THE THIRD IN THE VULGATE.
PART ONE.
SOLOMON.
I.— ACCESSION OF SOLOMON; HIS BEGINNINGS.
Chapter 1
— David's old age; Abisag. —
1 King David was old, advanced in years; they covered him with clothes, but he could not keep warm.
2 His servants said to him, «Let a virgin be sought for my lord the king; let her stand before the king and care for him, and let her lie in your bosom, and my lord the king will be warmed.»
3 They searched throughout all the territory of Israel for a beautiful young woman, and they found Abishag the Shunammite, whom they brought to the king.
4 This young girl was very beautiful; she cared for the king and served him; but the king did not know her.
— Adonias' Conspiracy. —
5 Now Adonijah, son of Haggith, arose in his thoughts, saying, "I will be king." And he procured chariots and horses, and fifty men running before him.
6 And his father had never in his life caused him pain by saying, «Why do you act like this?» Besides, Adonijah was very handsome, and his mother had given birth to him after Absalom.
7 There were discussions with Joab, son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest; and they embraced the party of Adonijah.
8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shemei, Rei, and David’s mighty men were not with Adonijah.
9 Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, servants of the king.
10 But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, nor Benaiah, nor the mighty men, nor Solomon his brother.
— Solomon was designated by David as his successor. —
11 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, "Have you not heard that Adonijah, son of Haggith, has become king, without our lord David knowing it?
12 Come SO Now, let me give you some advice, so that you may save your life and that of your son Solomon.
13 Go to King David and say to him, “My lord the king, did you not swear an oath to your servant, saying, ‘Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne’? Why then has Adonijah become king?”
14 And behold, while you are there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.»
15 Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber; the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.
16 Bathsheba bowed down and prostrated herself before him, and the king said, «What do you want?»
17 She answered him, «My lord, you swore to your servant by Yahweh your God, saying, ‘Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne.
18 And now, behold, Adonijah has become king, and yet you, O king my lord, do not know it!
19 He sacrificed oxen, fattened calves and sheep in great numbers; and he invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab, commander of the army, but he did not invite Solomon, your servant.
20 However, O king my lord, all Israel has its eyes on you, to make known who is to sit on the throne of the king my lord after him.
21 Otherwise, When my lord the king rests with his ancestors, it will come to pass that we, myself and my son Solomon, will be, treated as criminals.»
22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
23 It was announced to the king, saying, «Here is Nathan the prophet.» He entered before the king and bowed down before him with his face to the ground;
24 and Nathan said, «O king, my lord, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne!’”
25 For he has come down today and has sacrificed oxen, fattened calves, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him and saying, “Long live King Adonijah!”
26 But he has not invited me, your servant, nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah son of Jehoiada, nor Solomon, your servant.
27 Is this really by the will of "My lord the king, why should such a thing happen without you informing your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"»
28 King David answered and said, «Call Bathsheba to me.» She went in before the king and presented herself before the king.
29 And the king swore this oath: «As surely as the Lord lives, who has given me delivered of all adversities!
30 As I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, »Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place,” I will do this day.”
31 Bathsheba bowed her face to the ground and prostrated herself before the king; and she said, «Long live my lord, King David!»
32 King David said, «Call Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.» When they had entered before the king,
33 The king said to them, «Take your master’s servants with you, put my son Solomon on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon.
34 There, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet shall anoint him king over Israel; and you shall blow the trumpet and say, Long live King Solomon!
35 Then you will come up after him; he will come and sit on my throne and reign in my place, for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.»
36 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, answered the king, «Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so command!”
37 As the Lord has been with my lord the king, may he be so with Solomon, and may he raise his throne above the throne of my lord King David!»
38 Zadok the priest went down with Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cerethians and the Phelethians, and having put Solomon on King David’s mule, they brought him to Gihon.
39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon; then the trumpet was blown and all the people shouted, «Long live King Solomon!»
40 Then all the people went up after him. The people played the flute and rejoiced greatly; the earth split open. to the noise of their clamor.
41 Adonias heard this noise, and all the guests who were with him, at the time they were finishing their feast. Upon hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab said, "Why this noise in the city?"«
42 While he was still speaking, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, arrived. Adonijah said to him, «Come, for you are a brave man and a bearer of good news.»
43 Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, «Yes, indeed! Our lord King David has made Solomon king.
44 The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cerethians and the Phelethians, and they made him ride on the king's mule.
45 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king at Gihon; from there they went up joyfully, and the city is in turmoil: this is the noise that you have heard.
46 Solomon even sat on the royal throne.
47 And even the king's servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, "May your God make the name of Solomon greater than your name, and may he exalt his throne above your throne!" And the king prostrated himself on his bed.
48 And even the king said, »Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has today given me a successor on my throne, so that I may see him with my own eyes!”
49 All of Adonijah's guests were seized with terror; they got up and went away, each to his own side.
50 Adonijah, being afraid of Solomon, got up and went away, and he took hold of the horns of the altar.
51 It was reported to Solomon, saying, «Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, »Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword!’”
52 Solomon said, «If he proves himself a brave man, he will not fall to the ground.” A of his hair; but if any harm is found in him, he will die.»
53 And King Solomon sent people who brought him down from near the altar. And Adonias He came and bowed down before King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, «Go to your house.»
Chapter 2
— David's final advice to Solomon. —
1 As the time of his death drew near, David gave his instructions to Solomon, his son, saying:
2 «I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and be a man!”
3 Keep the service of the Lord your God, walking in his ways, observing his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his precepts, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,
4 so that the Lord may fulfill his word that he has spoken concerning me, saying: If your sons are careful in their way, walking faithfully before me with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never lack a descendant sat on the throne of Israel.
5 You yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether: he killed them, pouring down peace the blood of the war, and putting the blood of the war on the belt he had around his waist and on the shoe he had on his feet.
6 You will act according to your wisdom, and you will not let her white hair go down in peace to the realm of the dead.
7 But you shall show kindness to the sons of Berzelai the Gileadite, and they shall be among those who eat at your table; for that is how they came to me when I was fleeing from Absalom your brother.
8 Behold, Shemei, son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, is with you. He uttered fierce curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, “I will not put you to death with the sword.”.
9 And now you will not let him go unpunished; for you are a wise man, and you know how you ought to deal with him; in blood you will bring down his gray hair to the grave.»
— Death of David and accession of Solomon. —
10 David rested with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
11 The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
12 And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
— The first acts of Solomon. —
13 Adonijah, son of Haggith, came to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She him He said, "Do you come with peaceful intentions?" He replied, "Yes! With peaceful intentions."«
14 and he added: «I have a word to you say.She said, "Speak."»
15 And he said, «You know that the kingdom belonged to me, and that all Israel looked to me to reign. But the kingdom has been transferred, and it has been data to my brother, because Yahweh had destined it for him.
16 Now I ask you one thing: do not reject me.» She replied, «Speak.»
17 And he said, «Please tell King Solomon—for he will not reject you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.»
18 Bathsheba said, «Very well! I will speak to the king about you.»
19 Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. And the king rose to go to He met her and bowed down before her; he sat on his throne, and made a throne for the king's mother, and she sat at his right hand.
20 Then she said, «I have one small request to make of you: do not reject me.» The king said to her, «Ask, my mother, for I will not reject you.»
21 She said, «Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah, your brother, as his wife.»
22 King Solomon answered and said to his mother, «Why do you ask for Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for the kingship for him—for he is my older brother—for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah!»
23 King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, «May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah has not spoken this word to his own destruction!”
24 And now, as surely as the Lord lives, he has established me and placed me on the throne of my father David, and has built me a house according to his L'’he had said, "Today Adonias will be put to death!"»
25 And King Solomon appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he struck Adonias, who died.
26 The king said to Abiathar the priest, «Go back to Anathoth to your own land, for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death today, because you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you shared in all that my father suffered.»
27 And Solomon drove out Abiathar from being priest of Yahweh, fulfilling Thus the word that Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28 The news reached Joab, for Joab had sided with Adonijah, though he had not sided with Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and was by the altar; and Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada to him saying, "Go, hit him."«
30 When Benaiah arrived at the tabernacle of the Lord, he said to Joab «Thus says the king: Come out.» But he replied, «No! I will die here.» Benaiah reported this answer to the king, saying, «This is what Joab said, this is what he answered me.»
31 And the king said to Banaiah, «Do as he has said, strike him and bury him; thus you will remove from me and from my father’s house the blood that Joab shed without cause.
32 Yahweh will bring his blood back on his own head, he who struck down two men more righteous and better than himself, and killed them with the sword, without my father David knowing it: Abner, son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.
33 Their blood will fall on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but there will be peace forever from the Lord for David and his descendants, for his house and his throne.»
34 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, went up and, having struck Joab, He killed him, and he was buried in his house in the desert.
35 And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in his place as commander of the army; and the king appointed Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.
36 The king sent for Shemei and said to him, «Build yourself a house in Jerusalem; you shall dwell there and you shall not leave it to go to any other place.
37 »The day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for certain that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
38 Shemei answered the king, «That is a good word; what my lord the king says, your servant will do.» And Shemei remained in Jerusalem for many days.
39 After three years, two of Shemei's servants fled to Achish, son of Maah, king of Geth. This was reported to Shemei, saying, "Your servants are in Geth."«
40 Then Shemei got up and saddled his donkey and went to Geth to Achish to look for his servants. Shemei went and brought back his servants from Geth.
41 Solomon was told that Shemei had gone from Jerusalem to Geth and had returned.
42 The king sent for Shemei and said to him, «Did I not make you swear by the Lord and give you a command, saying, ‘On the day you go out to go to one side or the other, know that you will certainly die’? And did you not answer me, ‘The word that I heard is good’?
43 Why then have you not kept the oath you swore to the Lord and the command I gave you?»
44 And the king said to Shemei, «You know—your heart THE He knows — all the evil you did to David, my father; Yahweh is bringing your wickedness back on your own head.
