹⁷ Shlomo built Gezer, and Beit Horon the lower,
¹⁸ and Baalat, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land,
¹⁹ and all the storage cities that Shlomo had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Shlomo desired to build for his pleasure in Yerushalayim, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
²⁰ As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hitites, the Perizites, the Hivites, and the Yebusites, who were not of the children of Yisra’el;
²¹ their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Yisra’el were not able utterly to destroy, of them Shlomo raised a levy of bondservants to this day.
²² But of the children of Yisra’el Shlomo made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
²³ These were the chief officers who were over Shlomo‘s work, five hundred fifty, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.
²⁴ But Pharaoh‘s daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which Shlomo had built for her: then he built Millo.
²⁵ Shlomo offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to Yahuwah three times a year, burning incense with them, on the altar that was before Yahuwah. So he finished the house.
²⁶ King Shlomo made a navy of ships in Etzion Geber, which is beside Elot, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
²⁷ Hiram sent in the navy his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Shlomo.
²⁸ They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Shlomo.

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Shlomo concerning the name of Yahuwah, she came to prove him with hard questions.
² She came to Yerushalayim with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Shlomo, she talked with him of all that was in her heart.
³ Shlomo told her all her questions: there was not anything hidden from the king which he didn’t tell her.
⁴ When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Shlomo, and the house that he had built,
⁵ and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their clothing, and his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Yahuwah; there was no more spirit in her.
⁶ She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom.
⁷ However I didn’t believe the words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it. Behold, the half was not told me! Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard.
⁸ Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, who hear your wisdom.
⁹ Blessed is Yahuwah your Elohim, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Yisra’el. Because Yahuwah loved Yisra’el forever, therefore made he you king, to do justice and righteousness.”
¹⁰ She gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones. There came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Shlomo.
¹¹ The navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones.
¹² The king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of Yahuwah, and for the king’s house, harps also and stringed instruments for the singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen, to this day.
¹³ King Shlomo gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which Shlomo gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.
¹⁴ Now the weight of gold that came to Shlomo in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,
¹⁵ besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country.
¹⁶ King Shlomo made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler.
¹⁷ he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
¹⁸ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.
¹⁹ There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
²⁰ Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
²¹ All king Shlomo‘s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Shlomo.
²² For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
²³ So king Shlomo exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
²⁴ All the earth sought the presence of Shlomo, to hear his wisdom, which Elohim had put in his heart.
²⁵ They brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and clothing, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
²⁶ Shlomo gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Yerushalayim.
²⁷ The king made silver to be in Yerushalayim as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.
²⁸ The horses which Shlomo had were brought out of Egypt; and the king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.
²⁹ A chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hitites, and for the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means.

¹ Now king Shlomo loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Amonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hitites;
² of the nations concerning which Yahuwah said to the children of Yisra’el, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their elohim.” Shlomo joined to these in love.
³ He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
⁴ For it happened, when Shlomo was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other elohim; and his heart was not perfect with Yahuwah his Elohim, as was the heart of David his father.
⁵ For Shlomo went after Ashtoret the Elohimdess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Amonites.
⁶ Shlomo did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and didn’t go fully after Yahuwah, as did David his father.
⁷ Then Shlomo built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Yerushalayim, and for Moloch the abomination of the children of Amon.
⁸ So he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their elohim.
⁹ Yahuwah was angry with Shlomo, because his heart was turned away from Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, who had appeared to him twice,
¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other elohim: but he didn’t keep that which Yahuwah commanded.
¹¹ Therefore Yahuwah said to Shlomo, “Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
¹² Notwithstanding I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
¹³ However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Yerushalayim‘s sake which I have chosen.”
¹⁴ Yahuwah raised up an adversary to Shlomo, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom.
¹⁵ For it happened, when David was in Edom, and Yo’av the captain of the army was gone up to bury the slain, and had struck every male in Edom
¹⁶ (for Yo’av and all Yisra’el remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom);
¹⁷ that Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt, Hadad being yet a little child.
¹⁸ They arose out of Midian, and came to Paran; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him food, and gave him land.
¹⁹ Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.
²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubat his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh‘s house; and Genubat was in Pharaoh‘s house among the sons of Pharaoh.
²¹ When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Yo’av the captain of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”
²² Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you seek to go to your own country?” He answered, “Nothing, however only let me depart.”
²³ Elohim raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Tzobah.
²⁴ He gathered men to him, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Tzobah: and they went to Damascus, and lived therein, and reigned in Damascus.
²⁵ He was an adversary to Yisra’el all the days of Shlomo, besides the mischief of Hadad: and he abhorred Yisra’el, and reigned over Syria.
²⁶ Yerov’am the son of Nebat, an Efrayimite of Zeredah, a servant of Shlomo, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, he also lifted up his hand against the king.
²⁷ This was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Shlomo built Milo, and repaired the breach of the city of David his father.
²⁸ The man Yerov’am was a mighty man of valor; and Shlomo saw the young man that he was industrious, and he put him in charge of all the labor of the house of Yosef.
²⁹ It happened at that time, when Yerov’am went out of Yerushalayim, that the prophet Ahiyah the Shilonite found him in the way; now Ahiyah had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field.
³⁰ Ahiyah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces.
³¹ He said to Yerov’am, “Take ten pieces; for thus says Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Shlomo, and will give ten tribes to you
³² (but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David‘s sake and for Yerushalayim‘s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Yisra’el);
³³ because that they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the Elohimdess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the Elohim of Moab, and Milcom the Elohim of the children of Amon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.
³⁴ “‘However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes;
³⁵ but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it to you, even ten tribes.
³⁶ To his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Yerushalayim, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.
³⁷ I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Yisra’el.
³⁸ It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Yisra’el to you.
³⁹ I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever.’”
⁴⁰ Shlomo sought therefore to kill Yerov’am; but Yerov’am arose, and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Shlomo.
⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Shlomo, and all that he did, and his wisdom, aren’t they written in the book of the acts of Shlomo?
⁴² The time that Shlomo reigned in Yerushalayim over all Yisra’el was forty years.
⁴³ Shlomo slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehav’am his son reigned in his place.

¹ Rehav’am went to Shechem: for all Yisra’el had come to Shechem to make him king.
² It happened, when Yerov’am the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Shlomo, and Yerov’am lived in Egypt,
³ and they sent and called him), that Yerov’am and all the assembly of Yisra’el came, and spoke to Rehav’am, saying,
⁴ “Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.”
⁵ He said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” The people departed.
⁶ King Rehav’am took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Shlomo his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?”
⁷ They spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
⁸ But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
⁹ He said to them, “What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?’”
¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall tell this people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;’ you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
¹¹ Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’”
¹² So Yerov’am and all the people came to Rehav’am the third day, as the king asked, saying, “Come to me again the third day.”
¹³ The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him,
¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
¹⁵ So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of Yahuwah, that he might establish his word, which Yahuwah spoke by Ahiyah the Shilonite to Yerov’am the son of Nebat.
¹⁶ When all Yisra’el saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Yese. To your tents, Yisra’el! Now see to your own house, David.” So Yisra’el departed to their tents.
¹⁷ But as for the children of Yisra’el who lived in the cities of Yehudah, Rehav’am reigned over them.
¹⁸ Then king Rehav’am sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and all Yisra’el stoned him to death with stones. King Rehav’am made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Yerushalayim.
¹⁹ So Yisra’el rebelled against the house of David to this day.
²⁰ It happened, when all Yisra’el heard that Yerov’am was returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Yisra’el: there was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Yehudah only.
²¹ When Rehav’am had come to Yerushalayim, he assembled all the house of Yehudah, and the tribe of Binyamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Yisra’el, to bring the kingdom again to Rehav’am the son of Shlomo.
²² But the word of Elohim came to Shemaiyah the man of Elohim, saying,
²³ “Speak to Rehav’am the son of Shlomo, king of Yehudah, and to all the house of Yehudah and Binyamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,
²⁴ ‘Thus says Yahuwah, “You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the children of Yisra’el. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is of me.”’” So they listened to the word of Yahuwah, and returned and went their way, according to the word of Yahuwah.
²⁵ Then Yerov’am built Shechem in the hill country of Efrayim, and lived in it; and he went out from there, and built Penuel.
²⁶ Yerov’am said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
²⁷ If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahuwah at Yerushalayim, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehav’am king of Yehudah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehav’am king of Yehudah.”
²⁸ Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Yerushalayim. Look and see your elohim, Yisra’el, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
²⁹ He set the one in Beit-El , and the other put he in Dan.
³⁰ This thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan.
