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The First Book of the Kings




(from the 1611 KJV: 1Samuel is otherwise called the First Booke of the Kings, 2Samuel is the Second Booke of the Kings, 1Kings is the Third Booke of the Kings, and 2Kings is commonly called the Fourth Booke of the Kings.)

     One Kings

Chapter 1

1 Now King David was old, stricken in years. They covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.

2 His servants said to him: Let a young virgin be found for my master the king. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him. Let her lie in your bosom, that my master the king may get heat.

3 So they searched for a fair damsel throughout all the borders of Yisrayah [Israel], found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

4 The damsel was very fair. She cherished the king, and ministered to him. But the king did not know her.

5 Then Adoniyah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying: I will be king. He prepared chariots, horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

6 His father did not displease him at any time in saying: Why do you do so? He was also a very goodly man, and he was born after Absalom.

7 He conferred with Yahuab [Joab] the son of Tseruyah, and with Abiathar the priest. They followed Adoniyah, and helped him.

8 But Zadok the priest, Benayah the son of Yahuyada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men that belonged to David, were not with Adoniyah.

9 Adoniyah killed sheep, oxen, and fatlings, by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel. He called all his brethren, the king's sons, and all the men of Yahudah, the king's servants.

10 But he did not call Nathan the prophet, Benayah, the mighty men, and Solomon his brother.

11 Then Nathan spoke to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying: Have you heard Adoniyah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our master does not know it?

12 Now come, I pray you, let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon.

13 Go, get in to king David, and say to him: My master, O king, did you not swear to your handmaid, saying; Assuredly your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit upon my throne? Why then does Adoniyah reign?

14 Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I will come in after you, and confirm your words.

15 Bath-sheba went in to the king into the chamber. The king was very old. Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king.

16 Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. The king said: What do you want?

17 She said to him: My master, you swore by Yahwah your Father to your handmaid, saying; Assuredly Solomon your son will reign after me, he will sit upon my throne.

18 Behold, Adoniyah reigns. You, my master the king, do not know it.

19 He killed oxen, fatlings, and sheep, in abundance, and called all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Yahuab the captain of the host. But he did not call Solomon your servant.

20 My master the king, the eyes of all Yisrayah are upon you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my master the king after him.

21 Otherwise it will come to pass, when my master the king sleeps with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.

22 Lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.

23 They told the king, saying: Behold, Nathan the prophet. When he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

24 Nathan said: My master, O king. Did you say: Adoniyah will reign after me, he will sit upon my throne?

25 For he went down today, and killed oxen, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and called all the king's sons, the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and say: Long live king Adoniyah.

26 But he did not call me, even me your servant, nor Zadok the priest, Benayah the son of Yahuyada, or your servant Solomon.

27 Is this thing done by my master the king, and you do not show to your servants who should sit on the throne of my master the king after him?

28 Then king David answered, and said: Call to me Bath-sheba. She came into the king's presence, and stood before the king.

29 The king swore, and said: As Yahwah lives, who redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

30 verily I swore to you by Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, saying; Assuredly Solomon your son will reign after me, he will sit upon my throne in my stead. Verily, I will do so today.

31 Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, did obeisance to the king, and said: Let my master King David live for ever.

32 King David said: Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benayah the son of Yahuyada. They came before the king.

33 The king said to them: Take with you the servants of your master, cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

34 Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Yisrayah. Blow the trumpet, and say: Long live King Solomon.

35 Then come up after him, he will come and sit upon my throne. He is king in my place. I appoint him to be prince over Yisrayah, and over Yahudah.

36 Benayah the son of Yahuyada answered the king, and said: Amein. Yahwah, the Father of my master the king, say so too.

37 As Yahwah was with my master the king, even so be He with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my master king David.

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benayah the son of Yahuyada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, caused Solomon to ride upon king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon.

39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet. All the people said: Long live King Solomon.

40 All the people came up after him. The people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so the earth shook with the sound of them.

41 Adoniyah and all the guests with him heard it as they made an end of eating. When Yahuab 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, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adoniyah said: Come in. You are a worthy man, and bring good tidings.

43 Jonathan answered, and said to Adoniyah: Verily our master King David made Solomon king.

44 The king sent Zadok the priest with him, Nathan the prophet, Benayah the son of Yahuyada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites. They caused him to ride upon the king's mule.

45 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king in Gihon. They are come up from there rejoicing, so the city rang again. This is the noise you have heard.

46 Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.

47 Moreover the king's servants came to bless our master King David, saying: Your Father make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne. The king bowed himself upon the bed.

48 Also the king said this: Blessed is Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, who gives one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.

49 All the guests of Adoniyah were afraid, rose up, and went every man his way.

50 Adoniyah feared because of Solomon. He arose, went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

51 It was told Solomon, saying: Behold, Adoniyah fears king Solomon. Lo, he laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying: Let King Solomon swear to me first he will not slay his servant with the sword.

52 Solomon said: If he will show himself a worthy man, there will not a hair of him fall to the earth. But if wickedness is found in him, he will die.

53 So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came, and did obeisance to King Solomon. Solomon said to him: Go to your house.

Chapter 2

1 Now the days of David drew near that he should die. He charged Solomon his son, saying:

2 I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man.

3 Keep the charge of Yahwah your Father, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moshe [Moses], that you may prosper in all you do, and wheresoever you turn yourself.

4 Yahwah will establish His word 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 will not fail you (He said) a man on the throne of Yisrayah.

5 Moreover you know also what Yahuab the son of Tseruyah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Yisrayah, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed. He shed the blood of war in peace, put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, do not let his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.

7 Show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table. For so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

8 Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Yordan, and I swore to him by Yahwah, saying: I will not put you to death with the sword.

9 Now do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his hoar head down to the grave with blood.

10 David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

11 The days David reigned over Yisrayah were forty years. Seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty and three years he reigned in Yerusalem.

12 Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was established greatly.

13 Adoniyah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. She said: Do you come peaceably? He said: Peaceably.

14 He said moreover: I have somewhat to say to you. She said: Say on.

15 He said: You know the kingdom was mine, and that all Yisrayah set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's, for it was his from Yahwah.

16 Now I ask one petition of you, do not deny me. She said to him: Say on.

17 He said: I pray you, speak to Solomon the king (for he will not say no to you), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.

18 Bath-sheba said: Well. I will speak for you to the king.

19 Bath-sheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adoniyah. The king rose up to meet her, bowed himself to her, sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother. She sat on his right hand.

20 She said: I ask one small petition of you, do not deny me. The king said to her: Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny you.

21 She said: Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adoniyah your brother to wife.

22 King Solomon answered, and said to his mother: Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adoniyah? Ask for him the kingdom also (for he is my elder brother), even for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Yahuab the son of Tseruyah.

23 King Solomon swore by Yahwah, saying: Yahwah do so to me, and more also, if Adoniyah did not speak this word against his own life.

24 As Yahwah lives, who established me, set me on the throne of David my father, and who made me a house, as He promised, surely Adoniyah will be put to death today.

25 King Solomon sent by Benayah the son of Yahuyada. He fell upon him, so that he died.

26 The king said to Abiathar the priest: Get to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are worthy of death. But I will not put you to death at this time, because you bore the ark of the Father Yahwah before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.

27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Yahwah, that he might fulfil the word of Yahwah, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 The tidings came to Yahuab, for Yahuab had turned after Adoniyah, though he did not turn after Absalom. Yahuab fled to the Tent of Yahwah, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

29 It was told King Solomon: Yahuab is fled to the Tent of Yahwah. Behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benayah the son of Yahuyada, saying: Go, fall upon him.

30 Benayah came to the Tent of Yahwah, and said to him: Thus says the king; Come forth. He said: No, I will die here. Benayah brought the king word again, saying: Thus said Yahuab, and thus he answered me.

