It was a handbreadth thick, with its brim fashioned like the brim of a cup. Similar in shape to a lily blossom, it could hold 3,000 baths.

King Solomon and all the Israelis who had assembled together proceeded ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and oxen than could be counted or recorded due to the number of sacrifices.

but the poles were long enough for their ends to extend to the front of the inner sanctuary, even though they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day.

The priests could not enter into the Temple because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD's Temple.

Solomon also dedicated the middle of the court in front of the LORD's Temple by offering there burnt offerings and fat from peace offerings because the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not contain the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat portion offerings.

Blessed be the LORD your God, who is delighted with you! He set you in place on his throne to be king for the LORD your God. He made you king over them so you could carry out justice and implement righteousness, because your God loves Israel and intends to establish them forever."

All the kings of the earth continued to seek audiences with Solomon so they could hear the wise things that God had put in his heart.

As a result, anyone from all of the tribes of Israel who was determined to seek the LORD God of Israel followed the descendants of Levi to Jerusalem so they could sacrifice to the LORD God of their ancestors,

Asa and his army pursued the Ethiopians as far as Gerar. So many Ethiopians died that their army could not recover, because it had been shattered in the LORD's presence and in the presence of his army. The Israelis carried off a lot of plunder, too.

During the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and interdicted Ramah by building fortifications around it so no one could enter or leave to join King Asa of Judah.

But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there a prophet of the LORD left here that we could talk to?"

"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 won't prophesy anything good about me. Instead, he always prophesies evil. He is Imla's son Micaiah." But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, "Kings should never talk like that."

Later on, when Jehoshaphat and his army arrived to collect the spoils of war, they discovered there were far more goods, garments, and other valuable items to collect than they could carry off in a single day. There was so much material that it took three days to finish their collection efforts.

He confiscated all the gold, silver, and utensils that he could find in the care of Obed-edom inside of God's Temple and inside the royal palace. Then he took some hostages and returned to Samaria.

Uzziah commanded an army of 307,500 who could fight formidably on behalf of the king against any enemy.

He also had various siege engines built by skilled designers and placed them on the towers and on the corner ramparts that could fire arrows and very large stones. His reputation spread far and wide, and he was marvelously assisted until he grew very strong.

Because there were so many in the assembly that had not consecrated themselves, therefore the descendants of Levi supervised the slaughter of the Passover sacrifices on behalf of everyone who remained unclean, so they could be consecrated to the LORD.

Hezekiah also directed the people who lived in Jerusalem to give what was due to the priests and descendants of Levi, so they could be strengthened in the LORD's Law.

They set aside in reserve the burnt offerings, so they could distribute them in proportion to the divisions of their ancestral households for presentation by the people to the LORD, as is required by the book of Moses. They did this with respect to the bulls, also.

But Josiah wouldn't turn around. In fact, he put on a disguise so he could fight Neco. He wouldn't listen to what God told him through what Neco had to say, and as a result, Josiah came to attack Neco on the Megiddo plain.