1 Raja-raja 1:52

1:52 Solomon said, “If he is a loyal subject, ¹  not a hair of his head will be harmed, but if he is found to be a traitor, ²  he will die.”

1 Raja-raja 2:2

2:2 “I am about to die. ³  Be strong and become a man!

1 Raja-raja 2:4

2:4 and the Lord will fulfill his promise to me, ⁴  ‘If your descendants watch their step ⁵  and live faithfully in my presence ⁶  with all their heart and being, ⁷  then,’ he promised, ⁸  ‘you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ⁹ 

1 Raja-raja 2:7

2:7 “Treat fairly ¹⁰  the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and provide for their needs, ¹¹  because they helped me ¹²  when I had to flee from your brother Absalom.

1 Raja-raja 3:6

3:6 Solomon replied, “You demonstrated ¹³  great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served ¹⁴  you faithfully, properly, and sincerely. ¹⁵  You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne. ¹⁶ 

1 Raja-raja 3:9

3:9 So give your servant a discerning mind ¹⁷  so he can make judicial decisions for ¹⁸  your people and distinguish right from wrong. ¹⁹  Otherwise ²⁰  no one is able ²¹  to make judicial decisions for ²²  this great nation of yours.” ²³ 

1 Raja-raja 3:12

3:12 I ²⁴  grant your request, ²⁵  and give ²⁶  you a wise and discerning mind ²⁷  superior to that of anyone who has preceded or will succeed you. ²⁸ 

1 Raja-raja 3:26

3:26 The real mother ²⁹  spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. ³⁰  She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” ³¹  But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!”

1 Raja-raja 4:29

4:29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment; the breadth of his understanding ³²  was as infinite as the sand on the seashore.

1 Raja-raja 5:7

5:7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was very happy. He said, “The Lord is worthy of praise today because he ³³  has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

1 Raja-raja 5:10

5:10 So Hiram supplied the cedars and evergreens Solomon needed, ³⁴ 

1 Raja-raja 8:17

8:17 Now my father David had a strong desire ³⁵  to build a temple to honor the Lord God of Israel. ³⁶ 

1 Raja-raja 8:23

8:23 He prayed: ³⁷  “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty ³⁸  to your servants who obey you with sincerity. ³⁹ 

1 Raja-raja 8:38-39

8:38 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ⁴⁰  as they acknowledge their pain ⁴¹  and spread out their hands toward this temple, 8:39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, ⁴²  and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives. ⁴³  (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) ⁴⁴ 

1 Raja-raja 8:48

8:48 When they return to you with all their heart and being ⁴⁵  in the land where they are held prisoner, ⁴⁶  and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, ⁴⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 8:58

8:58 May he make us submissive, ⁴⁸  so we can follow all his instructions ⁴⁹  and obey ⁵⁰  the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors.

1 Raja-raja 8:61

8:61 May you demonstrate wholehearted devotion to the Lord our God ⁵¹  by following ⁵²  his rules and obeying ⁵³  his commandments, as you are presently doing.” ⁵⁴ 

1 Raja-raja 8:66

8:66 On the fifteenth day after the festival started, ⁵⁵  he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king ⁵⁶  and then went to their homes, happy and content ⁵⁷  because of all the good the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

1 Raja-raja 9:3-4

9:3 The Lord said to him, “I have answered ⁵⁸  your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; ⁵⁹  I will be constantly present there. ⁶⁰  9:4 You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. ⁶¹ 

1 Raja-raja 11:2-4

11:2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! ⁶²  If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” ⁶³  But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. ⁶⁴ 

11:3 He had 700 royal wives ⁶⁵  and 300 concubines; ⁶⁶  his wives had a powerful influence over him. ⁶⁷  11:4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to ⁶⁸  other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. ⁶⁹ 

1 Raja-raja 11:6

11:6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; ⁷⁰  he did not remain loyal to ⁷¹  the Lord, like his father David had.

1 Raja-raja 11:9

11:9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance ⁷²  away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions ⁷³ 

1 Raja-raja 12:7

12:7 They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” ⁷⁴ 

1 Raja-raja 12:27

12:27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, ⁷⁵  their loyalty could shift to their former master, ⁷⁶  King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”

1 Raja-raja 14:8

14:8 I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve. ⁷⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 14:13

14:13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family ⁷⁸  who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good.

1 Raja-raja 14:15

14:15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. ⁷⁹  He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors ⁸⁰  and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, ⁸¹  because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles. ⁸² 

1 Raja-raja 15:3

15:3 He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been. ⁸³ 

1 Raja-raja 15:11

15:11 Asa did what the Lord approved ⁸⁴  like his ancestor ⁸⁵  David had done.

