Bathsheba knelt and bowed down to the king, and the king asked her, "What do you wish?"

"Furthermore, you're aware of what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner's son Abner and Jether's son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet.

But don't let him off unpunished, since you're a wise man and you'll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age by shedding his blood."

and told him, "I would like to make a minor request of you. Please don't refuse me." "What is your request, mother?" the king asked her. "I won't turn you down."

When Joab learned what had happened, he ran to the LORD's tent and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, since Joab had supported Adonijah (though he had not supported Absalom).

The king replied to him, "Do just what he asked. Kill him and bury him so that you may remove from me and from my father's household the guilt that Joab shed needlessly.

Shimei replied to the king, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me. I'll do what you've said." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for quite some time.

so the king sent for Shimei and asked him, "Didn't I make a promise to the LORD and warn you, "The day you leave and go anywhere else, you can be sure you'll die'? And you told me, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me.'

"Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life for yourself, and you didn't ask for the lives of your enemies, but instead you've asked for discernment so you can understand how to govern, look how I'm going to do precisely what you asked. I'm giving you a wise and discerning mind, so that there will have been no one like you before you and no one will arise after you like you.

I'm also giving you what you haven't requested: both riches and honor, so that no other king will be comparable to you during your lifetime.

"Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king.

"I have read the letter that you sent me. I'll do what you've asked about the cedar and cypress timber.

"Concerning this Temple that you're building, if you live your life according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David.

Then Solomon prayed: "Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said:

"The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

"LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God in heaven above or on the earth below, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. It is you, LORD God, who have kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today.

"If a famine comes to the land, or if plant diseases, mildew, locust, or grasshoppers appear, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is,

"When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name,

And may what I've had to say to the LORD remain with the LORD our God both day and night, so that he may defend the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as the need of the day may require it,

so he asked him, "What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?" That's why these cities were named "the land of Cabal" to this day.

"Everything I heard about your wisdom and what you have to say is true!" she gasped,

"but I didn't believe it at first! But then I came here and I've seen it for myself! It's amazing! I wasn't told half of what's really great about your wisdom. You're far better in person than what the reports have said about you!

In return, King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and had requested in addition to what he had given her consistent with his generosity. Afterward, she returned to her own land with her servants.

Solomon practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by not fully following the LORD, as had his father David.

and warned him about this so he would not pursue other gods. But he did not obey what the LORD had commanded,

Then he told Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says:

I'm doing this because they have abandoned me and worshipped that Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven't lived my way by doing what I consider to be right and observing my statutes and my ordinances, like his father David did.

If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I'll give Israel to you.

This is how I'm going to afflict David's descendants because of what they have done, though I won't do it continuously.'"

while King Rehoboam conferred with his advisors who had worked for his father Solomon during his administration. He asked them, "What is your advice as to how I should respond to these people?"

As a result, he asked them, "What's your advice so that we can give an answer to these people who have asked me, "Please lighten the burden that your father put on us.'?"

"This is what you should tell these people who asked you "Your father made our burden heavy, but you must make it lighter for us!'" the young men who grew up with Rehoboam replied. "Tell them, "My little finger will be thicker than my father's whole body!

Instead, Rehoboam spoke to them along the lines of what the younger men suggested. He told them, "My father burdened you heavily, but I will add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I'm going to discipline you with scorpions!"

When all of Israel saw that the king wasn't listening to them, the people responded to the king's message, "What's the point in following David? We have no inheritance in the descendants of Jesse. Let's go home, Israel! David, take care of your own household!' So Israel left for home.

"This is what the LORD says: "You are not to fight or even approach your fellow Israelis in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, because this development comes from me."'" So they listened to what the LORD had to say and returned home, just as the LORD had directed.

He cursed the altar in this message from the LORD: "Hey altar! Hey altar! This is what the LORD says: "Pay attention to this! A son is going to be born in David's dynasty. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice the priests who burn incense on you in these high places. Human bones will be burned on you!'"

Later that same day, he gave them a special display of power of what was to come when he said, "Here's proof that the LORD has decreed this: Look! This altar will be split apart and the ashes that are on it will spill out."

so he cried out to the man of God from Judah: "This is what the LORD says: "Because you disobeyed a command from the LORD and haven't done what the LORD your God commanded you to do,

When some men passed by and noticed the body lying in the middle of the road and the lion standing beside the body, they went straight to the city and told what had happened in the city where the old prophet lived.

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."

Take ten loaves with you, some cakes, and a jar of honey and go visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

So that's what Jeroboam's wife did. She got up, went to Shiloh, and found Ahijah's home. Ahijah was blind, because his eyes could not focus due to his age.

"Come in, wife of Jeroboam. What is this pretension at being someone else? I have some harsh news. Go tell Jeroboam: "I raised you up from among the people. "I made you Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel.

"I tore the kingdom away from David's dynasty. "Then I gave it to you. But you have not lived like my servant David, who kept my commands with all his heart, and did only what I considered to be right.

Judah practiced what the LORD considered to be evil. They did more to provoke him to jealousy than their ancestors had ever done by committing the sins that they committed.

because David had practiced what the LORD considered to be right. He never avoided anything that the LORD had commanded him during his entire lifetime, except for the case of Uriah the Hittite.

Asa practiced what the LORD considered to be right, just like his ancestor David.