31 The king said to him: Do as he said, fall upon him, and bury him, that you may take away from me and from my father's house the blood Yahuab shed without cause.

32 Yahwah will return his blood upon his own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it. To wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Yisrayah, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Yahudah.

33 So their blood will return upon the head of Yahuab, and upon the head of his seed for ever. But to David, to his seed, to his house, and to his throne, there will be peace for ever from Yahwah.

34 Then Benayah the son of Yahuyada went up, fell upon him, and killed him. He was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

35 The king put Benayah the son of Yahuyada in his room over the host. The king put Zadok the priest in the room of Abiathar.

36 The king sent, called for Shimei, and said to him: Build a house in Yerusalem, dwell there, and do not go forth from there anywhere.

37 On the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain you will surely die. Your blood will be upon your own head.

38 Shimei said to the king: The saying is good. As my master the king said, so your servant will do. Shimei dwelt in Yerusalem many days.

39 It came to pass at the end of three years, two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying: Behold, your servants are in Gath.

40 Shimei arose, saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants. Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

41 It was told Solomon Shimei went from Yerusalem to Gath, and was come again.

42 The king sent, called for Shimei, and said to him: Did I not adjure you by Yahwah, and protest to you, saying; Know for certain, on the day you go out, and walk abroad anywhere, you will surely die? You said to me: The saying I heard is good.

43 Why then did you not keep the oath of Yahwah, and the commandment I charged you with?

44 The king said moreover to Shimei: You know all the wickedness your heart is privy to, what you did to David my father. Therefore Yahwah will return your wickedness upon your own head.

45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before Yahwah for ever.

46 So the king commanded Benayah the son of Yahuyada. He went out, and fell upon him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Chapter 3

1 Solomon made peace with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter [to wife]. He brought her into the city of David, until he made an end of building his own house, the house of Yahwah, and the wall of Yerusalem round about.

2 Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the Name of Yahwah until those days.

3 Solomon loved Yahwah, 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. Solomon offered a thousand burnt-offerings upon that altar.

5 In Gibeon Yahwah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. Yahwah said: Ask what I will give you.

6 Solomon said: You showed to your servant David my father great lovingkindness, according as he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You kept this great lovingkindness for him, that you gave him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

7 O Yahwah my Father, now you made your servant king instead of David my father. I am but a little child, I do not know how to go out, or come in.

8 Your servant is in the midst of your people you chose, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

9 Give your servant 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 Yahwah, that Solomon asked this thing.

11 Yahwah said to him: Because you asked this thing, and did not ask long life for yourself, nor ask riches for yourself, nor asked the life of your enemies, but asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I did according to your word.

12 Lo, I gave you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there has been none like you before you, neither will any arise like to you after you.

13 I also gave you what you did not ask, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like to 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 Solomon awoke. Behold, it was a dream. He came to Yerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Yahwah. He offered up burnt-offerings, offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

16 Then there came two women to the king, who were harlots, and stood before him.

17 The one woman said: Oh, my master. I and this woman dwell in one house. I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

18 It came to pass the third day after I was delivered, this woman was delivered also. We were together, there was no stranger with us in the house, just the two of us in the house.

19 This woman's child died in the night, because she lay upon it.

20 She arose at midnight, took my son from beside me while your handmaid slept, laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

21 I rose in the morning to give my child suck. Behold, it was dead. But I looked at it in the morning. Behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.

22 The other woman said: Nay. The living is my son, and the dead is your son. This said: No, 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 that lives, and your son is the dead. The other says: Nay, your son is the dead, and my son is the living.

24 The king said: Fetch me a sword. They brought a sword before the king.

25 The king said: Divide the living child in two. 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. She said: Oh, my master, give her the living child, and in no way kill it. But the other said: It will be neither mine nor yours. Divide it.

27 Then the king answered, and said: Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is the mother of it.

28 All Yisrayah heard of the judgment the king judged, and they feared the king. They saw the wisdom of Yahwah was in him, to do justice.

Chapter 4

1 King Solomon was king over all Yisrayah.

2 These were the princes he had: Azaryah the son of Zadok, the priest;

3 Elihoreph and Ahiyah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Yahushaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

4 Benayah the son of Yahuyada was over the host; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5 Azaryah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, and the king's friend;

6 Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to taskwork.

7 Solomon had twelve officers over all Yisrayah, who provided victuals 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 Ephrayim;

9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, in Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan;

10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him pertained Socoh, and all the land of Hepher);

11 Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphas the daughter of Solomon to wife);

12 Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam;

13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-Gilead (to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; even to him pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars);

14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife);

16 Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher;

17 in Aloth Yahushaphat the son of Paruah;

18 in Issachar Shimei the son of Ela;

19 in Benjamin 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 that was in the land.

20 Yahudah and Yisrayah were many as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating, drinking, and making merry.

21 Solomon 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 Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, threescore measures of meal,

23 ten fat oxen, twenty oxen out of the pastures, a hundred sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

24 He had dominion over all the region on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River. He had peace on all sides round about him.

25 Yahudah and Yisrayah dwelt safely, every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

27 Those officers provided victuals for King Solomon, and for all that came to King Solomon's table, every man in his month. They let nothing be lacking.

28 Barley also, straw for the horses, and swift steeds, they brought to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

29 Yahwah gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

30 Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 He was wiser than all men: than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. His fame was in all the nations round about.

32 He spoke three thousand proverbs. His songs were a thousand and five.

33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of beasts, of birds, of creeping things, and of fishes.

34 There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who heard of his wisdom.

Chapter 5

1 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon. He heard they anointed him king in the room of his father, for Hiram was ever a lover of David.

2 Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

3 You know David my father could not build a house for the Name of Yahwah his Father for the wars which were about him on every side, until Yahwah put them under the soles of his feet.

4 But now Yahwah my Father gives me rest on every side. There is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence.

5 Behold, I purpose to build a house for the Name of Yahwah my Father, as Yahwah spoke to David my father, saying: Your son, whom I will set upon your throne in your room, he will build the house for my Name.

6 Now therefore command that they cut me cedar-trees out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants. I will give you hire for your servants according to all you will say. You know there is not among us any who knows how to cut timber like to the Sidonians.

7 It came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said: Blessed is Yahwah today, who gave to David a wise son over this great people.

8 Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I heard the message you sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

9 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you will appoint me, cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them. You will accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

10 So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire.

11 Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

12 Yahwah gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together.

13 King Solomon raised a levy out of all Yisrayah, 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. Adoniram was over the men subject to taskwork.

15 Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bore burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains,

16 besides Solomon's chief officers that were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people that wrought in the work.

17 The king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone.

18 Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites fashioned them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

Chapter 6

1 It came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Yisrayah were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Yisrayah, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of Yahwah.

2 The house King Solomon built for Yahwah, the length of it was threescore cubits, the breadth of it twenty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

3 The porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits was the breadth of it before the house.

4 He made windows of fixed lattice-work for the house.

5 Against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle. He made side-chambers round about.

6 The nethermost story was five cubits broad, the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. On the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house round about, 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 made ready at the quarry. 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-chambers was in the right side of the house. 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. 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 Yahwah came to Solomon, saying:

12 Concerning this house you are building, if you walk in my statutes, execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I establish my Word with you which I spoke to David your father.

13 I will dwell among the children of Yisrayah, and will not forget my people Yisrayah.

14 So Solomon 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. He covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.

16 He built twenty cubits on the hind part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls of the ceiling. He built them for it within, for an oracle, even for the most holy place.

17 The house, that is, the temple before the oracle, was forty cubits long.

18 There was cedar on the house within, carved with knops and open flowers. All was cedar, there was no stone seen.

19 He prepared an oracle in the middle of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Yahwah.

20 Within the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height of it. He overlaid it with pure gold, and he covered the altar with cedar.

