18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, 1 “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”
10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, 2 she came to challenge 3 him with difficult questions. 4 10:2 She arrived in Jerusalem 5 with a great display of pomp, 6 bringing with her camels carrying spices, 7 a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind. 10:3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king. 8 10:4 When the queen of Sheba saw for herself Solomon’s extensive wisdom, 9 the palace 10 he had built, 10:5 the food in his banquet hall, 11 his servants and attendants, 12 their robes, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he presented in the Lord’s temple, she was amazed. 13 10:6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your wise sayings and insight 14 was true! 10:7 I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn’t hear even half the story! 15 Your wisdom and wealth 16 surpass what was reported to me. 10:8 Your attendants, who stand before you at all times and hear your wise sayings, are truly happy! 17 10:9 May the Lord your God be praised because he favored 18 you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions.” 19 10:10 She gave the king 120 talents 20 of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched. 21 10:11 (Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a very large quantity of fine timber and precious gems. 10:12 With the timber the king made supports 22 for the Lord’s temple and for the royal palace and stringed instruments 23 for the musicians. No one has seen so much of this fine timber to this very day. 24 ) 10:13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, besides what he had freely offered her. 25 Then she left and returned 26 to her homeland with her attendants.
10:14 Solomon received 666 talents 27 of gold per year, 28 10:15 besides what he collected from the merchants, 29 traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land. 10:16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures 30 of gold were used for each shield. 10:17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas 31 of gold were used for each of these shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest. 32
10:18 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 10:19 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and the back of it was rounded on top. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side. 33 10:20 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom. 34
10:21 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time. 35 10:22 Along with Hiram’s fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships 36 that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet 37 came into port with cargoes of 38 gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 39
10:23 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth. 40 10:24 Everyone 41 in the world wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom. 42 10:25 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules. 43
10:26 Solomon accumulated 44 chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. 45 10:27 The king made silver as plentiful 46 in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was 47 as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands. 48 10:28 Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt 49 and from Que; the king’s traders purchased them from Que. 10:29 They paid 600 silver pieces for each chariot from Egypt and 150 silver pieces for each horse. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria. 50
14:1 51 At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. 14:2 Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise 52 yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there. 53 14:3 Take 54 ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
14:4 Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. 55 Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age. 56 14:5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so. 57 When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” 14:6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news. 58 14:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up 59 from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. 14:8 I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve. 60 14:9 You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me. 61 14:10 So I am ready to bring disaster 62 on the dynasty 63 of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. 64 I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed. 65 14:11 Dogs will eat the members of your family 66 who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”’ Indeed, the Lord has announced it!
14:12 “As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. 14:13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family 67 who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. 14:14 The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. 68 It is ready to happen! 69 14:15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. 70 He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors 71 and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, 72 because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles. 73 14:16 He will hand Israel over to their enemies 74 because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.”
14:17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to 75 Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. 14:18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as the Lord had predicted 76 through his servant the prophet Ahijah.
14:19 The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including the details of his battles and rule, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 77 14:20 Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years; then he passed away. 78 His son Nadab replaced him as king.
14:21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He 79 was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, 80 the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. 81 His mother was an Ammonite woman 82 named Naamah.
14:22 Judah did evil in the sight of 83 the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done. 84 14:23 They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 14:24 There were also male cultic prostitutes 85 in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations 86 that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.
14:25 In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 14:26 He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. 14:27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard 87 who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 14:28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.
14:29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the
Kings of Judah. 88 14:30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 14:31 Rehoboam passed away 89 and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah 90 replaced him as king.
1 tn Heb “the word of the
2 tn Heb “the report about Solomon.” The Hebrew text also has, “to the name of the
3 tn Or “test.”
4 tn Or “riddles.”
3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
4 tn Heb “with very great strength.” The Hebrew term חַיִל (khayil, “strength”) may refer here to the size of her retinue (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or to the great wealth she brought with her.
5 tn Or “balsam oil.”
4 tn Heb “Solomon declared to her all her words; there was not a word hidden from the king which he did not declare to her.” If riddles are specifically in view (see v. 1), then one might translate, “Solomon explained to her all her riddles; there was no riddle too complex for the king.”
5 tn Heb “all the wisdom of Solomon.”
6 tn Heb “house.”
6 tn Heb “the food on his table.”
7 tn Heb “the seating of his servants and the standing of his attendants.”
8 tn Heb “there was no breath still in her.”
7 tn Heb “about your words [or perhaps, “deeds”] and your wisdom.”
8 tn Heb “the half was not told to me.”
9 tn Heb “good.”
9 tn Heb “How happy are your men! How happy are these servants of yours, who stand before you continually, who hear your wisdom!”
10 tn Or “delighted in.”
11 tn Heb “to do justice and righteousness.”
11 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 9,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV, NLT); CEV “five tons”; TEV “4,000 kilogrammes.”
12 tn Heb “there has not come like those spices yet for quantity which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”
12 tn This Hebrew architectural term occurs only here. The meaning is uncertain; some have suggested “banisters” or “parapets”; cf. TEV, NLT “railings.” The parallel passage in 2 Chr 9:11 has a different word, meaning “tracks,” or perhaps “steps.”
