New Venture Network

Funk Meets Faith = Beautiful Fusion

2010-08-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE: Clifford Stoll: 18 minutes with an agile mind

2010-08-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE: Clifford Stoll: 18 minutes with an agile mind

iRemote X for iPhones (FREE DOWNLOAD LINK)

2010-07-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

Evian Roller Babies US

2010-07-23T01:52:00.000-07:00

Geeky Tricks for your Mac

2010-07-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

30 Fantastic Geeky Tricks to Get The Most From Your Mac | Mac.AppStorm

Teen Trades up on Craigslist from Phone to Porsche in 2 Years

2010-07-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

Teen Trades up on Craigslist from Phone to Porsche in 2 Years

Dexim Goes Green with the Solar Powered P-Flip at GDGT Chicago

2010-07-19T18:20:00.001-07:00

Dexim Goes Green with the Solar Powered P-Flip at GDGT Chicago

2010-07-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Solar Powered Sound System Etón Soulra Product Demo at the CEA Line Shows

2010-07-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math Online

2010-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math Online

Rebecca Zook is an online female math tutor who has been helping students get math into their brains for seven years. She blogs about learning at Triangle Suitcase.

We’ve sorted the contenders from the pretenders and found five genuinely fun ways to help your kids learn math this summer. These unique technologies go way beyond the world of flashcards, and use surprising tools including rap music, adaptive technology, psychological research and wailing guitar solos.

They’re fun. They’re easy to use. And they aren’t lame.

The Black Stars are in the zone

2010-06-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

2010 World Cup: Ghana focuses on one goal, in more ways than one - ESPN Soccernet

Check out the Apple Museum’s latest video that explores thirty years worth of Apple computers in just two minutes. Ah, nerdy nostalgia.

2010-06-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

The Apple Museum - 30 years in 2 minutes

Eminem honors Dr. Dre at ASCAP's 23rd Annual Rhythm and Soul Awards Ceremony

2010-06-26T21:17:00.001-07:00

Dr. Dre accepting his ASCAP award.

Photo: Robert Welkner: WireImage per Chamber Group

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) held it's 23rd annual Rhythm and Soul Music Awards last night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, where some of music's biggest names were recognized for their contributions to music. Dr. Dre was honored with ASCAP's Founders Award.

DJ Kid Capri took the stage to perform a set of songs reflecting his career. A presentation package was played highlighting Dr. Dre's career. From his days with the band N.W.A, his solo career and as work as a producer. Clips of the videos for the songs "Let Me Ride", "Gin and Juice","California Love","Rich Girl" and "Family Affair". Snoop Dogg and Eminem spoke of how they admired Dr. Dre as a person and his work. Dr. Dre was also showed in various clips during his career which included him talking about critics, saying, "You can't critique my sh-- unless you have done half of the stuff I have accomplished."

Eminem made a surprise appearance to present the award the award to Dr. Dre. Eminen thanked Dre for believing in him. "It would have been a lot easier for Dre to dismiss me like most people did...the white kid with the funny voice... "but he didn't. He stepped up to the challenge because he saw something in me. ... He changed the face of music and he changed my life he stated.

Dre then took the stage to accept the award, "I'm living an incredible life," he said. "Making a living doing what I love and having people love it. I can't even explain what that feels like", as he fought back tears.
Dre paid respects to his mother, who became pregnant with him at the age of 15. "She was always told by family, friends and neighbors or whatever, she was going to ruin her life and mine," he said.
He also thanked his wife, whom he described as his in-house A&R and Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records, for being with him through ups and downs, and his fans for always being there.

Some of the other top awards were Songwriter of the Year to Ne-Yo and the duo C. "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream, who tied with six chart-topping singles each.
Jermaine Dupri, Johnta Austin and Manuel Seal for Song of the Decade for "We Belong Together.", which they wrote for Mariah Carey.
Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels was honored for Top Rap Song "Best I Ever Had," which he wrote for Drake.
"Blame It" by Jamie Foxx and featuring T-Pain earned writers Christopher Henderson, Brandon "Note" Melancon, The-Dream, C. "Tricky" Stewart, and Nate Walka the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year.
Ernest Estee Bullock for writing " Souled Out" which was the Top Gospel Song.
EMI Music Publishing was honored with the Publisher of the Year award.

The ASCAP Vanguard Award went to Janelle Monae. Performing at the event were Dondria, Miguel and Gucci Mane. In attendance at the event were Prince, TI,Ron Artest and Ryan Phillippe to name a few.

Check back for more details on the awards from the red carpet to the show from your LA Music Examiner who was on the scene.

For more information on Dr Dre, please visit: Dr. Dre

For more information on ASCAP, please visit ASCAP Awards.

I just found out that Apple's "FaceTime" video chatting doesn't work with iChat!

2010-06-26T19:11:00.001-07:00

AppleInsider | Apple announces open standard FaceTime video chat for iPhone 4

* Home * About o Contact & Licensing o New Site / Old Site * Lifestream * Opentape A Little More Justice in Mississippi

2010-06-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

A Little More Justice in Mississippi

Henry Dee

Settlement Reached in Civil Suit Charging Franklin County, MS Role in 1964 KKK Murders

On Monday, June 21, Franklin County, Mississippi agreed to a settlement in an historic civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee, two 19-year-old Black men who were kidnapped, tortured and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan on May 2, 1964.

“This is the first time, to my knowledge, that any civil lawsuit against public officials for collaborating with the KKK has reached the point of settlement,” said Margaret Burnham, lead attorney for the family members who brought the suit against Franklin County. Klansman James Ford Seale went to prison in 2007 for his role in the murders; this landmark civil suit addressed the roles of Mississippi government officials in the double murder and subsequent cover-up of what had occurred.

“It’s a bit of a stretch to say they were ‘held accountable,’” Burnham added, “because they did not admit to the facts we presented.”

“I’m convinced there’s nothing else that I can do to get any more truth,” said Thomas Moore, brother of victim Charles. Moore said further that African Americans in his home county “are joyful that somebody brought Franklin County officials to reality and to the way they treated other people.”

Thomas Moore and Thelma Collins, sister of victim Henry Dee, filed the civil suit against Franklin County, MS in August, 2008. The suit focused on the respective roles and actions from 1964 to 1967 of Franklin County Sheriff Wayne Hutto and Franklin County Deputy Sheriff Kirby Shell, both now deceased. “In the aftermath of the killings,” according to the complaint by Moore and Collins,

Sheriff Hutto misled the Plaintiffs when they inquired of the Sheriff about their loved ones. Further, Sheriff Hutto deceived the Plaintiffs into thinking he knew nothing of the whereabouts of Moore and Dee when in fact he did.

Throughout 1964, Hutto and Shell misled investigative agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the murders, concealing their participation in the events of May 2, 1964, the day the two young men were killed.

