ARKCODEX
1 Kings
Ch. 15–16
King Abijah of Judah
1In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah,
2and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.
3He committed the same sins as his father and was not completely loyal to the Lord his God, as his great-grandfather David had been.
4But for David's sake the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem and to keep Jerusalem secure.
5The Lord did this because David had done what pleased him and had never disobeyed any of his commands, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
6The war which had begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout Abijah's lifetime.
7And everything else that Abijah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.
8Abijah died and was buried in David's City, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.
King Asa of Judah
9In the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,
10and he ruled forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.
11Asa did what pleased the Lord, as his ancestor David had done.
12He expelled from the country all the male and female prostitutes serving at the pagan places of worship, and he removed all the idols his predecessors had made.
13He removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol and burned it in Kidron Valley.
14Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship, he remained faithful to the Lord all his life.
15He placed in the Temple all the objects his father had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.
16King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.
17Baasha invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.
18So King Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the Temple and the palace, and sent it by some of his officials to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, with this message:
19“Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory.”
20King Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the area near Lake Galilee, and the whole territory of Naphtali.
21When King Baasha heard what had happened, he stopped fortifying Ramah and went to Tirzah.
22Then King Asa sent out an order throughout all of Judah requiring everyone, without exception, to help carry away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had been using to fortify it. With this material Asa fortified Mizpah and Geba, a city in the territory of Benjamin.
23Everything else that King Asa did, his brave deeds and the towns he fortified, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. But in his old age he was crippled by a foot disease.
24Asa died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.
King Nadab of Israel
25In the second year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Jeroboam's son Nadab became king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.
26Like his father before him, he sinned against the Lord and led Israel into sin.
27Baasha son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and killed him as Nadab and his army were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia.
28This happened during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. And so Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel.
29At once he began killing all the members of Jeroboam's family. In accordance with what the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh, all of Jeroboam's family were killed; not one survived.
30This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by the sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.
31Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
32King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.
King Baasha of Israel
33In the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years.
34Like King Jeroboam before him, he sinned against the Lord and led Israel into sin.
1 Kings 16
1The Lord spoke to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani and gave him this message for Baasha:
2“You were a nobody, but I made you the leader of my people Israel. And now you have sinned like Jeroboam and have led my people into sin. Their sins have aroused my anger,
3and so I will do away with you and your family, just as I did with Jeroboam.
4Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures.”
5Everything else that Baasha did and all his brave deeds are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
6Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king.
7That message from the Lord against Baasha and his family was given by the prophet Jehu because of the sins that Baasha committed against the Lord. He aroused the Lord's anger not only because of the evil he did, just as King Jeroboam had done before him, but also because he killed all of Jeroboam's family.
King Elah of Israel
8In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for two years.
9Zimri, one of his officers who was in charge of half of the king's chariots, plotted against him. One day in Tirzah, Elah was getting drunk in the home of Arza, who was in charge of the palace.
10Zimri entered the house, assassinated Elah, and succeeded him as king. This happened in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.
11As soon as Zimri became king he killed off all the members of Baasha's family. Every male relative and friend was put to death.
12And so, in accordance with what the Lord had said against Baasha through the prophet Jehu, Zimri killed all the family of Baasha.
13Because of their idolatry and because they led Israel into sin, Baasha and his son Elah had aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel.
14Everything else that Elah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
King Zimri of Israel
15In the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Zimri ruled in Tirzah over Israel for seven days. The Israelite troops were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia,
16and when they heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and assassinated him, then and there they all proclaimed their commander Omri king of Israel.
17Omri and his troops left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah.
18When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the palace's inner fortress, set the palace on fire, and died in the flames.
19This happened because of his sins against the Lord. Like his predecessor Jeroboam, he displeased the Lord by his own sins and by leading Israel into sin.
20Everything else that Zimri did, including the account of his conspiracy, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
King Omri of Israel
21The people of Israel were divided: some of them wanted to make Tibni son of Ginath king, and the others were in favor of Omri.
22In the end, those in favor of Omri won out; Tibni died and Omri became king.
23So in the thirty-first year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled for twelve years. The first six years he ruled in Tirzah,
24and then he bought the hill of Samaria for six thousand pieces of silver from a man named Shemer. Omri fortified the hill, built a town there, and named it Samaria, after Shemer, the former owner of the hill.
25Omri sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors.
26Like Jeroboam before him, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by his sins and by leading the people into sin and idolatry.
27Everything else that Omri did and all his accomplishments are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
28Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.
King Ahab of Israel
29In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for twenty-two years.
30He sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors.
31It was not enough for him to sin like King Jeroboam; he went further and married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, and worshiped Baal.
32He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple.
33He also put up an image of the goddess Asherah. He did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel before him.
