Bible in a Year - Day 126

A¹nd when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ² And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. ³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴ And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: ⁶ Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. ⁷ Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. ⁹ And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. ¹⁰ And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹² And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants. ¹³ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; ¹⁴ Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target. ¹⁶ And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays: ¹⁹ And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰ And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²² And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. ²⁴ And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁵ And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶ And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance. ²⁸ And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands. ²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

¹ I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, ² That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. ³ For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: ⁴ Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; ⁵ Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. ⁶ Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: ⁷ Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. ⁸ That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. ⁹ For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. ¹⁰ And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; ¹¹ (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) ¹² It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. ¹³ As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. ¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. ¹⁵ For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶ So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. ¹⁷ For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. ¹⁸ Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. ¹⁹ Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? ²⁰ Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? ²¹ Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? ²² What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: ²³ And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, ²⁴ Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. ²⁶ And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. ²⁷ Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: ²⁸ For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. ²⁹ And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. ³⁰ What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. ³¹ But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. ³² Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; ³³ As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.