Hutto and Shell covered up their role in these crimes, deceiving law enforcement officials as well as the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs did not become aware of the participation of Hutto and Shell as co-conspirators until the federal indictment was returned on January 24, 2007. Nor could Plaintiffs have discovered Hutto and Shell’s culpability before the indictment. The U.S. Justice Department immunized Charles Edwards, one of the coconspirators and, on November 3, 2006, obtained from Edwards a full statement of the crimes revealing for the first time ever the involvement of Franklin County on the day the men were slain.

Thomas Moore holds photo of his brother, Charles. (Postcard for Mississippi Cold Case, created by David Ridgen.)

“The settlement didn’t need to happen,” noted documentary filmmaker David Ridgen, “if Franklin County officials would have simply apologized to the Moore and Dee families for the actions and inactions of their officials in colluding with and in some cases participating in the Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror during the civil rights era.”

Ridgen’s film Mississippi Cold Case documented Thomas Moore’s quest to learn the truth about what happened to his brother Charles and to Henry Dee. In their work together on the film Ridgen and Moore uncovered evidence that led to the indictment, trial and conviction of Klansman James Ford Seale.

“I am proud of Thomas Moore for being the juggernaut that pushed this civil suit forward with his lawyers,” Ridgen said, “and I am hopeful that it will lead to civil trials in the near future that will hold Mississippi and elsewhere, state and county, accountable.”

“This is a case about unconscionable crimes and unconscionable deception,” Moore and Collins charged in their complaint.

It is also a case about the systematic denial by Franklin County of law enforcement protection to African-Americans and to whites suspected of opposing the Klan’s campaign of racist terror.

It is a case about the collusive and unlawful relationship between the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Franklin County.

Franklin County officials stated in their resolution that they do not condone “the horrific deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. “The county desires not to imply the deaths were anything but abhorrent.”

But the county denied any responsibility for the deaths of the two 19-year-old Black men. The officials resolved that the county had not “caused or contributed to the deaths of these two young men. These deaths are believed to have resulted solely from the criminal actions of the Ku Klux Klan.”

In their resolution, the Franklin County officials questioned the evidence in the civil complaint, drawn substantially from the evidence presented in the criminal trial of James Ford Seale that led to his conviction.

George Colllins, President of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors, who signed the resolution accepting the terms of settlement with Thomas Moore and Thelma Collins, had no comment when he was reached on the phone on Tuesday night.

“What we sought to prove was common knowledge at the time,” Margaret Burnham said, “that these crimes could not have persisted without the support of local officials….There is no statute of limitations on murder, no expiration date on moral obligation, and there should be no impunity for human rights violators.”

“I am satisfied with the verdict of the criminal trial, and I’m satisfied with the settlement,” concluded Thomas Moore. “I ran the race and I fought a good fight. I am finished with this case.”

“I am at peace for the first time in 46 years,” Moore said.

(Cross-posted at Civil Rights Cold Case Project)

Podcast

Thomas Moore, phone interview by Ben Greenberg, June 22, 2010 [7:11m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Documents

Additional Coverage

Michele Norris, “Miss. Officials Agree To Settlement In ’64 Slayings” (NPR)
Jerry Mitchell, “Lawsuit over ’64 deaths settled” (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
Jonathan Saltzman, “Justice follows decades of silence” (Boston Globe)

BP Begins Fighting Oil Spill With Kevin Costner's Oil-Separating Centrifuges

2010-06-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

Woah! BP Has actually gone ahead and started using those centrifuges designed by Kevin Costner to clean up the oil spill. And there's video.

BP has been toying with the idea of using actor Kevin Costner's Ocean Therapy technology to clean up the Gulf oil disaster for the past month. Once we got over the Waterworld jokes, we realized that the centrifuge-like device is actually fairly useful—it sits on a barge, sucks in dirty water, separates the oil, and deposits the clean water back into the ocean. BP ordered 32 of Costner's centrifuges last week, and apparently, the oil giant has already started using them. Check out the video below (hat tip: Andrew Price at GOOD).

The technology is still flawed. Lance Ortemond, general manager at D&L Salvage, explains in the video that workers haven't been able to get the concentration of oil in the separated water down far enough to actually send clean water back into the ocean. As a result, it will still be another two months before the majority of the Ocean Therapy devices are deployed—that leaves plenty of time for BP to reach out to the public for alternate solutions.

In an interview with the Associated Press, BP executive Doug Suttles said, "It's difficult to find the good ideas, but when we find them, we want to move fast." And yet BP dismissed outright 908 potential solutions from InnoCentive, an online crowdsourcing community where 61% of all "solvers" have Ph.Ds or master's degrees. If BP can take the time to evaluate an idea from the star of Sizzle Beach, U.S.A., surely it can listen to creative solutions from people with actual technical experience.

Daily reading for Thursday June 24, 2010

2010-06-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

BibleGateway Reading Plans

2 Samuel 22:19 - 1 Kings 7:37(New International Version)
2 Samuel 22

19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.

20 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

21 "The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.

23 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.

24 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.

25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness [a] in his sight.

26 "To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

27 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

28 You save the humble,
but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

29 You are my lamp, O LORD;
the LORD turns my darkness into light.

30 With your help I can advance against a troop [b] ;
with my God I can scale a wall.

31 "As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.

32 For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?

33 It is God who arms me with strength [c]
and makes my way perfect.

34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.

35 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

36 You give me your shield of victory;
you stoop down to make me great.

37 You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn.

38 "I pursued my enemies and crushed them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.

40 You armed me with strength for battle;
you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.

42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
to the LORD, but he did not answer.

43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.

44 "You have delivered me from the attacks of my people;
you have preserved me as the head of nations.
People I did not know are subject to me,

45 and foreigners come cringing to me;
as soon as they hear me, they obey me.

46 They all lose heart;
they come trembling [d] from their strongholds.

47 "The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!

48 He is the God who avenges me,
who puts the nations under me,

49 who sets me free from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.

50 Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.

51 He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever."
2 Samuel 23
The Last Words of David

1 These are the last words of David:
"The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High,
the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
Israel's singer of songs [e] :

2 "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.

3 The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
'When one rules over men in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,

4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth.'

5 "Is not my house right with God?
Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant,
arranged and secured in every part?
Will he not bring to fruition my salvation
and grant me my every desire?

6 But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns,
which are not gathered with the hand.

7 Whoever touches thorns
uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear;
they are burned up where they lie."
David's Mighty Men

8 These are the names of David's mighty men:
Josheb-Basshebeth, [f] a Tahkemonite, [g] was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed [h] in one encounter.

9 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim [i] for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, 10 but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

11 Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel's troops fled from them. 12 But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.

13 During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" 16 So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it.
Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

18 Abishai the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah was chief of the Three. [j] He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three. 19 Was he not held in greater honor than the Three? He became their commander, even though he was not included among them.