21 Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. 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. The wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. 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 round about with carved figures of cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, within and without.

30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

31 He made doors of olive-wood for the entrance of the oracle. The lintel and door-posts were a fifth part of the wall.

32 So he made two doors of olive-wood. He carved upon them carvings of cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm-trees.

33 He made door-posts of olive-wood for the entrance of the temple, out of a fourth part of the wall, and two doors of fir-wood.

34 The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

35 He carved thereon cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold fitted upon the graven work.

36 He built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Yahwah was laid, in the month Ziv.

38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all the parts of it, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

Chapter 7

1 Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

2 He built the house of the forest of Lebanon. The length of it was a hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

3 It was covered with cedar above over the forty and five beams, that were upon 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. The length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth of it thirty cubits. A porch before them, pillars, and a threshold before them.

7 He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment. 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 similar work. He also made a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken to wife), like to this porch.

9 All these were of costly stones, even of hewn stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, within and without, 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 hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar-wood.

12 The great court round about had three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams, like as the inner court of the house of Yahwah, and the porch of the house.

13 King Solomon sent, and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. He was filled with wisdom, understanding, and skill, to work all works in bronze. He came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work.

15 He fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece. A line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about.

16 He made two capitals of molten bronze, to set upon 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 upon the top of the pillars. Seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

18 So he made the pillars. There were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars. And so did he for the other capital.

19 The capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits.

20 There were capitals above also upon the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. The pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other capital.

21 He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called the name of it Jachin. He set up the left pillar, and called the name of it Boaz.

22 Lily-work was upon the top of the pillars. So the work of the pillars was finished.

23 He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height of it was five cubits. A line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.

24 Under the brim of it round about there were knops which compassed it, for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about. The knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east. The sea was set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.

26 It was a handbreadth thick. The brim of it was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

27 He made the ten bases of bronze. Four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth of it, and three cubits the height of it.

28 The work of the bases was on this manner: they had panels. There were panels between the ledges.

29 On the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Upon the ledges there was a pedestal above. Beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

30 Every base had four brazen wheels, and axles of bronze. The four feet of it had undersetters. Beneath the laver the undersetters were molten, with wreaths at the side of each.

31 The mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit. The mouth of it was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. Also upon the mouth of it were gravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round.

32 The four wheels were underneath the panels. The axletrees of the wheels were in the base. 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 axletrees, their felloes, their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.

34 There were four undersetters at the four corners of each base. The undersetters of it were of the base itself.

35 In the top of the base there was a round compass half a cubit high, and on the top of the base the stays of it and the panels of it were of the same.

36 On the plates of the stays of it, and on the panels of it, he graved cherubim, lions, and palm-trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about.

37 After this manner he made the ten bases. All of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

38 He made ten lavers of bronze. One laver contained forty baths. Every laver was four cubits, and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.

39 He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

40 Hiram made the lavers, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work he wrought for king Solomon in the house of Yahwah.

41 The two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

42 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 upon the pillars,

43 the ten bases, the ten lavers on the bases,

44 the one sea, the twelve oxen under the sea,

45 the pots, the shovels, and the basins. Even all these vessels Hiram made for King Solomon, in the house of Yahwah, were of burnished bronze.

46 The king cast them in the plain of the Yordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many. The weight of the bronze could not be found out.

48 Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of Yahwah, the golden altar, and the table whereupon the showbread was, of gold.

49 The candlesticks, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold. The flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold.

50 The cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold. The hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple, of gold.

51 Thus all the work King Solomon wrought in the house of Yahwah was finished. Solomon brought in the things David his father had dedicated, even the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of Yahwah.

Chapter 8

1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Yisrayah, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' houses of the children of Yisrayah, to King Solomon in Yerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahwah out of the city of David, which is Zion.

2 All the men of Yisrayah assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3 All the elders of Yisrayah came, and the priests took up the ark.

4 They brought up the ark of Yahwah, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels in the Tent. Even these did the priests and the Levites bring up.

5 King Solomon and all the congregation of Yisrayah, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

6 The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahwah to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

7 The cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves of it above.

8 The staves were so long the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle. But they were not seen outside. There they are to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark save the two tablets of stone Moshe put there at Horeb, when Yahwah made a covenant with the children of Yisrayah, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 It came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahwah,

11 so the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud. The glory of Yahwah filled the house of Yahwah.

12 Then Solomon spoke: Yahwah said He would dwell in the thick darkness.

13 I surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in for ever.

14 The king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Yisrayah. All the assembly of Yisrayah stood.

15 He said: Blessed is Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, who spoke with his mouth to David your father. He fulfilled it with His hand, saying:

16 Since the day I brought my people Yisrayah forth out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Yisrayah to build a house, that my Name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Yisrayah.

17 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the Name of Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah.

18 But Yahwah 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 will not build the house. Your son that will come forth out of your loins, he will build the house for my Name.

20 Yahwah established His word He spoke. For I rose up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Yisrayah, as Yahwah promised, and built the house for the Name of Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah.

21 There I set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahwah which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

22 Solomon stood before the altar of Yahwah in the presence of all the assembly of Yisrayah, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.

23 He said: O Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, there is no god like you (in heaven above, or on earth beneath) who keep covenant and lovingkindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

24 You kept with your servant David my father what you promised him. Yea, you spoke with your mouth, and fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.

25 O Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, keep with your servant David my father what you promised him, saying: There will not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Yisrayah, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you walked before me.

26 O Father of Yisrayah, I pray you, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.

27 But will Yahwah in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you, how much less this house I built!

28 Yet you have respect to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O Yahwah my Father, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer your servant prays before you today.

29 That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you said: My Name will be there. Hearken to the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

30 Hearken to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Yisrayah, when they pray toward this place. Yea, hear in heaven your dwelling-place. When you hear, forgive.

31 If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath is laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he come and swear before your altar in this house; then you hear in heaven, and do, judge your servants.

32 Condemn the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justify the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

33 When your people Yisrayah are smitten down before the enemy, because they sinned against you; if they turn to you again, confess your Name, pray, and make supplication to you in this house;

34 then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Yisrayah, and bring them again to the land you gave to their fathers.

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, confess your Name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them;

36 then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Yisrayah, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk. Send rain upon your land, which you gave to your people for an inheritance.

37 If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there is;

38 what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all your people Yisrayah, who will know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house;

39 then you hear in heaven your dwelling-place. Forgive, 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 they live in the land you gave to our fathers.

41 Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of your people Yisrayah. When he will come out of a far country for your Name's sake

42 (for they hear of your great Name, of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,

43 hear you in heaven your dwelling-place. Do according to all the foreigner calls to you for, that all the peoples of the earth may know your Name, to fear you, as your people Yisrayah does. That they may know this house I built is called by your Name.

44 If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way you will send them, and they pray to Yahwah toward the city you chose, and toward the house I have built for your Name,

45 then you hear in heaven their prayer, and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46 If they sin against you (for there is no man that does not 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 they will remember themselves in the land where they are carried captive, turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying: We sinned, and did perversely, we 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 you chose, and the house I built for your Name;

49 then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause.

50 Forgive your people who sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they transgressed against you. 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 forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron.

52 May your eyes be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Yisrayah, to hearken to them whensoever they cry to you.

53 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, O Father Yahwah.

54 It was so, when Solomon made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahwah, he arose from before the altar of Yahwah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.

55 He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Yisrayah with a loud voice, saying:

56 Blessed is Yahwah, who gave rest to his people Yisrayah, according to all He promised. There did not fail one word of all His good promise, which He promised by Moshe his servant.

57 Yahwah our Father is with us, as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us, nor forget us.

58 May He incline our hearts to Him to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers.

59 Let these my words, with which I made supplication before Yahwah, be near to Yahwah our Father day and night, that He maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of His people Yisrayah, as every day will require.

60 All the peoples of the earth may know Yahwah. He is the Master. There is none else.

61 Let your heart be perfect with Yahwah our Father, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as at this day.

62 The king, and all Yisrayah with him, offered sacrifice before Yahwah.

63 Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered to Yahwah, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Yisrayah dedicated the house of Yahwah.

64 The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahwah. There he offered the burnt-offering, the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Yahwah was too little to receive the burnt-offering, the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings.

65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Yisrayah with him. A great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Yahwah our Father, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.

66 On the eighth day he sent the people away. They blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness Yahwah showed to David His servant, and to Yisrayah His people.

Chapter 9

1 It came to pass, Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahwah, the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do.

2 Yahwah appeared to Solomon the second time, as He appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 Yahwah said to him: I heard your prayer, and your supplication, that you made before me. I hallowed this house you built, to put my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.

4 As for you, if you walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all I commanded you, keep my statutes, and my ordinances;

5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Yisrayah forever. I promised David your father, saying: There will not fail you a man upon the throne of Yisrayah.

6 But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes I set before you, but go and serve strange gods, and worship them;

7 then I will cut off Yisrayah out of the land I gave them. This house, which I hallowed for my Name, I will cast out of my sight. Yisrayah will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

8 Though this house is so high, yet every one that passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss. They will say: Why did Yahwah do this to this land, and to this house?

9 They will answer: Because they forgot Yahwah their Father, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on the gods, worshipped them, and served them. Therefore Yahwah brought all this evil upon them.

10 It came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon built the two houses, the house of Yahwah and the king's house

11 (now Hiram the king of Tyre furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

12 Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities Solomon gave him. They did not please him.

13 He said: What cities are these you gave me, my brother? He called them the land of Cabul to this day.

14 Hiram sent sixscore talents of gold to the king.

15 This is the reason of the levy King Solomon raised: to build the house of Yahwah, his own house, Millo, the wall of Yerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and gave it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

17 Solomon built Gezer, Beth-horon the nether,

18 Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, in the land,

19 all the store-cities Solomon had, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, what Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Yerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 As for all the people that were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Yisrayah;

21 their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Yisrayah were not able to destroy utterly, of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day.

22 But of the children of Yisrayah Solomon made no bondservants. They were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, rulers of his chariots, and of his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, who bore rule over the people that wrought in the work.

24 Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house Solomon built for her. Then he built Millo.

25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar he built to Yahwah, burning incense there, upon the altar that was before Yahwah. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

27 Hiram sent his servants in the navy, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

28 They came to Ophir, and fetched gold from there, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.

Chapter 10

1 When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the Name of Yahwah, she came to prove him with hard questions. [Matthew 12:42]

2 She came to Yerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

3 Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which he did not tell her.

4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the house he built,

5 the food of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their apparel, his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Yahwah, there was no more spirit in her.

6 She said to the king: It was a true report I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom.

7 However I did not believe the words, until I came, and my eyes see it. Behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame I heard.

8 Happy are your men, happy are these your servants that stand continually before you, and that hear your wisdom.

9 Blessed is Yahwah your Father, who delights in you, to set you on the throne of Yisrayah. Because Yahwah loves Yisrayah forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.

10 She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, a very great store of spices, and precious stones. There came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11 The navy of Hiram brought gold from Ophir, and also 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 Yahwah, and for the king's house, harps also, and psalteries for the singers. There came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, to this day.

13 King Solomon gave all her desire to the queen of Sheba, whatsoever she asked, besides what Solomon 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 Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,

15 besides what the traders brought, the traffic of the merchants, of all the kings of the mingled people, and of the governors of the country.

16 King Solomon 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 pounds of gold went to one shield. 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. 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 upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.

21 All King Solomon'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 Solomon.

22 The king had a navy of Tarshish at sea with the navy of Hiram. Once every three years the navy of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.

24 All the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which Yahwah put in his heart.

25 They brought every man his tribute. Vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

26 Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Yerusalem.

27 The king made silver to be as stones in Yerusalem, and he made cedars to be as the sycamore-trees that are in the lowland for abundance.

28 The horses Solomon had were brought out of Egypt. 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 a hundred and fifty. And so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

Chapter 11

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh (women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites),

2 of the nations concerning which Yahwah said to the children of Yisrayah: You will not go among them, neither they will come among you. For surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave to these in love.

3 He had seven hundred wives and princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned away his heart.

4 It came to pass, when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after strange gods. His heart was not perfect with Yahwah his Father, as the heart of David his father was.

5 Solomon went after the Easter goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, and did not go after Yahwah fully, as David his father did.

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Yerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

8 He did so for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9 Yahwah was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, who appeared to him twice,

10 and commanded him concerning this thing: that he should not go after the gods. But he did not keep what Yahwah commanded.

11 Therefore Yahwah said to Solomon: Since you did this, and you do not keep my covenant and my statutes, as I commanded you, I will surely take 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. I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

13 However I will not take away all the kingdom. I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant's sake, and for Yerusalem's sake which I chose.

14 Yahwah raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the king's seed in Edom.

15 For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Yahuab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, and had smitten every male in Edom

16 (for Yahuab and all Yisrayah 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. They took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, appointed him victuals, and gave him land.

19 Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house. Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh.

21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Yahuab the captain of the host 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 do you lack with me, that, behold, you seek to go to your own country? He answered: Nothing. However, only let me depart.

23 Yahwah raised up another adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah.

24 He gathered men to him, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Damascus, dwelt there, and reigned in Damascus.

25 He was an adversary to Yisrayah all the days of Solomon, besides the mischief Hadad did. He abhorred Yisrayah, and reigned over Syria.

26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrayimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, 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. Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of the city of David his father.

28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he gave him charge over all the labor of the house of Yahusef.

29 It came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Yerusalem, the prophet Ahiyah the Shilonite found him in the way. Now Ahiyah had clad himself with a new garment. 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 Jeroboam: You take ten pieces. For this says Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah: Behold, I tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and give ten tribes to you

32 (but he will have one tribe, for my servant David's sake, and for Yerusalem's sake, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Yisrayah),

33 because they forgot me, and worshipped Easter the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They do not walk in my ways, to do what 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. 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 give it to you, even ten tribes.

36 I give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Yerusalem, the city I chose me to put my Name there.

37 I will take you, and you will reign according to all your soul desires, and will be king over Yisrayah.

38 It will be, if you hearken to all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments (as David my servant did), I will be with you, and will build you a sure house (as I built for David) and will give Yisrayah to you.

39 I will afflict the seed of David for this, but not forever.

40 Solomon tried therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose, fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

42 The time Solomon reigned in Yerusalem over all Yisrayah was forty years.

43 Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father. Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 12

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Yisrayah was come to Shechem to make him king.

2 It came to pass, Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon. Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt,

3 so they sent, and called him). Jeroboam and all the assembly of Yisrayah came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying:

4 Your father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make the grievous service of your father lighter, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve you.

5 He said to them: Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. The people departed.

6 King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who stood before Solomon 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 today, and will serve them, answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.

8 But he disregarded the counsel the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him.

9 He said to them: What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who spoke to me, saying: Make the yoke that your father put upon us lighter?

10 The young men that were grown up with him spoke to him, saying: This is what you will say to this people that spoke to you. Say: Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter to us. Thus you will speak to them: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.

11 Whereas my father did lade 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 Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying: Come to me again the third day.

13 The king answered the people roughly, disregarded the counsel the old men gave him,

14 and spoke to them after the advice 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 did not hearken to the people, for it was a thing brought about of Yahwah, that He might establish His word Yahwah spoke by Ahiyah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 When all Yisrayah saw the king did not hearken to them, the people answered the king, saying: What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Yisrayah. Now see to your own house, David. So Yisrayah departed to their tents.

17 But as for the children of Yisrayah who dwelt in the cities of Yahudah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

18 Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to taskwork, and all Yisrayah stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Yerusalem.

19 So Yisrayah rebelled against the house of David to this day.

20 It came to pass, when all Yisrayah heard Jeroboam was returned, they sent, called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Yisrayah. There was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Yahudah only.

21 When Rehoboam was come to Yerusalem, he assembled all the house of Yahudah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, that were warriors, to fight against the house of Yisrayah, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

22 But the word of Yahwah came to Shemayah the man of Yahwah, saying:

23 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Yahudah, to all the house of Yahudah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people.

24 Thus says Yahwah: You will not go up, nor fight against your brothers the children of Yisrayah. Return every man to his house, for this thing is of me. So they hearkened to the word of Yahwah, returned, and went their way, according to the word of Yahwah.

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill-country of Ephrayim, and dwelt there. He went out from there, and built Penuel.

26 Jeroboam said in his heart: Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahwah at Yerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their master, even to Rehoboam king of Yahudah. They will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Yahudah.

28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to them: It is too much for you to go up to Yerusalem. Behold your gods, O Yisrayah, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

29 He set the one in Beth-el, and the other he put 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 Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like to the feast that is in Yahudah, and he went up to the altar. So he did in Beth-el, sacrificing to the calves he made. He placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places he made.

33 He went up to the altar he made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month he devised of his own heart. He ordained a feast for the children of Yisrayah, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.

Chapter 13

1 Behold, there came a man of Yahwah out of Yahudah by the Word of Yahwah to Beth-el. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

2 He cried against the altar by the Word of Yahwah, and said: O altar, altar. Thus says Yahwah: Behold, a son will be born to the house of David, Ashyahu by name. Upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon you, and they will burn men's bones upon you.

3 He gave a sign the same day, saying: This is the sign Yahwah spoke. Behold, the altar will be broken, and the ashes that are upon it will be poured out.

4 It came to pass, the king heard the saying of the man of Yahwah, which he cried against the altar in Beth-el. Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. His hand which he put forth against him dried up, so he could not draw it back to him again.

5 The altar also was broken, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign the man of Yahwah gave by the Word of Yahwah.

6 The king answered, and said to the man of Yahwah: Ask the favor of Yahwah your Father, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. The man of Yahwah asked Yahwah. The king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

7 The king said to the man of Yahwah: Come home with me, refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

8 The man of Yahwah said to the king: If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place.

9 For so was it charged me by the Word of Yahwah, saying: You will eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way you came.

10 So he went another way, and did not return by the way he came to Beth-el.

11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el. One of his sons came, and told him all the works the man of Yahwah did that day in Beth-el. The words he spoke to the king, them also they told to their father.

12 Their father said to them: What way did he go? Now his sons saw what way the man of Yahwah went, who came from Yahudah.

13 He said to his sons: Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass, and he rode on it.

14 He went after the man of Yahwah, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him: Are you the man of Yahwah who came from Yahudah? 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 Yahwah: You will eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way you came.

18 He said to him: I also am a prophet as you are. A malak spoke to me by the Word of Yahwah, saying: Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. But he lied to him.

19 So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 It came to pass, as they sat at the table, the Word of Yahwah came to the prophet that brought him back.

21 He cried to the man of Yahwah that came from Yahudah, saying: Thus says Yahwah; Forasmuch as you were disobedient to the mouth of Yahwah, and did not keep the commandments Yahwah your Father commanded you,

22 but came back, ate bread, and drank water, in the place of which He said to you; Eat no bread, and drink no water; your body will not come to the sepulchre of your fathers.

23 It came to pass, after he ate bread, and after he drank, that he saddled the ass for him, to wit, for the prophet he brought back.

24 When he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the ass 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. They came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 When the prophet that brought him back from the way heard of it, he said: It is the man of Yahwah, who was disobedient to the mouth of Yahwah. Therefore Yahwah delivered him to the lion, which tore him, and killed him, according to the Word of Yahwah, which he spoke to him.

27 He spoke to his sons, saying: Saddle me the ass. They saddled it.

28 He went, found his body cast in the way, with the ass and the lion standing by the body. The lion did not eat the body, nor tear the ass.

29 The prophet took up the body of the man of Yahwah, laid it upon the ass, 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. They mourned over him, saying: Alas, my brother!

31 It came to pass, after he buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying: When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre in which the man of Yahwah is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

32 For the saying he cried by the Word of Yahwah against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places. Whosoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.

34 This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

Chapter 14

1 At that time Abiyah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

2 Jeroboam said to his wife: Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you not be known to be the wife of Jeroboam. Get 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, cakes, a cruse of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.

4 Jeroboam's wife did so, arose, 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 Yahwah said to Ahiyah: Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to inquire of you concerning her son. For he is sick. Thus and thus you will say to her. For it will be, when she comes in, she will feign herself to be another woman.

6 It was so, when Ahiyah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said: Come in, you wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? I am sent to you with heavy tidings.

7 Go, tell Jeroboam: Thus says Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah; I exalted you from among the people, made you prince over my people Yisrayah,

8 took the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. Yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in my eyes.

9 You did evil above all who were before you, you went and made idols, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and you cast me behind your back.

10 Behold, I bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child, him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Yisrayah, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, till it is all gone.

11 The dogs will eat he who dies of Jeroboam in the city. The birds of the heavens will eat he who dies in the field. For Yahwah spoke it.

12 Arise therefore, get to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die.

13 All Yisrayah will mourn for him, and bury him. He only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Moreover Yahwah will raise him up a king over Yisrayah, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. But what? Even now.

15 Yahwah will smite Yisrayah as a reed is shaken in the water. He will root up Yisrayah out of this good land He gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the River, because they made their Easter idol, provoking Yahwah to anger.

16 He will give Yisrayah up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned, and with which he made Yisrayah to sin.

17 Jeroboam's wife arose, departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

18 All Yisrayah buried him, and mourned for him, according to the Word of Yahwah, which He spoke by His servant Ahiyah the prophet.

19 The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah.

20 The days Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years. He slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

21 Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Yahudah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Yerusalem, the city Yahwah chose out of all the tribes of Yisrayah to put His Name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

22 Yahudah did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins they committed, above all their fathers did.

23 They also built them high places, pillars, and Easter idols, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

24 There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations Yahwah drove out before the children of Yisrayah.

25 It came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Yerusalem.

26 He took away the treasures of the house of Yahwah, and the treasures of the king's house. He even took away all. He took away all the shields of gold Solomon made.

27 King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their stead, 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 oft as the king went into the house of Yahwah, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yahudah?

30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

31 Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 15

1 Now Abijam began to reign over Yahudah in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

2 Three years he reigned in Yerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

3 He walked in all the sins of his father, which he did before him. His heart was not perfect with Yahwah his Father, as the heart of David his father.

4 Nevertheless for David's sake Yahwah his Father gave him a lamp in Yerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Yerusalem;

5 because David did what was right in the eyes of Yahwah, and did not turn aside from anything He commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriyah the Hittite.

6 Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7 The rest of the acts of Abijam, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yahudah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

8 Abijam slept with his fathers. They buried him in the city of David. Asa his son reigned in his stead.

9 Asa began to reign over Yahudah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Yisrayah.

10 He reigned forty and one years in Yerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of Yahwah, as David his father did.

12 He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols his fathers made.

13 Also he removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she made an abominable image for an Easter idol. Asa cut her image down, and burned it at the brook Kidron.

