The One Year Bible TLB (156 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Some men are so lazy they won’t even feed themselves!
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Punish a mocker and others will learn from his example. Reprove a wise man, and he will be the wiser.
July 23Solomon now moved his wife (she was Pharaoh’s daughter) from the City of David sector of Jerusalem to the new palace he had built for her. For he said, “She must not live in King David’s palace for the Ark of the Lord was there, and it is holy ground.”
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Then Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built in front of the porch of the Temple.
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The number of sacrifices differed from day to day in accordance with the instructions Moses had given; there were extra sacrifices on the Sabbaths, on new moon festivals, and at the three annual festivals—the Passover celebration, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tabernacles.
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In assigning the priests to their posts of duty he followed the organizational chart prepared by his father David; he also assigned the Levites to their work of praise and of helping the priests in each day’s duties; and he assigned the gatekeepers to their gates.
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Solomon did not deviate in any way from David’s instructions concerning these matters and concerning the treasury personnel.
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Thus Solomon successfully completed the construction of the Temple.
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Then he went to the seaport towns of Ezion-geber and Eloth, in Edom, to launch a fleet presented to him by King Hiram. These ships, with King Hiram’s experienced crews working alongside Solomon’s men, went to Ophir and brought back to him several million dollars worth of gold on each trip!
9:
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When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fabled wisdom, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. A very great retinue of aides and servants accompanied her, including camel loads of spices, gold, and jewels.
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And Solomon answered all her problems. Nothing was hidden from him; he could explain everything to her.
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When she discovered how wise he really was, and how breathtaking the beauty of his palace,
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and how wonderful the food at his tables, and how many servants and aides he had, and when she saw their spectacular uniforms and his stewards in full regalia, and saw the size of the men in his bodyguard, she could scarcely believe it!
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Finally she exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard about you in my own country is true!
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I didn’t believe it until I got here and saw it with my own eyes. Your wisdom is far greater than I could ever have imagined.
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What a privilege for these men of yours to stand here and listen to you talk!
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Blessed be the Lord your God! How he must love Israel to give them a just king like you! He wants them to be a great, strong nation forever.”
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She gave the king a gift of over a million dollars in gold, and great quantities of spices of incomparable quality, and many, many jewels.
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King Hiram’s and King Solomon’s crews brought gold from Ophir, also sandalwood and jewels.
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The king used the sandalwood to make terraced steps for the Temple and the palace and to construct harps and lyres for the choir. Never before had there been such beautiful instruments in all the land of Judah.
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King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba gifts of the same value as she had brought to him, plus everything else she asked for! Then she and her retinue returned to their own land.
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Solomon received a quarter of a billion dollars worth of gold each year from the kings of Arabia and many other lands that paid annual tribute to him. In addition, there was a trade balance from the exports of his merchants.
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He used some of the gold to make 200 large shields, each worth $100,000,
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and 300 smaller shields, each worth $50,000. The king placed these in the Forest of Lebanon Room in his palace.
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He also made a huge ivory throne overlaid with pure gold.
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It had six gold steps and a footstool of gold; also gold armrests, each flanked by a gold lion.
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Gold lions also stood at each side of each step. No other throne in all the world could be compared with it!
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All of King Solomon’s cups were solid gold, as were all the furnishings in the Forest of Lebanon Room. Silver was too cheap to count for much in those days!
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Every three years the king sent his ships to Tarshish, using sailors supplied by King Hiram, to bring back gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
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So King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in all the earth.
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Kings from every nation came to visit him and to hear the wisdom God had put into his heart.
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Each brought him annual tribute of silver and gold bowls, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules.
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In addition, Solomon had 4,000 stalls of horses and chariots, and 12,000 cavalrymen stationed in the chariot cities as well as in Jerusalem to protect the king.
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He ruled over all kings and kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far away as the border of Egypt.
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He made silver become as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones in the road! And cedar was used as though it were common sycamore.
