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## Melachim Alef

### Chapter 1

1Now King David was old and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t keep warm. 2Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my adonai the king. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my adonai the king may keep warm.” 3So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Yisrael, and found Abishag the Shunamit, and brought her to the king. 4The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and served him; but the king didn’t know her intimately. 5Then Adoniyahu the son of Chagit exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Avshalom. 7He conferred with Yoav the son of Tzeruyah and with Evyatar the priest; and they followed Adoniyahu and helped him. 8But Tzadok the priest, Benayahu the son of Yehoyada, Natan the prophet, Shim'i, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adoniyahu. 9Adoniyahu killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Yehudah, the king’s servants; 10but he didn’t call Natan the prophet, and Benayahu, and the mighty men, and Shlomo his brother. 11Then Natan spoke to Bat-Sheva the mother of Shlomo, saying, “Haven’t you heard that Adoniyahu the son of Chagit reigns, and David our adonai doesn’t know it? 12Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life and your son Shlomo’s life. 13Go in to King David, and tell him, ‘Didn’t you, my adonai the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then does Adoniyahu reign?’ 14Behold, while you are still talking there with the king, I will also come in after you and confirm your words.” 15Bat-Sheva went in to the king in his room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunamit was serving the king. 16Bat-Sheva bowed and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?” 17She said to him, “My Adonai, you swore by YHWH your Elohim to your servant, ‘Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ 18Now, behold, Adoniyahu reigns; and you, my adonai the king, don’t know it. 19He has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, Evyatar the priest, and Yoav the captain of the army; but he hasn’t called Shlomo your servant. 20You, my adonai the king, the eyes of all Yisrael are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my adonai the king after him. 21Otherwise it will happen, when my adonai the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Shlomo will be considered criminals.” 22Behold, while she was still talking with the king, Natan the prophet came in. 23They told the king, saying, “Behold, Natan the prophet!” When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24Natan said, “My Adonai, King, have you said, ‘Adoniyahu shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? 25For he has gone down today, and has slain cattle, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, the captains of the army, and Evyatar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live King Adoniyahu!’ 26But he hasn’t called me, even me your servant, Tzadok the priest, Benayahu the son of Yehoyada, and your servant Shlomo. 27Was this thing done by my adonai the king, and you haven’t shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my adonai the king after him?” 28Then King David answered, “Call Bat-Sheva in to me.” She came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. 29The king vowed and said, “As YHWH lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 30most certainly as I swore to you by YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, saying, ‘Assuredly Shlomo your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;’ I will most certainly do this today.” 31Then Bat-Sheva bowed with her face to the earth and showed respect to the king, and said, “Let my adonai King David live forever!” 32King David said, “Call to me Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, and Benayahu the son of Yehoyada.” They came before the king. 33The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your adonai, and cause Shlomo my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. 34Let Tzadok the priest and Natan the prophet anoint him there king over Yisrael. Blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Shlomo!’ 35Then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Yisrael and over Yehudah.” 36Benayahu the son of Yehoyada answered the king, and said, “Amen. May YHWH, the Elohim of my adonai the king, say so. 37As YHWH has been with my adonai the king, even so may he be with Shlomo, and make his throne greater than the throne of my adonai King David.” 38So Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, Benayahu the son of Yehoyada, and the Kereti and the Peleti went down and had Shlomo ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39Tzadok the priest took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Shlomo. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live King Shlomo!” 40All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound. 41Adoniyahu and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had finished eating. When Yoav heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?” 42While he yet spoke, behold, Yonatan the son of Evyatar the priest came; and Adoniyahu said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.” 43Yonatan answered Adoniyahu, “Most certainly our adonai King David has made Shlomo king. 44The king has sent with him Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, Benayahu the son of Yehoyada, and the Kereti and the Peleti; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule. 45Tzadok the priest and Natan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. 46Also, Shlomo sits on the throne of the kingdom. 47Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our adonai King David, saying, ‘May your Elohim make the name of Shlomo better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed. 48Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.’” 49All the guests of Adoniyahu were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way. 50Adoniyahu was afraid because of Shlomo; and he arose, and went, and hung onto the horns of the altar. 51Shlomo was told, “Behold, Adoniyahu fears King Shlomo; for, behold, he is hanging onto the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Shlomo swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’” 52Shlomo said, “If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of his shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53So King Shlomo sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Shlomo; and Shlomo said to him, “Go to your house.”

### Chapter 2

1Now the days of David came near that he should die; and he commanded Shlomo his son, saying, 2“I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; 3and keep the instruction of YHWH your Elohim, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his mitzvot, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moshe, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn yourself. 4Then YHWH may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘a man on the throne of Yisrael.’ 5“Moreover you know also what Yoav the son of Tzeruyah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Yisrael, to Avner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Yeter, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was around his waist and in his sandals that were on his feet. 6Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his grey head go down to Sheol in peace. 7But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gil'adi, and let them be amongst those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Avshalom your brother. 8“Behold, there is with you Shim'i the son of Gera, the Binyamini of Bachurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Machanayim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by YHWH, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ 9Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his grey head down to Sheol with blood.” 10David slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city. 11The days that David reigned over Yisrael were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12Shlomo sat on David his father’s throne; and his kingdom was firmly established. 13Then Adoniyahu the son of Chagit came to Bat-Sheva the mother of Shlomo. She said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably. 14He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.” 15He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Yisrael set their faces on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from YHWH. 16Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.” She said to him, “Say on.” 17He said, “Please speak to Shlomo the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunamit as wife.” 18Bat-Sheva said, “All right. I will speak for you to the king.” 19Bat-Sheva therefore went to King Shlomo, to speak to him for Adoniyahu. The king rose up to meet her and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. 20Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.” The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny you.” 21She said, “Let Abishag the Shunamit be given to Adoniyahu your brother as wife.” 22King Shlomo answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunamit for Adoniyahu? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Evyatar the priest, and for Yoav the son of Tzeruyah.” 23Then King Shlomo swore by YHWH, saying, “Elohim do so to me, and more also, if Adoniyahu has not spoken this word against his own life. 24Now therefore as YHWH lives, who has established me and set me on my father David’s throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adoniyahu shall be put to death today.” 25King Shlomo sent Benayahu the son of Yehoyada; and he fell on him, so that he died. 26To Evyatar the priest the king said, “Go to Anatot, to your own fields, for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore Adonai YHWH’s ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.” 27So Shlomo thrust Evyatar out from being priest to YHWH, that he might fulfil YHWH’s word which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shilo. 28This news came to Yoav; for Yoav had followed Adoniyahu, although he didn’t follow Avshalom. Yoav fled to YHWH’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar. 29King Shlomo was told, “Yoav has fled to YHWH’s Tent; and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Shlomo sent Benayahu the son of Yehoyada, saying, “Go, fall on him.” 30Benayahu came to YHWH’s Tent, and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benayahu brought the king word again, saying, “This is what Yoav said, and this is how he answered me.” 31The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him, that you may take away the blood, which Yoav shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house. 32YHWH will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Avner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Yisrael, and Amasa the son of Yeter, captain of the army of Yehudah. 33So their blood will return on the head of Yoav and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from YHWH.” 34Then Benayahu the son of Yehoyada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35The king put Benayahu the son of Yehoyada in his place over the army; and the king put Tzadok the priest in the place of Evyatar. 36The king sent and called for Shim'i, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and don’t go anywhere else. 37For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.” 38Shim'i said to the king, “What you say is good. As my adonai the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shim'i lived in Jerusalem many days. 39At the end of three years, two of Shim'i’s slaves ran away to Achish, son of Ma'akah, king of Gat. They told Shim'i, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gat.” 40Shim'i arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gat to Achish to seek his slaves; and Shim'i went and brought his slaves from Gat. 41Shlomo was told that Shim'i had gone from Jerusalem to Gat, and had come again. 42The king sent and called for Shim'i, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by YHWH and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and walk anywhere else, you shall surely die’? You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’ 43Why then have you not kept the oath of YHWH and the mitzvah that I have instructed you with?” 44The king said moreover to Shim'i, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore YHWH will return your wickedness on your own head. 45But King Shlomo will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established before YHWH forever.” 46So the king commanded Benayahu the son of Yehoyada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Shlomo.

