After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD. Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.. . . he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Ju...  Read More

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray.  Later that night, He was there alone and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them...  Read More

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants...  Read More

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.Matthew 13:44-46 These two parables told by Jesus give us an insight into ho...  Read More

The disciples came to Him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:"Though seeing, they do not see; though hear...  Read More

Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold.   . . . All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the provinces also brought gold and silver to Solomon.  . . . The King made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with pure gold.           . . . No other throne in the world could be compared with it!All of King Solomon's drinking cups were solid gold as were all the utensils in the P...  Read More

When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions.  . . . Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her.When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their rob...  Read More

As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.'But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them,...  Read More

When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, the LORD appeared to him at night and said:"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices."When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the ...  Read More

When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, a...  Read More

When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated -- the silver and gold and all the furnishings -- and he placed them in the treasuries of God's temple.  . . . The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings ...  Read More

Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the LORD . . ."Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God and to dedicate it to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths, at the new moons and at the appointed festivals of the LORD our God. Thi...  Read More