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Horses were brought to him from Egypt and other countries.
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The rest of Solomon’s biography is written in the history of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and also in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
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So Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel for forty years.
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Then he died and was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Rehoboam became the new king.
10:
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All the leaders of Israel came to Shechem for Rehoboam’s coronation.
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Meanwhile, friends of Jeroboam (son of Nebat) sent word to him of Solomon’s death. He was in Egypt at the time, where he had gone to escape from King Solomon. He now quickly returned, and was present at the coronation, and led the people’s demands on Rehoboam:
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“Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Be easier on us than he was, and we will let you be our king!”
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Rehoboam told them to return in three days for his decision.
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He discussed their demand with the old men who had counseled his father Solomon.
“What shall I tell them?” he asked.
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“If you want to be their king,” they replied, “you will have to give them a favorable reply and treat them with kindness.”
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But he rejected their advice and asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him. “What do you fellows think I should do?” he asked. “Shall I be easier on them than my father was?”
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“No!” they replied. “Tell them, ‘If you think my father was hard on you, just wait and see what I’ll be like!’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins!
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I am going to be tougher on you, not easier! My father used whips on you, but I’ll use scorpions!’”
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So when Jeroboam and the people returned in three days to hear King Rehoboam’s decision,
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he spoke roughly to them; for he refused the advice of the old men
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and followed the counsel of the younger ones.
“My father gave you heavy burdens, but I will give you heavier!” he told them. “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions!”
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So the king turned down the people’s demands. (God caused him to do it in order to fulfill his prediction
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spoken to Jeroboam by Ahijah the Shilonite.)
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When the people realized what the king was saying, they turned their backs and deserted him.
“Forget David and his dynasty!” they shouted angrily. “We’ll get someone else to be our king. Let Rehoboam rule his own tribe of Judah! Let’s go home!” So they did.
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The people of the tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to Rehoboam.
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Afterwards, when King Rehoboam sent Hadoram to draft forced labor from the other tribes of Israel, the people stoned him to death. When this news reached King Rehoboam, he jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.
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And Israel has refused to be ruled by a descendant of David to this day.
But you are not like that. You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.)
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Yet, even though Christ lives within you, your body will die because of sin; but your spirit will live, for Christ has pardoned it.
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And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, he will make your dying bodies live again after you die, by means of this same Holy Spirit living within you.
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So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.
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For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live.
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For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
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And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family, and calling to him, “Father, Father.”
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For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children.
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And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
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Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
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For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day
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when God will resurrect his children.
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For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay
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—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.
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For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.
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And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.
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We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don’t yet have—for a man who already has something doesn’t need to hope and trust that he will get it.
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But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.
He reached down from heaven and took me and drew me out of my great trials. He rescued me from deep waters.
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He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me—I who was helpless in their hands.
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On the day when I was weakest, they attacked. But the Lord held me steady.
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He led me to a place of safety, for he delights in me.
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The Lord rewarded me for doing right and being pure.
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For I have followed his commands and have not sinned by turning back from following him.
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I kept close watch on all his laws; I did not refuse a single one.
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I did my best to keep them all, holding myself back from doing wrong.
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And so the Lord has paid me with his blessings, for I have done what is right, and I am pure of heart. This he knows, for he watches my every step.
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Lord, how merciful you are to those who are merciful. And you do not punish those who run from evil.
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You give blessings to the pure but pain to those who leave your paths.
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You deliver the humble but condemn the proud and haughty ones.
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You have turned on my light! The Lord my God has made my darkness turn to light.
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Now in your strength I can scale any wall, attack any troop.
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What a God he is! How perfect in every way! All his promises prove true. He is a shield for everyone who hides behind him.
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For who is God except our Lord? Who but he is as a rock?
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He fills me with strength and protects me wherever I go.
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He gives me the surefootedness of a mountain goat upon the crags. He leads me safely along the top of the cliffs.
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He prepares me for battle and gives me strength to draw an iron bow!
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