### Chapter 3

1Shlomo made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into David’s city until he had finished building his own house, YHWH’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2However, the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for YHWH’s name. 3Shlomo loved YHWH, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 4The king went to Giv'on to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Shlomo offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5In Giv'on, YHWH appeared to Shlomo in a dream by night; and Elohim said, “Ask for what I should give you.” 6Shlomo said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great chesed, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great chesed, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. 7Now, YHWH my Elohim, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in. 8Your servant is amongst your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude. 9Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?” 10This request pleased Adonai, that Shlomo had asked this thing. 11Elohim said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you. 13I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honour, so that there will not be any amongst the kings like you for all your days. 14If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my mitzvot, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15Shlomo awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the Aron YHWH’s Brit, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. 16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him. 17The one woman said, “Oh, my adonai, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house. 18The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house. 19This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it. 20She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead; but when I had looked at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.” 22The other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” They argued like this before the king. 23Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead one;’ and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” 26Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my adonai, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.” 27Then the king answered, “Give the first woman the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.” 28All Yisrael heard of the judgement which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of Elohim was in him to do justice.

### Chapter 4

1King Shlomo was king over all Yisrael. 2These were the princes whom he had: Azaryah the son of Tzadok, the priest; 3Elihoreph and Achiyah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Yehoshafat the son of Achilud, the recorder; 4Benayahu the son of Yehoyada was over the army; Tzadok and Evyatar were priests; 5Azaryah the son of Natan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Natan was chief minister, the king’s friend; 6Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labour. 7Shlomo had twelve officers over all Yisrael, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for a month in the year. 8These are their names: Ben Chur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 9Ben Deker, in Makaz, in Shaalbim, Beit Shemesh, and Eilon Beit Chanan; 10Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (Sokho and all the land of Chefer belonged to him); 11Ben Avinadav, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath, Shlomo’s daughter, as wife); 12Baana the son of Achilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beit She'an which is beside Tzaretan, beneath Yizre'el, from Beit She'an to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Yokme'am; 13Ben Geber, in Ramot Gilead (the towns of Ya'ir the son of Menashe, which are in Gilead, belonged to him; and the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars, belonged to him); 14Achinadav the son of Iddo, in Machanayim; 15Achima'atz, in Naftali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Shlomo as wife); 16Baana the son of Chushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17Yehoshafat the son of Paruah, in Yissachar; 18Shim'i the son of Ela, in Binyamin; 19Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Emorim and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer who was in the land. 20Yehudah and Yisrael were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. 21Shlomo ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Pelishtim, and to the border of Mitzrayim. They brought tribute and served Shlomo all the days of his life. 22Shlomo’s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty measures of meal, 23ten head of fat cattle, twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, in addition to deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24For he had dominion over all on this side of the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on all sides around him. 25Yehudah and Yisrael lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Be'er Sheva, all the days of Shlomo. 26Shlomo had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27Those officers provided food for King Shlomo, and for all who came to King Shlomo’s table, every man in his month. They let nothing be lacking. 28They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty. 29Elohim gave Shlomo abundant wisdom, understanding, and breadth of mind like the sand that is on the seashore. 30Shlomo’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Mitzrayim. 31For he was wiser than all men—wiser than Eytan the Ezrahite, Heiman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations all around. 32He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand and five. 33He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. 34People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, sent by all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

### Chapter 5

1Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Shlomo, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David. 2Shlomo sent to Hiram, saying, 3“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of YHWH his Elohim because of the wars which were around him on every side, until YHWH put his enemies under the soles of his feet. 4But now YHWH my Elohim has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence. 5Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of YHWH my Elohim, as YHWH spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place shall build the house for my name.’ 6Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say. For you know that there is nobody amongst us who knows how to cut timber like the Tzidonim.” 7When Hiram heard the words of Shlomo, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed is YHWH today, who has given to David a wise son to rule over this great people.” 8Hiram sent to Shlomo, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning cypress timber. 9My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you specify to me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them. You will accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.” 10So Hiram gave Shlomo cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his desire. 11Shlomo gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil. Shlomo gave this to Hiram year by year. 12YHWH gave Shlomo wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Shlomo, and the two of them made a treaty together. 13King Shlomo raised a levy out of all Yisrael; and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labour. 15Shlomo had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, 16besides Shlomo’s chief officers who were over the work: three thousand and three hundred who ruled over the people who laboured in the work. 17The king commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone. 18Shlomo’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

### Chapter 6

1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Yisrael had come out of the land of Mitzrayim, in the fourth year of Shlomo’s reign over Yisrael, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build YHWH’s house. 2The house which King Shlomo built for YHWH had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. 3The porch in front of the Beit HaMikdash of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house. 4He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. 5Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the Beit HaMikdash and of the inner Beit HaMikdash; and he made side rooms all around. 6The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. 7The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or axe or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction. 8The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third. 9So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timbers of cedar. 11YHWH’s word came to Shlomo, saying, 12“Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my mitzvot to walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13I will dwell amongst the children of Yisrael, and will not forsake my people Yisrael.” 14So Shlomo built the house and finished it. 15He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood. He covered the floor of the house with cypress boards. 16He built twenty cubits of the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this within, for an inner Beit HaMikdash, even for the most kodesh place. 17In front of the Beit HaMikdash Beit HaMikdash was forty cubits long. 18There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible. 19He prepared an inner Beit HaMikdash in the middle of the house within, to set the Aron YHWH’s Brit there. 20Within the inner Beit HaMikdash was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height. He overlaid it with pure gold. He covered the altar with cedar. 21So Shlomo overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner Beit HaMikdash, and he overlaid it with gold. 22He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner Beit HaMikdash with gold. 23In the inner Beit HaMikdash he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits was the length of the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits. 25The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. 26One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub. 27He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. 28He overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside. 30He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside. 31For the entrance of the inner Beit HaMikdash, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall. 32So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. 33He also made the entrance of the Beit HaMikdash door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall, 34and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work. 36He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams. 37The foundation of YHWH’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv. 38In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.

