1 Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do, 2the Lord appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3And the Lord said to him:

10 Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the Lord and the royal palace, 11King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire. 12So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.

13“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.

14 And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold.

15 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the Lord, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, 19as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses — whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

20 As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites) — 21their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction— Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

22 But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. 23They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.

24 As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense with them before the Lord. So he completed the temple.

26 King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27And Hiram sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants. 28They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there— 420 talents— and delivered it to Solomon.

1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions. 2She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan— with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones.

And she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind. 3And Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain.

4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built, 5the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the service and attire of his attendants, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he presented at the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.

6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and 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 to me. Your wisdom and prosperity have far exceeded the report I heard. 8How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 9Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again were spices in such abundance brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11(The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir a great cargo of almug wood and precious stones. 12The king made the almug wood into steps for the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood been brought in, nor has such been seen again to this day.)

13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired — whatever she asked — besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned to her own country, along with her servants.

14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents, 15not including the revenue from the merchants, traders, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.

16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 19The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest. 20Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

21 All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. 22For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

23 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 24The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. 25Year after year, each visitor would bring his tribute: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

26 Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. 29A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.

14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15On their arrival, they prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. 16For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. 19“Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart. 23For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”

24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

25 And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.

29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that chariot and stay by it.”

30 So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

34“Tell me,” said the eunuch, “who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

35 Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.