14 But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahwah all his days.

15 He brought into the house of Yahwah the things his father dedicated, and the things that himself dedicated; silver, gold, and vessels.

16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Yisrayah all their days.

17 Baasha king of Yisrayah went up against Yahudah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Yahudah.

18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of the house of Yahwah, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying:

19 There is a league between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold, I send a present of silver and gold to you. Go, break your league with Baasha king of Yisrayah, that he may depart from me.

20 Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa, sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Yisrayah, and smote Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

21 It came to pass, when Baasha heard of it, he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.

22 Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Yahudah. None was exempted. They carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber of it, wherewith Baasha built. King Asa built therewith Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23 Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all he did, and the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yahudah? 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. Yahushaphat his son reigned in his stead.

25 Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Yisrayah in the second year of Asa king of Yahudah. He reigned over Yisrayah two years.

26 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Yisrayah to sin.

27 Baasha the son of Ahiyah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. For Nadab and all Yisrayah were laying siege to Gibbethon.

28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Yahudah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.

29 It came to pass, as soon as he was king, he smote all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he destroyed him, according to the saying of Yahwah, which he spoke by his servant Ahiyah the Shilonite;

30 for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and wherewith he made Yisrayah to sin, because of his provocation wherewith he provoked Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, to anger.

31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah?

32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Yisrayah all their days.

33 In the third year of Asa king of Yahudah Baasha the son of Ahiyah began to reign over all Yisrayah in Tirzah, and reigned twenty and four years.

34 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Yisrayah to sin.

Chapter 16

1 The Word of Yahwah came to Yahu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying:

2 I exalted you out of the dust, and made you prince over my people Yisrayah. You walked in the way of Jeroboam, and made my people Yisrayah to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins.

3 Behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha, and his house. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

4 The dogs will eat him that dies of Baasha in the city. The birds of the heavens will eat him that dies of his in the field.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah?

6 Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah. Elah his son reigned in his stead.

7 Moreover by the prophet Yahu the son of Hanani the Word of Yahwah came against Baasha, and against his house. Both because of all the evil he did in the sight of Yahwah, to provoke Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he smote him.

8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Yahudah Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Yisrayah in Tirzah, and reigned 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 Zimri went in, smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Yahudah, and reigned in his stead.

11 It came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he smote all the house of Baasha. He left him not a single man-child, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the Word of Yahwah, which He spoke against Baasha by Yahu the prophet,

13 for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and wherewith they made Yisrayah to sin, to provoke Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, to anger with their vanities.

14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah?

15 In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Yahudah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

16 The people that were camped heard say: Zimri conspired, and smote the king. Wherefore all Yisrayah made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Yisrayah that day in the camp.

17 Omri went up from Gibbethon, with all Yisrayah with him, and they besieged Tirzah.

18 It came to pass, when Zimri saw the city was taken, he went into the castle of the king's house, burned the king's house over him with fire,

19 and died for his sins he sinned in doing what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin he did to make Yisrayah to sin.

20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah?

21 Then the people of Yisrayah were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king. Half followed Omri.

22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

23 In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Yahudah Omri began to reign over Yisrayah, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah.

24 He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver. He built on the hill, and called the name of the city he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

25 Omri did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, and dealt wickedly above all that were before him.

26 He walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins wherewith he made Yisrayah to sin, to provoke Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah, to anger with their vanities.

27 Now the rest of the acts Omri did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah?

28 So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria. Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

29 In the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Yahudah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Yisrayah. Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Yisrayah in Samaria twenty and two years.

30 Ahab the son of Omri did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah above all that were before him.

31 It came to pass, as if it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Eth-lord king of the Sidonians, went, served The LORD, and worshipped him.

32 He reared up an altar for The LORD in the house of The LORD, which he built in Samaria.

33 Ahab made the Easter idol. Ahab did yet more to provoke Yahwah (the Father of Yisrayah) to anger than all the kings of Yisrayah that were before him.

34 In his days Hiel the Beth-elite rebuilt Yericho. He laid the foundation of it with the loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates of it with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the Word of Yahwah, which He spoke by Yahushua the son of Nun [Joshua 6:26].

Chapter 17

1 Eliyah [my god is Yah] the Tishbite [man from Thisbe, Tobit 1:2], who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said to Ahab: As Yahwah the Father of Yisrayah lives, before whom I stand, there will not be dew nor rain these years, unless I say so.

2 The Word of Yahwah came to him, saying:

3 Get from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Yordan [Jordan River].

4 It will be you will drink of the brook. I commanded the ravens to feed you there.

5 So he went and did according to the Word of Yahwah. He went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before the Yordan.

6 The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening. He drank of the brook.

7 It came to pass after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

8 The Word of Yahwah came to him, saying:

9 Arise, get to Zarephas, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I commanded a widow there to sustain you.

10 So he arose, and went to Zarephas. When he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said: I pray you, fetch me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

11 As she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said: I pray you, bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

12 She said: As Yahwah lives, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

13 Eliyah said to her: Do not fear. Go, do as you said. But first make me a little cake of it, bring it forth to me, and afterward make for you, and for your son.

14 For thus says Yahwah, the Father of Yisrayah: The jar of meal will not waste, nor will the cruse of oil fail, until the day Yahwah sends rain upon the earth.

15 She went, and did according to the saying of Eliyah. She, he, and her house, ate many days.

16 The jar of meal did not waste, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the Word of Yahwah which He spoke by Eliyah.

17 It came to pass after these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. His sickness was so sore there was no breath left in him.

18 She said to Eliyah: What have I to do with you, O you man of Yahwah? You are come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son!

19 He said to her: Give me your son. He took him out of her bosom, carried him up into the chamber, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

20 He cried to Yahwah, and said: O Yahwah my Father, have you also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?

21 He stretched himself upon the child three times, cried to Yahwah, and said: O Yahwah, I pray you, let this child's soul come into him again.

22 Yahwah hearkened to the voice of Eliyah. The soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

23 Eliyah took the child, brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother. Eliyah said: See, your son lives.

24 The woman said to Eliyah: Now I know you are a man of Yahwah, and that the Word of Yahwah in your mouth is truth.

Chapter 18

1 It came to pass after many days, the Word of Yahwah came to Eliyah, in the third year, saying: Go, show yourself to Ahab. I will send rain upon the earth.

2 Eliyah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.

3 Ahab called Obadyah, who was over the household. (Now Obadyah feared Yahwah greatly.

4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahwah, Obadyah took a hundred prophets, hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

5 Ahab said to Obadyah: Go through the land, to all the fountains of water, and to all the brooks. Maybe we will find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the beasts.

6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadyah went another way by himself.

7 As Obadyah was in the way, behold, Eliyah met him. He knew him, fell on his face, and said: Is it you, my master Eliyah?

8 He answered him: It is I. Go, tell your master: Behold, Eliyah is here.

9 He said: What did I sin, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?

10 As Yahwah lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master did not send to seek you. When they said: He is not here; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they did not find you.

11 Now you say: Go. Tell your master: Behold! Eliyah is here.

12 It will come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, the Spirit of Yahwah will carry you where I do not know. So when I come, tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I (your servant) fear Yahwah from my youth.

13 Was it not told my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahwah, how I hid a hundred men of Yahwah's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

14 Now you say: Go. Tell your master: Behold! Eliyah is here. He will kill me.

15 Eliyah said: As Yahwah of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.

16 So Obadyah went to meet Ahab, and told him. Ahab went to meet Eliyah.

17 It came to pass, when Ahab saw Eliyah, Ahab said to him: Is it you, you troubler of Yisrayah?

18 He answered: I do not trouble Yisrayah. But you do, and your father's house, in that you forgot the commandments of Yahwah [YHWH], and you follow the LORD [Baal].

