The Armor of God: Well Used Against Injury

Reflections of Faith and Justice - a Devotional by Benjamin Mays

Freedom in Forgiveness: Discover the Healing in Letting Go by Sara Brunsvold

3-Day Bible Plan: How to Truly Love Thy Neighbor in Today’s World

Play-by-Play: John (3/3)

3-Day Bible Quest: Level 2: Love Unlocked – Powering Up Through Jesus

Reading With the People of God #10 Kingdom

The Prince Without a Name

Living for Christ at Home: An Encouragement for Teens

Building Living Bridges

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="1KI.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon</div><div class="p"> 1When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. 2Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan&#8212;with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones&#8212;she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at#10:5 Or the ascent by which he went up to the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.</div><div class="p"> 6She said to the king, &#8220;The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7But 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. 8How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord&#8217;s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10And she gave the king 120 talents#10:10 That is, about 4 1/2 tons or about 4 metric tons 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.</div><div class="p"> 11(Hiram&#8217;s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood#10:11 Probably a variant of algumwood; also in verse 12 and precious stones. 12The king used the almugwood to make supports#10:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. 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.)</div><div class="p"> 13King 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.</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Splendor</div><div class="p"> 14The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,#10:14 That is, about 25 tons or about 23 metric tons 15not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.</div><div class="p"> 16King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels#10:16 That is, about 15 pounds or about 6.9 kilograms; also in verse 29 of gold went into each shield. 17He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas#10:17 That is, about 3 3/4 pounds or about 1.7 kilograms; or perhaps reference is to double minas, that is, about 7 1/2 pounds or about 3.5 kilograms. of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.</div><div class="p"> 18Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. 19The 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. 20Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. 21All King Solomon&#8217;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&#8217;s days. 22The king had a fleet of trading ships#10:22 Hebrew of ships of Tarshish at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.</div><div class="p"> 23King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift&#8212;articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.</div><div class="p"> 26Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,#10:26 Or charioteers which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28Solomon&#8217;s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue#10:28 Probably Cilicia&#8212;the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.#10:29 That is, about 3 3/4 pounds or about 1.7 kilograms They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="1KI.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Wives</div><div class="p"> 1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter&#8212;Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, &#8220;You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.&#8221; Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4As 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. 5He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.</div><div class="p"> 7On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.</div><div class="p"> 9The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord&#8217;s command. 11So the Lord said to Solomon, &#8220;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. 12Nevertheless, 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. 13Yet 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.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Adversaries</div><div class="p"> 14Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 15Earlier 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. 16Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. 17But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. 18They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking people 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.</div><div class="p"> 19Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 20The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh&#8217;s own children.</div><div class="p"> 21While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, &#8220;Let me go, that I may return to my own country.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22&#8220;What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?&#8221; Pharaoh asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; Hadad replied, &#8220;but do let me go!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24When David destroyed Zobah&#8217;s army, Rezon gathered a band of men around him and became their leader; they went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25Rezon was Israel&#8217;s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.</div><div class="s1">Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon</div><div class="p"> 26Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon&#8217;s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.</div><div class="p"> 27Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces#11:27 Or the Millo and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. 28Now 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 tribes of Joseph.</div><div class="p"> 29About 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, 30and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31Then he said to Jeroboam, &#8220;Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon&#8217;s hand and give you ten tribes. 32But 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. 33I will do this because they have#11:33 Hebrew; Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac because he has forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon&#8217;s father, did.</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon&#8217;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 obeyed my commands and decrees. 35I will take the kingdom from his son&#8217;s hands and give you ten tribes. 36I 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. 37However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees 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. 39I will humble David&#8217;s descendants because of this, but not forever.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon&#8217;s death.</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Death</div><div class="p"> 41As for the other events of Solomon&#8217;s reign&#8212;all he did and the wisdom he displayed&#8212;are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? 42Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 43Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="ACT.8.26+ACT.8.27+ACT.8.28+ACT.8.29+ACT.8.30+ACT.8.31+ACT.8.32+ACT.8.33+ACT.8.34+ACT.8.35+ACT.8.36+ACT.8.37+ACT.8.38+ACT.8.39+ACT.8.40">
 <div class="p">26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, &#8220;Go south to the road&#8212;the desert road&#8212;that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.&#8221; 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian#8:27 That is, from the southern Nile region eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means &#8220;queen of the Ethiopians&#8221;). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, &#8220;Go to that chariot and stay near it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. &#8220;Do you understand what you are reading?&#8221; Philip asked.</div><div class="p"> 31&#8220;How can I,&#8221; he said, &#8220;unless someone explains it to me?&#8221; So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.</div><div class="p"> 32This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,</div><div class="q2">and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,</div><div class="q2">so he did not open his mouth.</div><div class="q1"> 33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.</div><div class="q2">Who can speak of his descendants?</div><div class="q2">For his life was taken from the earth.&#8221;#8:33 Isaiah 53:7,8 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="p"> 34The eunuch asked Philip, &#8220;Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?&#8221; 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, &#8220;Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?&#8221; [37]#8:37 Some manuscripts include here Philip said, &#8220;If you believe with all your heart, you may.&#8221; The eunuch answered, &#8220;I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.&#8221; 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

We Grow: A Journey of Drawing Closer to GodSample

Scripture

About this Plan

Related Plans