45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established forever before the Lord.»
46 And the king gave orders to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck down Shemei, who died.
And the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.
Chapter 3
— The Marriage of Solomon; an overview of his religious attitude. —
1 Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He took for women Pharaoh's daughter, and he brought her to the City of David, until he had finished building his house and the house of Yahweh, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem.
2 Only the people sacrificed on the high places, for no house had been built in the name of Yahweh until those days.
3 Solomon loved Yahweh, walking according to the precepts of David his father; only he offered sacrifices on the high places and burned incense there.
— Solomon's Prayer. —
4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
5 At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said to him, «Ask what you want that I'll give it to you.»
6 Solomon replied, “You have shown great kindness to your servant David, my father, according to how he walked before you in loyalty, in justice and uprightness of heart toward you; you have maintained this great kindness toward him, and you have given him a son who sits on his throne, as it seems Today.
7 Now, Yahweh, my God, you have made your servant king in place of David, my father; and I am only a very young man, not knowing how to conduct myself.
8 Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, which cannot be counted or numbered, so numerous are they.
9 Therefore, give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, to discern good from evil. For who is able to judge your people?, this people "So many?"»
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had made this request of him,
11 And God said to him, «Because you have asked for this, and have not asked for yourself for long life, nor for riches, nor for the death of your enemies, but have asked for yourself for understanding to exercise justice,
12 Behold, I do according to your word: behold, I give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will there be one like you after you.
13 And even what you have not asked for, I give you, riches and honor, so that among kings there will be no one like you all your days.
14 And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, I will prolong your days.»
15 Solomon awoke, and he understood that It was a dream. When he returned to Jerusalem, he stood before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he gave a feast for all his servants.
— The Judgment of Solomon. —
16 Then two women of ill repute came to the king and stood before him.
17 One of the women said, «Please, my lord! This woman and I lived in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was living in the house.
18 Three days after I gave birth my child, This woman also gave birth to a child. We were together; no stranger was with us in the house, it was just the two of us in the house.
19 The woman's son died during the night because she lay on him.
20 She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from my side while the servant girl slept, and laid him in her arms, and her son who was dead, she THE lay in my bosom.
21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized that "It wasn't my son I had given birth to."»
22 The other woman said, «No! My son is alive, and your son is dead.» But the first woman replied, «No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.» And they argued before the king.
23 The king said, «One says, »My son is alive,’ and your son is dead; and the other says, ‘No, your son is dead,’ and my son is alive.”
24 And the king said, «Bring me a sword.» So they brought the sword before the king.
25 And the king said, «Divide the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.»
26 Then the woman whose son was still alive said to the king, for her heart yearned for her son, «Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!» But the other said, «Let him be neither mine nor yours; divide—THE. »
27 And the king answered and said, «Give the living child to the first woman, and do not kill him; she is his mother.»
28 All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had pronounced, and they feared the king, seeing that there was divine wisdom in him to administer justice.
Chapter 4
— Solomon's high officials. —
1 King Solomon was king over all Israel.
2 These are the chiefs who served him: Azariah, son of Zadok, was the prime minister;
3 Elihoreph and Ahia, sons of Sisa, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was recorder;
4 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in command of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
5 Azarias, son of Nathan, was chief of the stewards; Zabud, son of Nathan, a priest, was the king's close advisor;
6 Ahisar was prefect of the palace; and Adoniram, son of Abda, was in charge of forced labor.
7 Solomon had twelve overseers over all Israel; they provided for the maintenance of the king and his household, each one to provide for it for one month of the year.
8 These are their names: Ben-Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; —
9 Ben-Decar, to Maccès, to Salebim, to Beth-Sames, and to Elon of Bethanan; —
10 Ben-Hesed, in Aruboth: he had Socho and all the region of Epher; —
11 Ben-Abinadab, who had all the heights of Dor; Tapheth, Solomon's daughter, was his wife; —
12 Bana, son of Ahilud, who had Thanach and Mageddo, and all Bethsan, which is near Sartan below Jezreel, from Bethsan to Abel-mehula, as far as beyond Jecmaan.
13 Ben-Gaber, in Ramoth-gilead: he had the towns of Jair, son of Manasseh, who are in Gilead; he had the land of Argob which East In Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars;
14 Ahinadab, son of Addo, in Manaim; —
15 Ahimaas, in Naphtali: he too had taken as his wife a daughter of Solomon, named Basemath;
16 Baanah, son of Husi, in Asher and Aloth; —
17 Jehoshaphat, son of Pharua, in Issachar; —
18 Shemei, son of Elah, in Benjamin; —
19 Gabar, son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and of Og, king of Bashan: there was only one overseer for that land.
— The greatness of Solomon. —
20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate and drank and were merry.
Chapter 5
1 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms, from the river to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought gifts and were subject to Solomon all the days of his life.
2 Solomon consumed daily of food: thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of common flour,
3 ten fat oxen, twenty pasture oxen and one hundred sheep, not counting deer, roe deer, fallow deer and fattened poultry.
4 Because he dominated everything the country beyond the river, from Taphsah to Gaza, over all the kings beyond the river; and he had peace with all its subjects from all sides.
5 Judah and Israel dwelt securely, each under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
6 Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses intended to his chariots, and twelve thousand saddle horses.
7 The stewards provided for the maintenance of King Solomon and all those who were admitted to King Solomon's table, each during his month; they left nothing lacking.
8 They also brought barley and straw for the draft and racing horses to the place where these were, each according to what had been prescribed for him.
9 God gave Solomon wisdom, very great understanding, and a mind as broad as the sand on the seashore.
10 Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.
11 He was wiser than any man, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, Chalcol, and Dorda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was widespread among all the surrounding nations.
12 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand and five.
13 He discoursed on trees, beginning with the cedar which is at Lebanon up to the hyssop that comes out of the wall; he also discoursed on quadrupeds and on birds, and on reptiles, and on fish.
14 People came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all the kings of the earth who had heard him talk about his wisdom.
II.— CONSTRUCTION AND DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE.
— Alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre; preparations for the work on the Temple. —
15 Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that he had been anointed king in place of his father, and Hiram had always been a friend of David.
16 And Solomon sent word to Hiram:
17 «You know that David, my father, was unable to build a house for the name of Yahweh, his God, because of the wars which his enemies They surrounded him, until Yahweh had put them under the soles of his feet.
18 Now Yahweh, my God, has given me rest on every side; there is no more adversary, no more troublesome affair.
19 And behold, I am planning to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh declared to David my father, saying, 'Your son, whom I will put in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.
20 And now, order that cedars be cut down for me on the Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you for your servants whatever you ask; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut wood like the Sidonians.»
21 When Hiram heard Solomon's words, he was overjoyed and said, «Blessed be the Lord today, who has given David a wise son.” to reign "To this great people!"»
22 And Hiram sent word to Solomon: «I have heard what you sent me say ; I will do what you desire concerning the cedar wood and the cypress wood.
23 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them float by sea to the place you send me say ; "There, I will have them untied, and you will take them. And you will fulfill my desire by providing food for my household."»
24 Hiram gave Solomon as much cedar wood and cypress wood as he wanted;
25 Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat for the upkeep of his household, and 20 kors of crushed olive oil. This is what Solomon delivered to Hiram every year.
26 And Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a covenant together.
27 King Solomon conscripted forced laborers from among all the Israelites, and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand.
28 He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand per month alternately; they were one month at Lebanon, and two months at their home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced laborers.
29 Solomon had Again seventy thousand men who carried the burdens, and eighty thousand who cut the stones in the mountains,
30 not counting the superintendents appointed by Solomon over the works, numbering three thousand three hundred; they directed the people who worked on the projects.
31 The king ordered that large stones, choice stones, be extracted to establish the foundations of the house with hewn stones.
32 Solomon’s masons and Hiram’s masons, and the Giblians, cut and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
Chapter 6
— Construction of the Temple. —
1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he built the house of Yahweh.
2 The house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 The portico in front of the temple of the house was twenty cubits long along the width of the house, and ten cubits wide at the front of the house.
4 The king fitted the house with windows with fixed grilles.
5 He built stories against the wall of the house, around the walls of the house, around the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, and he made side rooms all around.
6 The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits wide, and the third one seven cubits wide; for the walls of the house had been set back all around, on the outside, so that the beams do not enter the walls of the house.
7 When the house was built, it was built of stones prepared from the quarry; and so no hammer, axe, or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.
8 The entrance to the middle floor was on the right side of the house; one went up by winding staircases. upstairs from the middle and the middle one to the third.
9 Solomon He built the house and finished it; he covered the house with cedar beams and planks.
10 He built the floors leaning against to the whole house, by giving them five cubits high, and tying them to the house with cedar beams.
11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying:
12 «This house that you are building…, if you walk according to my laws, if you put into practice my ordinances, if you observe all my commandments, regulating your conduct according to them, I will fulfill to you my word that I spoke to David your father;
13 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will not abandon my people Israel.»
14 And Solomon built the house and finished it.
15 He lined the inside walls of the house with cedar planks, from the floor to the ceiling; he lined Thus he paneled the interior; and he covered the floor of the house with cypress planks.
16 He boarded with cedar planks the twenty cubits from the bottom of the house, from the ground up’at the top the walls, and he took from the house something to do to him a sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.
17 The house, that is, the former temple, was forty cubits long.
18 The cedar wood inside the house was carved into gourds and blooming flowers; everything was cedar; you could not see the stone.
19 Solomon arranged the sanctuary inside the house, at the back, to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there.
20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. Solomon overlaid it with fine gold, and he overlaid the altar with cedar.
21 Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with fine gold, and he closed the front of the sanctuary with gold chains, which he covered with gold.
22 So he covered the whole house with gold, the whole house, and he covered the whole altar that was before the sanctuary with gold.
