10She presented the king with one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a vast quantity of spices arrive as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.—11Moreover, Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a huge quantity of almug woodc and precious stones. 12The king used the almug wood for decorations in the House of the LORD and in the royal palace, and for harps and lyres for the musicians. Such a quantity of almug wood has never arrived or been seen to this day.—13King Solomon, in turn, gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and asked for, in addition to what King Solomon gave her out of his royal bounty. Then she and her attendants left and returned to her own land.
14The weight of the gold which Solomon received every year was 666 talents of gold, 15besides what came from tradesmen, from the traffic of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the regions. 16King Solomon made 200 shields of beaten gold—600 shekels of gold to each shield—17and 300 bucklers of beaten gold—three minas of gold to each buckler. The king placed them in the Lebanon Forest House.
18The king also made a large throne of ivory, and he overlaid it with refined gold. 19Six steps led up to the throne, and the throne had a back with a rounded top, and arms on either side of the seat. Two lions stood beside the arms, 20and twelve lions stood on the six steps, six on either side. No such throne was ever made for any other kingdom.d
21All King Solomon’s drinking cups were of gold, and all the utensils of the Lebanon Forest House were of pure gold: silver did not count for anything in Solomon’s days. 22For the king had a Tarshishe fleet on the sea, along with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years, the Tarshish fleet came in, bearing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23King Solomon excelled all the kings on earth in wealth and in wisdom. 24All the world came to pay homage to Solomon and to listen to the wisdom with which God had endowed him; 25and each one would bring his tribute—silver and gold objects, robes, weapons and spices, horses and mules—in the amount due each year.
26Solomon assembled chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationedf in the chariot towns and with the king in Jerusalem. 27The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the Shephelah. 28Solomon’s horses were procured from Mizraimg and Kue. The king’s dealers would buy them from Kue at a fixed price. 29A chariot imported from Mizraimg cost 600 shekels of silver, and a horse 150; these in turn were exported by themh to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Arameans.
11 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Phoenician, and Hittite women, 2from the nations of which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “None of you shall join them and none of them shall join you,a lest they turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Such Solomon clung to and loved. 3He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. 4In his old age, his wives turned away Solomon’s heart after other gods, and he was not as wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God as his father David had been. 5Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
6Solomon did what was displeasing to the LORD and did not remain loyal to the LORD like his father David. 7At that time, Solomon built a shrine for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill near Jerusalem, and one for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. 8And he did the same for all his foreign wives who offered and sacrificed to their gods.
9The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10and had commanded him about this matter, not to follow other gods; he did not obey what the LORD had commanded. 11And the LORD said to Solomon, b-“Because you are guilty of this-b—you have not kept My covenant and the laws which I enjoined upon you—I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12But, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it away from your son. 13However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give your son one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
14So the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, the Edomite Hadad, who was of the royal family of Edom. 15When David c-was in-c Edom, Joab the army commander went up to bury the slain, and he killed every male in Edom; 16for Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months until he had killed off every male in Edom. 17But Hadad,d together with some Edomite men, servants of his father, escaped and headed for Egypt; Hadad was then a young boy. 18Setting out from Midian, they came to Paran and took along with them men from Paran. Thus they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, assigned a food allowance to him, and granted him an estate. 19Pharaoh took a great liking to Hadad and gave him his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, as wife. 20The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son, Genubath. Tahpenes weanede him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath remained in Pharaoh’s palace among the sons of Pharaoh. 21When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had been laid to rest with his fathers and that Joab the army commander was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Give me leave to go to my own country.” 22Pharaoh replied, “What do you lack with me, that you want to go to your own country?” But he said, “Nevertheless, give me leave to go.”
23Another adversary that God raised up against Solomonf was Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, King Hadadezer of Zobah, 24when David was slaughtering them. He gathered men about him and became captain over a troop; they went to Damascus and settled there, and they established a kingdom in Damascus. 25He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, adding to the trouble [caused by] Hadad; he repudiated [the authority of] Israel and reigned over Aram.
26Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, the son of a widow whose name was Zeruah, was in Solomon’s service; he raised his hand against the king. 27The circumstances under which he raised his hand against the king were as follows: Solomon built the Millo and repaired the breach of the city of his father, David. 28This Jeroboam was an able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was a capable worker, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the House of Joseph.
29During that time Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem and the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh met him on the way. He had put on a new robe; and when the two were alone in the open country, 30Ahijah took hold of the new robe he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31“Take ten pieces,” he said to Jeroboam. “For thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands, and I will give you ten tribes. 32But one tribe shall remain his—for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33For they have forsaken Me; they have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites; they have not walked in My ways, or done what is pleasing to Me, or [kept] My laws and rules, as his father David did. 34However, I will not take the entire kingdom away from him, but will keep him as ruler as long as he lives for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, and who kept My commandments and My laws. 35But I will take the kingship out of the hands of his son and give it to you—the ten tribes. 36To his son I will give one tribe, so that there may be a lamp for My servant David forever before Me in Jerusalem—the city where I have chosen to establish My name. 37But you have been chosen by Me; reigng wherever you wish, and you shall be king over Israel. 38If you heed all that I command you, and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, keeping My laws and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you and I will build for you a lasting dynasty