### Chapter 7

1Shlomo was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. 4There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. 5All the doors and posts were made square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks. 6He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. 7He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgement; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. 8His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the same construction. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Shlomo had taken as wife), like this porch. 9All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. 10The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. 11Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. 12The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of YHWH’s house and the porch of the house. 13King Shlomo sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre. 14He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naftali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to work all works in bronze. He came to King Shlomo and performed all his work. 15For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them. 16He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars: seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. 18So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and he did so for the other capital. 19The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits. 20There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. 21He set up the pillars at the porch of the Beit HaMikdash. He set up the right pillar and called its name Yakhin; and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz. 22On the tops of the pillars was lily work. So the work of the pillars was finished. 23He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. 24Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 25It stood on twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, and three looking towards the west, and three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. 26It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. 27He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; 29and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. 31Its opening within the capital and above was a cubit. Its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. 32The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal. 34There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. 35In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. 36On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. 37He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. 38He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths. Every basin measured four cubits. One basin was on every one of the ten bases. 39He set the bases, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and towards the south. 40Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for King Shlomo in YHWH’s house: 41the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 42the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; 44the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; 45the pots; the shovels; and the basins. All of these vessels, which Hiram made for King Shlomo for YHWH’s house, were of burnished bronze. 46The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Tzaretan. 47Shlomo left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined. 48Shlomo made all the vessels that were in YHWH’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; 49and the lamp stands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner Beit HaMikdash, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most kodesh place, and for the doors of the house, of the Beit HaMikdash, of gold. 51Thus all the work that King Shlomo did in YHWH’s house was finished. Shlomo brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of YHWH’s house.

### Chapter 8

1Then Shlomo assembled the elders of Yisrael with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Yisrael, to King Shlomo in Jerusalem, to bring up the Aron YHWH’s Brit out of David’s city, which is Tzion. 2All the men of Yisrael assembled themselves to King Shlomo at the feast in the month Eitanim, which is the seventh month. 3All the elders of Yisrael came, and the priests picked up the ark. 4They brought up YHWH’s ark, the Ohel Mo'ed, and all the kodesh vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levi'im brought these up. 5King Shlomo and all the congregation of Yisrael, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. 6The priests brought in the Aron YHWH’s Brit to its place, into the inner Beit HaMikdash of the house, to the most kodesh place, even under the cherubim’s wings. 7For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. 8The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the kodesh place before the inner Beit HaMikdash, but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day. 9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets which Moshe put there at Chorev, when YHWH made a Brit with the children of Yisrael, when they came out of the land of Mitzrayim. 10It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the kodesh place, that the cloud filled YHWH’s house, 11so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for YHWH’s kavod filled YHWH’s house. 12Then Shlomo said, “YHWH has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.” 14The king turned his face around and blessed all the assembly of Yisrael; and all the assembly of Yisrael stood. 15He said, “Blessed is YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16‘Since the day that I brought my people Yisrael out of Mitzrayim, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Yisrael to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Yisrael.’ 17“Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael. 18But YHWH said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’ 20YHWH has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Yisrael, as YHWH promised, and have built the house for the name of YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael. 21There I have set a place for the ark, in which is YHWH’s Brit, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Mitzrayim.” 22Shlomo stood before YHWH’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Yisrael, and spread out his hands towards heaven; 23and he said, “YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, there is no Elohim like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps Brit and chesed with your servants who walk before you with all their heart; 24who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today. 25Now therefore, may YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Yisrael, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26“Now therefore, Elohim of Yisrael, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father. 27But will Elohim in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, YHWH my Elohim, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today; 29that your eyes may be open towards this house night and day, even towards the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays towards this place. 30Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Yisrael, when they pray towards this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. 31“If a man sins against his neighbour, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house, 32then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 33“When your people Yisrael are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, if they turn again to you and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house, 34then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Yisrael, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers. 35“When the sky is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray towards this place and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them, 36then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Yisrael, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 37“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Yisrael, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands towards this house, 39then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men); 40that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. 41“Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Yisrael, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake 42(for they shall hear of your great name and of your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays towards this house, 43hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Yisrael, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. 44“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to YHWH towards the city which you have chosen, and towards the house which I have built for your name, 45then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 46If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly,’ 48if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you towards their land which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, 49then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; 50and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51(for they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out of Mitzrayim, from the middle of the iron furnace); 52that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Yisrael, to listen to them whenever they cry to you. 53For you separated them from amongst all the peoples of the earth to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moshe your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Mitzrayim, Adonai YHWH.” 54It was so, that when Shlomo had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to YHWH, he arose from before YHWH’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out towards heaven. 55He stood and blessed all the assembly of Yisrael with a loud voice, saying, 56“Blessed be YHWH, who has given rest to his people Yisrael, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moshe his servant. 57May YHWH our Elohim be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us, 58that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his mitzvot, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. 59Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before YHWH, be near to YHWH our Elohim day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Yisrael, as every day requires; 60that all the peoples of the earth may know that YHWH himself is Elohim. There is no one else. 61“Let your heart therefore be perfect with YHWH our Elohim, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his mitzvot, as it is today.” 62The king, and all Yisrael with him, offered sacrifice before YHWH. 63Shlomo offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to YHWH, twenty two thousand head of cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Yisrael dedicated YHWH’s house. 64The same day the king made the middle of the court kodesh that was before YHWH’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before YHWH was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65So Shlomo held the feast at that time, and all Yisrael with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Chamat to the brook of Mitzrayim, before YHWH our Elohim, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. 66On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that YHWH had shown to David his servant, and to Yisrael his people.