23 He made in the sanctuary two cherubim of wild olive wood, each ten cubits high.
24 One of the wings of each The cherub was five cubits long, and the second wing of the cherub was five cubits long; there were ten cubits from the tip of a of its wings at the end of the other.
25 The second cherub was also ten cubits long. The two cherubim were of the same size and shape.
26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits; and likewise for the second cherub.
27 Solomon placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, with their wings spread out; the wing of the first touched one of the walls, and the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and their other wings touched each other, wing to wing, towards the middle of the house.
28 And Solomon clothed the cherubim in gold.
29 He had cherubim, palm trees and blooming flowers carved in relief on all the walls of the house, all around, inside and out.
30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside and out.
31 He made doors of wild olive wood for the entrance to the sanctuary; the frame with the posts took the fifth of the wall.
32 On the two leaves of wild olive wood, he had cherubs, palm trees, and blooming flowers carved, and he THE clothed with gold, spreading the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33 In the same way, he made olive wood posts for the temple gate, which covered a quarter of the wall,
34 and two cypress wood doors; the first door was made of two folding leaves; the second door was similarly made up of two sheets that folded over.
35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and blossoming flowers on it, and he THE plated with gold, suitable for sculpture.
36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of cedar beams.
37 In the fourth year, in the month of Ziv, the foundations of the house of Yahweh were laid;
38 and in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was completed in all its parts and as it should have been. Solomon He built it within seven years.
Chapter 7
— Solomon's palaces. —
1 Solomon built his house in thirteen years, and he finished it all.
2 He built the Forest House of Lebanon, whose length was one hundred cubits, whose width was fifty cubits and whose height was thirty cubits; she was resting on four rows of cedar columns, and there were cedar beams on the columns.
3 A cedar roof covered it, above the rooms which were resting on the columns, number of forty-five, fifteen per row.
4 There were three rows of rooms, and the windows faced each other, three times.
5 All the doors and all the posts were made of square planks, and the windows faced each other, three times.
6 He made the portico with columns, fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, and in front of it a other portico with columns and steps in front of them.
7 He made the portico of the throne, where he administered justice, the portico of judgment, and he lined it with cedar from floor to ceiling.
8 His dwelling house was built in the same way, in a second courtyard, behind the portico; and he made a house like this portico for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had married.
9 All these buildings were made of precious stones, cut according to measurements, sawn with a saw, inside as well as outside, from the foundations to the cornices, and outside to the great courtyard.
10 The foundations were also made of precious stones, large stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.
11 Above, there was more precious stones, cut according to measurements, and cedar wood.
12 The Great Court had In All its circuit three rows of hewn stone and one row of cedar beams, like the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and like the portico of the house.
— Temple furnishings. —
13 King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre.
14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, but his father was a Tyrian and worked with bronze. He was full of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to do all kinds of work in bronze; he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
15 He made the two bronze pillars; the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of the second pillar.
16 He made two capitals of cast bronze, to place on the tops of the columns; the height of one capital was five cubits and the height of the second capital was five cubits.
17 There were net-like lattices, chain-like festoons, on the capitals that surmounted the tops of the columns, seven on one capital, seven on the second capital.
18 He two rows of pomegranates around one of the trellises, to cover the capital which surmounted one of the columns; and he did the same for the second capital.
19 The capitals that were on top of the columns in the portico depicted lilies measuring four cubits height.
20 The capitals placed on the two columns were surrounded by two hundred grenades, at the top, near the bulge that was beyond the trellis; there were also two hundred grenades arranged all around, on the second capital.
21 He set up the pillars at the portico of the temple; he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin; then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz.
22 And there was on the top of the columns a work depicting lilies. So The work on the columns was completed.
23 He made the sea of brass cast. It was ten cubits from edge to edge, it was completely round; its height was five cubits, and a cord of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
24 Gourds surrounded it, below the rim, ten per cubit, going all around the sea in two rows; the gourds were cast with it in one piece.
25 It was placed on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was over them, and all the hindquarters of their bodies were hidden inside.
26 Its thickness was one palm, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, with a fleur-de-lis pattern. It contained two thousand baths.
27 He made the ten bronze bases; each was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
28 This is how the bases were made: they were formed of panels, and the panels were committed between chassis;
29 On the panels that were between the frames, there were lions, bulls and cherubim; and on the frames, at the top, a support, and below the lions, bulls and cherubim hung garlands.
30 Each base had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports; these cast supports were below the basin and beyond the garlands.
31 The opening for receive the basin was inside the crowning of the base, she was tall of a cubit; this opening was round, in the shape of a base column and having a cubit and a half diameter ; and on this opening there was there were also sculptures; the panels were square, not rounded.
32 The four wheels were below the panels; and the axles of the wheels fixed at the base; each wheel was one and a half cubits high.
33 The wheels were made like the wheel of a chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes and their hubs, all were cast.
34 At the four corners of each base were four supports, and its supports were of one piece with the base.
35 At the top of the base was a circle half a cubit high; and on the top of the base, its supports and panels were of the same piece.
36 On the support plates and on the panels, he engraved cherubs, lions and palm trees, according to the space free for each one, and garlands all around.
37 This is how he made the ten bases; one even cast iron, a even dimension, a even form for all.
38 He made ten bronze basins; each basin held forty baths; each basin was four cubits long. diameter ; each basin rested on a basis, a of the ten bases.
39 He disposed Thus THE ten bases: five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house; and he placed the sea on the right side of the house, to the east, towards the south.
40 Hiram made the cauldrons, the shovels, and the bowls.
That's how...’Hiram finished all the work he had done for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh:
41 the two columns; the two pavilions of the capitals which are on the top of the columns; the two trellises to cover the two pavilions of the capitals which are on the top of the columns;
42 the four hundred grenades for the two trellises, two rows of grenades per trellis, to cover the two ridges of the capitals which are on the columns;
43 the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases;
44 the sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea;
45 the pots, the shovels and the bowls. All these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh were of polished bronze.
46 The king had them melted in the plain of the Jordan, in clay soil, between Sochoth and Sarthan.
47 Solomon left without weighing them all these utensils, because they were in very large quantity; the weight of the bronze was not verified.
48 Solomon did Again all the others utensils that were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar; the golden table, on which we put the breads of suggestion;
49 the pure gold lampstands, five on the right and five on the left, in front of the oracle, with the flowers, the lamps and the gold snuffers;
50 basins, knives, bowls, cups and censers of pure gold, as well as gold hinges for the doors of the inner house, know of the Holy of Holies, And for the doors of the house, know of the Saint.
51 Thus was completed all the work that King Solomon did in the house of the Lord; and Solomon brought in what David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, And he THE poured into the treasuries of the house of Yahweh.
Chapter 8
— Dedication of the Temple; Prayer of Solomon. —
1 Then King Solomon assembled near him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the families of the children of Israel, to bring up from the city of David, that is, from Zion, the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.
2 All the men of Israel gathered around King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month, during the festival.
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests brought up the ark.
4 They carried the ark of Yahweh, and the tent of meeting, and all the sacred utensils that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites carried them.
5 King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who had gathered around him were standing with him before the ark. They sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be counted or numbered because of their multitude.
6 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the sanctuary of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the Cherubim.
7 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.
8 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They have been there to this day.
9 There were nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there on the mount Horeb, when Yahweh concludes an alliance with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10 As the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh.
11 The priests could not y to remain to do their service, because of the cloud; for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.
12 Then Solomon said, «The Lord wants to dwell in darkness.
13 I built a house who will be your home, a place for you y reside forever.»
14 Then the king turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.
15 And he said, «Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke by his mouth to David my father, and who accomplished by his hand what he had declared saying:
16 From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose a city from among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in which to house my name, but I chose David to reign over my people Israel.
17 David, my father, intended to build a house in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel;
18 But Yahweh said to David my father, “Since you had it in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well to have it in your heart.”.
19 However, you will not be the one to build the house, but your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my name.
20 Yahweh has fulfilled the word that he had spoken: I have succeeded David my father, and I have sat on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh had said, and I have built the house in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
21 I have established a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh, alliance that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.»
22 Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and, stretching out his hands toward heaven,
23 He said, «Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no God like you, either in heaven above or on earth below: to youwho keep the alliance and mercy towards your servants who walk wholeheartedly before you;
24 Just as you have kept for your servant David my father what you told him, and what you declared with your mouth, you have done with your hand, as we see it in today.
25 Now, Yahweh, God of Israel, observe in favor of your servant David, my father, what you have said to him in these words: You shall never lack before me a descendant to sit on the throne of Israel, provided that your sons take heed to their way, walking before me as you have walked before me.
26 And now, God of Israel, let the word that you spoke to your servant David, my father, be fulfilled!
27 «But does God truly dwell on earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!”
28 However, give attention, O Lord my God, to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, listening to the joyful cry and the prayer that your servant is uttering before you today,
29 keeping your eyes open night and day toward this house, toward the place of which you have said, “My name shall be there,” listening to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray in this place; hear from your dwelling place, from heaven, hear and forgive.
31 «If anyone sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, if he comes and swears before your altar in this house,
32 Hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down their conduct on their own head, declaring the innocent righteous and rewarding them according to their innocence.
33 «When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, if they return to you and glorify your name, if they offer prayers and supplications to you in this house,
34 Hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.
35 «When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and give glory to your name, and turn from their sins because you have grieved them,
36 Hear from heaven, forgive the sins of your servants and your people Israel, teaching them the right way in which they should walk, and send rain on the land which you have given as an inheritance to your people.
37 «When famine strikes the land, when plague strikes, when blight strikes, mildew strikes, locusts strike, and the plague strikes; when the enemy besieges your people in the country, within its gates; when there will be any plague or disease,
38 If a man, if all your people Israel, offer prayers and supplications, and each one, acknowledging the wound in his heart, stretches out his hands toward this house,
39 listen-THE from heaven, from your dwelling place, and forgive; act and render to each according to all their ways, you who know their hearts—for you alone know the hearts of all the children of men—
40 so that they may fear you all the days they live in the land you gave to our fathers.