20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab's best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. 21 And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men. 23 He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

24 Among the Thirty were:
Asahel the brother of Joab,
Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

25 Shammah the Harodite,
Elika the Harodite,

26 Helez the Paltite,
Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa,

27 Abiezer from Anathoth,
Mebunnai [k] the Hushathite,

28 Zalmon the Ahohite,
Maharai the Netophathite,

29 Heled [l] son of Baanah the Netophathite,
Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin,

30 Benaiah the Pirathonite,
Hiddai [m] from the ravines of Gaash,

31 Abi-Albon the Arbathite,
Azmaveth the Barhumite,

32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite,
the sons of Jashen,
Jonathan 33 son of [n] Shammah the Hararite,
Ahiam son of Sharar [o] the Hararite,

34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maacathite,
Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

35 Hezro the Carmelite,
Paarai the Arbite,

36 Igal son of Nathan from Zobah,
the son of Hagri, [p]

37 Zelek the Ammonite,
Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

38 Ira the Ithrite,
Gareb the Ithrite

39 and Uriah the Hittite.
There were thirty-seven in all.
2 Samuel 24
David Counts the Fighting Men

1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."

2 So the king said to Joab and the army commanders [q] with him, "Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are."

3 But Joab replied to the king, "May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?"

4 The king's word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.

5 After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer. 6 They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon. 7 Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.

8 After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

10 David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."

11 Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer: 12 "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' "

13 So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three [r] years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me."

14 David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."

15 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."
David Builds an Altar

18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped."

22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you."

24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels [s] of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. [t] Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
1 Kings 1
Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

1 When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. 2 So his servants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm."

3 Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.

5 Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, "I will be king." So he got chariots and horses [u] ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei [v] and David's special guard did not join Adonijah.

9 Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials, 10 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.

11 Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, "Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king without our lord David's knowing it? 12 Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go in to King David and say to him, 'My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: "Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne"? Why then has Adonijah become king?' 14 While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and confirm what you have said."

15 So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. 16 Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king.
"What is it you want?" the king asked.

17 She said to him, "My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the LORD your God: 'Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.' 18 But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king's sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20 My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals."

22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. 23 And they told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.

24 Nathan said, "Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne? 25 Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, 'Long live King Adonijah!' 26 But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite. 27 Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"
David Makes Solomon King

28 Then King David said, "Call in Bathsheba." So she came into the king's presence and stood before him.

29 The king then took an oath: "As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 30 I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place."

31 Then Bathsheba bowed low with her face to the ground and, kneeling before the king, said, "May my lord King David live forever!"

32 King David said, "Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada." When they came before the king, 33 he said to them: "Take your lord's servants with you and set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gihon. 34 There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, 'Long live King Solomon!' 35 Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah."

36 Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, "Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so declare it. 37 As the LORD was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!"

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!" 40 And all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, "What's the meaning of all the noise in the city?"

42 Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news."

43 "Not at all!" Jonathan answered. "Our lord King David has made Solomon king. 44 The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king's mule, 45 and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That's the noise you hear. 46 Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne. 47 Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'May your God make Solomon's name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!' And the king bowed in worship on his bed 48 and said, 'Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.' "

49 At this, all Adonijah's guests rose in alarm and dispersed. 50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then Solomon was told, "Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, 'Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.' "

52 Solomon replied, "If he shows himself to be a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die." 53 Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, "Go to your home."
1 Kings 2
David's Charge to Solomon

1 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.

2 "I am about to go the way of all the earth," he said. "So be strong, show yourself a man, 3 and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, 4 and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'

5 "Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave [w] in peace.

7 "But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

8 "And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD : 'I will not put you to death by the sword.' 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood."

10 Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. 11 He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
Solomon's Throne Established

13 Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. Bathsheba asked him, "Do you come peacefully?"
He answered, "Yes, peacefully." 14 Then he added, "I have something to say to you."
"You may say it," she replied.

15 "As you know," he said, "the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the LORD. 16 Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me."
"You may make it," she said.

17 So he continued, "Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."

18 "Very well," Bathsheba replied, "I will speak to the king for you."

19 When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king's mother, and she sat down at his right hand.

20 "I have one small request to make of you," she said. "Do not refuse me."
The king replied, "Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you."

21 So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah."

22 King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brother—yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!"

23 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD : "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request! 24 And now, as surely as the LORD lives—he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised—Adonijah shall be put to death today!" 25 So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.

26 To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign LORD before my father David and shared all my father's hardships." 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD, fulfilling the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.

28 When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, "Go, strike him down!"

30 So Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, "The king says, 'Come out!' "
But he answered, "No, I will die here."
Benaiah reported to the king, "This is how Joab answered me."

31 Then the king commanded Benaiah, "Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my father's house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. 32 The LORD will repay him for the blood he shed, because without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army—were better men and more upright than he. 33 May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the LORD's peace forever."

34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land [x] in the desert. 35 The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab's position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.

36 Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. 37 The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head."

38 Shimei answered the king, "What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said." And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.

39 But three years later, two of Shimei's slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, "Your slaves are in Gath." 40 At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.

41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42 the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, 'On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die'? At that time you said to me, 'What you say is good. I will obey.' 43 Why then did you not keep your oath to the LORD and obey the command I gave you?"

44 The king also said to Shimei, "You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the LORD will repay you for your wrongdoing. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will remain secure before the LORD forever."

46 Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and killed him.
The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon's hands.
1 Kings 3
Solomon Asks for Wisdom

1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD. 3 Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

6 Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

7 "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life." 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.
He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. [y] Then he gave a feast for all his court.
A Wise Ruling

16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

19 "During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne."

22 The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours."
But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king.

23 The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.' "

24 Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."

26 The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!"
But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"

27 Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother."

28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
1 Kings 4
Solomon's Officials and Governors

1 So King Solomon ruled over all Israel. 2 And these were his chief officials:
Azariah son of Zadok—the priest;

3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha—secretaries;
Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud-recorder;

4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada—commander in chief;
Zadok and Abiathar-priests;

5 Azariah son of Nathan—in charge of the district officers;
Zabud son of Nathan—a priest and personal adviser to the king;

6 Ahishar—in charge of the palace;
Adoniram son of Abda—in charge of forced labor.

7 Solomon also had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year. 8 These are their names:
Ben-Hur—in the hill country of Ephraim;

9 Ben-Deker—in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan;

10 Ben-Hesed—in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher were his

11 Ben-Abinadab—in Naphoth Dor [z] (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon

12 Baana son of Ahilud—in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across to Jokmeam;

13 Ben-Geber—in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the district of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars

14 Ahinadab son of Iddo—in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz—in Naphtali (he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon

16 Baana son of Hushai—in Asher and in Aloth;

17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah—in Issachar;

18 Shimei son of Ela—in Benjamin;

19 Geber son of Uri—in Gilead (the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and the country of Og king of Bashan). He was the only governor over the district.
Solomon's Daily Provisions

20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River [aa] to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life.

22 Solomon's daily provisions were thirty cors [ab] of fine flour and sixty cors [ac] of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl. 24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. 25 During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.