### Chapter 9

1When Shlomo had finished the building of YHWH’s house, the king’s house, and all Shlomo’s desire which he was pleased to do, 2YHWH appeared to Shlomo the second time, as he had appeared to him at Giv'on. 3YHWH said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me. I have made this house kodesh, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. 4As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, 5then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Yisrael forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Yisrael.’ 6But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my mitzvot and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7then I will cut off Yisrael out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made kodesh for my name, out of my sight; and Yisrael will be a proverb and a byword amongst all peoples. 8Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has YHWH done this to this land and to this house?’ 9and they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned YHWH their Elohim, who brought their fathers out of the land of Mitzrayim, and embraced other gods, and worshipped them, and served them. Therefore YHWH has brought all this evil on them.’” 10At the end of twenty years, in which Shlomo had built the two houses, YHWH’s house and the king’s house 11(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Shlomo with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Shlomo gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galil. 12Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Shlomo had given him; and they didn’t please him. 13He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day. 14Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold. 15This is the reason of the forced labour which King Shlomo conscripted: to build YHWH’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Chatzor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim had gone up, taken Gezer, burnt it with fire, killed the Kna'anim who lived in the city, and given it for a wedding gift to his daughter, Shlomo’s wife. 17Shlomo built in the land Gezer, Beit Choron the lower, 18Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, 19all the storage cities that Shlomo had, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and that which Shlomo desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20As for all the people who were left of the Emorim, the Chitim, the Perizim, the Chivim, and the Yevusim, who were not of the children of Yisrael— 21their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Yisrael were not able utterly to destroy—of them Shlomo raised a levy of bondservants to this day. 22But of the children of Yisrael Shlomo made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. 23These were the five hundred and fifty chief officers who were over Shlomo’s work, who ruled over the people who laboured in the work. 24But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of David’s city to her house which Shlomo had built for her. Then he built Millo. 25Shlomo offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to YHWH three times per year, burning incense with them on the altar that was before YHWH. So he finished the house. 26King Shlomo made a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Yam Suf, in the land of Edom. 27Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Shlomo. 28They came to Ofir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Shlomo.

### Chapter 10

1When the queen of Sheva heard of the fame of Shlomo concerning YHWH’s name, she came to test him with hard questions. 2She came to Jerusalem with a very great caravan, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Shlomo, she talked with him about all that was in her heart. 3Shlomo answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from the king which he didn’t tell her. 4When the queen of Sheva had seen all the wisdom of Shlomo, the house that he had built, 5the food of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his officials, their clothing, his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to YHWH’s house, there was no more spirit in her. 6She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. 7However, I didn’t believe the words until I came and my eyes had seen it. Behold, not even half was told me! Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. 8Happy are your men, happy are these your servants who stand continually before you, who hear your wisdom. 9Blessed is YHWH your Elohim, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Yisrael. Because YHWH loved Yisrael forever, therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” 10She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was there such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheva gave to King Shlomo. 11The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ofir also brought in from Ofir great quantities of almug trees and precious stones. 12The king made of the almug trees pillars for YHWH’s house and for the king’s house, harps also and stringed instruments for the singers; no such almug trees came or were seen to this day. 13King Shlomo gave to the queen of Sheva all her desire, whatever she asked, in addition to that which Shlomo gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants. 14Now the weight of gold that came to Shlomo in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 15in addition to that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country. 16King Shlomo made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler. 17He made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 18Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. 19There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. 20Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. Nothing like it was made in any kingdom. 21All King Shlomo’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver, because it was considered of little value in the days of Shlomo. 22For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 23So King Shlomo exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24All the earth sought the presence of Shlomo to hear his wisdom which Elohim had put in his heart. 25Year after year, every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armour, spices, horses, and mules. 26Shlomo gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand and four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He kept them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. 27The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland. 28The horses which Shlomo had were brought out of Mitzrayim. The king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. 29A chariot was imported from Mitzrayim for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty shekels; and so they exported them to all the kings of the Chitim and to the kings of Aram.

### Chapter 11

1Now King Shlomo loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moavim, Amonim, Edomim, Tzidonim, and Chitim, 2of the nations concerning which YHWH said to the children of Yisrael, “You shall not go amongst them, neither shall they come amongst you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Shlomo joined to these in love. 3He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away. 4When Shlomo was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with YHWH his Elohim, as the heart of David his father was. 5For Shlomo went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Tzidonim, and after Milkom the abomination of the Amonim. 6Shlomo did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and didn’t go fully after YHWH, as David his father did. 7Then Shlomo built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molekh the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8So he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9YHWH was angry with Shlomo, because his heart was turned away from YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, who had appeared to him twice, 10and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he didn’t keep that which YHWH commanded. 11Therefore YHWH said to Shlomo, “Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my Brit and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. 12Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand. 13However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.” 14YHWH raised up an adversary to Shlomo: Hadad the Edomi. He was one of the king’s offspring in Edom. 15For when David was in Edom, and Yoav the captain of the army had gone up to bury the slain, and had struck every male in Edom 16(for Yoav and all Yisrael remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom), 17Hadad fled, he and certain Edomim of his father’s servants with him, to go into Mitzrayim, when Hadad was still a little child. 18They arose out of Midyan and came to Paran; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Mitzrayim, to Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim, who gave him a house, and appointed him food, and gave him land. 19Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20The sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house amongst the sons of Pharaoh. 21When Hadad heard in Mitzrayim that David slept with his fathers, and that Yoav the captain of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” 22Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you seek to go to your own country?” He answered, “Nothing, however only let me depart.” 23Elohim raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his Adonai, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Dameshek and lived there, and reigned in Dameshek. 25He was an adversary to Yisrael all the days of Shlomo, in addition to the mischief of Hadad. He abhorred Yisrael, and reigned over Aram. 26Yarov'am the son of Nebat, an Efrati of Zeredah, a servant of Shlomo, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. 27This was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Shlomo built Millo, and repaired the breach of his father David’s city. 28The man Yarov'am was a mighty man of valour; and Shlomo saw that the young man was industrious, and he put him in charge of all the labour of the house of Yosef. 29At that time, when Yarov'am went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Achiyah the Shiloni found him on the way. Now Achiyah had clad himself with a new garment; and the two of them were alone in the field. 30Achiyah took the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. 31He said to Yarov'am, “Take ten pieces; for YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Shlomo and will give ten tribes to you 32(but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Yisrael), 33because they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Tzidonim, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milkom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did. 34“‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept my mitzvot and my statutes, 35but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, even ten tribes. 36I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there. 37I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Yisrael. 38It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my mitzvot, as David my servant did, that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Yisrael to you. 39I will afflict the offspring of David for this, but not forever.’” 40Therefore Shlomo sought to kill Yarov'am, but Yarov'am arose and fled into Mitzrayim, to Shishak king of Mitzrayim, and was in Mitzrayim until the death of Shlomo. 41Now the rest of the acts of Shlomo, and all that he did, and his wisdom, aren’t they written in the book of the acts of Shlomo? 42The time that Shlomo reigned in Jerusalem over all Yisrael was forty years. 43Shlomo slept with his fathers, and was buried in his father David’s city; and Rechav'am his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 12

