2 Chronicles 9; 2 Chronicles 10; 2 Chronicles 11; 2 Chronicles 12

1 When the queen of Sheba heard reports about Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. Accompanying her was a huge entourage, with camels carrying spices, large amounts of gold, and precious stones. After she arrived, she told Solomon everything that was on her mind.

2 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him to answer.

3 When the queen of Sheba saw how wise Solomon was, the palace he had built,

4 the food on his table, his servants' quarters, the function and dress of his attendants, his cupbearers and their dress, and the entirely burned offerings he offered at the LORD's temple, it took her breath away.

5 "The report I heard about your deeds and wisdom when I was still at home is true," she said to the king.

6 "I didn't believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, the half of it wasn't told to me! You have far more than I was told.

7 Your people and these servants who continually serve you and get to listen to your wisdom are truly happy!

8 Bless the LORD your God because he was pleased to put you on the throne as king for the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel and wanted to establish them forever, he has made you their king to uphold justice and righteousness."

9 Then she gave the king one hundred twenty kikkars of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again has such a quantity of spice come to Israel as when the queen of Sheba gave this gift to King Solomon.

10 In addition, Huram's servants and the servants of Solomon, who had brought gold back from Ophir, also brought algum wood and precious stones.

11 The king made steps for the LORD's temple and for the royal palace with the algum wood, as well as lyres and harps for the musicians. Never before had anything like them been seen in the land of Judah.

12 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted, even more than she had brought the king. Then she and her servants returned to her homeland.

13 Solomon received an annual income of six hundred sixty-six kikkars of gold,

14 not including income from the traders and merchants. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought Solomon gold and silver.

15 King Solomon made two hundred body-sized shields of hammered gold, using fifteen pounds of hammered gold in each shield;

16 and three hundred small shields of hammered gold, using seven and a half pounds of hammered gold in each shield. The king placed these in the Forest of Lebanon Palace.

17 The king also made a large ivory throne and covered it with pure gold.

18 Six steps led up to the throne, which had a gold footrest attached. Two lions stood beside the armrests on both sides of the throne.

19 Another twelve lions stood on both sides of the six steps. No other kingdom had anything like this.

20 All King Solomon's drinking cups were made of gold, and all the items in the Forest of Lebanon Palace were made of pure gold, not silver, since even silver wasn't considered good enough in Solomon's time!

21 The royal fleet sailed to Tarshish with the servants of Huram, returning once every three years with gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

22 King Solomon far exceeded all the earth's kings in wealth and wisdom,

23 and kings of every nation wanted an audience with Solomon in order to hear his God-given wisdom.

24 Year after year they came with tribute: objects of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

25 Solomon also had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, together with twelve thousand horsemen that he kept in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

26 He ruled all the kings from the Euphrates to the Philistines' land and the border of Egypt.

27 In Jerusalem, the king made silver as common as stones and cedar as common as sycamore trees that grow in the foothills.

28 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and every land.

29 The rest of Solomon's deeds, from beginning to end, aren't they written in the records of the prophet Nathan, the prophecies of Ahijah from Shiloh, and the visions of the seer Iddo concerning Jeroboam, Nebat's son?

30 Solomon ruled over all Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.

31 Solomon lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David's City with his father. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

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

2 When Jeroboam, Nebat's son, heard the news, he returned from Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon.

3 The people sent and called for Jeroboam, who along with all Israel came and said to Rehoboam,

4 "Your father made our workload very heavy; if you will lessen the demands your father made of us and lighten the heavy workload he demanded from us, then we will serve you."

5 He answered them, "Come back in three days." So the people left.

6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. "What do you advise?" Rehoboam asked. "How should I respond to these people?"

7 "If you are kind to these people and try to please them by speaking gently with them," they replied, "they will be your servants forever."

8 But Rehoboam ignored the advice the elders gave him and instead sought the counsel of the young advisors who had grown up with him and now served him.

9 "What do you advise?" he asked them. "How should we respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the workload your father demanded from us'?"

10 The young people who had grown up with Rehoboam said to him,"This people said to you, ‘Your father made our workload heavy. Lighten it for us!' Now this is what you should say to them, ‘My baby finger is thicker than my father's waist!