³¹ He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
³² Yerov’am ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Yehudah, and he went up to the altar; he did so in Beit-El , sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beit-El the priests of the high places that he had made.
³³ He went up to the altar which he had made in Beit-El on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Yisra’el, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.

¹ Behold, there came a man of Elohim out of Yehudah by the word of Yahuwah to Beit El: and Yerov’am was standing by the altar to burn incense.
² He cried against the altar by the word of Yahuwah, and said, “Altar, altar, thus says Yahuwah: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Yoshiayah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’”
³ He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which Yahuwah has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”
⁴ It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of Elohim, which he cried against the altar in Beit-El , that Yerov’am put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.
⁵ The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of Elohim had given by the word of Yahuwah.
⁶ The king answered the man of Elohim, “Now entreat the favor of Yahuwah your Elohim, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.” The man of Elohim entreated Yahuwah, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
⁷ The king said to the man of Elohim, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
⁸ The man of Elohim said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;
⁹ for so was it commanded me by the word of Yahuwah, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came.’”
¹⁰ So he went another way, and didn’t return by the way that he came to Beit-El .
¹¹ Now there lived an old prophet in Beit-El ; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of Elohim had done that day in Beit-El . They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
¹² Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of Elohim went, who came from Yehudah.
¹³ He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.
¹⁴ He went after the man of Elohim, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of Elohim who came from Yehudah?” He said, “I am.”
¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.”
¹⁶ He said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.
¹⁷ For it was said to me by the word of Yahuwah, ‘You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.’”
¹⁸ He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahuwah, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him.
¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
²⁰ It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of Yahuwah came to the prophet who brought him back;
²¹ and he cried to the man of Elohim who came from Yehudah, saying, “Thus says , ‘Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of Yahuwah, and have not kept the commandment which Yahuwah your Elohim commanded you,
²² but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water;” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”
²³ It happened, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.
²⁴ When he had gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.
²⁵ Behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
²⁶ When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of Elohim who was disobedient to the mouth of Yahuwah. Therefore Yahuwah has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to the word of Yahuwah, which he spoke to him.”
²⁷ He spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled it.
²⁸ He went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey.
²⁹ The prophet took up the body of the man of Elohim, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him.
³⁰ He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
³¹ It happened, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb in which the man of Elohim is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
³² For the saying which he cried by the word of Yahuwah against the altar in Beit-El , and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Shomron, will surely happen.”
³³ After this thing Yerov’am didn’t return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
³⁴ This thing became sin to the house of Yerov’am, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.

¹ At that time Abiyah the son of Yerov’am fell sick.
² Yerov’am said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, that you won’t be recognized as the wife of Yerov’am. Go to Shiloh. Behold, there is Ahiyah the prophet, who spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people.
³ Take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.”
⁴ Yerov’am‘s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahiyah. Now Ahiyah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
⁵ Yahuwah said to Ahiyah, “Behold, the wife of Yerov’am comes to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall tell her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”
⁶ It was so, when Ahiyah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, “Come in, you wife of Yerov’am! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news.
⁷ Go, tell Yerov’am, ‘Thus says Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Yisra’el,
⁸ and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes,
⁹ but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other elohim, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back:
¹⁰ therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Yerov’am, and will cut off from Yerov’am everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Yisra’el, and will utterly sweep away the house of Yerov’am, as a man sweeps away dung, until it is all gone.
¹¹ He who dies of Yerov’am in the city shall the dogs eat; and he who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat: for Yahuwah has spoken it.”’
¹² Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
¹³ All Yisra’el shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Yerov’am shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, in the house of Yerov’am.
¹⁴ Moreover Yahuwah will raise him up a king over Yisra’el, who shall cut off the house of Yerov’am. This is day! What? Even now.
¹⁵ For Yahuwah will strike Yisra’el, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Yisra’el out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Yahuwah to anger.
¹⁶ He will give Yisra’el up because of the sins of Yerov’am, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Yisra’el to sin.”
¹⁷ Yerov’am‘s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
¹⁸ All Yisra’el buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Yahuwah, which he spoke by his servant Ahiyah the prophet.
¹⁹ The rest of the acts of Yerov’am, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el.
²⁰ The days which Yerov’am reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.
²¹ Rehav’am the son of Shlomo reigned in Yehudah. Rehav’am was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Yerushalayim, the city which Yahuwah had chosen out of all the tribes of Yisra’el, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Amonitess.