41 «As for the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, but who comes from a distant land because of your name,
42 — for people will hear of your great name, your strong hand, and your outstretched arm, — when they come to pray in this house,
43 Listen-THE from heaven, from the place of your dwelling, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as your people Israel do, and to know that your name is called upon this house which I have built.
44 «When your people go out to fight their enemy, following the path you have sent them on, and when they offer prayers to the Lord, face turned to the city you have chosen and towards the house I built in your name,
45 Hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and grant them justice.
46 «When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and when you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their conqueror carries them off as captives to the land of the enemy, whether far away or near,
47 if they come to their senses in the land of their conquerors, if they repent and plead with you in the land of their tyrants, saying: We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have committed crimes;
48 if they return to you with all their heart and soul, in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, if they address prayers to you, face turned to their land which you gave to their fathers, towards the city you have chosen and towards the house I built in your name,
49 Listen from heaven, from your dwelling place, to their prayer and their supplication, and do them justice;
50 Forgive your people their transgressions and all the sins they have committed against you; show them compassion before their tyrants, so that’they have pity on them;
51 For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the midst of an iron furnace:
52 so that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Israel, to hear them in all that they ask of you.
53 For you have separated them from all the peoples of the earth for yourselves, to make it your inheritance, as you declared through Moses, your servant, when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Lord Yahweh.»
54 When Solomon had finished addressing all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he rose from before the altar of Yahweh, where he had been kneeling with his hands outstretched toward heaven.
55 He stood up and blessed the whole assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying:
56 «Blessed be Yahweh who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he has said! Of all the good words that he has spoken through the mouth of Moses his servant, not one word has failed.
57 May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he not abandon us or forsake us,
58 but that he may incline our hearts to him, so that we may walk in all his ways, and observe his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he prescribed to our fathers.
59 May my words of supplication that I have spoken before the Lord be near to the Lord our God night and day, so that he may do justice to his servant and to his people Israel, according to their daily needs.,
60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God, that there is no other.
61 Let your heart be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments, as we do Today. "»
62 The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before Yahweh.
63 Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep as a peace offering to Yahweh. That's how The king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Yahweh.
64 On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court which is in front of the house of Yahweh; for there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which is in front of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.
65 Solomon celebrated the festival at that time, and all Israel with him, a great multitude coming from the entrance of Emath to the Wadi of Egypt, — before the Lord our God, — for seven days and seven others days, that is, fourteen days.
66 On the eighth day he dismissed the people. And they blessed the king, and went to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for all the good that Yahweh had done to David his servant, and to Israel his people.
III. — THE LAST YEARS OF SOLOMON.
Chapter 9
— New appearance; Future prospects. —
1 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king's house, and everything that pleased Solomon and that he desired to do,
2 Yahweh appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And Yahweh said to him, «I have heard your prayer and your supplication which you have uttered before me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, to put my name there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there forever.
4 And you, if you walk before me as David, your father, walked, in faithfulness your with heart and righteousness, putting into practice what I have commanded you, if you observe my laws and my ordinances,
5 I will establish your royal throne in Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying: You will never lack a descendant who sits on the throne of Israel.
6 But if you and your children turn away from me and do not keep my commandments and laws that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and bow down to them,
7 I will exterminate Israel from the land that I have given them; the house that I have consecrated to my name, I will reject from before me, and Israel will be a profanation and an object of ridicule among all peoples;
8 this house will be always high-ranking, but Anyone who passes by will be astonished and will hiss. They will say: Why has Yahweh done this to this land and this house?
9 And the answer will be: »Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and followed other gods, bowing down to them and serving them, that is why the Lord brought all these disasters upon them.”
— Cities given to Hiram. —
10 After twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house,
11 — Hiram, king of Tyre, had supplied Solomon with cedar wood and cypress wood, and gold, as much as he wanted, — King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon was giving him; they did not please him,
13 And he said, «What are these cities that you have given me, my brother?» And he called them the land of Shabul, their name to this day.
14 Hiram had sent Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
— Forced labor and construction; the piety of Solomon. —
15 This is what concerns the forced laborers that King Solomon raised up to build the house of Yahweh and his own house, Mello and the wall of Jerusalem, Hezer, Mageddo and Gazer.
16 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gazer. After burning it down and killing the Canaanites who lived in the city, he gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
17 Solomon built Gazer, Lower Beth-Horon,
18 Baalath, and Thadmor in the land of the desert;
19 all the store cities belonging to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything else Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, to Lebanon and throughout the country submitted to its domination.
20 All the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, did not making point part children of Israel,
21 know, Their descendants who had remained in the land after them, and whom the children of Israel had not been able to devote to destruction, Solomon conscripted as forced laborers, what they were to this day.
22 But Solomon did not make slaves none children of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his leaders, his officers, the commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.
23 The chief inspectors of Solomon's works were among the five hundred and fifty, charged with commanding the people engaged in work.
24 Pharaoh's daughter went up from the City of David to her house that Solomon had built it; it was then that he built Mello.
25 Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings three times a year on the altar he had built to the Lord, and he burned incense on the one that was before the Lord. That's how...’He finished building the house.
— Solomon's fleet. —
26 King Solomon built a fleet at Asiongaber, which East near Ailath, on the shores of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
27 And Hiram sent his own servants, sailors who knew the sea, to Solomon’s servants on the ships.
28 They went to Ophir, and they took from there four hundred and twenty talents of gold, which they brought to King Solomon.
Chapter 10
— Visit of the Queen of Sheba. —
1 The Queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon's fame in the name of Yahweh, came to test him with riddles.
2 She came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, camels carrying spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. She went to Solomon and told him everything that was in her heart.
3 Solomon answered all his questions: there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not answer.
4 When the Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
5 and the food on his table, and the apartments of his servants, and the rooms and clothing of his attendants, his cupbearers, and the stairway by which he went up into the house of Yahweh, she was beside herself,
6 and she said to the king, «So it was true what I heard in my country about you and your wisdom!”
7 I did not believe the account until I came and saw with my own eyes, and behold, I was not told half of it! You surpass in wisdom and majesty what the fame had made known to me.
8 Blessed are your people, blessed are your servants, who continually stand before you, who hear your wisdom!
9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has been pleased with you and has placed you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loves Israel forever, he has made you king to do justice and righteousness.»
10 She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. He did not come again Never as many spices as the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
— The riches of Solomon. —
11 Hiram's ships, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a very large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones.
12 The king made railings from the sandalwood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, and harps and lyres for the singers. No more of that sandalwood was produced, nor has any been seen to this day.
13 King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides gifts, in keeping with the power of a king. such as Solomon. Then she returned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
14 The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,
15 more what he received street vendors and traders, from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.
16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold, using six hundred shekels of gold for each shield,
17 and three hundred small shields of beaten gold, using three minas of gold for each shield; and the king put them in the house in the forest of the Lebanon.
18 The king made a great throne of ivory and covered it with pure gold.
19 This throne had six steps, and the upper part of the throne was rounded at the back; there were arms on each side of the seat; two lions stood near the arms,
Twenty and twelve lions stood there on the six steps, six on both sides. Nothing like it has ever happened in any other kingdom.
21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the dishes in the house in the forest of the Lebanon It was made of pure gold. Nothing was made of silver; it was not valued at all in Solomon's time.
22 For the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish arrived, bringing gold and silver, ivory, monkeys and peacocks.
23 King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
24 Everyone was looking for Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.
25 And each one brought his gift, articles of silver and articles of gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses and mules, each year.
26 Solomon assembled chariots and cavalry; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he placed in the cities where his chariots were stored, and near the king in Jerusalem.
27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as numerous as sycamores growing in the plain.
28 Solomon's horses came from Egypt; a caravan of the king's merchants would take them in droves at an agreed price:
29 A chariot went up and out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty centuries. They also brought them out in the same way, by themselves, for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria.
Chapter 11
— Foreign women and the idolatry of Solomon. —
1 King Solomon loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 of the nations of which the Lord had said to the Israelites, «You shall have no dealings with them, nor shall they have dealings with you, lest they turn your hearts after their gods.» Solomon cleaved to these nations For love.
3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.
4 In Solomon’s old age, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to Yahweh his God, as had been the heart of David, his father.
5 Solomon went after Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, and after Melchom, the abomination of the Ammonites.
6 And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord, as had done David, his father.
7 Then Solomon built a high place on the mountain opposite Jerusalem for Hamosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.
8 He did the same to all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had turned his heart away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had forbidden him to go after other gods in this matter; but Solomon did not observe what Yahweh had commanded.
11 And Yahweh said to Solomon, «Because you have acted in this way, and have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from your hand, and I will give it to your servant.
12 But I will not do it during your lifetime, for the sake of David your father; I will tear it out from the hand of your son.
13 And yet I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will leave one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.»
— Solomon's enemies. —
14 Yahweh raised up an enemy against Solomon: Adad the Edomite, of the royal line of Edom.
15 In the time when David was at war with Edom, where Joab, the army commander, having gone up to bury the dead, killed all the males who were in Edom,
16 — Joab remained there six months with all Israel, until he had exterminated all the males in Edom; —
17 Adad fled with some Edomites, from among his father's servants, to go to Egypt; Adad was Again a young boy.
18 Having departed from Midian, they went to Pharan, taking with them some men from Pharan, and arrived in Egypt at Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave a house to Adad, provided for his subsistence and granted him land.
19 Adad found favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, until then that Pharaoh he gave him as a wife the sister of his wife, the sister of Queen Tahnes.
20 Taphnes' sister bore him a son, Genubath, whom Taphnes weaned in Pharaoh's house, and Genubath lived in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's children.
21 When Adad heard in Egypt that David was lying with his ancestors, and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, «Let me go to my own country.»
22 And Pharaoh said to him, «What do you lack with me, that you wish to go to your own country?» He replied, «Nothing, but let me go.»