So King Ben-hadad did just what King Asa had asked: he sent his commanding officers to attack the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all of Chinneroth, and the territory of Naphtali.

practicing what the LORD considered to be evil, living the way his father did, committing sins, and leading Israel to sin.

He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, living like Jeroboam did and leading Israel into sin.

Later, a message came from the LORD to Hanani's son Jehu. It was directed to rebuke Baasha, and this is what it said:

In addition, a message from the LORD came through Hanani's son Jehu the prophet against Baasha and his household, not only because of all of the things that Baasha did that the LORD considered to be evil, including provoking the LORD to anger by what he did and by being like the household of Jeroboam, but also because Baasha had destroyed Jeroboam's household.

because of all the sins that Baasha and his son Elah had committed and because of what they did to lead Israel into sin, thus provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idolatry.

because of the sins that he committed by doing what the LORD considered to be evil, living like Jeroboam did, and sinning so as to lead Israel into sin.

Omri practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, doing far more evil than anyone who had reigned before him.

Omri's son Ahab practiced more of what the LORD considered to be evil than anyone who had lived before him.

So Elijah left and did exactly what the LORD had told him to do he went to live near the Wadi Cherith, where it enters the Jordan River.

But Elijah told her, "You can stop being afraid. Go and do what you said, but first make me a muffin and bring it to me. Then make a meal for yourself and for your son,

because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "That jar of flour will not run out, nor will that bottle of oil become empty until the very day that the LORD sends rain on the surface of the ground.'"

So she went out and did precisely what Elijah told her to do. As a result, Elijah, the widow, and her son were fed for days.

"What do we have in common, you man of God?" she accused Elijah. "You came to me so you could uncover my guilt! And you're responsible for the death of my son!"

The woman responded to Elijah, "Now at last I've really learned that you are a man of God and that what you have to say about the LORD is the truth."

But Obadiah replied, "What did I do wrong, that you would put me in a position where Ahab would execute me?

Hasn't anyone told you, my master, what I did when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets? I hid 100 of the LORD's prophets by fifties in a cave and provided food and water for them.

When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!"

Elijah arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the LORD: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

As soon as Elijah heard it, he covered his face in his mantle, went outside, and stood at the entrance to the cave. And there a voice spoke to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He abandoned the oxen, ran off to follow Elijah, and asked him, "Please, let me kiss my mother and father good-bye, and then I'll come after you." "Go back again," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"

Then he sent envoys to visit King Ahab of Israel and told him, "This is what Ben-hadad says:

After delivering Ahab's answer, the envoys returned with this message: "This is what Ben-hadad says: "I've sent my envoys to you to tell you that your silver, gold, wives, and children are to be given to me.

Right about then, a prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and told him, "This is what the LORD says: "You see all of this great big army, do you? Well now, I'm going to deliver them all right into your hand, and you will learn that I am the LORD!'"

"By whom?" Ahab asked. "This is what the LORD says," the prophet replied. ""By the young men who serve as officials within the provinces.'" "Who is to begin the battle?" Ahab asked. "You," the prophet answered.

Then replace the army that you lost, horse-for-horse and chariot-for-chariot. We'll fight them on the plains, and we're certain to be the stronger army." Ben-hadad listened to what they had to say and carried out their advice.

Right about then, a man of God approached and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: "Because the Arameans keep saying "The LORD is a mountain god, but isn't a valley god," I'm going to deliver this entire vast army right into your control, so you'll learn that I really am the LORD.'"

Ben-hadad's advisors, quickly analyzing the signs in what Ahab was saying, responded, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad." "Go get him," Ahab responded. So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab took him up into his personal chariot.

He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: "Because you let the man whom I had dedicated to destruction go free, therefore your life is to be forfeited for his life, and your people for his people.'"

So the leading men of the city, along with the elders and nobles who lived there, did precisely what Jezebel had directed them to do. They followed the instructions that she had set forth in the memos:

Ask the king, "Did you commit murder? And now you're going to steal as well?' Also tell him, "This is what the LORD says: "Where the dogs were licking up Naboth's blood, dogs will also lick up your blood that's right yours!"'"

But Elijah answered, "I've found you because you sold yourself to do what the LORD considers to be evil! Now pay attention! I'm going to send evil in your direction! I will completely sweep you away and eliminate from Ahab every male, whether indentured servant or free, throughout Israel.

It can be truly said that no one else sold himself to practice what the LORD considered to be evil quite like the way Ahab did, because his wife Jezebel incited him.

"There is still one man left by whom we could ask the LORD what to do," the king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me. Instead, he prophesies evil. He is Imla's son Micaiah." But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, "Kings should never talk like that."

Chenaanah's son Zedekiah made iron horns for himself and told them, "This is what the LORD says, "With these horns you are to gore the Arameans until they are eliminated!'"

"As the LORD lives," Micaiah replied, "I'll say what my God tells me to say."

But Micaiah responded, "Therefore, listen to what the LORD has to say. I saw the LORD, sitting on his throne, and the entire Heavenly Army was standing around him on his right hand and on his left hand.

He lived like his father Asa and never abandoned that life. He did what the LORD considered to be right. Nevertheless, the high places were not demolished, and the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

He practiced what the Lord considered to be evil by living life like his father and mother did. He lived like Nebat's son Jeroboam, who led Israel into sin.