1Rechav'am went to Shechem, for all Yisrael had come to Shechem to make him king. 2When Yarov'am the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Mitzrayim, where he had fled from the presence of King Shlomo, and Yarov'am lived in Mitzrayim; 3and they sent and called him), Yarov'am and all the assembly of Yisrael came, and spoke to Rechav'am, saying, 4“Your father made our yoke difficult. Now therefore make the hard service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.” 5He said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” So the people departed. 6King Rechav'am took counsel with the old men who had stood before Shlomo his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me to answer these people?” 7They replied, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them, and answer them with good words, then they will be your servants forever.” 8But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9He said to them, “What counsel do you give, that we may answer these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter’?” 10The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Tell these people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us’—tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11Now my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’” 12So Yarov'am and all the people came to Rechav'am the third day, as the king asked, saying, “Come to me again the third day.” 13The king answered the people roughly, and abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, 14and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” 15So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about from YHWH, that he might establish his word, which YHWH spoke by Achiyah the Shiloni to Yarov'am the son of Nebat. 16When all Yisrael saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Yishai. To your tents, Yisrael! Now see to your own house, David.” So Yisrael departed to their tents. 17But as for the children of Yisrael who lived in the cities of Yehudah, Rechav'am reigned over them. 18Then King Rechav'am sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to forced labour; and all Yisrael stoned him to death with stones. King Rechav'am hurried to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19So Yisrael rebelled against David’s house to this day. 20When all Yisrael heard that Yarov'am had returned, they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Yisrael. There was no one who followed David’s house, except for the tribe of Yehudah only. 21When Rechav'am had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Yehudah and the tribe of Binyamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Yisrael, to bring the kingdom again to Rechav'am the son of Shlomo. 22But the word of Elohim came to Shemayah the man of Elohim, saying, 23“Speak to Rechav'am the son of Shlomo, king of Yehudah, and to all the house of Yehudah and Binyamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24‘YHWH says, “You shall not go up or fight against your brothers, the children of Yisrael. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is from me.”’” So they listened to YHWH’s word, and returned and went their way, according to YHWH’s word. 25Then Yarov'am built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and he went out from there and built Penuel. 26Yarov'am said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to David’s house. 27If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in YHWH’s house at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their Adonai, even to Rechav'am king of Yehudah; and they will kill me, and return to Rechav'am king of Yehudah.” 28So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Yisrael, which brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim!” 29He set the one in Beit El, and the other he put in Dan. 30This thing became a sin, for the people went even as far as Dan to worship before the one there. 31He made houses of high places, and made priests from amongst all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. 32Yarov'am ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Yehudah, and he went up to the altar. He did so in Beit El, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Beit El the priests of the high places that he had made. 33He went up to the altar which he had made in Beit El on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Yisrael, and went up to the altar to burn incense.

### Chapter 13

1Behold, a man of Elohim came out of Yehudah by YHWH’s word to Beit El; and Yarov'am was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2He cried against the altar by YHWH’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! YHWH says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Yoshiyahu by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’” 3He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which YHWH has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.” 4When the king heard the saying of the man of Elohim, which he cried against the altar in Beit El, Yarov'am put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself. 5The altar was also split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of Elohim had given by YHWH’s word. 6The king answered the man of Elohim, “Now intercede for the favour of YHWH your Elohim, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” The man of Elohim interceded with YHWH, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. 7The king said to the man of Elohim, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8The man of Elohim said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place; 9for so was it commanded me by YHWH’s word, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, drink no water, and don’t return by the way that you came.’” 10So he went another way, and didn’t return by the way that he came to Beit El. 11Now an old prophet lived in Beit El, and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of Elohim had done that day in Beit El. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. 12Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of Elohim went, who came from Yehudah. 13He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it. 14He went after the man of Elohim, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of Elohim who came from Yehudah?” He said, “I am.” 15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16He said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17For it was said to me by YHWH’s word, ‘You shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don’t turn again to go by the way that you came.’” 18He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an malak spoke to me by YHWH’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him. 19So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. 20As they sat at the table, YHWH’s word came to the prophet who brought him back; 21and he cried out to the man of Elohim who came from Yehudah, saying, “YHWH says, ‘Because you have been disobedient to YHWH’s word, and have not kept the mitzvah which YHWH your Elohim commanded you, 22but came back, and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water,” your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” 23After he had eaten bread and after he drank, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. 25Behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the path, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of Elohim who was disobedient to YHWH’s word. Therefore YHWH has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to YHWH’s word which he spoke to him.” 27He said to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. 28He went and found his body thrown on the path, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29The prophet took up the body of the man of Elohim, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him. 30He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of Elohim is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32For the saying which he cried by YHWH’s word against the altar in Beit El, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Shomron, will surely happen.” 33After this thing, Yarov'am didn’t turn from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from amongst all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places. 34This thing became sin to the house of Yarov'am, even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.

### Chapter 14

1At that time Aviyah the son of Yarov'am became sick. 2Yarov'am said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognised as Yarov'am’s wife. Go to Shilo. Behold, Achiyah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people. 3Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.” 4Yarov'am’s wife did so, and arose and went to Shilo, and came to Achiyah’s house. Now Achiyah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5YHWH said to Achiyah, “Behold, Yarov'am’s wife is coming to enquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.” 6So when Achiyah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, Yarov'am’s wife! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news. 7Go, tell Yarov'am, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: “Because I exalted you from amongst the people, and made you prince over my people Yisrael, 8and tore the kingdom away from David’s house, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my mitzvot, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes, 9but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, 10therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Yarov'am, and will cut off from Yarov'am everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Yisrael, and will utterly sweep away the house of Yarov'am, as a man sweeps away dung until it is all gone. 11The dogs will eat whoever belongs to Yarov'am who dies in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the field, for YHWH has spoken it.”’ 12Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die. 13All Yisrael will mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Yarov'am will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing towards YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, in the house of Yarov'am. 14Moreover YHWH will raise up a king for himself over Yisrael who will cut off the house of Yarov'am. This is the day! What? Even now. 15For YHWH will strike Yisrael, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Yisrael out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking YHWH to anger. 16He will give Yisrael up because of the sins of Yarov'am, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Yisrael to sin.” 17Yarov'am’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18All Yisrael buried him and mourned for him, according to YHWH’s word, which he spoke by his servant Achiyah the prophet. 19The rest of the acts of Yarov'am, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael. 20The days which Yarov'am reigned were twenty two years; then he slept with his fathers, and Nadav his son reigned in his place. 21Rechav'am the son of Shlomo reigned in Yehudah. Rechav'am was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which YHWH had chosen out of all the tribes of Yisrael, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Amoniyah. 22Yehudah did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 24There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which YHWH drove out before the children of Yisrael. 25In the fifth year of King Rechav'am, Shishak king of Mitzrayim came up against Jerusalem; 26and he took away the treasures of YHWH’s house and the treasures of the king’s house. He even took away all of it, including all the gold shields which Shlomo had made. 27King Rechav'am made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the door of the king’s house. 28It was so, that as often as the king went into YHWH’s house, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room. 29Now the rest of the acts of Rechav'am, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 30There was war between Rechav'am and Yarov'am continually. 31Rechav'am slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city. His mother’s name was Naamah the Amoniyah. Abijam his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 15