23 God raised up a other enemy to Solomon : Razon, son of Eliada, who had run away from his master Hadarezer, king of Soba.
24 He had gathered people around him, and he was the leader of a band, when David massacred the his master's troops. They went to Damascus and settled there; and they reigned in Damascus.
25 He was an enemy of Israel throughout Solomon's lifetime, besides the harm Adad did him, and he abhorred Israel. He reigned over the Syria.
26 Jeroboam awoke Also his hand against the king; he was the son of Nabat, an Ephrathite from Zareda, his mother was a widow named Sarva, and he was a servant of Solomon.
27 This is the reason for his rebellion against the king. Solomon was building up Melo and closing the breach in the city of David, his father.
28 This Jeroboam was strong and valiant; Solomon, having seen how this young man was active in work, appointed him overseer of all the forced laborers in the house of Joseph.
29 At that time, Jeroboam, having gone out of Jerusalem, was met on the road by the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh, wearing a new cloak; they were both alone in the fields.
30 Ahias, seizing the new cloak that‘'he had He tore him into twelve pieces,
31 and he said to Jeroboam, «Take ten pieces for yourself. For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes.
32 Only one tribe will remain to him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:
33 And this is because they have forsaken me and bowed down to Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, to Hamosh, god of Moab, and to Melchum, god of the Ammonites, and because they have not walked in my ways to do what is right in my eyes and to observe my laws and ordinances, as did it David, father of Solomon.
34 Nevertheless I will not take any part of the kingdom from his hand, but I will maintain him as prince all the days of his life, for the sake of David, my servant, whom I have chosen. And who has observed my commandments and my laws.
35 I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son, and I will give you ten tribes from it.
36 I will give one tribe to his son, so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to put my name in.
37 I will take you, and you will reign over all that your soul desires, and you will be king over Israel.
38 If you obey all that I command you, if you walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes, observing my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you, I will build you a lasting house, as I built one for David, and I will give you Israel.
39 Because I will humiliate David's descendants because of his unfaithfulness, but not forever.»
40 Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shesak, king of Egypt; he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
— Death of Solomon; Accession of Rehoboam. —
41 The rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
42 The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43 And Solomon rested with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father. Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
PART TWO.
THE SCHISM. THE TWO KINGDOMS UNTIL THE REIGNS OF JORAM OF JUDAH AND OHAZIAH OF ISRAEL.
I. — THE SCHISM.
Chapter 12
— Political schism. —
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2 Jeroboam, son of Nebat, having learned what was happening, — he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, and Jeroboam remained in Egypt, —
3 They sent for him. Then Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying:
4 «Your father made our yoke heavy; now you, lighten the harsh bondage.” that was imposed on us your father, and the heavy yoke he put on us; and we will serve you.»
5 He said to them, «Go away for three days, and come back to me.» So the people went away.
6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime, saying, «Let me Do you advise responding to these people?»
7 They spoke to him, saying, «If today you are helpful to these people, if you assist them, if you answer them and speak kindly to them, they will be your servants forever.»
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice given to him by the elders, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him.
9 He said to them, «That me Do you advise responding to this people who speak to me in this way: "Lighten the yoke your father imposed on us?"»
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, saying, «This is what you will say to the people who spoke to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; you lighten it for us!’ This is what you will say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.
11 Well! My father laid a heavy yoke on you, and I will make your yoke heavier. Again ; My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.»
12 Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said, «Return to me in three days.»
13 The king answered the people harshly. Ignoring the advice the elders had given him,
14 He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, «My father made your yoke heavy, and I will make your yoke heavier.” Again ; My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.»
15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this was the way of the Lord to fulfill the word that the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, «What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse! To your tents, Israel! As for you, see to your house, David!» So Israel went to their tents.
17 It was only concerning the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah during the reign of Rehoboam.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Aduram, who was in charge of taxes; but Aduram He was stoned by all Israel, and he died. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted a chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel separated itself from the house of David to this day.
20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they sent and summoned him to the assembly, and they made him king over all Israel. There was no person who followed the house of David, if not the only tribe of Judah.
21 When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand elite warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, in order to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God was addressed to Semaias, a man of God, in these terms:
23 «Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying:
24 Thus says the Lord: Do not go up and do not the war to your brothers, the children of Israel. Return each to your home, for this thing has happened by me.» They listened to the word of the Lord, and they returned, in accordance with the word of the Lord.
25 Jeroboam built Shechem on the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived there; he went out from there Next, and built Phanuel.
— Religious schism. —
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, «Now the kingdom may well return to the house of David.
27 If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.»
28 After consulting with one another, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, «You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough! Here are your God, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.»
29 He placed one of these calves to Bethel, and he put the other one to Dan.
30 It was there an opportunity to sin, for the people went as far as Dan to worship one calves.
31 Jeroboam made a house of high places, and he made priests from among the people, who were not children of Levi.
32 Jeroboam instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, in imitation of the festival which was being celebrated in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. This is what he did at Bethel, so that sacrifices might be offered to the calves he had made. He appointed priests from the high places he had erected at Bethel.
— The curse of the altar of Bethel. —
33 He went up to the altar he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he had chosen himself. He instituted a festival for the Israelites, and he went up to the altar to light the fire to the victims.
Chapter 13
1 Now a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to light the fire to the victims.
2 He cried out against the altar, in the word of the Lord, and said: «Altar! Altar! Thus says the Lord: A son shall be born to the house of David, and his name shall be Josiah; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer fire sacrifices on you, and human bones shall be burned on you!»
3 And on the same day he gave a sign, saying, «This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be split open, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.»
4 When King Jeroboam heard the word that the man of God had cried out against the altar at Bethel, he put out his hand from above the altar, saying, «Seize him!» But the hand that he stretched out against him withered, and he could not draw it back to himself.
5 The altar split open, and the ashes spilled out above the altar, according to the sign given by the man of God, in the word of Yahweh.
6 The king spoke and said to the man of God, «Appease the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.» The man of God appeased the Lord, and the king was able to restore his hand, which became as it had been before.
7 The king said to the man of God, «Come with me into the house and be refreshed, and I will give you a present.»
8 The man of God answered the king, «Even if you were to give me half of your house, I would not go in with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place;
9 For this command was given me in the word of the Lord: »You shall not eat bread or drink water, and you shall not return by the way you came.”
10 He went away SO by another way, and he did not return by the way by which he had come to Bethel.
— Punishment for the disobedience of the man of God. —
11 Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel; his sons came and told him all the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they reported Also to their father the words he had spoken to the king.
12 And their father said to them, «Which way did he go?» Because His sons had seen by what route the man of God who had come from Judah had gone.
13 And he said to his sons, «Saddle the donkey for me.» So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
14 He went after the man of God and, finding him sitting under the oak tree, said to him, «Are you the man of God who came from Judah?» He answered, «I am.»
15 The prophet He said to him, «Come home with me, and you will eat A little of bread.»
16 But he replied, «I cannot go back with you, nor enter with you; I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place,
17 For it was said to me in the word of the Lord, »You shall not eat bread there, nor drink water there, nor return by the way by which you came.”
18 And he said to him, «I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me in the word of Yahweh, saying: Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.» He was lying to him.
19 The man of God returned with him, and ate bread and drank water in his house.
20 As they sat at the table, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back;
21 and he cried out to the man who had come from Judah, saying, «Thus says Yahweh: Because you have rebelled against the command of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you;
22 because you returned and ate bread and drank water in the place of which the Lord had told you, »You shall not eat bread or drink water there,” and your body shall not enter the tomb of your ancestors.»
23 After he had eaten bread and drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him, know, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 The Man of God Having gone away, he was met on the road by a lion, which killed him. While his body lay stretched out on the road, the donkey remained beside him, and the lion remained beside the body.
25 And behold, some people who were passing by saw the corpse lying on the road and the lion standing beside the corpse, and they spoke of it when they came to the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 When the prophet who had brought back from the way the man of God, When he learned of it, he said, «This is the man of God who rebelled against the command of the Lord, and the Lord handed him over to the lion, which tore him to pieces and killed him, according to the word that the Lord had spoken to him.»
27 He said SO to his sons: "Saddle the donkey for me." When they had saddled it,
28 He went away and found the body lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey apart.
29 The prophet raised up the body of the man of God and, having put it on the donkey, brought it back, and the old prophet returned to the city to mourn him and to bury him.
30 He placed the body in its tomb, and they wept over him, saying, «Alas! My brother!»
31 When he had buried him, he said to his sons, «When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones.
32 For the word that he cried out, in the word of the Lord, against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, will be fulfilled.»
II. — FROM THE SCHISM IN THE TIMES OF ACHAB, KING OF ISRAEL.
— Continuation of the reign of Jeroboam of Israel. —
33 After this event, Jeroboam did not turn away from his evil way; again he created priests of the high places from among the people; whoever desired it, he consecrated him and he became a priest of the high places.
34 In this they sinned against the house of Jeroboam, and that is why it was destroyed and exterminated from the face of the earth.
Chapter 14
1 At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, became ill.
2 Jeroboam said to his wife, «Please get up and disguise yourself so that no one will know you are Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Behold, there is located Ahias, the prophet, the one who told me that I would be king over this people.
3 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what is going to happen to the child.»
4 Jeroboam’s wife did this; she got up and went to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could no longer see, because old age had dimmed his eyes.
5 Yahweh had said to Ahijah, «Here is Jeroboam’s wife coming to get some word from you about her son, who is sick; you shall speak to her in such and such a way. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.
6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she crossed the threshold, he said, «Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why are you marrying another? I have a heavy burden to bear for you.” message.
7 Go, tell Jeroboam: This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel;
8 I tore the kingdom from the house of David, and I gave it to you; but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and walked after me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes;
9 But you have done more evil than all who were before you; you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke me to anger, and you have cast me behind your back!