²² Yehudah did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done.
²³ For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
²⁴ and there were also Sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahuwah drove out before the children of Yisra’el.
²⁵ It happened in the fifth year of king Rehav’am, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Yerushalayim;
²⁶ and he took away the treasures of the house of Yahuwah, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Shlomo had made.
²⁷ King Rehav’am made in their place shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
²⁸ It was so, that as often as the king went into the house of Yahuwah, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.
²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Rehav’am, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah?
³⁰ There was war between Rehav’am and Yerov’am continually.
³¹ Rehav’am slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Amonitess. Abiyam his son reigned in his place.

¹ Now in the eighteenth year of king Yerov’am the son of Nebat began Abiyam to reign over Yehudah.
² He reigned three years in Yerushalayim: and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.
³ He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with Yahuwah his Elohim, as the heart of David his father.
⁴ Nevertheless for David‘s sake, Yahuwah his Elohim gave him a lamp in Yerushalayim, to set up his son after him, and to establish Yerushalayim;
⁵ because David did that which was right in the eyes of Yahuwah, and didn’t turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriyah the Hitite.
⁶ Now there was war between Rehav’am and Yerov’am all the days of his life.
⁷ The rest of the acts of Abiyam, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? There was war between Abiyam and Yerov’am.
⁸ Abiyam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his place.
⁹ In the twentieth year of Yerov’am king of Yisra’el began Asa to reign over Yehudah.
¹⁰ He reigned forty-one years in Yerushalayim: and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.
¹¹ Asa did that which was right in the eyes of Yahuwah, as did David his father.
¹² He put away the Sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
¹³ Also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
¹⁴ But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahuwah all his days.
¹⁵ He brought into the house of Yahuwah the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Yisra’el all their days.
¹⁷ Baasha king of Yisra’el went up against Yehudah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Yehudah.
¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Yahuwah, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hetzion, king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,
¹⁹ “There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Yisra’el, that he may depart from me.”
²⁰ Ben Hadad listened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Yisra’el, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel Beit Maacah, and all Chinerot, with all the land of Naftali.
²¹ It happened, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and lived in Tirzah.
²² Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Yehudah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built; and king Asa built therewith Geba of Binyamin, and Mitzpah.
²³ Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
²⁴ Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Yahushafat his son reigned in his place.
²⁵ Nadab the son of Yerov’am began to reign over Yisra’el in the second year of Asa king of Yehudah; and he reigned over Yisra’el two years.
²⁶ He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Yisra’el to sin.
²⁷ Baasha the son of Ahiyah, of the house of Yisachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibeton, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Yisra’el were laying siege to Gibeton.
²⁸ Even in the third year of Asa king of Yehudah, Baasha killed him, and reigned in his place.
²⁹ It happened that, as soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Yerov’am: he didn’t leave to Yerov’am any who breathed, until he had destroyed him; according to the saying of Yahuwah, which he spoke by his servant Ahiyah the Shilonite;
³⁰ for the sins of Yerov’am which he sinned, and with which he made Yisra’el to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, to anger.
³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el?
³² There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Yisra’el all their days.
³³ In the third year of Asa king of Yehudah, Baasha the son of Ahiyah began to reign over all Yisra’el in Tirzah for twenty-four years.
³⁴ He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and walked in the way of Yerov’am, and in his sin with which he made Yisra’el to sin.

¹ The word of Yahuwah came to Yehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
² “Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you prince over my people Yisra’el, and you have walked in the way of Yerov’am, and have made my people Yisra’el to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
³ behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Yerov’am the son of Nebat.
⁴ The dogs will eat Baasha’s descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field the birds of the sky will eat.”
⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el?
⁶ Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his place.
⁷ Moreover by the prophet Yehu the son of Hanani came the word of Yahuwah against Baasha, and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of Yahuwah, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Yerov’am, and because he struck him.
⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Yehudah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Yisra’el in Tirzah for two years.
⁹ His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah:
¹⁰ and Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Yehudah, and reigned in his place.
¹¹ It happened, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he struck all the house of Baasha: he didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall, neither of his relatives, nor of his friends.
¹² Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Yahuwah, which he spoke against Baasha by Yehu the prophet,
¹³ for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and with which they made Yisra’el to sin, to provoke Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, to anger with their vanities.