11 So if my father made your workload heavy, I'll make it even heavier! If my father disciplined you with whips, I'll do it with scorpions!'"

12 Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had specified when he said, "Come back in three days."

13 The king then answered the people harshly. He ignored the elders' advice,

14 and instead followed the young people's advice. He said, "My father made your workload heavy, but I'll make it even heavier; my father disciplined you with whips, but I'll do it with scorpions!"

15 The king didn't listen to the people because this turn of events came from God so that the LORD might keep his promise concerning Jeroboam, Nebat's son, which God delivered through Ahijah from Shiloh.

16 When all Israel saw that the king wouldn't listen to them, the people answered the king, "Why should we care about David? We have no stake in Jesse's son! Go back to your homes, Israel! You better look after your own house now, David!" Then all Israel went back to their homes,

17 and Rehoboam ruled over only the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

18 When King Rehoboam sent Hadoram to them (he was the leader of the work gang), the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly got into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.

19 And so Israel has been in rebellion against David's dynasty to this day.

1 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand select warriors, to fight against Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

2 But the LORD's word came to Shemaiah the man of God:

3 Tell Judah's King Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,

4 This is what the LORD says: Don't make war against your relatives. Go home, every one of you, because this is my plan. When they heard the LORD's words, they abandoned their attack against Jeroboam.

5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, but he built cities for Judah's defense

6 in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

7 Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

11 He made the fortifications stronger, placed commanders in them, and supplied them with food, oil, and wine.

12 He also stored shields and spears in each of the cities, making them very strong. This is how Judah and Benjamin remained under his control.

13 The priests and the Levites from every region throughout all Israel sided with Rehoboam.

14 The Levites left their pastures and property to come to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had refused to let them serve as the LORD's priests,

15 having appointed his own priests for the shrines and the goat and calf idols he had made.

16 People from every tribe of Israel who had made up their minds to seek the LORD, Israel's God, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

17 They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam, Solomon's son, for three years by following the way of David and Solomon those three years.

18 Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David's son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse's son.

19 The sons she bore him were Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

20 Later he married Maacah, Absalom's daughter, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

21 Rehoboam loved Absalom's daughter Maacah more than all his wives and secondary wives. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty secondary wives, twenty-eight sons, and sixty daughters.

22 Rehoboam named Abijah, Maacah's son, as his successor in order to make him king.

23 He wisely placed some of his sons in every region of Judah and Benjamin, in every fortified city, and gave them plenty of food and sought many wives for them.

1 But as soon as Rehoboam had secured his royal power, he, along with all Israel, abandoned the LORD's Instruction.

2 Egypt's King Shishak attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam because Israel had been unfaithful to the LORD.

3 Accompanying Shishak from Egypt were twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horses, and countless Libyan, Sukkite, and Cushite warriors.

4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came toward Jerusalem.

5 Then the prophet Shemaiah went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and told them, This is what the LORD says: Since you have abandoned me, now I am abandoning you to Shishak's power.

6 Then the leaders of Israel and the king submitted. "The LORD is right," they said.

7 When the LORD saw that they had submitted, the LORD's word came to Shemaiah: Since they have submitted, I won't destroy them. I will deliver them in a little while, and I won't use Shishak to pour out my anger against Jerusalem.

8 Nevertheless, they will be subject to him so that they learn the difference between serving me and serving other nations.

9 Egypt's King Shishak attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the LORD's temple and the royal palace. He took everything, even the gold shields Solomon had made.

10 King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and assigned them to the officers of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. (

11 Whenever the king entered the LORD's temple, the guards would carry the shields and then return them to the guardroom.)

12 When Rehoboam submitted, the LORD was no longer angry with him, and total destruction was avoided. There were, after all, some good things still in Judah.

13 So King Rehoboam was securely established in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name. His mother's name was Naamah from Ammon.

14 But Rehoboam did what was evil because he didn't set his heart on seeking the LORD.

15 The deeds of Rehoboam, from beginning to end, aren't they written in the records of the prophet Shemaiah and the seer Iddo, including the genealogical records? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

16 Rehoboam lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David's City. His son Abijah succeeded him as king.