1Now in the eighteenth year of King Yarov'am the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Yehudah. 2He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Ma'akah the daughter of Abishalom. 3He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with YHWH his Elohim, as the heart of David his father. 4Nevertheless for David’s sake, YHWH his Elohim gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; 5because David did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes, and didn’t turn away from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriyah the Chitti. 6Now there was war between Rechav'am and Yarov'am all the days of his life. 7The rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? There was war between Abijam and Yarov'am. 8Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Asa his son reigned in his place. 9In the twentieth year of Yarov'am king of Yisrael, Asa began to reign over Yehudah. 10He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Ma'akah the daughter of Abishalom. 11Asa did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes, as David his father did. 12He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13He also removed Ma'akah his mother from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 14But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with YHWH all his days. 15He brought into YHWH’s house the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that he himself had dedicated: silver, gold, and utensils. 16There was war between Asa and Ba'asha king of Yisrael all their days. 17Ba'asha king of Yisrael went up against Yehudah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Yehudah. 18Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of YHWH’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered it into the hand of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived at Dameshek, saying, 19“Let there be a treaty between me and you, like that between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Ba'asha king of Yisrael, that he may depart from me.” 20Ben Hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Yisrael, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel Beit Ma'akah, and all Kineret, with all the land of Naftali. 21When Ba'asha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and lived in Tirzah. 22Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Yehudah. No one was exempted. They carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Ba'asha had built; and King Asa used it to build Geva of Binyamin, and Mitzpah. 23Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city; and Yehoshafat his son reigned in his place. 25Nadav the son of Yarov'am began to reign over Yisrael in the second year of Asa king of Yehudah; and he reigned over Yisrael two years. 26He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Yisrael to sin. 27Ba'asha the son of Achiyah, of the house of Yissachar, conspired against him; and Ba'asha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Pelishtim; for Nadav and all Yisrael were besieging Gibbethon. 28Even in the third year of Asa king of Yehudah, Ba'asha killed him and reigned in his place. 29As soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Yarov'am. He didn’t leave to Yarov'am any who breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the saying of YHWH, which he spoke by his servant Achiyah the Shiloni; 30for the sins of Yarov'am which he sinned, and with which he made Yisrael to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, to anger. 31Now the rest of the acts of Nadav, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 32There was war between Asa and Ba'asha king of Yisrael all their days. 33In the third year of Asa king of Yehudah, Ba'asha the son of Achiyah began to reign over all Yisrael in Tirzah for twenty-four years. 34He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and walked in the way of Yarov'am, and in his sin with which he made Yisrael to sin.

### Chapter 16

1YHWH’s word came to Yehu the son of Chanani against Ba'asha, saying, 2“Because I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over my people Yisrael, and you have walked in the way of Yarov'am and have made my people Yisrael to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins, 3behold, I will utterly sweep away Ba'asha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Yarov'am the son of Nebat. 4The dogs will eat Ba'asha’s descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.” 5Now the rest of the acts of Ba'asha, and what he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 6Ba'asha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his place. 7Moreover YHWH’s word came by the prophet Yehu the son of Chanani against Ba'asha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in YHWH’s sight, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Yarov'am, and because he struck him. 8In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Yehudah, Elah the son of Ba'asha began to reign over Yisrael in Tirzah for two years. 9His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah; 10and Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Yehudah, and reigned in his place. 11When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Ba'asha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall amongst his relatives or his friends. 12Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Ba'asha, according to YHWH’s word which he spoke against Ba'asha by Yehu the prophet, 13for all the sins of Ba'asha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and with which they made Yisrael to sin, to provoke YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, to anger with their vanities. 14Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Yehudah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Pelishtim. 16The people who were encamped heard that Zimri had conspired, and had also killed the king. Therefore all Yisrael made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Yisrael that day in the camp. 17Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Yisrael with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 18When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the fortified part of the king’s house and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and died, 19for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, in walking in the way of Yarov'am, and in his sin which he did to make Yisrael to sin. 20Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he committed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 21Then the people of Yisrael were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. 22But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath; so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. 23In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Yehudah, Omri began to reign over Yisrael for twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah. 24He bought the hill Shomron of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Shomron, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill. 25Omri did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him. 26For he walked in all the way of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Yisrael to sin, to provoke YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, to anger with their vanities. 27Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 28So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Shomron; and Achav his son reigned in his place. 29In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Yehudah, Achav the son of Omri began to reign over Yisrael. Achav the son of Omri reigned over Yisrael in Shomron twenty-two years. 30Achav the son of Omri did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight above all that were before him. 31As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, he took as wife Izevel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Tzidonim, and went and served Ba'al and worshipped him. 32He raised up an altar for Ba'al in the house of Ba'al, which he had built in Shomron. 33Achav made the Asherah; and Achav did more yet to provoke YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, to anger than all the kings of Yisrael who were before him. 34In his days Hiel the Beit Eli built Jericho. He laid its foundation with the loss of Aviram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to YHWH’s word, which he spoke by Yehoshua the son of Nun.

### Chapter 17

1Eliyahu the Tishbi, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Achav, “As YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” 2Then YHWH’s word came to him, saying, 3“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Krit, that is before the Jordan. 4You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5So he went and did according to YHWH’s word, for he went and lived by the brook Krit that is before the Jordan. 6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. 8YHWH’s word came to him, saying, 9“Arise, go to Tzarfat, which belongs to Tzidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” 10So he arose and went to Tzarfat; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12She said, “As YHWH your Elohim lives, I don’t have anything baked, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Eliyahu said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. 14For YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that YHWH sends rain on the earth.’” 15She went and did according to the saying of Eliyahu; and she, he, and her household ate many days. 16The jar of meal didn’t run out and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to YHWH’s word, which he spoke by Eliyahu. 17After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18She said to Eliyahu, “What have I to do with you, you man of Elohim? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!” 19He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. 20He cried to YHWH and said, “YHWH my Elohim, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” 21He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to YHWH and said, “YHWH my Elohim, please let this child’s soul come into him again.” 22YHWH listened to the voice of Eliyahu; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23Eliyahu took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, “Behold, your son lives.” 24The woman said to Eliyahu, “Now I know that you are a man of Elohim, and that YHWH’s word in your mouth is truth.”