¹⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el?
¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Yehudah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibeton, which belonged to the Philistines.
¹⁶ The people who were encamped heard say, Zimri has conspired, and has also struck the king: therefore all Yisra’el made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Yisra’el that day in the camp.
¹⁷ Omri went up from Gibeton, and all Yisra’el with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
¹⁸ It happened, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the castle of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and died,
¹⁹ for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, in walking in the way of Yerov’am, and in his sin which he did, to make Yisra’el to sin.
²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he committed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el?
²¹ Then were the people of Yisra’el divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginat, to make him king; and half followed Omri.
²² But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginat: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.
²³ In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Yehudah, Omri began to reign over Yisra’el for twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah.
²⁴ He bought the hill Shomron of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Shomron.
²⁵ Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him.
²⁶ For he walked in all the way of Yerov’am the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Yisra’el to sin, to provoke Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, to anger with their vanities.
²⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el?
²⁸ So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Shomron; and Ahab his son reigned in his place.
²⁹ In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Yehudah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Yisra’el: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Yisra’el in Shomron twenty-two years.
³⁰ Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah above all that were before him.
³¹ It happened, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Yerov’am the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Yezebel the daughter of Etbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.
³² He reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Shomron.
³³ Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, to anger than all the kings of Yisra’el who were before him.
³⁴ In his days Hiel the Beit-El ite built Yericho: he laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Yahuwah, which he spoke by Yahushua the son of Nun.

¹ Eliyahu the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
² The word of Yahuwah came to him, saying,
³ “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherit, that is before the Yarden.
⁴ It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
⁵ So he went and did according to the word of Yahuwah; for he went and lived by the brook Cherit, that is before the Yarden.
⁶ The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
⁷ It happened after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
⁸ The word of Yahuwah came to him, saying,
⁹ “Arise, go to Tzarefat, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
¹⁰ So he arose and went to Tzarefat; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”
¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
¹² She said, “As Yahuwah your Elohim lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
¹³ Eliyahu said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me of it a little cake first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.
¹⁴ For thus says Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, ‘The jar of meal shall not empty, neither shall the jar of oil fail, until the day that Yahuwah sends rain on the earth.’”
¹⁵ She went and did according to the saying of Eliyahu: and she, and he, and her house, ate many days.
¹⁶ The jar of meal didn’t empty, neither did the jar of oil fail, according to the word of Yahuwah, which he spoke by Eliyahu.
¹⁷ It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so severe, that there was no breath left in him.
¹⁸ She said to Eliyahu, “What have I to do with you, you man of Elohim? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
¹⁹ He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
²⁰ He cried to Yahuwah, and said, “Yahuwah my Elohim, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I stay, by killing her son?”
²¹ He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahuwah, and said, “Yahuwah my Elohim, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
²² Yahuwah listened to the voice of Eliyahu; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
²³ Eliyahu took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, “Behold, your son lives.”
²⁴ The woman said to Eliyahu, “Now I know that you are a man of Elohim, and that the word of Yahuwah in your mouth is truth.”

¹ It happened after many days, that the word of Yahuwah came to Eliyahu, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”
² Eliyahu went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Shomron.
³ Ahab called Ovadiyah. who was over the household. (Now Ovadiyah feared Yahuwah greatly:
⁴ for it was so, when Yezebel cut off the prophets of Yahuwah, that Ovadiyah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
⁵ Ahab said to Ovadiyah. “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.”
⁶ So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Ovadiyah went another way by himself.
⁷ As Ovadiyah was in the way, behold, Eliyahu met him: and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Eliyahu?”
⁸ He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Eliyahu is here!’”
⁹ He said, “Wherein have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?
¹⁰ As Yahuwah your Elohim lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn’t find you.
¹¹ Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Eliyahu is here.”’
¹² It will happen, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of Yahuwah will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahuwah from my youth.
¹³ Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Yezebel killed the prophets of Yahuwah, how I hid one hundred men of Yahuwah‘s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
¹⁴ Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Eliyahu is here;”’ and he will kill me.”
¹⁵ Eliyahu said, “As Yahuwah Tzebaot (of Armies) lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”
¹⁶ So Ovadiyah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Eliyahu.
¹⁷ It happened, when Ahab saw Eliyahu, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Yisra’el?”
¹⁸ He answered, “I have not troubled Yisra’el; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Yahuwah, and you have followed the Baals.