34During his reign Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. As the Lord had foretold through Joshua son of Nun, Hiel lost his oldest son Abiram when he laid the foundation of Jericho, and his youngest son Segub when he built the gates.
2 Chronicles
Ch. 16–17
Troubles with Israel
1In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.
2So Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple and the palace and sent it to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, with this message:
3“Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory.”
4Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the cities of Naphtali where supplies were stored.
5When King Baasha heard what was happening, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned the work.
6Then King Asa gathered men from throughout Judah and had them carry off the stones and timbers that Baasha had been using at Ramah, and they used them to fortify the cities of Geba and Mizpah.
The Prophet Hanani
7At that time the prophet Hanani went to King Asa and said, “Because you relied on the king of Syria instead of relying on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Israel has escaped from you.
8Didn't the Ethiopians and the Libyans have large armies with many chariots and cavalry troops? But because you relied on the Lord, he gave you victory over them.
9The Lord keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at war.”
10This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.
The End of Asa's Reign
11All the events of Asa's reign from beginning to end are recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
12In the thirty-ninth year that Asa was king, he was crippled by a severe foot disease; but even then he did not turn to the Lord for help, but to doctors.
13Two years later he died
14and was buried in the rock tomb which he had carved out for himself in David's City. They used spices and perfumed oils to prepare his body for burial, and they built a huge bonfire to mourn his death.
2 Chronicles 17
Jehoshaphat Becomes King
1Jehoshaphat succeeded his father Asa as king and strengthened his position against Israel.
2He stationed troops in the fortified cities of Judah, in the Judean countryside, and in the cities which Asa had captured in the territory of Ephraim.
3The Lord blessed Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father's early life and did not worship Baal.
4He served his father's God, obeyed God's commands, and did not act the way the kings of Israel did.
5The Lord gave Jehoshaphat firm control over the kingdom of Judah, and all the people brought him gifts, so that he became wealthy and highly honored.
6He took pride in serving the Lord and destroyed all the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah in Judah.
7In the third year of his reign he sent out the following officials to teach in the cities of Judah: Benhail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah.
8They were accompanied by nine Levites and two priests. The Levites were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and the priests were Elishama and Jehoram.
9They took the book of the Law of the Lord and went through all the towns of Judah, teaching it to the people.
Jehoshaphat's Greatness
10The Lord made all the surrounding kingdoms afraid to go to war against King Jehoshaphat.
11Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat a large amount of silver and other gifts, and some Arabs brought him 7,700 sheep and 7,700 goats.
12So Jehoshaphat continued to grow more and more powerful. Throughout Judah he built fortifications and cities,
13where supplies were stored in huge amounts. In Jerusalem he stationed outstanding officers,
14according to their clans. Adnah was the commander of the troops from the clans of Judah, and he had 300,000 soldiers under him.
15Second in rank was Jehohanan, with 280,000 soldiers,
16and third was Amasiah son of Zichri, with 200,000. (Amasiah had volunteered to serve the Lord.)
17The commander of the troops from the clans of Benjamin was Eliada, an outstanding soldier, in command of 200,000 men armed with shields and bows.
18His second in command was Jehozabad with 180,000 men, well-equipped for battle.
19These soldiers served the king in Jerusalem, and in addition he stationed others in the other fortified cities of Judah.
Song of Solomon
Ch. 4
1How beautiful you are, my love! How your eyes shine with love behind your veil. Your hair dances like a flock of goats bounding down the hills of Gilead.
2Your teeth are as white as sheep that have just been shorn and washed. Not one of them is missing; they are all perfectly matched.
3Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; how lovely they are when you speak. Your cheeks glow behind your veil.
4Your neck is like the tower of David, round and smooth, with a necklace like a thousand shields hung around it.
5Your breasts are like gazelles, twin deer feeding among lilies.
6I will stay on the hill of myrrh, the hill of incense, until the morning breezes blow and the darkness disappears.
7How beautiful you are, my love; how perfect you are!
8Come with me from the Lebanon Mountains, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Come down from the top of Mount Amana, from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon, where the lions and leopards live.
9The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride, and the necklace you are wearing have stolen my heart.
10Your love delights me, my sweetheart and bride. Your love is better than wine; your perfume more fragrant than any spice.
11The taste of honey is on your lips, my darling; your tongue is milk and honey for me. Your clothing has all the fragrance of Lebanon.
12My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden, a walled garden, a private spring;
13there the plants flourish. They grow like an orchard of pomegranate trees and bear the finest fruits. There is no lack of henna and nard,
14of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, or incense of every kind. Myrrh and aloes grow there with all the most fragrant perfumes.
15Fountains water the garden, streams of flowing water, brooks gushing down from the Lebanon Mountains.
The Woman
16Wake up, North Wind. South Wind, blow on my garden; fill the air with fragrance. Let my lover come to his garden and eat the best of its fruits.