10 Therefore, behold, I am going to bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam; I will cut off every male belonging to Jeroboam, both slave and free, and Israel, and I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung, until there is none left.
11 That of the house of Jeroboam who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and he who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air: for Yahweh has spoken.
12 And you, get up, go to your house; as soon as your feet enter the city, the child will die.
13 All Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him, for he is the only one of the house of Jeroboam who will be placed in a tomb, because he is the only of the house of Jeroboam in whom there was found anything good in the sight of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
14 Yahweh will set up a king over Israel who will destroy the house of Jeroboam on that day. But what? Already the thing happens !
15 Yahweh will strike Israel, as the reed is shaken in the midst of the waters; he will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave to their fathers, and he will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made themselves Asherahs, provoking Yahweh to anger.
16 He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and caused Israel to commit.»
17 Jeroboam’s wife got up and set out, and came to Terah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the child died.
18 They will bury him, and all Israel will mourn for him, according to the word that Yahweh had spoken through his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he did the war And how he reigned, behold, it is written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20 The reign of Jeroboam lasted twenty-two years, and he rested with his ancestors. Nadab his son succeeded him as king.
— Continuation of the reign of Rehoboam of Judah. —
21 Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
22 Judah did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and by the sins they committed they aroused his jealousy more than their fathers had done.
23 They also built for themselves high places with pillars and Asherahs, on every high hill and under every green tree.
24 There were even prostitutes in the land. They acted according to all the abominations of the nations that Yahweh had driven out before the children of Israel.
25 In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shesack, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem.
26 He took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king's house: he took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.
27 In their place, King Rehoboam made bronze shields, and he gave them into the hands of the chiefs of the runners who guarded the entrance to the king's house.
28 Whenever the king went to the house of Yahweh, the runners carried them; and they brought them back afterward to the chamber of the runners.
29 The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
30 There was always war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
31 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite, and Abiam his son reigned in his place.
Chapter 15
— Abiam of Judah. —
1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abiam became king of Judah,
2 and he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacha, daughter of Abessalom.
3 He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him, and his heart was not wholly devoted to Yahweh, as the heart of David his father had been.
4 But for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, appointing his son after him and preserving Jerusalem.
5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he had not turned aside all his days from any of the commandments he had received from him, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
7 The rest of the acts of Abiam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? There was war between Abiam and Jeroboam.
8 Abiam rested with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of David. Asa his son reigned in his place.
— Asa of Judah. —
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,
10 and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maah, daughter of Abessalom.
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his father.
12 He removed the prostitutes from the land and took away all the idols that his fathers had made.
13 He also removed Maah, his mother, from her position as queen mother because she had made an abominable idol to Astarte. Asa cut down her abominable idol and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
14 But the high places did not disappear, although Asa's heart was fully devoted to Yahweh all his life.
15 He put into the house of Yahweh the things consecrated by his father and the things consecrated by himself, silver, gold, and vessels.
16 There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.
17 Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah, and he built Ramah, to prevent the people of Asa, king of Judah, from going out and coming in.
18 Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king's house, and put them in the hands of his servants; and King Asa sent these servants to Ben-Hadad, son of Tabremon, son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, to say:
19« That there be an alliance between you and me, as there was one between my father and your father. I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, so that he will depart from me.»
20 Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa; he sent the commanders of his army against the cities of Israel, and he defeated Ahion, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maahah, and all Ceneroth with all the land of Naphtali.
21 When Baasa heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and stayed in Terah.
22 King Asa summoned all Judah, without excluding anyone; and they carried away the stones and timber with which Baasha was building Ramah, and King Asa built with them Gibeah of Benjamin and Maphah.
23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his mighty deeds, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? However, in the days of his old age, he had a foot ailment.
24 Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
— Nadab of Israel. —
25 Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel.
26 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he walked in the way of his father and in the sins of his father which he had caused Israel to commit.
27 Baasa, son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasa struck him down at Gebbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gebbethon.
28 Baasha put him to death in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his place.
29 When he became king, he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam; he spared no one the house of Jeroboam, not a single living soul, without destroying it, according to the word that Yahweh had spoken through his servant Ahijah of Shiloh,
30 because of the sins of Jeroboam which he had committed, and which he had caused Israel to commit, thus provoking Yahweh, the God of Israel.
31 The rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
32 There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.
— Baasa of Israel. —
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel at Terah, and he reigned twenty-four years old.
34 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in the sins which he had caused Israel to commit.
Chapter 16
1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to Jehu, son of Hanani, against Baasha, in these words:
2 «I raised you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel; but you walked in the way of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger over their sins.
3 That's why behold, I will sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, son of Nebat.
4 That one of the house »Anyone from Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any of his people who dies in the fields will be eaten by birds of the air.”
5 The rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did and his exploits, are they not written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
6 Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Terah; and Elah his son reigned in his place.
7 The word of Yahweh was also directed through the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, against Baasha and his household, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands And by becoming like the house of Jeroboam, or again because he had struck this house.
— Elah of Israel. —
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel in Terah, and he reigned two years.
9 His servant Zambri, commander of half the chariots, conspired against him. Ela was in Thersa, drinking and getting drunk in the house of Arsa, who was in charge of the house of the king to Thersa.
10 Zambri entered, struck him down, and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his place.
11 When he became king and sat on his throne, he struck down the whole house of Baasha, leaving no one to live no male child, nor none his parents and of his friends.
12 So Zambri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,
13 because of all the sins that Baasha and Elah, his son, had committed and that they had caused Israel to commit, provoking Yahweh, the God of Israel, with their idols.
14 The rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
— Zambri of Israel. —
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zambri reigned for seven days in Terah. The people were SO camped opposite Gebbethon, who belonged to the Philistines.
16 And the people who were encamped heard this news: «Zambri has conspired, and even killed the king!» That same day, in the camp, all Israel appointed Amri, commander of the army, as king of Israel.
17 Amri and all Israel with him went up from Gebbethon and came to besiege Terah.
18 When he saw the city taken, Zambri withdrew to the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him. That's how...’He died,
19 because of the sins he had committed, doing what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walking in the way of Jeroboam and in the sin that Jeroboam had committed to make Israel sin.
20 The rest of the acts of Zambri, and the plot which he formed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
21 The people of Israel were then divided into two parties: half of the people supported Tibni, son of Gineth, to make him king, and the’other Half of it was for Amri.
22 Those who followed Amri prevailed over those who followed Tebni, son of Gineth. Tebni died, and Amri reigned.
III. — ELIE AND ACHAB.
— Amri of Israel. —
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Amri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years old.
24 When he had reigned six years in Terah, he bought the hill country of Samaria from Somer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and he named the city which he had built Samaria, after Somer, whose hill country was his.
25 Amri did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he acted more wickedly than all those who had reigned before him.
26 He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and in the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, angering them with their idols Yahweh, the God of Israel.
27 The rest of the acts of Amri, what he did, and the exploits he performed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
28 Amri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. Ahab, his son, reigned in his place.
— The beginnings of Ahab of Israel. —
29 Ahab, son of Amri, became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, and Ahab, son of Amri, reigned twenty-two years over Israel in Samaria.
30 Ahab, son of Amri, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who had been before him.
31 As if it were a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, he took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and bowed down before him.
32 He erected an altar to Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria;
33 Ahab also made the Asherah. Ahab did even more than all the kings of Israel who had been before him in provoking the Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger.
34 In his days, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho; he laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and he set up its gates at the cost of Segub his youngest son, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken through the messenger of Joshua, son of Nun.
Chapter 17
— The beginnings of Elijah. —
1 Elijah the Tishbite, one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, «As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain these years except at my word.»
2 And the word of Yahweh was addressed to Elijah, in these terms:
3 «Leave here, head east and hide by the brook Carith, which is opposite the Jordan.
4 You will drink water from the stream, and I commanded the ravens to feed you there.»
5 He departed, and did according to the word of Yahweh; and he went and settled by the brook Carith, which is opposite the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank water of the torrent.
— Elijah at the home of Zarephta's widow. —
7 But after a while the stream dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
9 «Get up, go to Zarephta, which belongs to Sidon, and you will stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.»
10 He got up and went to Zarephta. As he approached the city gate, a widow was there gathering wood. He called to her and him He said, "Please fetch me a little water from this vessel so that I may drink."«
11 And she went and got some. He called her again, And he said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand."«
12 She answered, «As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering two sticks so that when I get home at home, I am preparing this remains for me and for my son; we will eat it, and we will die Next. »
13 Elijah said to him, «Do not be afraid; go back and do as you have said. Only first make me a small loaf of bread from what you have gathered and bring it to me; then make some for yourself and for your son.
14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: »The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.”
15 She went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and for a long time she and her family, as well as Elijah, had enough to eat.
16 The jar of flour was not used up, and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word of Yahweh, which he had spoken through Elijah.
17 After these events, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his illness was very violent, to the point that he had no breath left in him.
18 Then this woman He said to Elijah, «What have I to do with you, man of God? Have you come to me to remind me of my sins and to kill my son?»
19 He answered him, «Give me your son.» And he took him from the breast of the woman and, having taken him up to the upper room where he lived, he laid him on his bed.
20 Then he called on the Lord, saying, «Lord, my God, have you again brought misfortune upon this widow with whom I am staying, even causing her son to die?»
21 And he stretched himself out three times over the child, invoking Yahweh And saying, "Yahweh, my God, I pray you, let the soul of this child return to him!"«
22 Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child returned to him, and he was restored to life.
23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, «Behold, your son is alive.»
24 The woman said to Elijah, «Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.»
Chapter 18
— Before Ahab, at the Carmel. —
1 After many days, the word of the Lord came addressed To Elijah, in the third year, he said: «Go, appear before Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the ground.»
2 And Elijah departed to present himself before Ahab.
Famine was became large in Samaria,
3 Ahab summoned Obadiah, the head of his household. — Now Obadiah greatly feared the Lord,
4 For when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in caves, where he fed them with bread and water.
5 Ahab said to Obadiah, «Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the streams; perhaps we will find some grass, and we will keep the horses and mules alive, and we will not have to slaughter any cattle.»
