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?

Huram continued, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

And he made ten lavers, and set five on the right hand - and five on the left, to bathe therein, what is offered as an ascending-sacrifice, do they rinse therein, - but, the sea, was, that the priests should bathe therein.

Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold;

Howbeit, in very deed, can God dwell with man on earth? Behold, neither heaven or heaven above all heavens is able to contain thee! How should the house then which I have built for thee do it?

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.

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

And he said to them, "What do you advise that we should say in return to this people, who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father has put upon us'?"

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.

For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office to Yahweh;

Should you not know that Jehovah, the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women.

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.”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man who can ask Yahweh, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king shouldn’t say that,” Jehoshaphat replied.

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.”

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.'"

And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath came upon you from the LORD.

Jehoshaphat was afraid, so he decided to seek the Lord's advice. He decreed that all Judah should observe a fast.

‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’

Our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us! We don't know what we should do; we look to you for help."

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endures forever.

For it was thrust into Ahaziah of God to go to Joram, and that when he was come, he should go out with Joram against Jehu the son of Nimshi whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

No one must enter the Lord's temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the Lord.

Jehoiada the priest sent out the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, and ordered them, "Bring her outside the temple to the guards. Put the sword to anyone who follows her." The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord's temple.

And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king, that they should be the LORD's people.

And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in anything should enter in.

And when the time came that the chest should be brought in by the hands of the Levites at the appointment of the king, when they saw that there was much money: then came the king's scribe and one appointed by the high priest, and poured out that was in the coffer, and then took it and carried it to his place again, and thus they did day by day, and gathered much money.

As a result, the workmen did their labor, and the repair work progressed steadily under their supervision, and they restored God's Temple back to what it should be, and strengthened it, too.

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.”

But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and killed three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Are you made the king's counselor? stop; why should you be killed? Then the prophet stopped, and said, I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not hearkened unto my counsel.

You say, Lo, you have smitten the Edomites; and your heart lifts you up to boast: abide now at home; why should you meddle to your hurt, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?

My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that you should minister unto him, and burn incense.

And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel.

So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it for a long time in the way in which it was written.

And he ordered that the king's portion should be taken from his substance for the burnt-offerings: for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, for the burnt-offerings of the sabbaths, and of the new moons, and of the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Jehovah.

So there were gathered many people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?

Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?