I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for My name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

Though this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will mock. They will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?

At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace—

This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord’s presence. So he completed the temple.

the food at his table, his servants’ residence, his attendants’ service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord’s temple, it took her breath away.

The king made the almug wood into steps for the Lord’s temple and the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood come, and the like has not been seen again even to this very day.

If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will murder me and go back to the king of Judah.”

Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.

because what he predicted by a message from the LORD against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about."

He seized the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.

Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the royal escorts would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the royal escorts’ armory.

And he banished the male temple prostitutes out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace and put it into the hands of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, saying,

He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.

The remnant of the male temple prostitutes, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land.

However, in a particular matter may the Lord pardon your servant: When my master, the king of Aram, goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship and I, as his right-hand man, bow in the temple of Rimmon—when I bow in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.”

Then Jehu sent throughout Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came; there was no one left who did not come. They went to the house (temple) of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other.

Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Recab came [to] the temple of Baal, and he said to the servants of Baal, "Search and see that there is none of the servants of Yahweh here with you; only those who serve Baal."

It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, "Come and kill them; let no man go free!" So {they put them to the sword}, and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal.

They brought out the stone pillars of the temple of Baal and burned {them}.

So they broke down the stone pillars of Baal and destroyed the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine until this day.

He remained with her in the temple of Yahweh, hidden for six years [while] Athaliah was reigning over the land.

But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the commanders of the hundreds of the Carites and the runners, and he brought them to himself to the temple of Yahweh. Then he {made} a covenant with them and made them swear in the house of Yahweh and showed them the son of the king.

Two of the units among you, all {who go on duty on the Sabbath}, guard the post of the temple of Yahweh for the king.

And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD.

And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple.

And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the LORD.

Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of the hundreds, the appointed of the army, and he said to them, "Bring her out to the house of the ranks! The one coming after her [should] kill her with the sword," for the priest had said, "Let her not be killed in the temple of Yahweh."

Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down, and its altars and its images they broke completely into pieces. Mattan the priest of Baal they killed in front of the altars. Then the priest put guards over the house of Yahweh.

He took the commanders of the hundreds and the Carites and the runners and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the temple of Yahweh. And they marched by the way of the runner's gate [to] the palace of the king, and he sat on the throne of the kings.

Jehoash said to the priests, "All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, {the money taxed at its proper value for each person} [and] all of the money which comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh,

let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found."

It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple.

So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, "Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it."

So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple.

Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple.

It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh.

They placed the money, [which was] weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid [it to] the skilled craftsmen of wood and [to] the builders working on the temple of Yahweh

and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it.

Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought [to] the temple of Yahweh.

For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the temple of Yahweh with it.

[The] money of [the] guilt offering and [the] money of [the] sin offering was not brought into the temple of Yahweh, but were [each] for the priests.

Jehoash king of Judah took all of the holy objects that Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Ahaziah his ancestors, the kings of Judah, had devoted, and all his holy objects and all of the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of Yahweh, and [in] the palace of the king, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, so that he went up from Jerusalem.

He also took all of the gold and silver and all the vessels found [in] the temple of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, as well as the {hostages}; then he returned to Samaria.

Only the high places were not removed; the people still [were] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the temple of Yahweh.

Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace and sent them to the king of Assyria as a gift.

Now the bronze altar which was before Yahweh, he brought over from the front of the temple, from between [his] altar and the temple of Yahweh, and he placed it at the side of [his] altar to the north.

He removed from the house of the Lord the covered way for the Sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entrance of the king, because of the king of Assyria [who might confiscate them].

Nevertheless, each nation continued to craft their own gods and install them in the temples on the high places that the people of Samaria had constructed every nation in their own cities where they continued to live.

Because they feared the LORD, they also appointed from among themselves priests for the high places who acted on their behalf in the temples on the high places.

Then Hezekiah gave all of the silver found [in] the temple of Yahweh and in the storerooms of the house of the king.

At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

It happened that when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went [to] the temple of Yahweh.

Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and read them. [Then] he went up to the temple of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread them out before the presence of Yahweh.

Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

It happened that he [was] worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword. Then they escaped [into] the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

"Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor, "I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I [am about to] heal you. On the third day you shall go up [to] the temple of Yahweh.

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What is the sign that Yahweh will heal me that I shall go up on the third day [to] the temple of Yahweh?"

'Your sons who went out from you, whom you brought forth, will be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the temple of the king of Babylon.'"

He built altars in the temple of Yahweh [about] which Yahweh had said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."

He built an altar to all of the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh.

He put the image of the Asherah that he had made in the temple which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent [word to] Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying,

"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people,

and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who [are] at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple:

to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple.

Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.

Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, "Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed [over] the temple of Yahweh."

Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

He brought out the Asherah image from the temple of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the Wadi of the Kidron and burnt it {there}; then he pulverized [it] to dust and threw its dust upon the tombs of the children of the people.

He tore down the shrines of the male shrine prostitutes which were in the temple of Yahweh, where the women were weaving shrines for the Asherah.

He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which [was] in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.

The altars which [were] on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron.

Josiah also removed all of the temples on the high places that had been in the cities of Samaria and that the kings of Israel had erected, thereby provoking the LORD. He treated Samaria just as he had Bethel.

Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found [in] the temple of Yahweh.

For the Lord had said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”

And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire.

The bronze pillars which [were in] the temple of Yahweh, the water carts, and the bronze sea that was in the temple of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried their bronze to Babylon.

They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze articles which were used in the temple service,

The two pillars, the one sea, and the water cart which Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh, there was no weighing to the bronze of all of these vessels.

The captain of the guard arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, three temple officials,

And Johanan begat Azariah, (he it is that executed the priest's office in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem:)

These are the men David put in charge of the music in the Lord’s temple after the ark came to rest there.

They were ministering with song before the tabernacle of the tent of assembly until Solomon built the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. And they stood according to their order with respect to their duty.

Their relatives, the Levites, were assigned to all the service of the tabernacle, God’s temple.

Now the first [of the returned exiles] who lived [again] in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim (temple servants).

Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the chief official of God’s temple;

and 1,760 of their relatives, the heads of households. They were capable men employed in the ministry of God’s temple.

but the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the rooms and the treasuries of God’s temple.

They spent the night in the vicinity of God’s temple, because they had guard duty and were in charge of opening it every morning.

Now these are the singers, heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites, living in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night.

And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.

He will build a temple dedicated to me, and I will make his throne last forever.

I will confirm him in my Temple and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will remain secure forever."'"

David also confiscated a vast quantity of bronze from Tibhath and Cun, cities under Hadadezer's control. Later on, Solomon crafted the bronze sea, the pillars, and the bronze vessels for the Temple.

David said, "This is where the LORD God's Temple will be, along with the altar of burnt offerings for Israel."