1 Raja-raja 15:14

15:14 The high places were not eliminated, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime. ⁸⁶ 

1 Raja-raja 15:30

15:30 This happened because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit. These sins angered the Lord God of Israel. ⁸⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 16:7

16:7 The prophet Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord the message predicting the downfall of Baasha and his family because of all the evil Baasha had done in the sight of the Lord. ⁸⁸  His actions angered the Lord (including the way he had destroyed Jeroboam’s dynasty), so that his family ended up like Jeroboam’s. ⁸⁹ 

1 Raja-raja 16:13

16:13 This happened because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and which they made Israel commit. They angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols. ⁹⁰ 

1 Raja-raja 16:26

16:26 He followed in the footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat and encouraged Israel to sin; ⁹¹  they angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols. ⁹² 

1 Raja-raja 16:33

16:33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole; he ⁹³  did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

1 Raja-raja 18:21

18:21 Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? ⁹⁴  If the Lord is the true God, ⁹⁵  then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!” But the people did not say a word.

1 Raja-raja 18:37

18:37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are the true God ⁹⁶  and that you are winning back their allegiance.” ⁹⁷ 

1 Raja-raja 20:31

20:31 His advisers ⁹⁸  said to him, “Look, we have heard that the kings of the Israelite dynasty are kind. ⁹⁹  Allow us to put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads ¹⁰⁰  and surrender ¹⁰¹  to the king of Israel. Maybe he will spare our lives.”

1 Raja-raja 20:43

20:43 The king of Israel went home to Samaria ¹⁰²  bitter and angry.

1 Raja-raja 21:4-5

21:4 So Ahab went into his palace, bitter and angry that Naboth the Jezreelite had said, ¹⁰³  “I will not sell to you my ancestral inheritance.” ¹⁰⁴  He lay down on his bed, pouted, ¹⁰⁵  and would not eat. 21:5 Then his wife Jezebel came in and said to him, “Why do you have a bitter attitude and refuse to eat?”

1 Raja-raja 21:7

21:7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel! ¹⁰⁶  Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. ¹⁰⁷  I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

1 Raja-raja 21:27

21:27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected.

1 Raja-raja 22:13

22:13 Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. ¹⁰⁸  Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success.” ¹⁰⁹ 

1 Raja-raja 22:53

22:53 He worshiped and bowed down to Baal, ¹¹⁰  angering the Lord God of Israel just as his father had done. ¹¹¹ 

[1:52]  ¹ tn Heb “if he is a man of strength [or ability].” In this context, where Adonijah calls himself a “servant,” implying allegiance to the new king, the phrase אִישׁ חַיִל (’ish khayil) probably carries the sense of “a worthy man,” that is, “loyal” (see HALOT 311 s.v. חַיִל).

[1:52]  ² tn Heb “but if evil is found in him.”

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “going the way of all the earth.”

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “then the Lord will establish his word which he spoke to me, saying.”

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “guard their way.”

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “by walking before me in faithfulness.”

[2:4]  ⁷ tn Or “soul.”

[2:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[2:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from upon the throne of Israel.”

[2:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do loyalty with”; or “act faithfully toward.”

[2:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and let them be among the ones who eat [at] your table.”

[2:7]  ¹² tn Heb “drew near to.”

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “did.”

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “walked before.”

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in faithfulness and in innocence and in uprightness of heart with you.”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and you have kept to him this great loyalty and you gave to him a son [who] sits on his throne as this day.”

[3:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a hearing heart.” (The Hebrew term translated “heart” often refers to the mental faculties.)

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to judge.”

[3:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to understand between good and evil.”

[3:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for”; the word “otherwise” is used to reflect the logical sense of the statement.

[3:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “who is able?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[3:9]  ²² tn Heb “to judge.”

[3:9]  ²³ tn Heb “your numerous people.”

[3:12]  ²⁴ tn This statement is introduced in the Hebrew text by the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to and emphasizes what follows.

[3:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I am doing according to your words.” The perfect tense is sometimes used of actions occurring at the same time a statement is made.

[3:12]  ²⁶ tn This statement is introduced by the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to and emphasizes what follows. The translation assumes that the perfect tense here indicates that the action occurs as the statement is made (i.e., “right now I give you”).

[3:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “heart.” (The Hebrew term translated “heart” often refers to the mental faculties.)

[3:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “so that there has not been one like you prior to you, and after you one will not arise like you.”

[3:26]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the woman whose son was alive.”

[3:26]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for her compassions grew warm for her son.”

[3:26]  ³¹ tn The infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the main verb.

[4:29]  ³² tn Heb “heart,” i.e., mind. (The Hebrew term translated “heart” often refers to the mental faculties.)

[5:7]  ³³ tn Or “Blessed be the Lord today, who….”

[5:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and Hiram gave to Solomon cedar wood and the wood of evergreens, all his desire.”

[8:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and it was with the heart of David my father.”

[8:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.” The word “name” in the OT sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.

[8:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[8:23]  ³⁸ tn Heb “one who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[8:23]  ³⁹ tn Heb “who walk before you with all their heart.”

[8:38]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “every prayer, every request for help which will be to all the people, to all your people Israel.”

[8:38]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “which they know, each the pain of his heart.”

[8:39]  ⁴² tn The words “their sin” are added for clarification.

