Solomon addressed all Israel, including those who commanded units of a thousand and a hundred, the judges, and all the leaders of all Israel who were heads of families.

Solomon left the meeting tent at the worship center in Gibeon and went to Jerusalem, where he reigned over Israel.

Look, I am ready to build a temple to honor the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him in order to burn fragrant incense before him, to set out the bread that is regularly displayed, and to offer burnt sacrifices each morning and evening, and on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other times appointed by the Lord our God. This is something Israel must do on a permanent basis.

Huram also said, "Worthy of praise is the Lord God of Israel, who made the sky and the earth! He has given David a wise son who has discernment and insight and will build a temple for the Lord, as well as a royal palace for himself.

Solomon took a census of all the male resident foreigners in the land of Israel, after the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 in all.

Then Solomon convened Israel's elders -- all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families -- in Jerusalem, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David (that is, Zion).

All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival in the seventh month.

When all Israel's elders had arrived, the Levites lifted the ark.

He said, "The Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David.

He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel.

But now I have chosen Jerusalem as a place to live, and I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.'

Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the Lord God of Israel.

The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David's place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the Lord God of Israel

He stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky,

and prayed: "O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity.

Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.'

Now, O Lord God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized.

Respond to the requests of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably and forgive.

"If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you, then if they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help before you in this temple,

then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess.

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple,

"Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds; they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple.

Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you.

The priests stood in their assigned spots, along with the Levites who had the musical instruments used for praising the Lord. (These were the ones King David made for giving thanks to the Lord and which were used by David when he offered praise, saying, "Certainly his loyal love endures.") Opposite the Levites, the priests were blowing the trumpets, while all Israel stood there.

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival for seven days. This great assembly included people from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt in the south.

On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people home. They left happy and contented because of the good the Lord had done for David, Solomon, and his people Israel.

Then I will establish your dynasty, just as I promised your father David, 'You will not fail to have a successor ruling over Israel.'

Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, "My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy."

May the Lord your God be praised because he favored you by placing you on his throne as the one ruling on his behalf! Because of your God's love for Israel and his lasting commitment to them, he made you king over them so you could make just and right decisions."

Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years.

Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king.

They sent for him and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, "We have no portion in David -- no share in the son of Jesse! Return to your homes, O Israel! Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!" So all Israel returned to their homes.

So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from Judah and Benjamin to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided.

Those among all the Israelite tribes who were determined to worship the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors.

After Rehoboam's rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord.

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is just."

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; he was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

Abijah ascended Mount Zemaraim, in the Ephraimite hill country, and said: "Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

Don't you realize that the Lord God of Israel has given David and his dynasty lasting dominion over Israel by a formal agreement?

and the men of Judah gave the battle cry. As the men of Judah gave the battle cry, the Lord struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

For a long time Israel had no true God, or priest to instruct them, or law.

Because of their distress, they turned back to the Lord God of Israel. They sought him and he responded to them.

He assembled all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the settlers from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had come to live with them. Many people from Israel had come there to live when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

Anyone who would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be executed, whether they were young or old, male or female.

The high places were not eliminated from Israel, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.

"I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land."

Ben Hadad accepted King Asa's offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

The events of Asa's reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

His son Jehoshaphat replaced him as king and solidified his rule over Israel.

King Ahab of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I will support you; my army is at your disposal and will support you in battle."

So the king of Israel assembled 400 prophets and asked them, "Should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?" They said, "Attack! God will hand it over to the king."

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord's will. But I despise him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said, "The king should not say such things!"

The king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah."

Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their royal robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

Micaiah replied, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, 'They have no master. They should go home in peace.'"

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?"

The Lord said, 'Who will deceive King Ahab of Israel, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?' One said this and another that.

Then the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the city official and Joash the king's son.

The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah attacked Ramoth Gilead.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and then enter the battle; but you wear your royal attire." So the king of Israel disguised himself and they entered the battle.

Now the king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders, "Do not fight common soldiers or high ranking officers; fight only the king of Israel!"

When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "He must be the king of Israel!" So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. The Lord helped him; God lured them away from him.

When the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him.

Now an archer shot an arrow at random and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king ordered his charioteer, "Turn around and take me from the battle line, for I am wounded."

Our God, you drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession to the descendants of your friend Abraham.

Now the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir are coming! When Israel came from the land of Egypt, you did not allow them to invade these lands. They bypassed them and did not destroy them.

Then some Levites, from the Kohathites and Korahites, got up and loudly praised the Lord God of Israel.

All the kingdoms of the surrounding lands were afraid of God when they heard how the Lord had fought against Israel's enemies.

The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat's reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Annals of Jehu son of Hanani which are included in Scroll of the Kings of Israel.

Later King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel, who did evil.

His brothers, Jehoshaphat's sons, were Azariah, Jechiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All of these were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Israel.

Jehoram took control of his father's kingdom and became powerful. Then he killed all his brothers, as well as some of the officials of Israel.

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab's dynasty had done, for he married Ahab's daughter. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.

but have instead followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. You encouraged the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the Lord, just as the family of Ahab does in Israel. You also killed your brothers, members of your father's family, who were better than you.

He followed their advice and joined Ahab's son King Joram of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram.

He assembled the priests and Levites and ordered them, "Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the annual quota of silver from all Israel for repairs on the temple of your God. Be quick about it!" But the Levites delayed.

So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest, and said to him, "Why have you not made the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the Lord's servant and by the assembly of Israel at the tent containing the tablets of the law?"

An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem requiring the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, God's servant, imposed on Israel in the wilderness.

He was buried in the City of David with the kings, because he had accomplished good in Israel and for God and his temple.

But a prophet visited him and said: "O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites.

After King Amaziah of Judah consulted with his advisers, he sent this message to the king of Israel, Joash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, "Come, face me on the battlefield."

King Joash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thorn bush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son as a wife.' Then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn bush.

So King Joash of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah faced each other on the battlefield in Beth Shemesh of Judah.

Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home.

King Joash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Joash son of Jehoahaz, in Beth Shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate -- a distance of about six hundred feet.

King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of King Joash son of Jehoahaz of Israel.

The rest of the events of Amaziah's reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

The rest of the events of Jotham's reign, including all his military campaigns and his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel; he also made images of the Baals.

The Lord his God handed him over to the king of Syria. The Syrians defeated him and deported many captives to Damascus. He was also handed over to the king of Israel, who thoroughly defeated him.

In one day King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel killed 120,000 warriors in Judah, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors.

They said to them, "Don't bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the Lord? Our guilt is already great and the Lord is very angry at Israel."

The Lord humiliated Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very unfaithful to the Lord.

He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus whom he thought had defeated him. He reasoned, "Since the gods of the kings of Damascus helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me." But they caused him and all Israel to stumble.