6 They divided the land between them to explore it; Ahab went alone by one way, and Obadiah went alone by another way.
7 As Obadiah was on his way, behold, Elijah met him. Abdias, Having recognized him, he fell on his face and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"«
8 He answered him, «It is I; go and tell your master, »Here is Elijah!’”
9 And Obadiah He said, «What sin have I committed, that you hand your servant over to Ahab to kill me?”
10 As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and when they said: Elie is not here, He made the kingdom and the nation swear that you had not been found.
11 And now you me Say: Go tell your master: Here is Elijah!
12 And when I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away to some unknown place; and I will go and tell Ahab, who will not find you and will kill me. But your servant has feared the Lord from his youth.
13 Has not my lord been told what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of Yahweh? I hid a hundred of the prophets of Yahweh, fifty by fifty, in caves, and I fed them with bread and water.
14 And now you say, »Go and tell your master, ‘Here is Elijah! He will kill me.’”
15 But Elijah said, «As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will present myself before him today.” Ahab. »
16 Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him the news; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 As soon as Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, «Are you here, you who disturb Israel?»
18 Elie replied: «I am not troubling Israel; on the contrary, it is you and your father’s house, in that you have abandoned the commandments of Yahweh and have gone after the Baals.
19 Now send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.»
20 Ahab sent messengers to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets to Mount Carmel.
21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, «How long will you waver between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him!» But the people did not answer him a word.
22 And Elijah said to the people, «I am the only one left of the prophets of Yahweh, but there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.
23 Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one of the bulls for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and place it on the wood, without setting fire to it; and I will prepare the other bull, and I will place it on the wood, without setting fire to it.
24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The god who answers by fire, he is God.» All the people answered, «That’s good!»
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, «Choose one of the bulls for yourselves, prepare it first, since you are the most numerous, and call on the name of your god, but do not set fire to it.»
26 They took the bull that was given to them and THE They prepared their altars and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, «Baal, answer us!» But there was no voice, no answer. And they leaped about before the altar they had made.
27 At noon, Elijah mocked them and said, «Shout aloud, for he is God; he is either meditating, or busy, or traveling; perhaps he is asleep and will wake up.»
28 And they cried out with a loud voice, and they cut themselves, according to their custom, with swords and with spears, until the blood flowed out on them.
29 When noon had passed, they prophesied until’at the moment where the offering is presented. But there was no voice, no answer, no sign of attention.
30 Elijah said to all the people, «Come near to me.» All the people came near to him, Elie restored the altar of Yahweh, which had been overturned.
31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had been addressed in these terms: «Israel shall be your name.»
32 He built an altar to the name of the Lord with these stones; then, having dug a trench around the altar large enough for two measures of seed,
33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and placed it on the wood.
34 And he said, «Fill four jars with water, and pour—THE on the burnt offering and on the wood.» He said, «Do it a second time»; and they did it a second time. He said, «Do it a third time»; and they did it a third time.
35 The water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.
36 At the time when the oblation is offered of the evening, Elijah the prophet stepped forward and said, «Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word.
37 »Give me your prayer, O Lord, give me your prayer! So that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that it is you who turns their hearts back.”
38 Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the earth, and absorbed the water that was in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces and said, »The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”
40 And Elijah said to them, »Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape!” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Cishon River, where he killed them.
41 Elijah said to Ahab, «Go up, eat and drink; for I hear the sound of the rain.»
42 Ahab went up to eat and drink; but Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and, bowing down to the earth, he put his face between his knees,
43 And he said to his servant, «Go up and look toward the sea.» The servant He went up and, having looked, he said, "There's nothing there." And Elie He said, "Go back seven times."«
44 At the seventh times, He said, "Look, a small cloud, like the palm of a man's hand, is rising from the sea." And Elie He said, "Go and tell Ahab: 'Harness your yoke and go down, so that the rain does not surprise you.'"«
45 In a short time the sky was darkened by clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell; and Ahab, riding in his chariot, returned to Jezreel.
46 And the hand of Yahweh was upon Elijah; he girded his loins and ran before Ahab, as far as the entrance of Jezreel.
Chapter 19
— Elijah at Mount Horeb. —
1 Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, «May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life as…” you did of each of their lives?»
3 Elie, Seeing this, he got up and left for save his life. He arrived in Beersheba, who belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 As for him, he went into the desert for a day's journey; when he arrived there, he sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die, saying, «It is enough! Now, Yahweh, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!»
5 He lay down and fell asleep under THE broom. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, «Get up, eat.»
6 He looked, and behold that there was At his bedside was a cake baked on heated stones and a jug of water. After eating and drinking, he went back to bed.
7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, «Get up and eat, for the journey is too long for you.»
8 He got up, ate and drank, and with the strength that this food gave him, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached the mountain of God, Horeb.
9 There he went into the cave and spent the night. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, «What are you doing here, Elijah?»
10 He replied, «I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty, because the Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.»
11 Yahweh He said, «Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for behold, the Lord is about to pass by.»
And there was, Before the Lord, a strong and violent wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks: the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake: Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
12 And after the earthquake, a fire: Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still, small voice.
13 When Elijah L'’He heard this, wrapped his face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice made himself heard to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"«
14 He replied, «I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty, because the Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too!»
15 Yahweh said to him, «Go back on your way to the desert of Damascus, and when you arrive there, anoint Hazael king over Syria;
16 You shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, of Abel-Mehula, as prophet in your place.
17 And whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death.
18 But I will leave seven thousand men in Israel, know all those who have not bowed the knee to Baal, all those whose mouths have not kissed him.»
— Elisha's calling. —
19 Having left from there, Elie found Elisha, son of Shaphat, who was plowing; there was Before him were twelve pairs of oxen, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah approached him and threw his mantle over him.
20 Elisée, Leaving the oxen, he ran after Elijah and said:« Allow "I will kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you."» Elie He replied, "Go back, for what have I done to you!..."«
21 Elisha went away from him and, taking the pair of oxen, slaughtered them; and with the harness of the oxen, he cooked their meat and gave it to the people to eat. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and served him.
Chapter 20
— Ahab's victory over Ben-Hadad, king of Syria. —
1 Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered his entire army; there was With him were thirty-two kings, horses and chariots. He mounted up and, having laid siege to Samaria, he attacked it.
2 He sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city,
3 to tell him: "Thus says Benhadad: Your silver and your gold are mine, your wives and your most beautiful children are mine."«
4 The king of Israel replied, «As you say, O king, my lord; I am yours with all that I have.»
5 The messengers returned and said, "Thus said Benhadad: I sent you to say: You will hand over to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children.
6 But when I send my servants to you at this time tomorrow, they will search your house and the houses of your servants, and they will take everything you consider precious and carry it off.»
7 The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, «Recognize and see that this man wants OUR Woe to me; for he has sent me ask my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I had not refused him.
8 All the elders and all the people said to Ahab, «Do not listen to him and do not agree.»
9 Ahab replied SO To the messengers of Benhadad: Tell my lord the king: Everything you have sent ask "I will do it to your servant the first time, but I cannot do this thing." The messengers went away and brought him the answer.
10 Benhadad sent word to Ahab : "May the gods deal with me in all their severity, if the dust of Samaria is enough for fill the palm of the hand of all the people who follow me!»
11 And the king of Israel answered and said, «Tell him: Let not he who puts on his armor boast like he who takes it off!»
12 When Benhadad He heard this answer, — he was drinking with the kings under the huts, — he said to his servants: «Take up your positions!» And they took up their positions against the city.
13 But behold, a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel, him He said: «Thus says the Lord: You see all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver them today into your hands, so that you may know that I am the Lord.»
14 Ahab said, «By whom?» And he answered, «Thus says the Lord: By the servants of the provincial governors.» Ahab He said, "Who will engage in the fight?" And he replied, "You."«
15 SO Ahab mustered the officials of the provincial governors, and there were 232 of them; after them, he mustered all the people, all the Israelites: they were seven thousand.
16 They went out at noon, while Benhadad was drinking and getting drunk under the huts, he and the thirty-two kings, his helpers.
17 The servants of the provincial governors had gone out first. Benhadad sent to the news, And this report was given to him: «Men have come out of Samaria.»
18 He said, «If they go out to peace, "Take them alive; if they go out to fight, take them alive."»
19 When the servants of the provincial chiefs, as well as the army that came After them, they left the city,
20 They each struck down his man, and the Syrians fled. Israel pursued them. Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, escaped on horseback, with riders.
21 The king of Israel went out, struck down the horses and chariots, and inflicted a great defeat on the Syrians.
— Another victory for Ahab over Benhadad. —
22 Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, «Go, be strong, consider and see what you must do; for at the return of the year, the king of Syria will rise up against you.»
23 The servants of the king of Syria They said to him: "Their gods are mountain gods; that is why they have been stronger than us; but let us fight them on the plain, and surely we will be stronger than them.
24 Do this also: remove each of the kings from his post, and put rulers in their place,
25 and assemble an army equal to the one you lost, with as many horses and as many chariots. Then we will fight them on the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they.» He listened to their words and did so.
26 On returning from the year, Benhadad reviewed the Syrians, and went up towards Aphec to fight Israel.
27 The children of Israel were Also They were reviewed; they received provisions and advanced to meet the enemy. Syrians. The Israelites camped opposite them, like two small flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the land.
28 A man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, «This is what the Lord says: Because the Syrians have said, »The Lord is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,’ I will deliver all this great multitude into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.”
29 They camped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day, the battle began, and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand Syrian foot soldiers in one day.
30 The rest fled to Aphec, to the city, and the wall fell on the twenty-seven thousand men who remained.
Benhadad had fled and was going around the city from room to room.
31 His servants said to him, «Behold, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings; permit that we put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and that we go out to the king of Israel: perhaps he will spare your life.»