¹⁹ Now therefore send, and gather to me all Yisra’el to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Yezebel‘s table.”
²⁰ So Ahab sent to all the children of Yisra’el, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel.
²¹ Eliyahu came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahuwah is Elohim, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people answered him not a word.
²² Then Eliyahu said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of Yahuwah; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men.
²³ Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it.
²⁴ You call on the name of your Elohim, and I will call on the name of Yahuwah. The Elohim who answers by fire, let him be Elohim.” All the people answered, “It is well said.”
²⁵ Eliyahu said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your Elohim, but put no fire under it.”
²⁶ They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.
²⁷ It happened at noon, that Eliyahu mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is an elohim. Either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.”
²⁸ They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
²⁹ It was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the offering; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.
³⁰ Eliyahu said to all the people, “Come near to me;” and all the people came near to him. He repaired the altar of Yahuwah that was thrown down.
³¹ Eliyahu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Ya’akov, to whom the word of Yahuwah came, saying, “Yisra’el shall be your name.”
³² With the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahuwah. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.
³³ He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.”
³⁴ He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time.
³⁵ The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
³⁶ It happened at the time of the offering of the offering, that Eliyahu the prophet came near, and said, “Yahuwah, the Elohim of Avraham, of Yitzchak, and of Yisra’el, let it be known this day that you are Elohim in Yisra’el, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.
³⁷ Hear me, Yahuwah, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahuwah, are Elohim, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
³⁸ Then the fire of Yahuwah fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahuwah, he is Elohim! Yahuwah, he is Elohim!”
⁴⁰ Eliyahu said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them. Eliyahu brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.
⁴¹ Eliyahu said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”
⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Eliyahu went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees.
⁴³ He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” He went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” He said, “Go again” seven times.
⁴⁴ It happened at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’”
⁴⁵ It happened in a little while, that the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Yezreel.
⁴⁶ The hand of Yahuwah was on Eliyahu; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Yezreel.

¹ Ahab told Yezebel all that Eliyahu had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
² Then Yezebel sent a messenger to Eliyahu, saying, “So let the elohim do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!”
³ When he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Yehudah, and left his servant there.
⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahuwah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”
⁵ He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!”
⁶ He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again.
⁷ Melech Yahuwah (King Yahuwah) (transl.: the Angel of the Lord) came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
⁸ He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of Elohim.
⁹ He came there to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of Yahuwah came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?”
¹⁰ He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahuwah, Elohei Tzebaot (of Armies); for the children of Yisra’el have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
¹¹ He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahuwah.” Behold, Yahuwah passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahuwah; but Yahuwah was not in the wind. After the wind an earthquake; but Yahuwah was not in the earthquake.
¹² After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahuwah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
¹³ It was so, when Eliyahu heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?”
¹⁴ He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahuwah, Elohei Tzebaot; for the children of Yisra’el have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
¹⁵ Yahuwah said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
¹⁶ You shall anoint Yehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Yisra’el; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shafat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.
¹⁷ It shall happen, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Yehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Yehu, Elisha will kill.
¹⁸ Yet will I leave seven thousand in Yisra’el, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.”
¹⁹ So he departed there, and found Elisha the son of Shafat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Eliyahu passed over to him, and cast his mantle on him.
²⁰ He left the oxen, and ran after Eliyahu, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?”
²¹ He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Eliyahu, and served him.

¹ Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Shomron, and fought against it.
² He sent messengers to Ahab king of Yisra’el, into the city, and said to him, “Thus says Ben Hadad,
³ ‘Your silver and your gold is mine. Your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.’”
⁴ The king of Yisra’el answered, “It is according to your saying, my lord, O king. I am yours, and all that I have.”
⁵ The messengers came again, and said, “Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent indeed to you, saying, “You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;
⁶ but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house, and the houses of your servants; and it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.”’”
⁷ Then the king of Yisra’el called all the elders of the land, and said, “Please notice how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I didn’t deny him.”
⁸ All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen, neither consent.”
⁹ Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do.’” The messengers departed, and brought him back the message.
¹⁰ Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The elohim do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Shomron shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.”
¹¹ The king of Yisra’el answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’”
¹² It happened, when Ben Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his servants, “Prepare to attack!” They prepared to attack the city.