26 Solomon had four [ad] thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses. [ae]

27 The district officers, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king's table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. 28 They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
Solomon's Wisdom

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 Kings 5
Preparations for Building the Temple

1 When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

3 "You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, 'Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.'

6 "So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians."

7 When Hiram heard Solomon's message, he was greatly pleased and said, "Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation."

8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
"I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and pine logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household."

10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted, 11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors [af] of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths [ag] , [ah] of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred [ai] foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen. 17 At the king's command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal [aj] cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
1 Kings 6
Solomon Builds the Temple

1 In the four hundred and eightieth [ak] year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD.

2 The temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high. [al] 3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, [am] and projected ten cubits [an] from the front of the temple. 4 He made narrow clerestory windows in the temple. 5 Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. 6 The lowest floor was five cubits [ao] wide, the middle floor six cubits [ap] and the third floor seven. [aq] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

8 The entrance to the lowest [ar] floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. 9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

11 The word of the LORD came to Solomon: 12 "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."

14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of pine. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits [as] at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits [at] long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. [au] He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

23 In the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits [av] high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood with five-sided jambs. 32 And on the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with beaten gold. 33 In the same way he made four-sided jambs of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall. 34 He also made two pine doors, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

36 And he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.
1 Kings 7
Solomon Builds His Palace

1 It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. 2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, [aw] with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. 4 Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. 5 All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other. [ax]

6 He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. [ay] In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

7 He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. [az] 8 And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.

9 All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits [ba] and some eight. [bb] 11 Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico.
The Temple's Furnishings

13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram, [bc] 14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.

15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around, [bd] by line. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits [be] high. 17 A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows [bf] encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. [bg] He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits [bh] high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin [bi] and the one to the north Boaz. [bj] 22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

23 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits [bk] from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits [bl] to measure around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth [bm] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths. [bn]

27 He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. [bo] 28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit [bp] deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. [bq] Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit [br] deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.

Footnotes:
2 Samuel 22:19 - 1 Kings 7:37

1. 2 Samuel 22:25 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate (see also Psalm 18:24) to the cleanness of my hands
2. 2 Samuel 22:30 Or can run through a barricade
3. 2 Samuel 22:33 Dead Sea Scrolls, some Septuagint manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Psalm 18:32 Masoretic Text who is my strong refuge
4. 2 Samuel 22:46 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate (see also Psalm 18:45 Masoretic Text they arm themselves .
5. 2 Samuel 23:1 Or Israel's beloved singer
6. 2 Samuel 23:8 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts suggest Ish-Bosheth , that is, Esh-Baal (see also 1 Chron. 11:11 Jashobeam ).
7. 2 Samuel 23:8 Probably a variant of Hacmonite (see 1 Chron. 11:11)
8. 2 Samuel 23:8 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:11 Hebrew and other Septuagint manuscripts Three; it was Adino the Eznite who killed eight hundred men
9. 2 Samuel 23:9 See 1 Chron. 11:13; Hebrew gathered there .
10. 2 Samuel 23:18 Most Hebrew manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:20 two Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac Thirty
11. 2 Samuel 23:27 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:29) Sibbecai
12. 2 Samuel 23:29 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Vulgate (see also 1 Chron. 11:30 most Hebrew manuscripts Heleb
13. 2 Samuel 23:30 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:32) Hurai
14. 2 Samuel 23:33 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:34 Hebrew does not have son of .
15. 2 Samuel 23:33 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:35) Sacar
16. 2 Samuel 23:36 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 11:38 Hebrew Haggadi
17. 2 Samuel 24:2 Septuagint (see also verse 4 and 1 Chron. 21:2 Hebrew Joab the army commander
18. 2 Samuel 24:13 Septuagint (see also 1 Chron. 21:12 Hebrew seven
19. 2 Samuel 24:24 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds (about 0.6 kilogram)
20. 2 Samuel 24:25 Traditionally peace offerings
21. 1 Kings 1:5 Or charioteers
22. 1 Kings 1:8 Or and his friends
23. 1 Kings 2:6 Hebrew Sheol ; also in verse
24. 1 Kings 2:34 Or buried in his tomb
25. 1 Kings 3:15 Traditionally peace offerings
26. 1 Kings 4:11 Or in the heights of Dor
27. 1 Kings 4:21 That is, the Euphrates; also in verse 24
28. 1 Kings 4:22 That is, probably about 185 bushels (about 6.6 kiloliters)
29. 1 Kings 4:22 That is, probably about 375 bushels (about 13.2 kiloliters)
30. 1 Kings 4:26 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Chron. 9:25 Hebrew forty
31. 1 Kings 4:26 Or charioteers
32. 1 Kings 5:11 That is, probably about 125,000 bushels (about 4,400 kiloliters)
33. 1 Kings 5:11 Septuagint (see also 2 Chron. 2:10 Hebrew twenty cors
34. 1 Kings 5:11 That is, about 115,000 gallons (about 440 kiloliters)
35. 1 Kings 5:16 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Chron. 2:2, 18) thirty-six hundred
36. 1 Kings 5:18 That is, Byblos
37. 1 Kings 6:1 Hebrew; Septuagint four hundred and fortieth
38. 1 Kings 6:2 That is, about 90 feet (about 27 meters) long and 30 feet (about 9 meters) wide and 45 feet (about 13.5 meters) high
39. 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 30 feet (about 9 meters)
40. 1 Kings 6:3 That is, about 15 feet (about 4.5 meters)
41. 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 7 1/2 feet (about 2.3 meters also in verses 10 and 24
42. 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 9 feet (about 2.7 meters)
43. 1 Kings 6:6 That is, about 10 1/2 feet (about 3.1 meters)
44. 1 Kings 6:8 Septuagint; Hebrew middle
45. 1 Kings 6:16 That is, about 30 feet (about 9 meters)
46. 1 Kings 6:17 That is, about 60 feet (about 18 meters)
47. 1 Kings 6:20 That is, about 30 feet (about 9 meters) long, wide and high
48. 1 Kings 6:23 That is, about 15 feet (about 4.5 meters)
49. 1 Kings 7:2 That is, about 150 feet (about 46 meters) long, 75 feet (about 23 meters) wide and 45 feet (about 13.5 meters) high
50. 1 Kings 7:5 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
51. 1 Kings 7:6 That is, about 75 feet (about 23 meters) long and 45 feet (about 13.5 meters) wide
52. 1 Kings 7:7 Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew floor
53. 1 Kings 7:10 That is, about 15 feet (about 4.5 meters)
54. 1 Kings 7:10 That is, about 12 feet (about 3.6 meters)
55. 1 Kings 7:13 Hebrew Hiram , a variant of Huram ; also in verses 40 and 45
56. 1 Kings 7:15 That is, about 27 feet (about 8.1 meters) high and 18 feet (about 5.4 meters) around
57. 1 Kings 7:16 That is, about 7 1/2 feet (about 2.3 meters also in verse 23
58. 1 Kings 7:18 Two Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts made the pillars, and there were two rows
59. 1 Kings 7:18 Many Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts pomegranates
60. 1 Kings 7:19 That is, about 6 feet (about 1.8 meters also in verse 38
61. 1 Kings 7:21 Jakin probably means he establishes.
62. 1 Kings 7:21 Boaz probably means in him is strength .
63. 1 Kings 7:23 That is, about 15 feet (about 4.5 meters)
64. 1 Kings 7:23 That is, about 45 feet (about 13.5 meters)
65. 1 Kings 7:26 That is, about 3 inches (about 8 centimeters)
66. 1 Kings 7:26 That is, probably about 11,500 gallons (about 44 kiloliters the Septuagint does not have this sentence.
67. 1 Kings 7:27 That is, about 6 feet (about 1.8 meters) long and wide and about 4 1/2 feet (about 1.3 meters) high
68. 1 Kings 7:31 That is, about 1 1/2 feet (about 0.5 meter)
69. 1 Kings 7:31 That is, about 2 1/4 feet (about 0.7 meter also in verse 32
70. 1 Kings 7:35 That is, about 3/4 foot (about 0.2 meter)

