1 Kings 10–11
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame connected to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was not anything too difficult for the king which he could not answer. 4 When the queen of Sheba observed Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built 5 and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their clothing and his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.
6 She said to the king, “What I heard in my own land about your acts and your wisdom was true! 7 I did not believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes! In fact, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity are greater than the stories I heard! 8 Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever; therefore He made you king in order to execute judgment and justice.”
10 She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a great amount of spices and precious stones. No one gave as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. 12 The king made pillars for the house of the Lord out of the almug trees and harps also and psalteries for singers for the king’s house. Never before had such almug wood been brought, nor has any such been seen to this day.
13 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, no matter what she asked for, in addition to what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold. 15 In addition, he collected from the merchantmen and the traffic of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.
16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold made of six hundred shekels of gold each. 17 He made three hundred shields of beaten gold with three pounds of gold in each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the back of the throne was round, and there were armrests on either side of the seat with two lions standing beside the armrests. 20 Twelve lions stood on the sides of the six steps, and there was no other like it in any kingdom. 21 All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the cups of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None were made of silver, for it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had ships at sea at Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in terms of riches and wisdom. 24 All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 Everyone brought an annual tribute in the form of presents, silver and gold cups, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules.
26 Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and he made cedars to be as plentiful as sycamore trees in the valley. 28 Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt along with linen yarn. The king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. 29 He brought chariots from Egypt at a price of six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty. And he exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, by their means.
Chapter 11
1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, 2 from the nations which the Lord warned the children of Israel about, saying, “You shall not go in to them, nor shall they come in to you, for they will surely turn your heart away toward their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. 4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Molek, the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as his father David had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is close to Jerusalem, and for Molek, the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had warned him about this, that he should not follow other gods, but he was disobedient to the Lord’s command. 11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and have not kept My covenant and statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely take the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. 12 I will not do this in your lifetime for your father David’s sake, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not take the whole kingdom away, but will preserve one tribe for your son for David My servant’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem which I chose.”
14 The Lord stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was a prince of Edom. 15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the slain, he had killed every male in Edom 16 (for six months Joab stayed there with his men until he had killed every male in Edom). 17 But Hadad fled to Egypt, he and some Edomites who served his father, Hadad still being a small child. 18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran, and they gathered men from Paran and then arrived in Egypt and presented him before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and provisions and land.
19 Pharaoh had great affection for Hadad, so much so that he gave him his sister-in-law, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as a wife. 20 Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.
21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Allow me to depart and go to my own country.”
22 Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you want to go to your own country?”
And he answered, “Nothing, however let me go anyway.”
23 God stirred up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah. 24 He gathered a group of men and became leader over a band when David killed the men of Zobah, and they fled to Damascus and lived and reigned there. 25 He was an enemy of Israel all the days of Solomon in addition to the troubles caused by Hadad, and he hated Israel and reigned over Aram.
26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, who was Solomon’s servant and whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.
27 This is what led to his rebellion against the king. Solomon built Millo and repaired the wall of the City of David his father. 28 Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he made him ruler over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.
29 At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him along the way, and he had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. 30 Ahijah took off the new garment that he wore and tore it into twelve pieces, 31 and he said to Jeroboam: Take ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32 (but he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the children of Ammon and have not walked in My ways and have not done that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and judgments, as his father David had done.
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, because he kept My commandments and My statutes. 35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give ten tribes to you. 36 To his son will I give one tribe, so that My servant David will always have a light before Me in Jerusalem, the city in which I have chosen to put My name. 37 I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires and shall be king over Israel. 38 It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you and will walk in My ways and do what is right in My sight to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, I will be with you and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 39 I will thus afflict the seed of David, but not forever.”
40 Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to Shishak, king of Egypt, and he stayed in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
41 The rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father, and his son Rehoboam reigned after him.
Luke 21:20–38
20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know that its desolation has drawn near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter it. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led away captive to all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 “There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men fainting from fear and expectation of what is coming on the inhabited earth. For the powers of heaven will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near.”
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 When they are sprouting leaves already, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 So in like manner, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
34 “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts become burdened by excessiveness and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that Day comes on you unexpectedly. 35 For as a snare it will come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Therefore watch always and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Each day He was teaching in the temple, and each night He went out and stayed on the mountain called the Mount of Olives. 38 And all the people came early in the morning to hear Him in the temple.