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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 39
It took Solomon 20 years to build the
Lord's temple and his own royal palace.
At the end of that time, Solomon
turned his attention to rebuilding the
towns that King Hiram had given him,
and he settled Israelites in them.
Solomon also fought against the town
of Hamoth Zoba and conquered it.
He rebuilt Tad Moore in the
wilderness and built towns in the
region of Hamoth as supply centers.
He fortified the towns of Upper Beth
Horen and lower Beth Horen rebuilding
their walls and installing Bard Gates.
He also rebuilt Bay Lath and other supply
centers and constructed towns where his
chariots and horses could be stationed.
He built everything he desired
in Jerusalem and Lebanon, and
throughout his entire realm there
were still some people living in
the land who were not Israelites.
Including the Hittites, Amorites,
parasites, hives, and cytes.
These were descendants of the nations whom
the people of Israel had not destroyed.
So Solomon conscripted them for
his labor force, and they serve
as forced laborers to this day.
But Solomon did not conscript any of
the Israelites for his labor force.
Instead, he assigned them
to serve as fighting men.
Officers in his army, commanders
of his chariots and chariot tears,
king Solomon appointed 250 of
them to supervise the people.
Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh's
daughter from the city of David to
the new palace he had built for her.
He said, my wife must not live in King
David's palace for the ark of the Lord
has been there and it is holy ground.
Then Solomon presented burnt offerings to
the Lord on the altar he had built for him
in front of the entry room of the temple.
He offered the sacrifices for the
Sabbaths, the new Moon festivals
and the three annual festivals, the
Passover celebration, the Festival of
Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters.
As Moses had commanded in assigning
the priests to their duties, Solomon
followed the regulations of his father.
David.
He also assigned the Levites to lead
the people in praise and to assist
the priests in their daily duties.
And he assigned the gatekeepers to
their gates by their divisions following
the commands of David, the man of God.
Solomon did not deviate in any way
from David's commands concerning the
priests and Levites and the treasuries.
So Solomon made sure that all
the work related to building the
temple of the Lord was carried out.
From the day its foundation was
laid to the day of its completion.
Later, Solomon went to EA Easy
in Giber and El Lath ports
along the shore of the Red Sea.
In the land of Edam, Hiram sent him
ships commanded by his own officers and
manned by experienced crews of sailors.
These ships sailed to er with
Solomon's men and brought back to
Solomon, almost 17 tons of gold.
When the Queen of Sheba heard of
Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem
to test him with hard questions.
She arrived with a large group of
attendants and a great caravan of
camels loaded with spices, large
quantities of gold and precious jewels.
When she met with Solomon, she talked with
him about everything she had on her mind.
Solomon had answers for all her questions.
Nothing was too hard for
him to explain to her.
When the Queen of Sheba realized how
wise Solomon was and when she saw the
palace he had built, she was overwhelmed.
She was also amazed at the food on his
tables, the organization of his officials
and their splendid clothing, the cup
bearers and their robes, and the burnt
offerings Solomon made At the temple
of the Lord, she exclaimed to the king.
Everything I heard in my country about
your achievements and wisdom is true.
I didn't believe what was said until I
arrived here and saw it with my own eyes.
In fact, I had not heard the
half of your great wisdom.
It is far beyond what I was told,
how happy your people must be.
What a privilege for your
officials to stand here day after
day, listening to your wisdom.
Praise the Lord your God who delights
in you and has placed you on the
throne as king to rule for him.
Because God loves Israel and desires
this kingdom to last forever, he has
made you king over them so you can
rule with justice and righteousness.
Then she gave the king a gift of
9,000 pounds of gold, great quantities
of spices and precious jewels.
Never before had there been
spices as fine as those the Queen
of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
In addition, the cruise of Hiram
and Solomon brought gold from
er, and they also brought red
sandalwood and precious jewels.
The king used the sandalwood to make
steps for the temple of the Lord and
the royal palace, and to construct
liars and harps for the musicians.
Never before had such beautiful
things been seen in Judah.
King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba
whatever she asked for gifts of greater
value than the gifts she had given him.
Then she and all her attendance
returned to their own land each year.
Solomon received about 25 tons of gold.
This did not include the
additional revenue he received
from merchants and traders.
All the kings of Arabia and the
governors of the provinces also
brought gold and silver to Solomon.
King Solomon made 200 large
shields of hammered gold each
weighing more than 15 pounds.
He also made 300 smaller shields
of hammered gold, each weighing
more than seven and a half pounds.
The king placed these shields in
the palace of the forest of Lebanon.
Then the king made a huge throne decorated
with ivory and overlaid with pure gold.
The throne had six steps
with a footstool of gold.
There were armrests on both sides
of the seat and the figure of a lion
stood on each side of the throne.
There were also 12 other lions, one
standing on each end of the six steps.
No other throne in all the
world could be compared with it.
All of King Solomon's drinking cups were
solid gold as were all the utensils in
the palace of the forest of Lebanon.
They were not made of silver, for
silver was considered worthless.
In Solomon's day, the king had a
fleet of trading ships of ta Tarshish,
manned by the sailors sent by Hiram.
Once every three years, the
ships returned loaded with gold,
silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
So King Solomon became richer and
wiser than any other king on earth.
Kings from every nation came
to consult him and to hear
the wisdom God had given him.
Year after year, everyone
who visited brought him gifts
of silver and gold clothing,
weapons, spices, horses and mules.
Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his horses
and chariots, and he had 12,000 horses.
He stationed some of them in the chariot
cities and some near him in Jerusalem.
He ruled over all the kings from
the Euphrates River in the north
to the land of the Philistines and
the border of Egypt in the south.
The king made silver as plentiful in
Jerusalem as stone and valuable cedar
timber was as common as the Sycamore fig
trees that grow in the foothills of Judah.
Solomon's horses were imported from
Egypt and many other countries.
The rest of the events of Solomon's
reign from beginning to end are
recorded in the record of Nathan, the
Prophet, and the prophecy of a Hijah
from Shiloh, and also in the visions
of Ido, the Sr concerning Jeroboam.
Son of Neba, Solomon ruled in Jerusalem
over all Israel for 40 years when he died.
He was buried in the city of
David, named for his father.
Then his son Rehoboam,
became the next king.