19 Now therefore send. Gather all Yisrayah to mount Carmel to me, with the prophets of The LORD four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of Easter [Asherah] four hundred, who eat at Jezebel's table.

20 So Ahab sent to all the children of Yisrayah, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel.

21 Eliyah came near to all the people, and said: How long will you go limping between the two sides? If Yahwah is Master, follow Him. But if The LORD, then follow him. The people did not answer him a word.

22 Then Eliyah said to the people: I, even I only, am still a prophet of Yahwah. But The LORD's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

23 Let them give us two bulls. Let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. I will dress the other bull, lay it on the wood, and put no fire under.

24 You call on the name of your God, and I will call on the Name of Yahwah. The one who answers by fire, let him be your Master. All the people answered, and said: It is well spoken.

25 Eliyah said to the prophets of The LORD: Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first, for you are many. Call on the name of your God, but put no fire under.

26 They took the bull which was given to them, and they dressed it [for a sacrifice]. They called on the name of The LORD from morning even until noon, saying: O Lord, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

27 It came to pass at noon, Eliyah mocked them, and said: Cry aloud. He is a god. Either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or maybe he sleeps and must be awakened.

28 They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them.

29 It was so, when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening oblation. But there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.

30 Eliyah said to all the people: Come near to me. All the people came near to him. He repaired the altar of Yahwah that was thrown down.

31 Eliyah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Yaacob, to whom the Word of Yahwah came, saying: Yisrayah is your name.

32 With the stones he built an altar in the Name of Yahwah. He made a trench around the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

33 He put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said: Fill four jars with water. Pour it on the burnt-offering, and on the wood.

34 He said: Do it the second time. They did it the second time. He said: Do it the third time. They did it the third time.

35 The water ran round about the altar. He also filled the trench with water.

36 It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, Eliyah the prophet came near, and said: O Yahwah, the Father of Abraham, of Yitzchaq, and of Yisrayah [Yaacob], let it be known today that you are the Master of Yisrayah, that I am your servant, and that I did all these things at your word.

37 Hear me, O Yahwah, hear me, that this people may know you, Yahwah, are Master, and that you turned their heart back again.

38 Then the fire of Yahwah fell [from heaven], consumed the burnt-offering, the wood, the stones, 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: Yahwah, He is our Father. Yahwah, He is our Master.

40 Eliyah said to them: Take the prophets of The LORD. Do not let any of them escape. They took them. Eliyah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.

41 Eliyah said to Ahab: Get up, eat, and drink. There is the sound of abundance of rain.

42 So Ahab went up to eat, and to drink. Eliyah went up to the top of Carmel. He bowed himself down upon 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, looked, and said: There is nothing. He said: Go again seven times.

44 It came to pass the seventh time, he said: Behold, there arises a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. He said: Go up, say to Ahab: Make your chariot ready, and get down, that the rain not stop you.

45 It came to pass in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

46 The hand of Yahwah was on Eliyah. He girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Chapter 19

1 Ahab told Jezebel all Eliyah did, and how he killed all the prophets with the sword.

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Eliyah, saying: So let The LORD do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.

3 When he saw that, he arose, went for his life, came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Yahudah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, came, and sat down under a juniper-tree. He requested for himself that he might die, and said: It is enough. Now, O Yahwah, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.

5 He lay down, and slept under a juniper-tree. Behold, a malak touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat.

6 He looked. Behold, at his head there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water. He ate, drank, and laid him down again.

7 The malak of Yahwah came again the second time, touched him, and said: Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.

8 He arose, ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of Yahwah.

9 He came to a cave there, and lodged there. Behold, the Word of Yahwah came to him, and He said to him: What are you doing here, Eliyah?

10 He said: I am very zealous for Yahwah. The children of Yisrayah threw away your covenant, threw down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left. They seek my life, to take it away.

11 He said: Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Yahwah. Behold, Yahwah passed by. A great and strong wind broke the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahwah. But Yahwah was not in the wind. After the wind an earthquake. But Yahwah was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake a fire. But Yahwah was not in the fire. After the fire a still small voice.

13 It was so, when Eliyah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, there came a voice to him, and said: What are you doing here, Eliyah?

14 He said: I am very jealous for Yahwah. The children of Yisrayah abandoned your covenant, threw down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left. They seek my life, to take it away.

15 Yahwah said to him: Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you come, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

16 Anoint Yahu the son of Nimshi to be king over Yisrayah. Anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in your room.

17 It will come to pass, Yahu will kill he who escapes from the sword of Hazael. Elisha will kill he who escapes from the sword of Yahu.

18 Yet I will leave me seven thousand in Yisrayah, all the knees which do not bow to The LORD, every mouth which does not kiss him.

19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Eliyah passed over to him, and cast his mantle upon him.

20 He left the oxen, ran after Eliyah, and said: I pray you, let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. He said to him: Go back again. What did I do to you?

21 He returned from following him, took the yoke of oxen, killed them, boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, went after Eliyah, and ministered to him.

Chapter 20

1 Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together. There were thirty and two kings with him, with horses and chariots. He went up, besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

2 He sent messengers to Ahab king of Yisrayah, 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 goodliest, are mine.

4 The king of Yisrayah answered, and said: It is according to your saying, my master, O king. I am yours, and all I have.

5 The messengers came again, and said: Thus speaks Ben-hadad, saying; I sent to you indeed, saying; You will deliver me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.

6 I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, they will search your house, and the houses of your servants. It will be that whatsoever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hand, and take it away.

7 The king of Yisrayah called all the elders of the land, and said: Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief. He sent to me for my wives, for my children, for my silver, and for my gold. I did not deny him.

8 All the elders and all the people said to him: Do not hearken, neither consent.

9 So he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad: Tell my master the king; All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do. But this thing I may not do. The messengers departed, and brought him word again.

10 Ben-hadad sent to him, and said: The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

11 The king of Yisrayah answered, and said: Tell him; Let him who puts on his armor not boast himself as he that puts it off.

12 It came to pass, Ben-hadad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions. He said to his servants: Set yourselves in array. They set themselves in array against the city.

13 Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Yisrayah, and said: Thus says Yahwah; Do you see all this great multitude? Behold, I deliver it into your hand today. You will know I am Yahwah.

14 Ahab said: By whom? He said: Thus says Yahwah: By the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said: Who will 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 Yisrayah, being seven thousand.

16 They went out at noon. Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

17 The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first. Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying: There are men come out from Samaria.

18 He said: Whether they are come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they are 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 killed every one his man. The Syrians fled, and Yisrayah pursued them. Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen.

21 The king of Yisrayah went out, smote the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22 The prophet came near to the king of Yisrayah, and said to him: Go, strengthen yourself, mark, and see what you do. 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 god is a god of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they.

24 And do this thing; take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their room.

25 Number you an army, like the army you lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. He hearkened to their voice, and did so.

26 It came to pass at the return of the year, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek to fight against Yisrayah.

27 The children of Yisrayah were mustered, were victualled, and went against them. The children of Yisrayah camped before them like two little flocks of kids, but the Syrians filled the country.

28 A man of Yahwah came near, spoke to the king of Yisrayah, and said: Thus says Yahwah; The Syrians said Yahwah is a god of the hills, but He is not a god of the valleys. Therefore I deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you will know I am Yahwah.

29 They camped one over against the other seven days. So it was, the battle was joined in the seventh day. The children of Yisrayah killed of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day.

30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city. The wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand men that were left. Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

31 His servants said to him: Behold now, we heard the kings of the house of Yisrayah are merciful kings. We pray you, let us put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Yisrayah. Maybe he will save your life.

32 So they put sackcloth on their loins, put ropes on their heads, came to the king of Yisrayah, and said: Your servant Ben-hadad says: I pray you, let me live. He said: Is he yet alive? He is my brother.

