Jesus before Pilate
(Matthew 27.1, 2, 11-14; Luke 23.1-5; John 18.28-38)

Mark 15 Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate questioned him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "So you say."
³The chief priests were accusing Jesus of many things, ⁴so Pilate questioned him again, "Aren't you going to answer? Listen to all their accusations!"
⁵Again Jesus refused to say a word, and Pilate was amazed.

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death
(Matthew 27.15-26; Luke 23.13-25; John 18.39--19.16)

⁶At every Passover Festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for. ⁷At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot. ⁸When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favor, ⁹he asked them, "Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?" ¹⁰He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.
¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, that Pilate set Barabbas free for them. ¹²Pilate spoke again to the crowd, "What, then, do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?"
¹³They shouted back, "Crucify him!"
¹⁴"But what crime has he committed?" Pilate asked.
They shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
¹⁵Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus
(Matthew 27.27-31; John 19.2, 3)

¹⁶The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor's palace and called together the rest of the company. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on his head. ¹⁸Then they began to salute him: "Long live the King of the Jews!" ¹⁹They beat him over the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to him. ²⁰When they had finished making fun of him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba
(2 Chronicles 9.1-12)

1 Kings 10 The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, and she traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. ²She brought with her a large group of attendants, as well as camels loaded with spices, jewels, and a large amount of gold. When she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of. ³He answered them all; there was nothing too difficult for him to explain. ⁴The queen of Sheba heard Solomon's wisdom and saw the palace he had built. ⁵She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his officials, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms they wore, the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered in the Temple. It left her breathless and amazed. ⁶She said to King Solomon, "What I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom is true! ⁷But I couldn't believe it until I had come and seen it all for myself. But I didn't hear even half of it; your wisdom and wealth are much greater than what I was told. ⁸How fortunate are your wives! And how fortunate your servants, who are always in your presence and are privileged to hear your wise sayings! ⁹Praise the LORD your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king of Israel. Because his love for Israel is eternal, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice."
¹⁰She presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons of gold and a very large amount of spices and jewels. The amount of spices she gave him was by far the greatest that he ever received at any time.
( ¹¹ Hiram's fleet, which had brought gold from Ophir, also brought from there a large amount of juniper wood and jewels. ¹²Solomon used the wood to build railings in the Temple and the palace, and also to make harps and lyres for the musicians. It was the finest juniper wood ever imported into Israel; none like it has ever been seen again.)
¹³King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she asked for, besides all the other customary gifts that he had generously given her. Then she and her attendants returned to the land of Sheba.

King Solomon's Wealth
(2 Chronicles 9.13-29)

¹⁴Every year King Solomon received over twenty-five tons of gold, ¹⁵in addition to the taxes paid by merchants, the profits from trade, and tribute paid by the Arabian kings and the governors of the Israelite districts.
¹⁶Solomon made two hundred large shields and had each one overlaid with almost fifteen pounds of gold. ¹⁷He also made three hundred smaller shields, overlaying each one of them with nearly four pounds of gold. He had all these shields placed in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.
¹⁸He also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with the finest gold. ^19-20The throne had six steps leading up to it, with the figure of a lion at each end of every step, a total of twelve lions. At the back of the throne was the figure of a bull's head, and beside each of the two armrests was the figure of a lion. No throne like this had ever existed in any other kingdom.
²¹All of Solomon's drinking cups were made of gold, and all the utensils in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. No silver was used, since it was not considered valuable in Solomon's day. ²²He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with Hiram's fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.
²³King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king, ²⁴and the whole world wanted to come and listen to the wisdom that God had given him. ²⁵Everyone who came brought him a gift--articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This continued year after year.
²⁶Solomon built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem and the rest he stationed in various other cities. ²⁷During his reign silver was as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. ²⁸The king's agents controlled the export of horses from Musri and Cilicia, ²⁹and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for 150 each.

Israel and Judah Are Condemned

¹²The LORD says, "The people of Israel have surrounded me with lies and deceit, and the people of Judah are still rebelling against me, the faithful and holy God.
Hosea 12 ¹Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive. Treachery and acts of violence increase among them. They make treaties with Assyria and do business with Egypt."
²The LORD has an accusation to bring against the people of Judah; he is also going to punish Israel for the way her people act. He will pay them back for what they have done. ³Their ancestor Jacob struggled with his twin brother Esau while the two of them were still in their mother's womb; when Jacob grew up, he fought against God-- ⁴he fought against an angel and won. He wept and asked for a blessing. And at Bethel God came to our ancestor Jacob and spoke with him. ⁵This was the LORD God Almighty--the LORD is the name by which he is to be worshiped. ⁶So now, descendants of Jacob, trust in your God and return to him. Be loyal and just, and wait patiently for your God to act.

Further Words of Judgment

⁷The LORD says, "The people of Israel are as dishonest as the Canaanites; they love to cheat their customers with false scales. ⁸'We are rich,' they say. 'We've made a fortune. And no one can accuse us of getting rich dishonestly.' ⁹But I, the LORD your God who led you out of Egypt, I will make you live in tents again, as you did when I came to you in the desert.
¹⁰"I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions, and through the prophets I gave my people warnings. ¹¹Yet idols are worshiped in Gilead, and those who worship them will die. Bulls are sacrificed in Gilgal, and the altars there will become piles of stone in the open fields."
¹²Our ancestor Jacob had to flee to Mesopotamia, where, in order to get a wife, he worked for another man and took care of his sheep. ¹³The LORD sent a prophet to rescue the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and to take care of them. ¹⁴The people of Israel have made the LORD bitterly angry; they deserve death for their crimes. Their Lord will punish them for the disgrace they have brought on him.