1 Kings

1 Kings 1

The Anointing of Solomon as King of Israel.

1. Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. 2. Why his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. 3. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

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1 Kings 2

David's Final Instructions and Solomon's Consolidation of the Throne

1. Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2. I go the way of all the earth: be you strong therefore, and show yourself a man; 3. And keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself:

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1 Kings 3

Solomon's Request for Wisdom and the Famous Judgment of the Two Mothers.

1. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 2. Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built to the name of the LORD, until those days. 3. And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

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1 Kings 4

Solomon's Officials, Governors, and the Abundance of His Prosperous Reign

1. So king Solomon was king over all Israel. 2. And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest, 3. Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.

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1 Kings 5

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple with the Help of King Hiram of Tyre

1. And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David. 2. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3. You know how that David my father could not build an house to the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.

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1 Kings 6

Solomon Builds and Completes the Temple of the Lord

1. And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. 2. And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was three score cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. 3. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

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1 Kings 7

Solomon's Palace and the Furnishings of the Temple.

1. But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ¶ 2. He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3. And it was covered with cedar above on the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.

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1 Kings 8

Solomon Dedicates the Temple and Offers a Prayer of Blessing.

1. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

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1 Kings 9

God's Covenant with Solomon and the Consequences of Disobedience

1. And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 2. That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3. And the LORD said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there for ever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

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1 Kings 10

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon's Wealth and Splendor

1. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. 2. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 3. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.

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1 Kings 11

Solomon's Downfall: Idolatry and Division Foretold

1. But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: 2. Of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in to you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon joined to these in love. 3. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

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1 Kings 12

The Division of the Kingdom and Rehoboam's Folly

1. And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelled in Egypt;) 3. That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

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1 Kings 13

A Prophet's Disobedience and the Consequences of Ignoring God's Command

1. And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2. And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus says the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burnt on you. 3. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD has spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.

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1 Kings 14

The Prophecy Against Jeroboam and the Death of His Son Abijah

1. At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2. And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get you to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. 3. And take with you ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell you what shall become of the child.

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1 Kings 15

The Reigns of Abijam and Asa in Judah and Nadab and Baasha in Israel

1. Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah. 2. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. and his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 3. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

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1 Kings 16

The Reigns of Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab in Israel's Turbulent History

1. Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, 2. For as much as I exalted you out of the dust, and made you prince over my people Israel; and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 3. Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

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1 Kings 17

Elijah Announces a Drought, Is Fed by Ravens, and Raises a Widow's Son from the Dead.

1. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. 2. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3. Get you hence, and turn you eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

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1 Kings 18

Elijah Confronts the Prophets of Baal and Demonstrates God's Power on Mount Carmel

1. And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth. 2. And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. 3. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly:

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1 Kings 19

Elijah's Flight, Encounter with God, and the Call of Elisha

1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. ¶

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1 Kings 20

Ahab's Victory Over Ben-Hadad and God's Deliverance of Israel

1. And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. 2. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said to him, Thus says Benhadad, 3. Your silver and your gold is mine; your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.

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1 Kings 21

Naboth's Vineyard and Ahab's Downfall

1. And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2. And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house: and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to you, I will give you the worth of it in money. 3. And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.

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1 Kings 22

Ahab's Death in Battle and Jehoshaphat's Reign in Judah

1. And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. 2. And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3. And the king of Israel said to his servants, Know you that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?

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