Todays Reading; Read the Bible In 90 Days

2010-06-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

1 Kings 7:38 - 1 Kings 16:20(New International Version)

1 Kings 7

³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths ^[a] and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. ⁴⁰ He also made the basins and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD :

    ⁴¹ the two pillars;
       the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
       the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars

⁴³ the ten stands with their ten basins;

⁴⁴ the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;

⁴⁵ the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the LORD were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

    ⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the LORD's temple:
       the golden altar;
       the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence;

⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary
the gold floral work and lamps and tongs;

⁵⁰ the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers;
and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

⁵¹ When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the LORD's temple.

1 Kings 8

The Ark Brought to the Temple

¹ Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD's covenant from Zion, the City of David. ² All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, ⁵ and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁶ The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. ⁸ These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. ¹¹ And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.

¹² Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; ¹³ I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever."

¹⁴ While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. ¹⁵ Then he said:
"Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, ¹⁶ 'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.'

¹⁷ "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.'

²⁰ "The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt."

Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven ²³ and said:
"O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. ²⁴ You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

²⁵ "Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.' ²⁶ And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

²⁷ "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! ²⁸ Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. ²⁹ May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

³¹ "When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple, ³² then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.

³³ "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, ³⁴ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.

³⁵ "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ³⁶ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

³⁷ "When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, ³⁸ and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple- ³⁹ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), ⁴⁰ so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.

⁴¹ "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name- ⁴² for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, ⁴³ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

⁴⁴ "When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, ⁴⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

⁴⁶ "When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; ⁴⁷ and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; ⁴⁸ and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; ⁴⁹ then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰ And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy; ⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

⁵² "May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. ⁵³ For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign LORD, brought our fathers out of Egypt."

⁵⁴ When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

⁵⁶ "Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. ⁵⁸ May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. ⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. ⁶¹ But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time."

The Dedication of the Temple

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings ^[b] to the LORD : twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.

⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo ^[c] Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

1 Kings 9

The LORD Appears to Solomon

¹ When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, ² the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The LORD said to him:
"I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

⁴ "As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, ⁵ I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁶ "But if you ^[d] or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you ^[e] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. ⁸ And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' ⁹ People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.' "

Solomon's Other Activities

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the LORD and the royal palace- ¹¹ King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted. ¹² But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. ¹³ "What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?" he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, ^[f] a name they have to this day. ¹⁴ Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents ^[g] of gold.

¹⁵ Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, ^[h] the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife. ¹⁷ And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, and Tadmor ^[i] in the desert, within his land, ¹⁹ as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses ^[j] —whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

²⁰ All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), ²¹ that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate ^[k] —these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ²³ They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon's projects—550 officials supervising the men who did the work.

²⁴ After Pharaoh's daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the supporting terraces.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings ^[l] on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.

²⁶ King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. ^[m] ²⁷ And Hiram sent his men—sailors who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men. ²⁸ They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents ^[n] of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

1 Kings 10

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. ² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at ^[o] the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed.

⁶ She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. ⁷ But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. ⁸ How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness."

¹⁰ And she gave the king 120 talents ^[p] of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ (Hiram's ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood ^[q] and precious stones. ¹² The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

Solomon's Splendor

¹⁴ The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, ^[r] ¹⁵ not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land.

¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas ^[s] of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷ He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas ^[t] of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days. ²² The king had a fleet of trading ships ^[u] at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

²³ King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. ²⁴ The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

²⁶ Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, ^[v] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt ^[w] and from Kue ^[x]—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. ²⁹ They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels ^[y] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. ^[z] They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

1 Kings 11

Solomon's Wives

¹ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech ^[aa] the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

⁹ The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command. ¹¹ So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. ¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

Solomon's Adversaries

¹⁴ Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. ¹⁵ Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.

¹⁹ Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. ²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children.

²¹ While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return to my own country."

²² "What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?" Pharaoh asked.
"Nothing," Hadad replied, "but do let me go!"

²³ And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ He gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces ^[ab] of Zobah ; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. ²⁵ Rezon was Israel's adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.

Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon

²⁶ Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon's officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

²⁷ Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces ^[ac] and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. ²⁸ Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.

²⁹ About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, ³⁰ and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. ³² But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. ³³ I will do this because they have ^[ad] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.

³⁴ " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. ³⁶ I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. ³⁷ However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. ³⁸ If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.' "

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon's death.

Solomon's Death

⁴¹ As for the other events of Solomon's reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? ⁴² Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ⁴³ Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

1 Kings 12

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam

¹ Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from ^[ae] Egypt. ³ So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: ⁴ "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."

⁵ Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to me." So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked.

⁷ They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants."

⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹ He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. ¹¹ My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.' "

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

    ¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
       "What share do we have in David,
       what part in Jesse's son?
       To your tents, O Israel!
       Look after your own house, O David!"
      So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, ^[af] who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰ When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men—to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

²² But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: ²³ "Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ²⁴ 'This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.' " So they obeyed the word of the LORD and went home again, as the LORD had ordered.

Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan

²⁵ Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. ^[ag]

²⁶ Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. ²⁷ If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam."

²⁸ After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." ²⁹ One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. ³⁰ And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.

³¹ Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. ³² He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. ³³ On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

1 Kings 13

The Man of God From Judah

¹ By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. ² He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD : "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' " ³ That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."

⁴ When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. ⁵ Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD.

⁶ Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.

⁷ The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."

⁸ But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. ⁹ For I was commanded by the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.' " ¹⁰ So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

¹¹ Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. ¹³ So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it ¹⁴ and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"
"I am," he replied.

¹⁵ So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."

¹⁶ The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ I have been told by the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.' "

¹⁸ The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD : 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (But he was lying to him.) ¹⁹ So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. ²² You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.' "

²³ When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. ²⁴ As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. ²⁵ Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the LORD had warned him."

²⁷ The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they did so. ²⁸ Then he went out and found the body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. ³⁰ Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, "Oh, my brother!"

³¹ After burying him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For the message he declared by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."