### Chapter 18

1After many days, YHWH’s word came to Eliyahu, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Achav; and I will send rain on the earth.” 2Eliyahu went to show himself to Achav. The famine was severe in Shomron. 3Achav called Ovadyah, who was over the household. (Now Ovadyah feared YHWH greatly; 4for when Izevel cut off YHWH’s prophets, Ovadyah took one hundred prophets, and hid them fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5Achav said to Ovadyah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.” 6So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Achav went one way by himself, and Ovadyah went another way by himself. 7As Ovadyah was on the way, behold, Eliyahu met him. He recognised him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my adonai Eliyahu?” 8He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your adonai, ‘Behold, Eliyahu is here!’” 9He said, “How have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Achav, to kill me? 10As YHWH your Elohim lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my adonai has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they didn’t find you. 11Now you say, ‘Go, tell your adonai, “Behold, Eliyahu is here.”’ 12It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that YHWH’s Ruach will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Achav, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared YHWH from my youth. 13Wasn’t it told my adonai what I did when Izevel killed YHWH’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of YHWH’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14Now you say, ‘Go, tell your adonai, “Behold, Eliyahu is here”.’ He will kill me.” 15Eliyahu said, “As YHWH Tzeva'ot lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” 16So Ovadyah went to meet Achav, and told him; and Achav went to meet Eliyahu. 17When Achav saw Eliyahu, Achav said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Yisrael?” 18He answered, “I have not troubled Yisrael, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken YHWH’s mitzvot and you have followed the Baals. 19Now therefore send, and gather to me all Yisrael to Har Karmel, and four hundred and fifty of the prophets of Ba'al, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Izevel’s table.” 20So Achav sent to all the children of Yisrael, and gathered the prophets together to Har Karmel. 21Eliyahu came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If YHWH is Elohim, follow him; but if Ba'al, then follow him.” The people didn’t say a word. 22Then Eliyahu said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of YHWH; but Ba'al’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. 24You call on the name of your god, and I will call on YHWH’s name. The Elohim who answers by fire, let him be Elohim.” All the people answered, “What you say is good.” 25Eliyahu said to the prophets of Ba'al, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” 26They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Ba'al from morning even until noon, saying, “Ba'al, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leapt about the altar which was made. 27At noon, Eliyahu mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.” 28They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them. 29When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention. 30Eliyahu said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired YHWH’s altar that had been thrown down. 31Eliyahu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Yaakov, to whom YHWH’s word came, saying, “Yisrael shall be your name.” 32With the stones he built an altar in YHWH’s name. He made a trench around the altar large enough to contain two seahs of seed. 33He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time. 35The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. 36At the time of the evening offering, Eliyahu the prophet came near and said, “YHWH, the Elohim of Avraham, of Yitzhak, and of Yisrael, let it be known today that you are Elohim in Yisrael and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37Hear me, YHWH, hear me, that this people may know that you, YHWH, are Elohim, and that you have turned their heart back again.” 38Then YHWH’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “YHWH, he is Elohim! YHWH, he is Elohim!” 40Eliyahu said to them, “Seize the prophets of Ba'al! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Eliyahu brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. 41Eliyahu said to Achav, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42So Achav went up to eat and to drink. Eliyahu went up to the top of Karmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. 43He said to his servant, “Go up now and look towards the sea.” He went up and looked, then said, “There is nothing.” He said, “Go again” seven times. 44On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go up, tell Achav, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’” 45In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Achav rode, and went to Yizre'el. 46YHWH’s hand was on Eliyahu; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Achav to the entrance of Yizre'el.

### Chapter 19

1Achav told Izevel all that Eliyahu had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Izevel sent a messenger to Eliyahu, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!” 3When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and came to Be'er Sheva, which belongs to Yehudah, and left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O YHWH, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” 5He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an malak touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!” 6He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7YHWH’s malak came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Chorev, Elohim’s Mountain. 9He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, YHWH’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” 10He said, “I have been very jealous for YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot; for the children of Yisrael have forsaken your Brit, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before YHWH.” Behold, YHWH passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before YHWH; but YHWH was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but YHWH was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake a fire passed; but YHWH was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice. 13When Eliyahu heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” 14He said, “I have been very jealous for YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot; for the children of Yisrael have forsaken your Brit, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” 15YHWH said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Dameshek. When you arrive, anoint Chaza'el to be king over Aram. 16Anoint Yehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Yisrael; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place. 17He who escapes from the sword of Chaza'el, Yehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Yehu, Elisha will kill. 18Yet I reserved seven thousand in Yisrael, all the knees of which have not bowed to Ba'al, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 19So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Eliyahu went over to him and put his mantle on him. 20Elisha left the oxen and ran after Eliyahu, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?” 21He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, killed them, and boiled their meat with the oxen’s equipment, and gave to the people; and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Eliyahu, and served him.

### Chapter 20

1Ben Hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Shomron, and fought against it. 2He sent messengers into the city to Achav king of Yisrael and said to him, “Ben Hadad says, 3‘Your silver and your gold are mine. Your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.’” 4The king of Yisrael answered, “It is according to your saying, my adonai, O king. I am yours, and all that I have.” 5The messengers came again and said, “Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent indeed to you, saying, “You shall deliver me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children; 6but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants. Whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hand, and take it away.”’” 7Then the king of Yisrael called all the elders of the land, and said, “Please notice how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I didn’t deny him.” 8All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen, and don’t consent.” 9Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, “Tell my adonai the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” The messengers departed and brought him back the message. 10Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Shomron will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.” 11The king of Yisrael answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armour brag like he who takes it off.’” 12When Ben Hadad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, he said to his servants, “Prepare to attack!” So they prepared to attack the city. 13Behold, a prophet came near to Achav king of Yisrael, and said, “YHWH says, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today. Then you will know that I am YHWH.’” 14Achav said, “By whom?” He said, “YHWH says, ‘By the young men of the princes of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” He answered, “You.” 15Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the children of Yisrael, being seven thousand. 16They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. 17The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Shomron.” 18He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.” 19So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. 20They each killed his man. The Aramim fled, and Yisrael pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen. 21The king of Yisrael went out and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Aramim with a great slaughter. 22The prophet came near to the king of Yisrael and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and plan what you must do, for at the return of the year, the king of Aram will come up against you.” 23The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let’s fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. 24Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place. 25Muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they are.” He listened to their voice and did so. 26At the return of the year, Ben Hadad mustered the Aramim and went up to Aphek to fight against Yisrael. 27The children of Yisrael were mustered and given provisions, and went against them. The children of Yisrael encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats, but the Aramim filled the country. 28A man of Elohim came near and spoke to the king of Yisrael, and said, “YHWH says, ‘Because the Aramim have said, “YHWH is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am YHWH.’” 29They encamped opposite each other for seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Yisrael killed one hundred thousand footmen of the Aramim in one day. 30But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled and came into the city, into an inner room. 31His servants said to him, “See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Yisrael are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Yisrael. Maybe he will save your life.” 32So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Yisrael, and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” 33Now the men observed diligently and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 34Ben Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Dameshek, as my father made in Shomron.” “I”, said Achav, “will let you go with this Brit.” So he made a Brit with him and let him go. 35A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by YHWH’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him. 36Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed YHWH’s voice, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him. 37Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him. 38So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. 39As the king passed by, he cried to the king, and he said, “Your servant went out into the middle of the battle; and behold, a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he is missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ 40As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Yisrael said to him, “So shall your judgement be. You yourself have decided it.” 41He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Yisrael recognised that he was one of the prophets. 42He said to him, “YHWH says, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people.’” 43The king of Yisrael went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Shomron.