13 tn Two types of stringed instruments are specifically mentioned, the כִּנּוֹר (kinnor, “zither” [?]), and נֶבֶל (nevel, “harp”).
14 tn Heb “there has not come thus, the fine timber, and there has not been seen to this day.”
13 tn Heb “besides what he had given her according to the hand of King Solomon.”
14 tn Heb “turned and went.”
14 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 50,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV); CEV, NLT “twenty-five tons”; TEV “almost 23,000 kilogrammes.”
15 tn Heb “the weight of the gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.”
15 tn Heb “traveling men.”
16 tn The Hebrew text has simply “six hundred,” with no unit of measure given.
17 sn Three minas. The mina was a unit of measure for weight.
18 sn The Palace of the Lebanon Forest. This name was appropriate because of the large amount of cedar, undoubtedly brought from Lebanon, used in its construction. The cedar pillars in the palace must have given it the appearance of a forest.
18 tn Heb “[There were] armrests on each side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.”
19 tn Heb “nothing like it had been made for all the kingdoms.”
20 tn Heb “there was no silver, it was not regarded as anything in the days of Solomon.”
21 tn Heb “a fleet of Tarshish [ships].” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.
22 tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”
23 tn Heb “came carrying.”
24 tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Some suggest “baboons.”
22 tn Heb “King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and with respect to wisdom.”
23 tc The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta have “all the kings of the earth.” See 2 Chr 9:23.
24 tn Heb “and all the earth was seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had placed in his heart.”
24 tn Heb “and they were bringing each one his gift, items of silver…and mules, the matter of a year in a year.”
25 tn Or “gathered.”
26 tn Heb “he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.”
26 tn The words “as plentiful” are added for clarification.
27 tn Heb “he made.”
28 tn Heb “as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah.”
27 sn From Egypt. Because Que is also mentioned, some prefer to see in vv. 28-29 a reference to Mutsur. Que and Mutsur were located in Cilicia/Cappadocia (in modern southern Turkey). See HALOT 625 s.v. מִצְרַיִם.
28 tn Heb “and a chariot went up and came out of Egypt for six hundred silver [pieces], and a horse for one hundred fifty, and in the same way to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram by their hand they brought out.”
29 tc Some
30 tn Heb “Get up, change yourself.”
31 tn Heb “look, Ahijah the prophet is there, he told me [I would be] king over this nation.”
31 tn Heb “take in your hand.”
32 tn Heb “and the wife of Jeroboam did so; she arose and went to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah.”
33 tn Heb “his eyes were set because of his old age.”
33 sn Tell her so-and-so. Certainly the
34 tn Heb “I am sent to you [with] a hard [message].”
35 tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 7-11 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 7-9) and the main clause announcing the punishment (vv. 10-11). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.
36 tn Heb “what was right in my eyes.”
37 tn Heb “you went and you made for yourself other gods, metal [ones], angering me, and you threw me behind your back.”
38 sn Disaster. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word translated “disaster” (רָעָה, ra’ah) is from the same root as the expression “you have sinned” in v. 9 (וַתָּרַע [vattara’], from רָעַע, [ra’a’]). Jeroboam’s sins would receive an appropriate punishment.
39 tn Heb “house.”
40 tn Heb “and I will cut off from Jeroboam those who urinate against a wall (including both those who are) restrained and let free (or “abandoned”) in Israel.” The precise meaning of the idiomatic phrase עָצוּר וְעָזוּב (’atsur vÿ’azuv) is uncertain. For various options see HALOT 871 s.v. עצר 6 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 107. The two terms are usually taken as polar opposites (“slaves and freemen” or “minors and adults”), but Cogan and Tadmor, on the basis of contextual considerations (note the usage with אֶפֶס [’efes], “nothing but”) in Deut 32:36 and 2 Kgs 14:26, argue convincingly that the terms are synonyms, meaning “restrained and abandoned,” and refer to incapable or incapacitated individuals.
41 tn The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” Manure was sometimes used as fuel (see Ezek 4:12, 15). However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר as a homonym meaning “sweep away” (HALOT 146 s.v. II בער). In this case one might translate, “I will sweep away the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away manure it is gone” (cf. ASV, NASB, TEV). Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.
39 tn The Hebrew text has “belonging to Jeroboam” here.
40 tn Heb “house.”
41 tn Heb “house.”
42 tn Heb “This is the day. What also now?” The precise meaning of the second half of the statement is uncertain.
42 tn The elliptical Hebrew text reads literally “and the
43 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 31).
44 tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew this is a typical reference to the Euphrates River. The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
45 tn Heb “because they made their Asherah poles that anger the
43 tn Heb “and he will give [up] Israel.”
44 tn Heb “went and entered.”
45 tn Heb “according to the word of the
46 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he ruled, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”
47 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
48 tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
49 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
50 tn Heb “the city where the
51 tn Heb “an Ammonite”; the word “woman” is implied.
49 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
50 tn Heb “and they made him jealous more than all which their fathers had done by their sins which they sinned.”
50 tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”
51 tn Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”
51 tn Heb “runners.”
52 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Rehoboam, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
53 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
54 tn In the Hebrew text the name is spelled “Abijam” here and in 1 Kgs 15:1-8.