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And the king made walkways of the algum 1 Kings 10:11, 12)">[fn] wood for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

All King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. 1 Kings 10:22)">[fn] Once every three years the merchant ships [fn] came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. [fn]

Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

1 Kings 12:1-19">[xr] And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.

Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

"Thus says the LORD: "You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me."

So Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah.

For the Levites left their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the LORD.

Then he appointed for himself priests for the high places, for the demons, and the calf idols which he had made.

So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Then Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliah the son of Jesse.

Now Rehoboam loved Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maachah as chief, to be leader among his brothers; for he intended to make him king.

He dealt wisely, and dispersed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city; and he gave them provisions in abundance. He also sought many wives for them.

And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods.

Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods?

But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the LORD are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties.