That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him: “Ask. What should I give you?”

But who is able to build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him? Who am I then that I should build a temple for Him except as a place to burn incense before Him?

may You hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of Your servants
and Your people Israel,
so that You may teach them the good way
they should walk in.
May You send rain on Your land
that You gave Your people for an inheritance.

King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds of hammered gold went into each shield.

He made 300 small shields of hammered gold; about eight pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.

from Benjamin, Eliada, a brave warrior, and 200,000 with him armed with bow and shield;

So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, 400 men, and asked them, “Should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war or should I refrain?”

They replied, “March up, and God will hand it over to the king.”

So he went to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should I refrain?”

Micaiah said, “March up and succeed, for they will be handed over to you.”

Then Amaziah gathered Judah and assembled them according to ancestral house, according to commanders of thousands, and according to commanders of hundreds. He numbered those 20 years old or more for all Judah and Benjamin. He found there to be 300,000 choice men who could serve in the army, bearing spear and shield.

Then Amaziah said to the man of God, “What should I do about the 7,500 pounds of silver I gave to Israel’s division?”

The man of God replied, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.”

While he was still speaking to him, the king asked, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Stop, why should you lose your life?”

So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God intends to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my advice.”

Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land; they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?”

Who among all the gods of these nations that my predecessors completely destroyed was able to deliver his people from my power, that your God should be able to do the same for you?