³³ Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. ³⁴ This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.

1 Kings 14

Ahijah's Prophecy Against Jeroboam

¹ At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, ² and Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so you won't be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. ³ Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy." ⁴ So Jeroboam's wife did what he said and went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh.
Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. ⁵ But the LORD had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else."

⁶ So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. ⁸ I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. ⁹ You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.

¹⁰ " 'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. ¹¹ Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'

¹² "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. ¹³ All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the LORD, the God of Israel, has found anything good.

¹⁴ "The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now. ^[ah] ¹⁵ And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, ^[ai] because they provoked the LORD to anger by making Asherah poles. ^[aj] ¹⁶ And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit."

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸ They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the LORD had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

¹⁹ The other events of Jeroboam's reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ He reigned for twenty-two years and then rested with his fathers. And Nadab his son succeeded him as king.

Rehoboam King of Judah

²¹ Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.

²² Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done. ²³ They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. ²⁴ There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

²⁹ As for the other events of Rehoboam's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ³⁰ There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ³¹ And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah ^[ak] his son succeeded him as king.

1 Kings 15

Abijah King of Judah

¹ In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah ^[al] became king of Judah, ² and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. ^[am]

³ He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. ⁴ Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. ⁵ For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD's commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ There was war between Rehoboam ^[an] and Jeroboam throughout Abijah's lifetime. ⁷ As for the other events of Abijah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ⁸ And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Asa his son succeeded him as king.

Asa King of Judah

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, ¹⁰ and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹ Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. ¹² He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. ¹³ He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁴ Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. ¹⁵ He brought into the temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. ¹⁷ Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

¹⁸ Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD's temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. ¹⁹ "Let there be a treaty between me and you," he said, "as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me."

²⁰ Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah and all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah.

²³ As for all the other events of Asa's reign, all his achievements, all he did and the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? In his old age, however, his feet became diseased. ²⁴ Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David. And Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king.

Nadab King of Israel

²⁵ Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, walking in the ways of his father and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.

²⁷ Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar plotted against him, and he struck him down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging it. ²⁸ Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king.

²⁹ As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam's whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the word of the LORD given through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite- ³⁰ because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.

³¹ As for the other events of Nadab's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? ³² There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.

Baasha King of Israel

³³ In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.

1 Kings 16

¹ Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha: ² "I lifted you up from the dust and made you leader of my people Israel, but you walked in the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to provoke me to anger by their sins. ³ So I am about to consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat. ⁴ Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."

⁵ As for the other events of Baasha's reign, what he did and his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? ⁶ Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son succeeded him as king.

⁷ Moreover, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger by the things he did, and becoming like the house of Jeroboam—and also because he destroyed it.

Elah King of Israel

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.

⁹ Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah. ¹⁰ Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king.

¹¹ As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha's whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend. ¹² So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu- ¹³ because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.

¹⁴ As for the other events of Elah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Zimri King of Israel

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. ¹⁶ When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp. ¹⁷ Then Omri and all the Israelites with him withdrew from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died, ¹⁹ because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD and walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in the sin he had committed and had caused Israel to commit.

²⁰ As for the other events of Zimri's reign, and the rebellion he carried out, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Footnotes:

1 Kings 7:38-16:20

1 Kings 7:38 That is, about 230 gallons (about 880 liters)
1 Kings 8:63 Traditionally peace offerings ; also in verse 64
1 Kings 8:65 Or from the entrance to
1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
1 Kings 9:13 Cabul sounds like the Hebrew for good-for-nothing .
1 Kings 9:14 That is, about 4 1/2 tons (about 4 metric tons)
1 Kings 9:15 Or the Millo; also in verse 24
1 Kings 9:18 The Hebrew may also be read Tamar .
1 Kings 9:19 Or charioteers
1 Kings 9:21 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them.
1 Kings 9:25 Traditionally peace offerings
1 Kings 9:26 Hebrew Yam Suph ; that is, Sea of Reeds
1 Kings 9:28 That is, about 16 tons (about 14.5 metric tons)
1 Kings 10:5 Or the ascent by which he went up to
1 Kings 10:10 That is, about 4 1/2 tons (about 4 metric tons)
1 Kings 10:11 Probably a variant of algumwood ; also in verse 12
1 Kings 10:14 That is, about 25 tons (about 23 metric tons)
1 Kings 10:16 That is, about 7 1/2 pounds (about 3.5 kilograms)
1 Kings 10:17 That is, about 3 3/4 pounds (about 1.7 kilograms)
1 Kings 10:22 Hebrew of ships of Tarshish
1 Kings 10:26 Or charioteers
1 Kings 10:28 Or possibly Muzur , a region in Cilicia; also in verse 29
1 Kings 10:28 Probably Cilicia
1 Kings 10:29 That is, about 15 pounds (about 7 kilograms)
1 Kings 10:29 That is, about 3 3/4 pounds (about 1.7 kilograms)
1 Kings 11:5 Hebrew Milcom ; also in verse 33
1 Kings 11:24 Hebrew destroyed them
1 Kings 11:27 Or the Millo
1 Kings 11:33 Hebrew; Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac because he has
1 Kings 12:2 Or he remained in
1 Kings 12:18 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 1 Kings 4:6 and 5:14 Hebrew Adoram
1 Kings 12:25 Hebrew Penuel , a variant of Peniel
1 Kings 14:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
1 Kings 14:15 That is, the Euphrates
1 Kings 14:15 That is, symbols of the goddess Asherah; here and elsewhere in 1 Kings
1 Kings 14:31 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (see also 2 Chron. 12:16 most Hebrew manuscripts Abijam
1 Kings 15:1 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (see also 2 Chron. 12:16 most Hebrew manuscripts Abijam ; also in verses 7 and
1 Kings 15:2 A variant of Absalom ; also in verse 10
1 Kings 15:6 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac Abijam (that is, Abijah)

Gulf Oil Tracker

2010-06-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

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2010-05-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

Gene Wilder - Pure Imagination

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Proof that communication does not always take place.

2009-12-01T22:37:00.001-08:00

Excerpts from e-mails of WH gate crashers
By The Associated Press (AP) – 3 hours ago
Excepts from e-mails exchanged between Tareq and Michaele Salahi and Michele Jones, special assistant to the defense secretary, as part of their effort to obtain an invitation to the Obama administration's first state dinner last week.
Friday, Nov. 20, 4:15 p.m.
To the Salahis' attorney Paul Gardner from his office manager Rosalind Tyner.
Michele S. Jones just called regarding the state dinner at the White House for Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. I need the following information from Tareq and Michaele Salahi immediately so she can submit their information before 5 p.m. today. Full name, Social Security number, date of birth, citizenship.
___
Friday, Nov. 20, 4:33 p.m.
From Tareq Salahi to Rosalind Tyner, Paul Gardner
Hi Team THANK YOU!!! We are very much looking forward to it!
(Salahi sends Social Security number, date of birth and citizenship for himself and his wife)
___
Friday, Nov. 20, 4:49 p.m.
From Michele Jones to Tareq Salahi
Hopefully I can get tickets for the arrival ceremony ... the state dinner is completely closed and has been for awhile. As soon as I know, I will contact you.
___
Monday, Nov. 23, 11 a.m.
From Tareq Salahi to Michele Jones
In preparations for tomorrow, do you know what time we would need to be there, and which entrance we should go through?
___
Monday, Nov. 23, 4:12 p.m.
From Michele Jones to Tareq Salahi
I am still hoping that I can get tickets for the arrival ceremony tomorrow. They do have your information in the event that extra tickets become available and will notify me immediately. I still haven't given up, but it doesn't seem likely.
___
Monday, Nov. 23, 4:51 p.m.
From Tareq Salahi to Michele Jones
By the way — I know for a fact that these persons are unable to attend the state dinner and the reception portion:
1.) Sen. Harry Reid and his wife (they have gone home early for Thanksgiving).
2.) Kuma Gupta and husband (unable to travel to D.C. tomorrow)
3.) Bob Stevens and his wife (top brass from Lockheed Martin)
___
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 8:46 a.m.
From Michele Jones to Tareq Salahi
The arrival ceremony (was scheduled to be outdoors) was canceled due to inclement weather. They are having a very small one inside the WH, very limited space. I am still working on tickets for tonight's dinner. I will call or e-mail as soon as I get word one way or another.
___
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1:03 a.m.
From Michaele and Tareq Salahi to Michele Jones
Hi Michele,
You are an angel!
My cell phone battery died early this evening while we were in D.C. from our country home, so I just got your message now after driving back out. But obviously it worked out at the end.... We ended up going to the gate to check in at 6:30 p.m. to just check, in case it got approved, since we didn't know, and our name was indeed on the list! We are very grateful, and God bless you.
We just got home, and we had a very wonderful evening as you can imagine!
Look forward to seeing you very soon. Say when for dinner — we can't wait to see you and catch up and share memories of true lifetime.
___
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1:38 p.m.
From Michele Jones to Tareq Salahi
Tareq,
You are most welcome! I here the smile in your e-mail and am delighted that you and Michaele had a wonderful time. :-)
Have an extraordinary Thanksgiving and many blessings to you both!
Much love,
Michele
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By popular demand

2009-12-01T21:53:00.001-08:00

Jury deadlocks in `Junior' Gotti racketeering case
By TOM HAYS (AP) – 8 hours ago
NEW YORK — A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the racketeering trial of John "Junior" Gotti after a jury failed to reach a verdict against the son of the notorious Gambino crime family mob boss — the case's fourth hung jury in five years.
The anonymous jurors deliberated 11 days before notifying the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked over racketeering conspiracy and murder charges. Prosecutors accused Gotti of ordering gangland hits to settle scores and of secretly pocketing drug money despite insisting he'd gone straight.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, the jury sent U.S. District Judge Kevin P. Castel a note that read: "Judge Castel, we cannot reach a unanimous decision on any count. We are deadlocked. There is not one member of the jury who believes that we can reach a unanimous verdict on any count."
Castel notified the jury that he was declaring a mistrial, and applause erupted in the courtroom among Gotti supporters. Once the jury left the courtroom, Gotti hugged his attorney. Whether he would be granted bail was to be decided at a hearing later Tuesday.
Victoria Gotti, Gotti's sister, tearfully said outside court: "We're ravaged. We're beaten down, but we're not broken."
Asked about a possibility of another trial, she said: "Just let it go. We're no organized crime family. We're a family. That's all we are."
Three previous trials in the same Manhattan courthouse — alleging the 45-year-old Gotti orchestrated a kidnapping and attempted murder plot against Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa — ended in hung juries in 2005 and 2006.
Prosecutors in the latest case renewed the Sliwa accusation, but also raised the stakes by alleging that Gotti left behind a trail of bodies while following in the footsteps of the late John "Dapper Don" Gotti. Claims by the Don's eldest son that he quit the Mafia in 1999 were preposterous, they said.
"It makes no sense," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Trezevant said in closing arguments. "He never, never quit that life."
In his closing argument, Gotti's lawyer recounted how Gotti, while visiting his imprisoned-for-life father, confided that he didn't have the stomach for La Cosa Nostra.
"It's not working for me, and it's not working for my kids," attorney Charles Carnesi quoted his client as saying.
Carnesi also attacked the prosecution's turncoat witnesses. He argued they were willing to tell lies about Gotti to reduce their own prison sentences.
The government's star witness was John Alite, a Gambino enforcer who testified about the younger Gotti's rise through the family ranks — and about his violent temper. He claimed Gotti once shot a man for mocking the size of his handgun.
"Is this big enough?" Alite quoted Gotti as saying as he grabbed a nearby rifle and shot the man in the hip.
Alite told jurors that Gotti drafted him for a 1990 hit — the victim was an associate who had dared to ignore one of his father's orders — in the parking garage of the World Trade Center. He also said the defendant repeatedly urged him to earn his organized crime stripes by killing a childhood friend of Alite who was telling people that he was selling drugs for Gotti.
"John Gotti Jr. kept saying to me in '88: `You didn't kill this kid yet, you didn't shoot him, you didn't do this.' ... He wanted me to kill him," Alite said.
The trial was punctuated by hysterical outbursts. With the jury on a lunch break and Alite leaving the witness stand, Gotti lost it: A deputy U.S. marshal told a prosecutor that he saw him mouth the words: "I'll kill you" to Alite. When Alite responded, Gotti erupted, shouting: "You're a punk! You're a dog! You're a dog! You always were a dog your whole life, you punk dog."
Gotti's mother, also named Victoria, erupted another time with the jury absent, screaming out to her son, "They're railroading you! They're doing to you what they did to your father!"
Her husband, like their son, had a knack for evading convictions on a variety of mob indictments brought against him, earning him his other nickname, "Teflon Don." He finally was convicted in 1992 of murder and racketeering and died in prison.

Did You Know ?

2009-08-20T16:19:00.001-07:00

Remembering Billie Holiday

2009-07-29T18:59:00.001-07:00

Remembering Billie Holiday

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Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet?

2009-07-28T19:02:00.001-07:00

Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet? Analyze That - NYTimes.com

Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets

2009-07-28T17:35:00.001-07:00

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How to Follow the Money

2009-07-27T18:19:00.001-07:00

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Gates’ Real Crime? Not Deferring to White Privilege

2009-07-25T17:42:00.001-07:00

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Famed Author E. Lynn Harris Dead at 54

2009-07-25T17:37:00.001-07:00

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Susan's Unofficial List of Great YA by or About Women of Color

2009-07-18T14:40:00.001-07:00

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President Obama and Sasha walk trough The kremlin

2009-07-18T10:07:00.001-07:00

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Close Relationship With Caregivers Slows Alzheimer's

2009-07-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

Newswise Medical News and Social and Behavioral Sciences News | Close Relationship With Caregivers Slows Alzheimer's

President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009.

