On that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I shall give to you."

Now, O Yahweh God, let your word to David my father be fulfilled, for you yourself have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

Then God said to Solomon, "Because this was with your heart and you did not ask for wealth, possessions, honor, and the lives of your enemies, and also did not ask for {long life}, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge that you might judge my people over whom I have made you king,

And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem like the stones. And he made cedar as abundant as the sycamore fig trees that [were] in the Shephelah.

And Solomon sent [word] to Huram king of Tyre, saying, "As you have dealt with David my father and sent cedar to him to build for himself a house in which to live, [please deal with me].

Now as for the wheat, barley, oil, and wine that my lord mentioned, let him send [that] to his servants.

{The length of the portico that [was] in front was the same as the front of the width of the house}: twenty cubits. And its height [was] one hundred and twenty cubits. And he overlaid it on the inside with pure gold.

Then he overlaid the house with precious stone as decoration. (Now the gold [was] the gold of Parvaim.)

Under it [were] figures of oxen all around it, ten cubits [high], encircling the sea all around. The oxen [were] in two rows {cast as one piece with it}.

Now Yahweh has fulfilled his word that he spoke. I have risen in the place of David my father and am seated on the throne of Israel as Yahweh has spoken. I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have spoken to him, saying, '{You shall not lack} a man to sit on the throne of Israel before me, if only your sons keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'

then may you yourself hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

then may you yourself hear from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all peoples of earth will know of your name and fear you, as [do] your people Israel, and that they may know that your name {possesses} this house that I have built.

When they sin against you--for there is no person who does not sin--and you become angry with them and place them before their enemy that they carry them away as captives to a land far or near,

Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

Now [as for] you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked and do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep my ordinances and judgments,

then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I promised to David your father, saying, 'A man shall not be cut off for you [from] ruling over Israel.'

And [as for] this house, which was exalted, all who pass by it will be appalled and will say, 'Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?'

from the descendants who were left over after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed, Solomon conscripted them as forced labor until this day.

But from the {Israelites} Solomon did not give as servants for his work, but they [were] men of war, his commanders of his officers, and commanders of his chariots and his horses.

{as was the daily requirement}, to offer up according to the commandments of Moses for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three {annual} feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.

Blessed be Yahweh your God who took delight in you, to put you on his throne as king for Yahweh your God! Because your God loved Israel, he established him forever and has put you over them as king to do justice and righteousness!"

And she gave to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. And there were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon [were] of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon [were] of pure gold. Silver was not valued as anything in the days of Solomon.

And each of them brought his gifts, objects of silver, objects of gold, cloaks, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, [as] an amount year by year.

And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as the sycamore trees that [are] in the Shephelah for abundance.

As for the remainder of the words of Solomon [from] the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer, concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had spoken, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

But as for the {Israelites} who were living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam ruled over them.

And Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities as strongholds in Judah.

For the Levites left their pasturelands and their property and came to Judah and to Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to Yahweh.

Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.

And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and crown prince over his brothers, in order to make him king.

Now the words of Rehoboam [from] the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer as a record? And [there were] battles [between] Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

But as for us, Yahweh [is] our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests serving Yahweh [are] the sons of Aaron, the Levites, according to their service.

And Abijah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son became king in his place. In his days the land was at rest ten years.

Asa did that which [was] good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God.

And Asa had an army [of] three hundred thousand from Judah, bearing shields and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin [who] carried shields and drew bows. All of these [were] mighty warriors of strength.

And Asa went out before him, and a battle was put in order in the valley of Zepah at Mareshah.

Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God. And he said, "O Yahweh, there is none with you to help between the great and the powerless. Help us, O Yahweh our God, for we rely upon you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, you [are] our God! Let no man prevail against you!"

So Yahweh defeated the Cushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Cushites fled.

Then Asa and the army with him pursued them to Gerar. And [many] from the Cushites fell, for they had no deliverance, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before his army. And they carried away much war booty.

And he went out before Asa and said to him, "Hear me, O Asa and all of Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh [is] with you while you are with him. And if you will seek him he will be found by you. But if you forsake him he will forsake you.

But as for you, be strong and let not your hands be weak, for there is reward for your labor."

And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the vile idols from all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the portico of Yahweh.

And they were gathered [at] Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

And also Maacah, the mother of Asa, the king removed her from [being] queen, because she had made a repulsive image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her repulsive image, and he crushed and burned [it] at the Wadi Kidron.

But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was fully devoted all his days.

And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha the king of Israel went up against Judah. And he built Ramah in order not to allow [anyone] to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.

Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the storehouses of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and he sent [them] to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,

"[There is] a covenant between me and you, [as there was] between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, that he might withdraw from me."

And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent commanders of his troops that [were] with him against the cities of Israel. And they struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

Then King Asa took all of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "On account of your reliance upon the king of Aram, and [since] you did not rely on Yahweh your God, therefore the troops of the king of Aram escaped from your hand.

Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in {the prison}, for he was enraged with him concerning this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

Now behold, the words of Asa [from] the first to the last, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And Asa slept with his ancestors. And he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

And they buried him in his burial site, which had been cut out for him in the city of David. And they laid him on the bier which they had filled with all kinds of spices made [by] the perfumers as a fragment ointment. And they made a great fire in his honor.

And he put troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken.

And some of the Philistines brought a gift and silver to Jehoshaphat [as] tribute. The Arabians also brought him seven thousand seven hundred sheep and seven thousand seven hundred goats.

And Ahab the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "Will you go up with me to Ramoth-Gilead?" And he answered him, "I [am] as you [are], and my people [are] as your people with you in war."

Then the messenger who went to call Micaiah said to him, "Behold, the words of the prophets [are] good with one voice to the king. Please let your word be as one with them and speak good."

But Micaiah said, "As Yahweh lives, only what my God has said, that will I speak."

Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites and the priests and heads of the {families} of Israel as judges and to decide legal disputes for Yahweh. And they sat [in] Jerusalem.

And behold, Amariah the chief priest [is] over you in all matters of the word of Yahweh, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all matters of the king, and the Levites [shall be] before you [as] officials. Be strong and do [well]! May Yahweh be with the upright."

now behold, they are rewarding us by coming to dispossess us from your possession which you gave us as an inheritance.

And he walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, to do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh.

And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh.

And a letter from Elijah the prophet came to him, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father: 'Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father or in the ways of Asa, the king of Judah,

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as the house of Ahab [had done], for they were his counselors to his destruction after the death of his father.

And all the assembly {made} a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, "Behold, the son of the king shall reign as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David.

And Jehoiada placed appointees [at] the house of Yahweh under the hand of the Levitical priests whom David had allotted to the house of Yahweh to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh as was written in the law of Moses, with joy and with song, according to the {order of David}.

So King Joash did not remember the loyal love that Jehoiada had shown to him, and he killed his son. And as he was dying he said, "May Yahweh see and avenge!"

And [as for] his sons, the many oracles against him, and [his repair of] the foundation of the house of God, behold, they [are] written in the story of the scroll of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

And it happened [that] as his reign was strengthened, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king.

As for the {troops} Amaziah had sent back from going with him to war, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-Horon. And they struck [down] three thousand of them and plundered much booty.

And it happened [that] after Amaziah came [back] from killing the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, and he stood them up to himself as gods and bowed down before them and make smoke offerings for them.

And it happened [that] while he was speaking to him, he said to him, "Have we appointed you as a counselor to the king? Stop--{why should you be killed}?" So the prophet stopped and said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my advice."

And Joash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thorn bush that [is] in Lebanon has sent to the cedar which [is] in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife.' But a wild animal of the field that [was] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn bush.

So King Uzziah was leprous until the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house as a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son [was] over the house of the king, judging the people of the land.

Now he fought with the king of the {Ammonites} and prevailed against them. And the {Ammonites} gave to him in that year one hundred talents of silver and ten thousand measures of wheat and ten thousand [measures of] barley. This [is what] the {Ammonites} rendered to him, as well as in the second and third year.

So now, you yourselves plan to subdue people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves and female servants for yourselves. {Is there not also guilt on your part} against Yahweh your God?

And they said to them, "You shall not bring the captives here, for [it is] as guilt [against] Yahweh upon us. You yourselves plan to add to our sins and to our guilt, but our guilt is very great, and [there is] great anger against Israel."

And the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he made them as an abhorrence, as a desolation and an object of scorn, as you see with your own eyes.

And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a purification offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the descendants of Aaron, the priests, to offer [them] on the altar of Yahweh.

Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who acted unfaithfully before Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them as a desolation, as you see.

Now, do not stiffen your neck as your fathers, but give a hand to Yahweh and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve Yahweh your God that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

And there was great joy in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was nothing such as this in Jerusalem.

And the gift of the king [was] out of his own possessions for the burnt offerings--the burnt offerings for the morning and the evening and for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and appointed feasts, as is written in the law of Yahweh.

Then they brought the offerings and tithes and holy objects faithfully. And over them [as] leader [was] Conaniah the Levite. And Shimei his brother [was] second [in rank].

besides their enrollment by genealogy, to males from three years old and upward, to all who came into the house of Yahweh, {as each day required} for their service in their posts according to their working groups.

And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand."

And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of the hands of humankind.

And he did what [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. And Amon sacrificed to all the idols that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them.

And he did not humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father humbled himself, but Amon himself multiplied [his] guilt.

And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around,

And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors [were] appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And [other] Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song,

because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. And my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.'

But to the king of Judah who sent you to seek Yahweh, thus shall you say to him: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: [As for] the words which you heard,