¹³ Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Yisra’el, and said, “Thus says Yahuwah, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day; and you shall know that I am Yahuwah.’”
¹⁴ Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “Thus says Yahuwah, ‘By the young men of the princes of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” He answered, “You.”
¹⁵ Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the children of Yisra’el, being seven thousand.
¹⁶ They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.
¹⁷ The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Shomron.”
¹⁸ He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.”
¹⁹ So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them.
²⁰ They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Yisra’el pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen.
²¹ The king of Yisra’el went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
²² The prophet came near to the king of Yisra’el, and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.”
²³ The servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their elohim is an elohim of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
²⁴ Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place.
²⁵ Muster an army, like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than them.” He listened to their voice, and did so.
²⁶ It happened at the return of the year, that Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Afek, to fight against Yisra’el.
²⁷ The children of Yisra’el were mustered, and were provisioned, and went against them. The children of Yisra’el encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats; but the Syrians filled the country.
²⁸ A man of Elohim came near and spoke to the king of Yisra’el, and said, “Thus says Yahuwah, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “Yahuwah is an elohim of the hills, but he is not an elohim of the valleys;” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahuwah.’”
²⁹ They encamped one over against the other seven days. So it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Yisra’el killed one hundred thousand footmen of the Syrians in one day.
³⁰ But the rest fled to Afek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner room.
³¹ His servants said to him, “See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Yisra’el are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Yisra’el. Maybe he will save your life.”
³² So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Yisra’el, and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
³³ Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
³⁴ Ben Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Shomron.” “I,” said Ahab, “will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.
³⁵ A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the word of Yahuwah, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him.
³⁶ Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahuwah, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall kill you.” As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him.
³⁷ Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him, smiting and wounding him.
³⁸ So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes.
³⁹ As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he be missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’
⁴⁰ As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Yisra’el said to him, “So your judgment shall be; you yourself have decided it.”
⁴¹ He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Yisra’el recognized that he was of the prophets.
⁴² He said to him, “Thus says Yahuwah, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’”
⁴³ The king of Yisra’el went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Shomron.

¹ It happened after these things, that Nabot the Yezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Yezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Shomron.
² Ahab spoke to Nabot, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
³ Nabot said to Ahab, “May Yahuwah forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”
⁴ Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Nabot the Yezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
⁵ But Yezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, “Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?”
⁶ He said to her, “Because I spoke to Nabot the Yezreelite, and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ He answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
⁷ Yezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Yisra’el? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Nabot the Yezreelite.”
⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Nabot.
⁹ She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Nabot on high among the people.
¹⁰ Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed Elohim and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.”
¹¹ The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Yezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.
¹² They proclaimed a fast, and set Nabot on high among the people.
¹³ The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Nabot, in the presence of the people, saying, “Nabot cursed Elohim and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.
¹⁴ Then they sent to Yezebel, saying, “Nabot has been stoned, and is dead.”
¹⁵ It happened, when Yezebel heard that Nabot was stoned, and was dead, that Yezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Nabot the Yezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Nabot is not alive, but dead.”
¹⁶ It happened, when Ahab heard that Nabot was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Nabot the Yezreelite, to take possession of it.
¹⁷ The word of Yahuwah came to Eliyahu the Tishbite, saying,
¹⁸ “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Yisra’el, who dwells in Shomron. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Nabot, where he has gone down to take possession of it.
¹⁹ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says Yahuwah, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says Yahuwah, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Nabot, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’”
²⁰ Ahab said to Eliyahu, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahuwah.
²¹ Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Yisra’el.
²² I will make your house like the house of Yerov’am the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahiyah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Yisra’el to sin.”
²³ Yahuwah also spoke of Yezebel, saying, “The dogs shall eat Yezebel by the rampart of Yezreel.
²⁴ The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field.”
²⁵ But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, whom Yezebel his wife stirred up.
²⁶ He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahuwah cast out before the children of Yisra’el.
²⁷ It happened, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
²⁸ The word of Yahuwah came to Eliyahu the Tishbite, saying,
²⁹ “See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son’s days will I bring the evil on his house.”

¹ They continued three years without war between Syria and Yisra’el.
² It happened in the third year, that Yahushafat the king of Yehudah came down to the king of Yisra’el.
³ The king of Yisra’el said to his servants, “You know that Ramot Gilead is ours, and we are still, and don’t take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?”