33 Now the men observed diligently, and tried to catch what he said. They said: Your brother Ben-hadad? Then he said: Go, bring him. Ben-hadad came forth to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

34 Ben-hadad said to him: I restore the cities my father took from your father. You will make streets for you in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Ahab said: I 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 Yahwah: Smite me, I pray you. The man refused to smite him.

36 Then said he to him: Because you did not obey the voice of Yahwah, behold, as soon as you depart from me, a lion will kill you. As soon as he departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him.

37 He found another man, and said: Smite me, I pray you. The man smote him, smiting and wounding him.

38 So the prophet departed, 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. He said: Your servant went out into the midst of the battle. Behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said: Keep this man. If by any means he is missing, then your life will be for his life, or else you will pay a talent of silver.

40 As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. The king of Yisrayah said to him: So your judgment will be, yourself decided it.

41 He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes. The king of Yisrayah discerned him that he was of the prophets.

42 He said to him: Thus says Yahwah: You let go out of your hand the man I devoted to destruction, therefore your life will go for his life, and your people for his people.

43 The king of Yisrayah went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.

Chapter 21

1 It came to pass after these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying: Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house. I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seem good to you, I will give you the worth of it in money.

3 Naboth said to Ahab: Yahwah forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.

4 Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word Naboth the Jezreelite spoke to him. He said: I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. He laid him down upon his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

5 Jezebel 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 Naboth the Jezreelite. I said to him: Give me your vineyard for money. Or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it. He answered: I will not give you my vineyard.

7 Jezebel his wife said to him: Do you now govern the kingdom of Yisrayah? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth.

9 She wrote in the letters, saying: Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

10 Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying: You cursed Yahwah 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 dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel sent to them, according as it was written in the letters she sent to them.

12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

13 The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows bore witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying: Naboth cursed Yahwah, and the king. They carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.

14 They sent to Jezebel, saying: Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

15 It came to pass, when Jezebel heard Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab: Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money. For Naboth is not alive, but dead.

16 It came to pass, when Ahab heard Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

17 The Word of Yahwah came to Eliyah the Tishbite [Elijah from Thesbe], saying:

18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Yisrayah, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he went down to take possession of it.

19 You will speak to him, saying: Thus says Yahwah: Do you kill, and also take possession? You will speak to him, saying: Thus says Yahwah: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.

20 Ahab said to Eliyah: Did you find me, O my enemy? He answered: I found you because you sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of Yahwah.

21 Behold, I bring evil upon you. I will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off every man-child from Ahab, him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Yisrayah.

22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahiyah for the provocation with which you provoked me to anger, and made Yisrayah to sin.

23 Yahwah also spoke of Jezebel, saying: The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel.

24 The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city, and the birds of the heavens will eat he who dies in the field.

25 (There was none like to Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

26 He did very abominably in following idols, according to all the Amorites did, whom Yahwah cast out before the children of Yisrayah.)

27 It came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth upon his flesh, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

28 The Word of Yahwah came to Eliyah the Tishbite, saying:

29 You see how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days. I will bring the evil upon his house in his son's days.

Chapter 22

1 They continued three years without war between Syria and Yisrayah.

2 It came to pass in the third year, Yahushaphat the king of Yahudah came down to the king of Yisrayah.

3 The king of Yisrayah said to his servants: You know Ramoth-Gilead is ours. Yet we are still, and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria.

4 He said to Yahushaphat: Will you go with me to Ramoth-Gilead to battle? Yahushaphat said to the king of Yisrayah: I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

5 Yahushaphat said to the king of Yisrayah: I pray you, inquire first for the Word of Yahwah.

6 The king of Yisrayah gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them: Will I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or will I forbear? They said: Go up. God will deliver it into the hand of the king.

7 But Yahushaphat said: Is there not a prophet of Yahwah here, that we may inquire of Him?

8 The king of Yisrayah said to Yahushaphat: There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahwah, Micayah the son of Imlah. But I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. Yahushaphat said: Let the king not say so.

9 The king of Yisrayah called an officer, and said: Fetch quickly Micayah the son of Imlah.

10 Now the king of Yisrayah and Yahushaphat the king of Yahudah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

11 Zedekiyah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said: Thus says God: With these you will push the Syrians, until they are consumed.

12 All the prophets prophesied so, saying: Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper. God will deliver it into the hand of the king.

13 The messenger that went to call Micayah spoke to him, saying: Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. I pray you, let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.

14 Micayah said: As Yahwah lives, what Yahwah says to me, that I will speak.

15 When he came to the king, the king said to him: Micayah, will we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or will we forbear? He answered him: Go up, and prosper. Yahwah delivers it into the hand of the king.

16 The king said to him: How many times will I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the Name of Yahwah?

17 He said: I saw all Yisrayah scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahwah said: These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace.

18 The king of Yisrayah said to Yahushaphat: Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?

19 Micayah said: Hear the Word of Yahwah. I saw Yahwah sitting on His throne, all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand, and on His left.

20 Yahwah said: Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? One said on this manner, and another said on that manner.

21 There came forth a spirit, who stood before Yahwah, and said: I will entice him.

22 Yahwah said to him: How? He said: I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. He said: You will entice him, and will prevail also. Go forth, and do so.

23 Behold, Yahwah put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets. Yahwah spoke evil concerning you.

24 Then Zedekiyah the son of Chenaanah came near, smote Micayah on the cheek, and said: Which way went the spirit of God from me to speak to you?

25 Micayah said: Behold, you will see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.

26 The king of Yisrayah said: Take Micayah, carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Yahuash the king's son.

27 Say: Thus says the king: Put this fellow in the prison, feed him with bread of affliction, and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

28 Micayah said: If you return at all in peace, Yahwah did not speak by me. He said: Hear, you peoples, all of you.

29 So the king of Yisrayah and Yahushaphat the king of Yahudah went up to Ramoth-Gilead.

30 The king of Yisrayah said to Yahushaphat: I will disguise myself, and go into the battle. But you put on your robes. The king of Yisrayah disguised himself, and went into the battle.

31 Now the king of Syria commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying: Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Yisrayah.

32 It came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Yahushaphat, they said: Surely it is the king of Yisrayah. They turned aside to fight against him, and Yahushaphat cried out.

33 It came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw it was not the king of Yisrayah, they turned back from pursuing him.

34 A certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Yisrayah between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot: Turn your hand, and carry me out of the host. I am sore wounded.

35 The battle increased that day. The king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot.

36 There went a cry throughout the host 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 Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria.

38 They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up his blood (this is where the harlots washed themselves), according to the Word of Yahwah which He spoke.

39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, all he did, the ivory house he built, and all the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrayah?

40 So Ahab slept with his fathers. Achazyah his son reigned in his stead.

41 Yahushaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Yahudah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Yisrayah.

42 Yahushaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Yerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

43 He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of Yahwah. However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

44 Yahushaphat made peace with the king of Yisrayah.

45 Now the rest of the acts of Yahushaphat, his might he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yahudah?

46 He put away out of the land the remnant of the sodomites, who remained in the days of his father Asa.

47 There was no king in Edom. A deputy was king.

48 Yahushaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold. But they did not go, for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.

49 Then Achazyah the son of Ahab said to Yahushaphat: Let my servants go with your servants in the ships. But Yahushaphat would not.

50 Yahushaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. Yahoram his son reigned in his stead.

51 Achazyah the son of Ahab began to reign over Yisrayah in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Yahushaphat king of Yahudah, and he reigned two years over Yisrayah.

52 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahwah, walked in the way of his father, in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, in which he made Yisrayah to sin.

53 He served The LORD, worshipped him, and provoked Yahwah to anger, the Father of Yisrayah, according to all his father did.








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