Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road.

When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not ­entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of his father David had been. By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites, Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done. Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites, on the hill opposite Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. The Lord, therefore, became angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (for though the Lord had forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had not obeyed him).

The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon’s fame, came to test him with subtle questions.

Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole community of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven, he said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart.

King Solomon and the entire community of Israel present for the occasion sacrificed before the ark sheep and oxen too many to number or count.

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.

Thus says the Lord: Share your bread with the ­hungry,/ shelter the oppressed and the homeless;/ clothe the naked when you see them,/ and do not turn your back on your own./ Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,/ and your wound shall quickly be healed;/ your vindication shall go before you,/ and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard./ Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer,/ you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!/ If you remove from your midst/ oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;/ if you bestow your bread on the hungry/ and satisfy the afflicted;/ then light shall rise for you in the darkness,/ and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the most renowned high place.

Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings,/ so was David in Israel./ He made sport of lions as though they were kids,/ and of bears, like lambs of the flock./ As a youth he slew the giant/ and wiped out the people’s disgrace,/ When his hand let fly the slingstone/ that crushed the pride of Goliath./ Since he called upon the Most High God,/ who gave strength to his right arm/ To defeat the skilled warrior/ and raise up the might of his people,/ Therefore the women sang his praises,/ and ascribed to him tens of thousands/ and praised him when they blessed the Lord./ When he assumed the royal crown, he battled/ and subdued the enemy on every side./ He destroyed the hostile Philistines/ and shattered their power till our own day./ With his every deed he offered thanks/ to God Most High, in words of praise./ With his whole being he loved his Maker/ and daily had his praises sung;/ He set singers before the altar and by their voices/ he made sweet melodies,/ He added beauty to the feasts/ and solemnized the seasons of each year/ So that when the Holy Name was praised,/ before daybreak the sanctuary would resound./ The Lord forgave him his sins/ and exalted his strength forever;/ He conferred on him the rights of royalty/ and established his throne in Israel.

When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to his son Solomon: “I am going the way of all flesh.