The young woman was very beautiful; she became the king's nurse and served him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.

But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David's elite warriors did not ally themselves with Adonijah.

But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the elite warriors, or his brother Solomon.

Visit King David and say to him, 'My master, O king, did you not solemnly promise your servant, "Surely your son Solomon will be king after me; he will sit on my throne"? So why has Adonijah become king?'

Nathan said, "My master, O king, did you announce, 'Adonijah will be king after me; he will sit on my throne'?

For today he has gone down and sacrificed many cattle, steers, and sheep and has invited all the king's sons, the army commanders, and Abiathar the priest. At this moment they are having a feast in his presence, and they have declared, 'Long live King Adonijah!'

But he did not invite me -- your servant -- or Zadok the priest, or Benaiah son of Jehoiada, or your servant Solomon.

I will keep today the oath I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel: 'Surely Solomon your son will be king after me; he will sit in my place on my throne.'"

and said this: 'The Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because today he has placed a successor on my throne and allowed me to see it.'"

Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah fears you; see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'May King Solomon solemnly promise me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.'"

"You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me -- how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet.

Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David's throne, and established a dynasty for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!"

The king then told Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your property in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times."

Then the king said to Shimei, "You are well aware of the way you mistreated my father David. The Lord will punish you for what you did.

Furthermore, I am giving you what you did not request -- riches and honor so that you will be the greatest king of your generation.

If you follow my instructions by obeying my rules and regulations, just as your father David did, then I will grant you long life."

She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms.

I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was, dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby."

The other woman said, "No! My son is alive; your son is dead!" But the first woman replied, "No, your son is dead; my son is alive." Each presented her case before the king.

The king said, "One says, 'My son is alive; your son is dead,' while the other says, 'No, your son is dead; my son is alive.'"

When Hiram heard Solomon's message, he was very happy. He said, "The Lord is worthy of praise today because he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation."

Solomon's and Hiram's construction workers, along with men from Byblos, did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple.

He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a craftsman in bronze from Tyre. He had the skill and knowledge to make all kinds of works of bronze. He reported to King Solomon and did all the work he was assigned.

Solomon left all these items unweighed; there were so many of them they did not weigh the bronze.

But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today.

You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations.

This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying, 'Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?'

Hiram asked, "Why did you give me these cities, my friend?" He called that area the region of Cabul, a name which it has retained to this day.

Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews; the Israelites served as his soldiers, attendants, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.

I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn't hear even half the story! Your wisdom and wealth surpass what was reported to me.

Solomon did evil in the Lord's sight; he did not remain loyal to the Lord, like his father David had.

and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. But he did not obey the Lord's command.

During David's campaign against Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, while on a mission to bury the dead, killed every male in Edom.

While in Egypt Hadad heard that David had passed away and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, "Give me permission to leave so I can return to my homeland."

I am taking the kingdom from him because they have abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, like Solomon's father David did.

You must obey all I command you to do, follow my instructions, do what I approve, and keep my rules and commandments, like my servant David did. Then I will be with you and establish for you a lasting dynasty, as I did for David; I will give you Israel.

They said to him, "Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward."

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.

So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel.

Their father asked them, "Which road did he take?" His sons showed him the road the prophet from Judah had taken.

He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey," and they did so.

After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; he continued to appoint common people as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest.

Jeroboam's wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age.

Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done.

He did this because David had done what he approved and had not disregarded any of his commandments his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite.

Asa did what the Lord approved like his ancestor David had done.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He followed in his father's footsteps and encouraged Israel to sin.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he followed in Jeroboam's footsteps and encouraged Israel to sin.

Zimri came in and struck him dead. (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's reign over Judah.) Zimri replaced Elah as king.

When he became king and occupied the throne, he killed Baasha's entire family. He did not spare any male belonging to him; he killed his relatives and his friends.

This happened because of the sins he committed. He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed in Jeroboam's footsteps and encouraged Israel to continue sinning.

Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him.

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him.

Ahab also made an Asherah pole; he did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

So he did as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.

She went and did as Elijah told her; there was always enough food for Elijah and for her and her family.

Certainly my master is aware of what I did when Jezebel was killing the Lord's prophets. I hid one hundred of the Lord's prophets in two caves in two groups of fifty and I brought them food and water.

But Elijah said, "As certainly as the Lord who rules over all lives (whom I serve), I will make an appearance before him today."

Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? If the Lord is the true God, then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!" But the people did not say a word.

Then he said, "Fill four water jars and pour the water on the offering and the wood." When they had done so, he said, "Do it again." So they did it again. Then he said, "Do it a third time." So they did it a third time.

When it was time for the evening offering, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and prayed: "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.

Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this warning, "May the gods judge me severely if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!"

The king of Israel summoned all the leaders of the land and said, "Notice how this man is looking for trouble. Indeed, he demanded my wives, sons, silver, and gold, and I did not resist him."

Muster an army like the one you lost, with the same number of horses and chariots. Then we will fight them in the plains; we will certainly overpower them." He approved their plan and did as they advised.

Ben Hadad said, "I will return the cities my father took from your father. You may set up markets in Damascus, just as my father did in Samaria." Ahab then said, "I want to make a treaty with you before I dismiss you." So he made a treaty with him and then dismissed him.

When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you for silver, for Naboth is no longer alive; he's dead."

When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, "Which way did the Lord's spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?"

He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed in the footsteps of his father and mother; like Jeroboam son of Nebat, he encouraged Israel to sin.