⁴ He said to Yahushafat, “Will you go with me to battle to Ramot Gilead?” Yahushafat said to the king of Yisra’el, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
⁵ Yahushafat said to the king of Yisra’el, “Please inquire first for the word of Yahuwah.”
⁶ Then the king of Yisra’el gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramot Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?” They said, “Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
⁷ But Yahushafat said, “Isn’t there here a prophet of Yahuwah, that we may inquire of him?”
⁸ The king of Yisra’el said to Yahushafat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahuwah, Micaiyah the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Yahushafat said, “Don’t let the king say so.”
⁹ Then the king of Yisra’el called an officer, and said, “Quickly get Micaiyah the son of Imlah.”
¹⁰ Now the king of Yisra’el and Yahushafat the king of Yehudah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Shomron; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
¹¹ Tzedekiyah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said, “Thus says Yahuwah, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians, until they are consumed.’”
¹² All the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramot Gilead, and prosper; for Yahuwah will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
¹³ The messenger who went to call Micaiyah spoke to him, saying, “See now, the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.”
¹⁴ Micaiyah said, “As Yahuwah lives, what Yahuwah says to me, that I will speak.”
¹⁵ When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiyah. shall we go to Ramot Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?” He answered him, “Go up and prosper; and Yahuwah will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
¹⁶ The king said to him, “How many times do I have to adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahuwah?”
¹⁷ He said, “I saw all Yisra’el scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahuwah said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”
¹⁸ The king of Yisra’el said to Yahushafat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
¹⁹ Micaiyah said, “Therefore hear the word of Yahuwah. I saw Yahuwah sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
²⁰ Yahuwah said, ‘Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramot Gilead?’ One said one thing; and another said another.
²¹ A spirit came out and stood before Yahuwah, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
²² Yahuwah said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’
²³ Now therefore, behold, Yahuwah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and Yahuwah has spoken evil concerning you.”
²⁴ Then Tzedekiyah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiyah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the Spirit of Yahuwah go from me to speak to you?”
²⁵ Micaiyah said, “Behold, you will see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”
²⁶ The king of Yisra’el said, “Take Micaiyah. and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Yoash the king’s son.
²⁷ Say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.”’”
²⁸ Micaiyah said, “If you return at all in peace, Yahuwah has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!”
²⁹ So the king of Yisra’el and Yahushafat the king of Yehudah went up to Ramot Gilead.
³⁰ The king of Yisra’el said to Yahushafat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes.” The king of Yisra’el disguised himself, and went into the battle.
³¹ Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, except only with the king of Yisra’el.
³² It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw Yahushafat, that they said, “Surely that is the king of Yisra’el!” and they turned aside to fight against him. Yahushafat cried out.
³³ It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Yisra’el, that they turned back from pursuing him.
³⁴ A certain man drew his bow at random, and struck the king of Yisra’el between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn your hand, and carry me out of the battle; for I am severely wounded.”
³⁵ The battle increased that day. The king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot.
³⁶ A cry went throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”
³⁷ So the king died, and was brought to Shomron; and they buried the king in Shomron.
³⁸ They washed the chariot by the pool of Shomron; and the dogs licked up his blood where the prostitutes washed themselves; according to the word of Yahuwah which he spoke.
³⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra’el?
⁴⁰ So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziyah his son reigned in his place.
⁴¹ Yahushafat the son of Asa began to reign over Yehudah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Yisra’el.
⁴² Yahushafat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
⁴³ He walked in all the way of Asa his father; He didn’t turn aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Yahuwah: however the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
⁴⁴ Yahushafat made peace with the king of Yisra’el.
⁴⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Yahushafat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah?
⁴⁶ The remnant of the Sodomites, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land.
⁴⁷ There was no king in Edom: a deputy was king.
⁴⁸ Yahushafat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they didn’t go; for the ships were broken at Etzion Geber.
⁴⁹ Then Ahaziyah the son of Ahab said to Yahushafat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Yahushafat would not.
⁵⁰ Yahushafat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; Yahuram his son reigned in his place.
⁵¹ Ahaziyah the son of Ahab began to reign over Yisra’el in Shomron in the seventeenth year of Yahushafat king of Yehudah, and he reigned two years over Yisra’el.
⁵² He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Yerov’am the son of Nebat, in which he made Yisra’el to sin.
⁵³ He served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked to anger Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, according to all that his father had done.