Wherefore give me wisdom and knowledge how to behave myself unto this people: for who is able to judge this people that is so great?"

Then God said to Solomon, "Because thou hadst this in thine heart, and didst not ask treasure and riches, and honour and the lives of thine enemies, neither yet long life; But hast asked wisdom and knowledge, to judge my people, over which I have made thee king:

And this is the foundation of Solomon in building the house of God. The length was three score cubits after the old cubit, and the breadth twenty.

And the staves of the Ark, were so long, that they were seen a little before the quire, but not far without. And there it remaineth unto this day.

Thou hast kept promise with my father David, thy servant: With thy mouth thou saidest it, and with thy hand thou hast fulfilled it: as it is come to pass this day.

Now, LORD God of Israel, make good unto my father David thy servant that which thou hast promised him, saying, 'Thou shalt not be without one or other in my sight that shall sit upon the seat of Israel. Of this condition, yet: if thy children will take heed to their ways to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.'

That thine eyes be open over this house day and night, and over the place of which thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth at this place:

Hearken therefore unto the prayers of thy servant and of thy people Israel, which they pray in this place. But hear thou out of thy dwelling place heaven: and when thou hearest it, be merciful.

If a man sin against his neighbour, and an adjuration be laid to his charge, to adjure him withal, and the adjuration come before thine altar in this house:

Likewise, if thy people Israel be put to the worse before their enemies, because they have sinned against thee; Yet if they turn and confess thy name, and make intercession and pray before thee in this house;

If heaven be shut up, that there be no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray at this place and confess thy name and turn from their sins at thy scourging;

Then all the supplications and prayers that shall be made of all men among all thy people Israel, which shall know every man his own sore and his own grief, and shall stretch out their hands towards this house;

Thereto, a stranger which is not of thy people Israel, if he come from a far land for thy great name's sake and thy mighty hand and stretched out arm, and therefore come and pray at this house;

thou shalt hear him from heaven thy dwelling place, and shalt do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for. That all the nations of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doeth thy people Israel: and that it may be known how that this house which I have built, is called after thy name.

When thy people shall go out to war, against their enemies the way that thou shalt send them; If they pray to thee, the way toward this city which thou hast chosen, and house which I have built for thy name;

So now my God let thine eyes be open and thine ears attent unto the prayers made in this place.

And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, "I have heard thy petition and have chosen this place for myself to be a house of sacrifice.

Thereto mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attent unto the prayers made in this place.

And finally I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name be there forever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them, and will cast this house which I have sanctified for my name out of my sight, and will make a proverb and a tale of it among all nations.

And this house that is so high, shall be a wonder to all that passeth thereby that they shall say, 'Why hath the LORD dealt on this fashion with this land and with this house?'

And it shall be answered then, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and caught hold on other gods, and bowed to them and served them: even therefore brought he on them all this evil.'"

even the children of them, which were left after them in the land, and were not consumed of the children of Israel - them did Solomon make tributaries unto this day.

And king Rehoboam counseled with elders that stood before Solomon his father, while he lived, and said, "What counsel give ye me, to answer this people again?"

And they told him saying, "If thou shalt be kind to this people and please them and shalt speak loving words to them, they will be thy servants forever."

and said to them, "What advice give ye that I may answer this people which have communed with me, saying, 'Abate somewhat of the yoke which thy father did put upon us?'"

And so Israel departed from the house of David unto this day.

'Thus sayeth the LORD. Go not nor fight with your brethren: But return every man to his house, for this thing is done of me.'" And they obeyed the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam.

And Asa cried unto the LORD his God and said, "LORD, it is all one with thee to help them that have no power, with few or with many: help us O LORD our God, for we trust to thee, and in thine name be come against this multitude. Thou art the LORD our God: let not man prevail against thee."

And this is the order in the houses of their fathers, of the captains over thousands in Judah: Adnah the captain, and with him of fighting men three hundred thousand.

and say, "Thus sayeth the king: 'Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread and water of tribulation, until I come again in peace.'"

And Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer, went out against him and said to king Jehoshaphat, "Oughtest thou to help the wicked, and to love them that hate the LORD? In this verily is the wrath of the LORD upon thee.

Art not thou our God which didst cast out the inhabiters of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy lover forever?

'When evil cometh upon us, as the sword of judgment, pestilence or hunger: then if we stand before this house and before thee - for thy name is in this house - and shall cry unto thee in our tribulation, thou shalt hear and help.'

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do: but our eyes be unto thee."

And he said, "Hearken all Judah and the inhabiters of Jerusalem, and also king Jehoshaphat! Thus sayeth the LORD unto you: 'Be not afeard or faint hearted by reason of this great multitude. For the war is not yours, but God's.

Moreover, it belongeth not to you for to fight this quarrel: but step forth and stand and behold the help of the LORD which is with you: fear not, nor let your heart fail you, O ye of Judah and of Jerusalem. Tomorrow go out to them: for the LORD is with you."

And the fourth day they assembled in the valley of blessing, for there they blessed the LORD. And therefore they called the name of the said place the valley of blessing unto this day.

After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, which was a wicked doer.

And so Edom departed from under the hand of Judah unto this day. That same time also did Libnah depart from under his power, because he left the LORD God of his fathers.

And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, of this tenor: "Thus sayeth the LORD God of David thy father: 'Because thou walkedst not in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father and in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

This it is therefore that ye shall do. The third part of you priests and Levites which come in the Sabbath day, shall keep the doors;

And so they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and Images. And then came there wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem, for this their trespasses' sake.

And as the prophet spake to him, he said to the prophet, "Have men made thee of the king's counsel? Cease, lest thou be beaten." And the prophet ceased, and said, "I am sure that God hath taken counsel to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and obeyest not my counsel."

For if ye turn unto the LORD, then your brethren and your children shall find compassion in the presence of them that hold them captive, that they may come again unto this land: for the LORD your God is full of mercy and compassion, and will not turn his face from you, if ye turn again to him."

And when they had finished all this, then all Israel that were found in cities of Judah went out and brake the Images and cut down the groves, and all to break the hill altars and the other altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had made an end of them. And afterward all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession in their own cities.

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, "Since they began to bring the heave offerings into the house of the LORD, we have eaten and had enough, and yet left abundance, for the LORD hath blessed his people and thereof is this heap left."

And of this manner did Hezekiah, throughout all Judah; and did that was good, right and truth, before the LORD his God.

Wherefore now let not Hezekiah deceive you, either persuade you of this fashion, nor yet believe him. For as no god among so many nations and kingdoms, was able to rid his people out of mine hand and the hands of my fathers: even so much less shall your God keep you out of mine hand!"

And he put the carved Image of an Idol which he had made, in the house of God - Of which house, God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house here in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes, I will put my name forever,

"Go and enquire of the LORD for me and for them that are left in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that is found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is fallen upon us, because our fathers kept not the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book."

even thus sayeth the LORD: See, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabiters thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah,

because they have forsaken me and have offered unto other gods to anger me with all manner works of their hands, therefore is my wrath set on fire against this place and shall not be quenched.

Because thine heart did melt and thou didst meek thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place and against the inhabiters thereof, and humblest thyself before me, and tarest thy clothes and weepest before me, that have I heard also, sayeth the LORD.

Behold, I will take thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the mischief that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabiters of the same.'" And they brought the king word again.

And this Passover was holden in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

After all this, when Josiah had finished the temple, Neco king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish upon Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.

And the other sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I came not against thee now at this time, but against a house with whom I have war, and God bade me haste. Leave off therefore and meddle not with God, which is with me, lest he destroy thee."

And Jeremiah lamented Josiah, and all singing men and singing women speak of Josiah to this day, and made it an ordinance in Israel: and they be written in lamentations.

And the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to finish the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a proclamation throughout all this kingdom, and thereto to set it up in writing, saying,