### Chapter 21

1After these things, Navot the Yizre'eli had a vineyard which was in Yizre'el, next to the palace of Achav king of Shomron. 2Achav spoke to Navot, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.” 3Navot said to Achav, “May YHWH forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” 4Achav came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Navot the Yizre'eli had spoken to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. 5But Izevel his wife came to him, and said to him, “Why is your spirit so sad that you eat no bread?” 6He said to her, “Because I spoke to Navot the Yizre'eli, and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ He answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” 7Izevel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Yisrael? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Navot the Yizre'eli.” 8So she wrote letters in Achav’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Navot. 9She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Navot on high amongst the people. 10Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed Elohim and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.” 11The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Izevel had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them. 12They proclaimed a fast, and set Navot on high amongst the people. 13The two men, the wicked fellows, came in and sat before him. The wicked fellows testified against him, even against Navot, in the presence of the people, saying, “Navot cursed Elohim and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones. 14Then they sent to Izevel, saying, “Navot has been stoned and is dead.” 15When Izevel heard that Navot had been stoned and was dead, Izevel said to Achav, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Navot the Yizre'eli, which he refused to give you for money; for Navot is not alive, but dead.” 16When Achav heard that Navot was dead, Achav rose up to go down to the vineyard of Navot the Yizre'eli, to take possession of it. 17YHWH’s word came to Eliyahu the Tishbi, saying, 18“Arise, go down to meet Achav king of Yisrael, who dwells in Shomron. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Navot, where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19You shall speak to him, saying, ‘YHWH says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘YHWH says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Navot, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’” 20Achav said to Eliyahu, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in YHWH’s sight. 21Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Achav everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Yisrael. 22I will make your house like the house of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, and like the house of Ba'asha the son of Achiyah, for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Yisrael to sin.” 23YHWH also spoke of Izevel, saying, “The dogs will eat Izevel by the rampart of Yizre'el. 24The dogs will eat whoever dies of Achav in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the field.” 25But there was no one like Achav, who sold himself to do that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, whom Izevel his wife stirred up. 26He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Emorim did, whom YHWH cast out before the children of Yisrael. 27When Achav heard those words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his body, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went about despondently. 28YHWH’s word came to Eliyahu the Tishbi, saying, 29“See how Achav humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day.”

### Chapter 22

1They continued three years without war between Aram and Yisrael. 2In the third year, Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah came down to the king of Yisrael. 3The king of Yisrael said to his servants, “You know that Ramot Gilead is ours, and we do nothing, and don’t take it out of the hand of the king of Aram?” 4He said to Yehoshafat, “Will you go with me to battle to Ramot Gilead?” Yehoshafat said to the king of Yisrael, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 5Yehoshafat said to the king of Yisrael, “Please enquire first for YHWH’s word.” 6Then the king of Yisrael gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Should I go against Ramot Gilead to battle, or should I refrain?” They said, “Go up; for Adonai will deliver it into the hand of the king.” 7But Yehoshafat said, “Isn’t there here a prophet of YHWH, that we may enquire of him?” 8The king of Yisrael said to Yehoshafat, “There is yet one man by whom we may enquire of YHWH, Mikhayhu the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Yehoshafat said, “Don’t let the king say so.” 9Then the king of Yisrael called an officer, and said, “Quickly get Mikhayhu the son of Imlah.” 10Now the king of Yisrael and Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Shomron; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11Tzidkiyahu the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron, and said, “YHWH says, ‘With these you will push the Aramim, until they are consumed.’” 12All the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramot Gilead and prosper; for YHWH will deliver it into the hand of the king.” 13The messenger who went to call Mikhayhu spoke to him, saying, “See now, the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.” 14Mikhayhu said, “As YHWH lives, what YHWH says to me, that I will speak.” 15When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Mikhayhu, shall we go to Ramot Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?” He answered him, “Go up and prosper; and YHWH will deliver it into the hand of the king.” 16The king said to him, “How many times do I have to adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in YHWH’s name?” 17He said, “I saw all Yisrael scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. YHWH said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’” 18The king of Yisrael said to Yehoshafat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” 19Mikhayhu said, “Therefore hear YHWH’s word. I saw YHWH sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20YHWH said, ‘Who will entice Achav, that he may go up and fall at Ramot Gilead?’ One said one thing, and another said another. 21A spirit came out and stood before YHWH, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22YHWH said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’ 23Now therefore, behold, YHWH has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and YHWH has spoken evil concerning you.” 24Then Tzidkiyahu the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Mikhayhu on the cheek, and said, “Which way did YHWH’s Ruach go from me to speak to you?” 25Mikhayhu said, “Behold, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.” 26The king of Yisrael said, “Take Mikhayhu, and carry him back to Ammon the governor of the city and to Yoash the king’s son. 27Say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.”’” 28Mikhayhu said, “If you return at all in peace, YHWH has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!” 29So the king of Yisrael and Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah went up to Ramot Gilead. 30The king of Yisrael said to Yehoshafat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” The king of Yisrael disguised himself and went into the battle. 31Now the king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Yisrael.” 32When the captains of the chariots saw Yehoshafat, they said, “Surely that is the king of Yisrael!” and they came over to fight against him. Yehoshafat cried out. 33When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Yisrael, they turned back from pursuing him. 34A certain man drew his bow at random, and struck the king of Yisrael between the joints of the armour. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around, and carry me out of the battle, for I am severely wounded.” 35The battle increased that day. The king was propped up in his chariot facing the Aramim, and died at evening. The blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. 36A cry went throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!” 37So the king died, and was brought to Shomron; and they buried the king in Shomron. 38They washed the chariot by the pool of Shomron; and the dogs licked up his blood where the prostitutes washed themselves, according to YHWH’s word which he spoke. 39Now the rest of the acts of Achav, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 40So Achav slept with his fathers; and Achazyahu his son reigned in his place. 41Yehoshafat the son of Asa began to reign over Yehudah in the fourth year of Achav king of Yisrael. 42Yehoshafat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He didn’t turn away from it, doing that which was right in YHWH’s eyes. However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. 44Yehoshafat made peace with the king of Yisrael. 45Now the rest of the acts of Yehoshafat, and his might that he showed, and how he fought, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 46The remnant of the sodomites, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land. 47There was no king in Edom. A deputy ruled. 48Yehoshafat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ofir for gold, but they didn’t go, for the ships wrecked at Ezion Geber. 49Then Achazyahu the son of Achav said to Yehoshafat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Yehoshafat would not. 50Yehoshafat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city. Yehoram his son reigned in his place. 51Achazyahu the son of Achav began to reign over Yisrael in Shomron in the seventeenth year of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, and he reigned two years over Yisrael. 52He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, in which he made Yisrael to sin. 53He served Ba'al and worshipped him, and provoked YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, to anger in all the ways that his father had done so.

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