2009-07-18T04:33:00.001-07:00

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Message to Linda Sanchez and Zack Space on Healthcare

2009-07-17T19:39:00.001-07:00

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2009-07-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

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The Group Home Population

2009-07-16T14:24:00.001-07:00

More Details On The Police Shooting @ 7th Street NE - City Desk - Washington City Paper

Tyrese Gibson - Laying Down a Little Mayhem at Image

2009-07-16T02:09:00.001-07:00

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President threw the first pitch at the MLB All-Star game.

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2009-07-15T22:50:00.001-07:00

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2009-07-15T14:56:00.001-07:00

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All Mac's at Stanford Publishing Conference

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2009-07-13T03:05:00.000-07:00

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Race Matters Chat on Twitter - Do our Youth have Self-Image Problem?

2009-07-05T16:21:00.001-07:00

Race Matters Chat on Twitter - Do our Youth have Self-Image Problem?

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Michael Jackson -A Final Rehearsal

2009-07-03T00:39:00.001-07:00

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As the ‘gift’ is given

2009-06-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

I am not pleased with the need to focus conscious thought so as to not allow the mindset of popular coined sayings, mindless mental habit, and present or past circumstance . . . to steal, rob, and destroy the joy of the ‘present’. ‘Different Day, Same S--- ' . . . You know the sayings . . . The thought now is; to be conscious, aware, and proactive . . . not operate from a numb, drone like, automated response or reaction to the seeming dislike for the ‘present’. When a 'gift' is given and received to someone with an expectation of a particular or specific 'gift', there is a detailed facial expression. Expectation . . . The moment that the receiver’s expectation is not met there is a physical reaction in the facial features. An expression on the face feeds the giver immediate detailed information about the receiver’s internal response.

Facial expressions are nonverbal communication. The role of facial expressions in person-to-person interactions provides commentary and illustration about verbal communications. Expressions provide another mode for understanding the private, hidden side of the inner person, a side that may not be accessible in the form of verbalization.

Many relationships begin from the image above. There is an immediate expectation that the on-looker has despite the absence of person-to-person communication. Why do we continue in relationships that consist of the image, and the image alone . . .? Besides the obvious . . . Why do we continue in relationships that have no visible feet to walk, no arms, no hands, no head, no brain, no mouth, no lips, no eyes, no heart . . .

I was inspired by a blog that had this photograph in the heading. The name of the piece is; Why Do Men Love Assets - By Zettler Clay. The read was not especially thought provoking. It was interesting to see all the comments the writer received. I was focused on the photo and its lack of any other physical attributes. I have been hard pressed to complete the thoughts that go along with this topic. I care for my Dad. He has dementia. I began this post sitting in the backyard, on a particular sunny morning/afternoon, (in the city,SF) disturbed by the fact that I was not able to accept the 'gift' of the 'present' . . . I strongly believe that the depression of that moment was not enough to foreshadow the fact that again, I, am the recipient of the 'present' . . . I know that by mere observation that there was not a soul that could attest to the fact that I am again the recipient of any 'gift', let alone the 'gift' of 'life' . . . That morning has relevance to me. It is the time that conscious thought became outward expression . . . accepting the 'opportunity' . . . 'looking' at 'now' . . . , and accepting 'it', 'today', as a 'gift' as it was intended to be received ! I was more upset with my focus, or lack thereof, than similar moments in times past. The effort that was needed to focus on other than 'yesterday's' events, and 'tomorrows' desires was compelling me, I struggled . . . I began to feel anger, deep down within . . . I had to fight with it . . . I was immersed in that feeling/emotion for a good part of the rest of that day. I can now, as I write, still taste that struggle . . . I have come to fight against the mindset that was so pronounced that day. I had to fight to not give my disposition to the; 'Different Day, Same S---' attitude . . . I have to remove the .exe program for that set of thoughts, and delete the fragmented files and programs, and correct/repair the file permissions. . . (Yea, Mac & Windows user) I needed to rewrite that program to execute: Different Day, Same 'Gift'.exe . . .

What we see when we look at what we want/like has a different set of processes that result, in a completely different operating system, exacting programs that have a completely different purpose, and all together different set of goals . . . I speak of the thought immediately after the eye focuses and transmits the image to the brain. A screen capture of the neurons firing and a caption come to mind . . . (Maybe another T-Shirt . . .!) A child's face on Christmas/Birthday anticipating receiving a ‘gift’ . . . The satisfaction on a face that 'is' receiving the very thing he/she wanted or desired . . . Imagine God, or any person looking at the facial expression I emitted this particular day. As I awoke to the 'gift' of the 'present' and He sees less than what a child's face produces on any 'gift' 'receiving' occasion . . . Or, the look on a face that has achieved or meet with considerable satisfaction some thing, some goal, or a specific expectation . . . How terrible is that, to so dislike the 'present' that you have it written all over your face, first thing in the morning . . . How cool would it be to be a cheerful recipient of this 'present' like a child on Christmas Day . . . Glad . . . Excited . . . Ready . . . Willing . . . Able . . .

When we are looking at what we want there is a specific, discerning look on our face. When I next look at the 'gift' of the day, the 'present', I want my expression to exclusively exude, Gratefulness, Joy, love, Grace, Mercy . . .

This I Believe, Inc.

2009-06-16T18:34:00.001-07:00

This I Believe, Inc.

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Lifehacker - 25 Best Blogs 2009 - TIME

2009-06-16T02:49:00.001-07:00

Lifehacker - 25 Best Blogs 2009 - TIME

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The 'Gift'

2009-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today I am in the process of stetting up a blog for one of my daughters. Basha is one of two of my daughters. Basha and Asha are the inspiration for B-Sharp. I want to utilize the captive attention of 'social media' on youth of today. I want to encourage them to look and observe and learn the 'social environment' that fuels their thoughts. Basha is 11 and Asha is 13 years of age. Basha attends a after school program that operates away from the school campus. She is excited to attend the program after coming home from school. Basha recently was chosen to be a assistant to the instructor in the program. I am encouraging her to chronicle her experience in this program. I want her to be able to see yesterday, today and tomorrow. Recently she was excited to tell me that she would be participating in praise and worship at Faith Community Worship Center of San Ramon. We spoke about it a few nights before she was to be a part of service. Her excitement and enthusiasm is inspiring. Basha's enthusiasm and excitement is from within. I would gladly take credit for it but that would be overriding and overlooking a special part of her very own character and its development. As a father, a christian, I know that today's distractions for a child are too numerous to name. I am grateful to interact with her and use the experiences to teach her to 'be sharp' and look at the present in 3D. For as Po, of Kung Fu Panda was told by Oogway; 'You are too concerned about what was and what will be'. There is a saying: . . . yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present. Looking at today as a present appeals to me. I often find that the experience with my daughters bring me to that very focus. Today is a gift . . . As I work harder focusing on the task at hand I too have to learn that today, the present, is a 'gift'.