1 Kings 11

¹⁷He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.

²⁴to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

¹⁶It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words

⁵that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.

¹⁶And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

¹²For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,

¹³know for sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

³²You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

³³They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

¹³After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

¹⁴These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

²⁸While my soul was still searching but not finding, among a thousand I have found one upright man, but among all these I have not found one such woman.

⁵He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.

²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;

³his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;

³⁰Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.

³¹His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

⁴And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

⁶¹So let your heart be fully devoted to the Lord our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”

⁹As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

⁶So Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord; unlike his father David, he did not follow the Lord completely.

³Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,

¹⁷He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.

¹³for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

⁷At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

¹³The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

³³For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.

⁶And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.

³Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁴So the Israelites put away the Baals and Ashtoreths and served only the Lord.

²⁴But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.

¹⁴Therefore Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁸Although my brothers who went with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear, I remained loyal to the Lord my God.

²⁹Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.

²⁴Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the Lord our God has granted us.

⁴³You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

³⁰I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

⁵⁸They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

⁵And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

¹King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

²²And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood.

²³Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord God. And in addition to all your other wickedness,

¹¹to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding.

¹²My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

¹²So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall.

²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

²the Lord appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

⁵One night at Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

⁹So the anger of the Lord burned against them, and He departed.

⁷And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.

¹⁴Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

⁸At Horeb you provoked the Lord, and He was angry enough to destroy you.

¹²“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

¹³And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

⁴And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

⁵then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

¹⁷And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

¹⁸then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,

³¹and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes.

²¹When the Lord had torn Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam led Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.

¹³Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.

¹⁴Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

²⁰When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

³⁰Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the Lord declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.

³¹Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age.

²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

¹⁹because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the Lord.

²⁰‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’” So they brought her answer back to the king.

¹⁷The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.

¹⁹But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Will there not at least be peace and security in my lifetime?”

⁴So Saul passed through the hill country of Ephraim and then through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find the donkeys. He and the servant went through the region of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they went through the land of Benjamin, and still they did not find them.

⁵When they reached the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, “Come, let us go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”

²⁰When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

¹¹then the Lord your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

³²But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

¹³For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:

¹⁴“This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,

³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

¹⁴I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

²⁶And the Lord of Hosts will brandish a whip against them, as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise His staff over the sea, as He did in Egypt.

¹⁷Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.

³⁰If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,

³¹if they violate My statutes and fail to keep My commandments,

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

¹⁹Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the Lord! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

¹⁴He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

¹²Moreover, Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹³He placed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

¹³When the Lord your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.

¹⁸Edom will become a possession, as will Seir, his enemy; but Israel will perform with valor.

¹⁹A ruler will come from Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”

¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

²³and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

¹³When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

¹⁴So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt,

²But Jehosheba daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.

⁴And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

¹Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,

²and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.

¹²and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.

²He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.

¹These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

⁴So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,

⁶and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert.

²¹the Lord was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.

⁴Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned.

⁷So they entered the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, and they went as far as Tahpanhes.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah at Tahpanhes:

²¹When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

⁴⁵Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt.

²⁴Once she had weaned him, Hannah took the boy with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. Though the boy was still young, she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.

⁷She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

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

²⁶They got up early in the morning, and just before dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get ready, and I will send you on your way!” So Saul got ready, and both he and Samuel went outside together.

²¹“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. And when they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²¹Then Abner said to David, “Let me go at once, and I will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires.” So David dismissed Abner, and he went in peace.

³⁴So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.

²⁴Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!”

³⁵Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.

⁸Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret—it can only bring harm.

²²Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” “My son,” Joab replied, “why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?”

²³“No matter what, I want to run!” he replied. “Then run!” Joab told him. So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

³¹But Peter kept insisting, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You.” And all the others said the same thing.

³¹You people of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?

³David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who had marched out to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River.

¹⁴Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

³As far as Hamath, David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, who had marched out to establish his dominion along the Euphrates River.

⁴David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.

¹⁶When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, with Shophach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

¹⁷When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, advanced toward the Arameans, and arrayed for battle against them. When David lined up to engage them in battle, they fought against him.

⁵I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will equip you for battle, though you have not known Me,

¹⁵When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped.

¹⁶Hadadezer sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.

⁸The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

³⁴Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

²and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

¹⁵During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

⁸And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.

²¹Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

⁷Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

²So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

⁴⁰So the anger of the Lord burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.

⁴But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or crisis.

⁶Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master.

²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since.

¹Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

²¹That is not the case. But a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him alone, and I will depart from the city.” “Look,” the woman replied, “his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

¹¹Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

²The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.

²⁴As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the Lord, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

⁷Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).

²¹That is not the case. But a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him alone, and I will depart from the city.” “Look,” the woman replied, “his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

¹¹“In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

¹¹O Lord, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them!

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

²⁰For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

¹⁶not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.

²⁵I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²²The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

²³They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz),

⁶Seek the Lord and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

²⁹As for the rest of the acts of Solomon, from beginning to end, are they not written in the Records of Nathan the Prophet, in the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the Visions of Iddo the Seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?

²and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now get up, disguise yourself so they will not recognize you as my wife, and go to Shiloh. For Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who spoke about my kingship over this people.

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

⁸Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

⁶And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.

²⁷As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

⁴So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

⁵Afterward, David’s conscience was stricken because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

¹¹Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

¹²Nevertheless, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹³Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

²⁰When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

²¹And when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

²¹Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

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

⁶So Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord; unlike his father David, he did not follow the Lord completely.

⁹Now the Lord grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!

¹³“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹²“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

¹³And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

⁹As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

²O Lord, I have heard the report of You; I stand in awe, O Lord, of Your deeds. Revive them in these years; make them known in these years. In Your wrath, remember mercy!

⁶and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.

³¹and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes.

¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities.

¹²Nevertheless, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹³Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

³Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

⁶but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

²⁰When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from God, in order that the Lord might fulfill the word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So all the Israelites went home,

¹²Nevertheless, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,

¹³Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

¹⁹Yet for the sake of His servant David, the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

⁴Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong.

¹⁷There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.

⁷Yet the Lord was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant He had made with David, and since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

¹⁷But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

²¹Then Abner said to David, “Let me go at once, and I will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires.” So David dismissed Abner, and he went in peace.

²⁶Now Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon, but he rebelled against the king,

²⁶Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your household.

¹¹and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you.

⁵No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁸The Lord Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

⁷Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over My people Israel.

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

⁵if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today.

⁵Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

¹¹Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!

¹Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

²The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,

³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

²⁵In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

²⁶He seized the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.

⁵Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.

²In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem

³with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

²⁵In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

²⁶He seized the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.

¹⁰Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.

²⁹As for the rest of the acts of Solomon, from beginning to end, are they not written in the Records of Nathan the Prophet, in the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the Visions of Iddo the Seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?

³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

¹¹The length of David’s reign over Israel was forty years—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place.

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

⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.

⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

²⁷And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.