32 They put sackcloth on their loins and ropes on their heads, and when they went to the king of Israel, they said, «Your servant Ben-Hadad says, »Please spare my life!’” Ahab He replied, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."«
33 These men took this as a good omen, and hastening to seize it from him this word, They said, "Benhadad is your brother." And he said, "Go and get him." Benhadad came to him, and Ahab He made him get on his chariot.
34 Benhadad he said to her, "I you I will restore the cities that my father took from your father, and you will establish streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father established them in Samaria.» And Ahab replied: «"And I will let you go in exchange for a treaty of alliance." He made a treaty with him and let him go.
35 One of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, by the word of Yahweh: «Strike me, I pray you.» But this The man refused to hit him.
36 And he said to him, «Because you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh, behold, as soon as you leave me, the lion will strike you.» And the man went away from him, and the lion, having met him, struck him.
37 He found another man, and he said to him, «Please strike me.» So the man struck him and wounded him.
38 SO The prophet went and stood in the king's path, and he disguised himself with a blindfold over his eyes.
39 When the king passed by, he called out to the king, saying, «Your servant went out in the midst of the battle; behold, a man went away and brought me a man, saying, ‘Guard this man. If he escapes, your life will be for his life, or you will pay a talent of silver.’.
40 And while your servant was going about his business, the man disappeared.» The king of Israel said to him, «This is your judgment; you yourself have rendered it.»
41 Immediately the prophet He removed the blindfold from his eyes and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
42 Then he said to the king «Thus says the Lord: Because you have let slip from your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, your life shall be for his life, and your people for their people.»
43 The king of Israel went home, gloomy and angry, and he arrived in Samaria.
Chapter 21
— Naboth's vineyard. —
1 After these events, since Naboth of Jezreel had a vineyard in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria,
2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, «Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, for it is very close to my house; I will give you in its place a better vineyard, or, if that suits you, money for its value.»
3 Naboth answered Ahab, «May the Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers!»
4 Ahab returned to his house, dark and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: «I will not give up the inheritance of my fathers.» And, lying down on his bed, he turned away his face and did not eat.
5 Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said, «Why are you so downcast and refusing to eat?»
6 He answered him, «I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard for money; or, if you prefer, I will give you a other "A vineyard instead. But he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"»
7 Then Jezebel, his wife, said to him, «Are you now the king over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be glad; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.»
8 And she wrote in Ahab’s name a letter which she sealed with the seal of king, and she sent the letter to the elders and magistrates who were in the city and lived with Naboth.
9 This is what she wrote in the letter: «Proclaim a fast; place Naboth at the head of the people,
10. And place two of Belial's men opposite him, and they shall testify against him, saying, 'You have cursed God and the king!' Then take him out and stone him to death."»
11 The people of the town of Naboth, The elders and magistrates who lived in his city did according to what had been sent to them say Jezebel, as it was written in the letter she had sent them.
12 They proclaimed a fast, and they placed Naboth at the head of the people,
13 And the two men, sons of Belial, came and stood before him. These men of Belial testified against Naboth before the people, saying, «Naboth has cursed God and the king!» Then they led him out of the city and stoned him, and he died.
14 And they sent word to Jezebel, saying, «Naboth has been stoned to death.»
15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, «Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to sell it to you for money; for Naboth is no longer alive, for he is dead.»
16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, in order to take possession of it.
17 SO the word of Yahweh was addressed to Elijah the Thesbite, in these terms:
18 «Get up, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who reign in Samaria; there he is in Naboth's vineyard, where he went down to take possession of it.
19 You shall speak to him in these words: Thus says the Lord: «Have you not killed and taken an inheritance?» And you shall speak to him in these words: «Thus says the Lord: In the very place where dogs licked Naboth’s blood, dogs shall lick your own blood also.»
20 Ahab said to Elijah, «Have you found me, O my enemy?» He answered, «I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh.
21 Behold, I will bring disaster upon you; I will sweep you away; I will cut off every male belonging to Ahab, both bond and free in Israel,
22 And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.»
23 Yahweh also spoke against Jezebel, saying: «The dogs will eat Jezebel near the ditch of Jezreel.
24 That of the house »Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and whoever dies in the fields will be eaten by the birds of the air.”
25 There was truly no one who sold himself like Ahab to do what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; because Jezebel, his wife, stirred him up.
26 He acted in the most abominable way, going after idols, according to all that the Amorites did whom Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel.
27 When Ahab heard Elijah's words, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted; he lay in sackcloth and walked slowly.
28 And the word of Yahweh was addressed to Elijah the Thesbite, in these terms:
29 «Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster on his house during his lifetime; but I will bring disaster on his house during the lifetime of his son.»
Chapter 22
— Ahab and Jehoshaphat's expedition against the Syrians; Ahab's death. —
1. There was rest for three years, without any war between the Syria and Israel.
2 In the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to the king of Israel.
3 The king of Israel said to his servants, «Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us? And we are doing nothing to take it back from the king of Syria!»
4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, «Will you come with me to attack Ramoth-gilead?» Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, « It will be of me as of you, of my people as of your people, of my horses as of your horses.»
5 Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, «Now please inquire of the word of the Lord.»
6 The king of Israel assembled the prophets, number of about four hundred, and said to them, «Shall I go up to Ramoth-in-Gilead, or shall I refrain?» They answered, «Go up, and the Lord there will deliver into the king's hands.»
7 But Jehoshaphat said, «Is there no longer any prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of him?»
8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, «There is still a man here through whom we could inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, for he prophesies nothing good about me, only bad: It is Micah, son of Jemlah.» And Jehoshaphat said, «The king should not speak like that!»
9 Then the king of Israel summoned a eunuch, him He said, "Bring Micah, son of Jemlah, at once."«
10 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, clothed with their clothes royals, in the square, at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
11 Zedekiah, son of Canaan, had made himself iron horns, and he said, «This is what the Lord says: With these horns "You will strike the Syrians until they are exterminated."»
12 And all the prophets prophesied likewise, saying, «Go up to Ramoth-gilead and be victorious, for Yahweh there will deliver into the king's hands.»
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah spoke to him, saying, «Behold, the words of the prophets are unanimous to announce "Speak well of the king; therefore, let your word be in accordance with the word of each of them: proclaim what is good."»
14 Micah answered, «As the Lord lives, I will tell him whatever he says to me.»
15 When he arrived before the king, the king said to him, «Micah, shall we go up to Ramoth-gilead, or shall we refrain?» He replied, «Go up and be victorious, for the Lord…” there will deliver into the king's hands.»
16 And the king said to him, «How many times must I adjure you to tell me only the truth in the name of Yahweh?»
17 Micah He replied, «I see all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd; and the Lord has said, »These people have no master; let them return in peace, each to his own home!’”
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, «Didn’t I tell you? He never prophesies anything good about me, only bad.»
19 And Micaiah said, «Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left.
20 And Yahweh said, “Who will deceive Ahab, so that he goes up to Ramoth-gilead and perishes there?” They answered one in one way, and another in another.
21 Then the spirit came and stood before the Lord and said, “I will deceive him.” The Lord said to him, “How?”
22 He answered, “I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.”. Yahweh He said: You will deceive him and you will succeed; go out, and do so.
23 »So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all your prophets who are here, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you.”
24 But Zedekiah, son of Canaan, came up and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, «Where did the spirit of the Lord go out from me to speak to you?»
25 Micah replied, «You will see it on that day when you go from room to room to hide.»
26 The king of Israel said, «Take Micaiah and bring him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son.
27 Tu their You will say: Thus says the king: Put this man in prison, "And feed him with the bread of affliction and the water of affliction, until I come in peace."»
28 And Micaiah said, «If you truly return in peace, the Lord has not spoken through me.» He added, «Listen, all you peoples.»
29 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-in-Gilead.
30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat:« I want "I must disguise myself to go into battle; but you, put on your clothes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
31 The king of Syria had given an order to the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, in these terms: "You shall attack neither small nor great, but only the king of Israel."«
32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, «Surely this is the king of Israel!» and they turned to attack him. Jehoshaphat cried out.
33 When the chariot commanders saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him.
34 Then a man shot his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints and the breastplate. The king He said to the chariot driver, "Turn around and take me out of the camp, for I am wounded."«
35 The fighting became violent that day. The king was held standing on her chariot facing the Syrians, and he died in the evening; the blood from the wound flowed inside the chariot.
36 Towards sunset, this cry ran through the camp: "Each to his own city and each to his own country!"«
37 So the king died. He was brought back to Samaria, and the king was buried in Samaria.
38 When the chariot was washed at the pool in Samaria, the dogs licked the blood of’Ahab and the prostitutes bathed there, according to the word that Yahweh had spoken.
39 The rest of the acts of Ahab, all that he did, the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
40 Ahab rested with his ancestors; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.
— Jehoshaphat of Judah. —
41 Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Salai.
43 He walked in all the ways of Asa his father, and did not turn aside, doing what was right in the eyes of Yahweh.
44 Only the high places did not disappear; the people continued to offer sacrifices and incense on the high places.
45 Jehoshaphat was at peace with the king of Israel.
46 The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, the exploits he performed, and the wars he waged, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
47 He removed from the country the rest of the prostitutes who were there Again remained in the time of Asa, his father.
48 There was no SO of king in Edom; a governor fulfilled the functions of king.
49 Jehoshaphat built ten ships from Tharsis to go to Ophir seek gold; but he did not go there, because the ships were wrecked at Asiongaber.
50 Then Ahaziah, Ahab's son, said to Jehoshaphat, "« Allow "Let my servants go with your servants on the ships." But Jehoshaphat refused.
51 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David his father; Joram his son reigned in his place.
— The beginnings of Ahaziah of Israel. —
52 Ahaziah, son of Ahab, became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. He reigned two years over Israel.
53 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
54 He served Baal and bowed down to him, and he angered Yahweh, the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.