[8:39]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and act and give to each one according to all his ways because you know his heart.” In the Hebrew text vv. 37-39a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided up for stylistic reasons.

[8:39]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Indeed you know, you alone, the heart of all the sons of mankind.”

[8:48]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “soul.”

[8:48]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in the land of their enemies.”

[8:48]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “your name.” See the note on the word “reputation” in v. 41.

[8:58]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “to bend our hearts toward him.” The infinitive is subordinate to the initial prayer, “may the Lord our God be with us.” The Hebrew term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) here refers to the people’s volition and will.

[8:58]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “to walk in all his ways.”

[8:58]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “keep.”

[8:61]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “may your hearts be complete with the Lord our God.”

[8:61]  ⁵² tn Heb “walking in.”

[8:61]  ⁵³ tn Heb “keeping.”

[8:61]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “as this day.”

[8:66]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “on the eighth day” (that is, the day after the second seven-day sequence).

[8:66]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “they blessed the king.”

[8:66]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “good of heart.”

[9:3]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “I have heard.”

[9:3]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “by placing my name there perpetually” (or perhaps, “forever”).

[9:3]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.”

[9:4]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “As for you, if you walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, by doing all which I commanded you, [and] you keep my rules and my regulations.” Verse 4 is actually a lengthy protasis (“if” section) of a conditional sentence, the apodosis (“then” section) of which appears in v. 5.

[11:2]  ⁶² tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”

[11:2]  ⁶³ tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:2]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.

[11:3]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “wives, princesses.”

[11:3]  ⁶⁶ sn Concubines were slave women in ancient Near Eastern societies who were the legal property of their master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with their master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. The usage in the present passage suggests that after the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (cf. also 2 Sam 21:10-14).

[11:3]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “his wives bent his heart.”

[11:4]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “bent his heart after.”

[11:4]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”

[11:6]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

[11:6]  ⁷¹ tn The idiomatic statement reads in Hebrew, “he did not fill up after.”

[11:9]  ⁷² tn Heb “bent his heart.”

[11:9]  ⁷³ sn These two occasions are mentioned in 1 Kgs 3:5 and 9:2.

[12:7]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “If today you are a servant to these people and you serve them and answer them and speak to them good words, they will be your servants all the days.”

[12:27]  ⁷⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[12:27]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “the heart of these people could return to their master.”

[14:8]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “what was right in my eyes.”

[14:13]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[14:15]  ⁷⁹ tn The elliptical Hebrew text reads literally “and the Lord will strike Israel as a reed sways in the water.”

[14:15]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 31).

[14:15]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew this is a typical reference to the Euphrates River. The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:15]  ⁸² tn Heb “because they made their Asherah poles that anger the Lord”; or “their images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “they set up idols to worship Asherah.”

[14:15]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[15:3]  ⁸³ tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”

[15:11]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

[15:11]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “father,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.

[15:14]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “yet the heart of Asa was complete with the Lord all his days.”

[15:30]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “because of Jeroboam which he committed and which he made Israel commit, by his provocation by which he made the Lord God of Israel angry.”

[16:7]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “and also through Jehu son of Hanani the word of the Lord came concerning [or “against”] Baasha and his house, and because of all the evil which he did in the eyes of the Lord.”

[16:7]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “angering him by the work of his hands, so that he was like the house of Jeroboam, and because of how he struck it down.”

[16:13]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “angering the Lord God of Israel with their empty things.”

[16:26]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin which he made Israel sin.”

[16:26]  ⁹² tn Heb “angering the Lord God of Israel with their empty things.”

[16:33]  ⁹³ tn Heb “Ahab”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[18:21]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “How long are you going to limp around on two crutches?” (see HALOT 762 s.v. סְעִפִּים). In context this idiomatic expression refers to indecision rather than physical disability.

[18:21]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “the God.”

[18:37]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “the God.”

[18:37]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “that you are turning their heart[s] back.”

[20:31]  ⁹⁸ tn Or “servants.”

[20:31]  ⁹⁹ tn Or “merciful.” The word used here often means “devoted” or “loyal.” Perhaps the idea is that the Israelite kings are willing to make treaties with other kings.

[20:31]  ¹⁰⁰ sn Sackcloth was worn as a sign of sorrow and repentance. The precise significance of the ropes on the head is uncertain, but it probably was a sign of submission. These actions were comparable to raising a white flag on the battlefield or throwing in the towel in a boxing match.

[20:31]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “go out.”

[20:43]  ¹⁰² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[21:4]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “on account of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite spoke to him.”

[21:4]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “I will not give to you the inheritance of my fathers.”

[21:4]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “turned away his face.”

[21:7]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “You, now, you are exercising kingship over Israel.”

[21:7]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “so your heart [i.e., disposition] might be well.”

[22:13]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “the words of the prophets are [with] one mouth good for the king.”

[22:13]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “let your words be like the word of each of them and speak good.”

[22:53]  ¹¹⁰ tn Heb “he served Baal and bowed down to him.”

[22:53]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “according to all which his father had done.”