And the same night God appeared unto Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I shall give thee."

And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, which he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem.

A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 15 pounds of silver and a horse for about four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.

"Just as you did with my father David, sending him cedars to build him a palace to live in, do the same for me. Look, I'm building a temple dedicated to the name of the LORD my God, to his glory, so we can burn fragrant incense in his presence, display rows of the bread of his presence continuously, and make burnt offerings in the morning, evening, on Sabbath days, during New Moon festivals, and during appointed festivals scheduled by the LORD our God. This is mandated forever in Israel.

The porch in front of the house was as long as the width of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it inside with pure gold.

And he made the house most holy, whose length was twenty cubits like to the breadth of the house, and the breadth thereof was also twenty cubits. And he overlaid it with the best gold, that drew to the sum of six hundred talents.

Their outstretched wings were twenty cubits across; one wing, five cubits long, touching the wall of the house, and the other, of the same size, meeting the wing of the other winged one.

And in the same way, the wings of the other, five cubits long, were stretched out, one touching the wall and the other meeting the wing of the first winged one.

And under it was a design of flowers all round it, ten to a cubit, circling the water-vessel in two lines; they were made from liquid metal at the same time as the water-vessel.

and the blossom-work, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, - the same, was the purest gold;

Then, Solomon called together the elders of Israel, and all the chiefs of the tribes, the ancestral leaders of the sons of Israel, unto Jerusalem, - to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, the same, is Zion.

And all the men of Israel came together unto the king, in the festival, - the same, was the seventh month.

And the Levites, those singing to all them to Asaph, to Heman, to Jeduthun, and to then some and their brethren; being clothed with byssus, with cymbals and with lyres and harps, standing from the sunrising to the altar, and with them the priests to a hundred and twenty, trumpeting with trumpets:)

"The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.

Huram sent him ships and some of his sailors, men who were well acquainted with the sea. They sailed with Solomon's men to Ophir, and took from there 450 talents of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

But I believed not the words of them, until I came and mine eyes had seen it. And see, the one half of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the same that I heard.

The sum of gold that came to Solomon in one year, was six hundred and sixty six talents of gold,

Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem.

And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, through all the fortified cities, and gave abundant provisions to them and obtained many wives [for them].

And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

And when he made himself low, the wrath of the Lord was turned back from him, and complete destruction did not come on him, for there was still some good in Judah.

Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.

burning unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet cense: and the shewbread put in order upon a pure table: and the candlestick of gold with the lamps of the same, to be lighted every evening. For we keep the watch of the LORD our God: but ye have forsaken him.

But Jeroboam had put some of his men to make a surprise attack on them from the back, so some were facing Judah and others were stationed secretly at their back.

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured [several] cities from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephraim (Ephron), with their villages.

And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

But Asa removed some silver and gold from the treasuries of the LORD's Temple and from his royal palace and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who lived in Damascus.

At that same time, Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because thou trustedest in the king of Syria, and trustest not in the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats.

Some years later he went down to [visit] Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab slaughtered many sheep and oxen for him and the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.

Then said Jehoshaphat, unto the king of Israel, - Seek, I pray thee, some time to-day, the word of Yahweh.

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may inquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

And all the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, “March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress, and they went to the fight.

Nevertheless some good things have been found in regard to you, for you burned the Asherahs out of the land and set your heart to seek God."

And moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set some of the Levites And priests, And of the chief fathers of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah And for causes. And they returned to Jerusalem.

And it came to pass after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.

The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Then he consulted with the people and appointed some to sing for the Lord and some to praise the splendor of His holiness. When they went out in front of the armed forces, they kept singing:

Give thanks to the Lord,
for His faithful love endures forever.

And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.

And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; the same did very wickedly:

When Jehoram had ascended over the kingdom of his father and made himself secure, he killed all his brothers with the sword [to eliminate any rivals], and some of the leaders of Israel as well.

So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.

Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah to do the same.

Seven years later, Jehoiada mustered up some courage and made a deal with the officers who commanded units of hundreds of soldiers, including Jehoram's son Azariah, Jehochanan's son Ishmael, Obed's son Azariah, Adaiah's son Maaseiah, and Zichri's son Elishaphat.

Then the king called Jehoiada that was the chiefest, and said to him, "Why requirest thou not of the Levites to bring in, out of Judah and Jerusalem the sum appointed by Moses the servant of the LORD, and by the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?"

And his sons, and the sum of the tax that came to him, and the foundation of the house of God, are written in the story of the book of kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

After this, King Amaziah of Judah sought some advice and then challenged Jehoahaz' son King Joash of Israel, the grandson of Jehu, telling him, "Come out and let's fight each other!"

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.

From the time that Amaziah abandoned his seeking the LORD, some people conspired against him in Jerusalem, so he ran away to Lachish, but they pursued him to Lachish and killed him there.

He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.

So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood in opposition to those coming from the war.

After this, some men who were chosen by name took charge of the captives, clothed those who were naked with clothes appropriated from the war booty, gave them clothes and sandals, fed them, gave them something to drink, anointed them with oil, provided those who weren't able to walk with donkeys to ride on, and took them back to their relatives at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

And at that same time, king Ahaz sent unto the kings of Assyria to have help.

because the Edomites had invaded, attacked Judah, and carried off some captives.

The Philistines also invaded some of the cities in the Shephelah and in the Negev of Judah. They captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, and their surrounding villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages. Then the Philistines settled there,

Even though Ahaz took some of the assets belonging to the LORD's Temple from the royal palace, and from the palaces belonging to the princes, and gave them to the king of Assyria, none of his gifts did any good.

And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against Jehovah, this same king Ahaz.

For see, our fathers were overthrown with the sword and our sons, our daughters and our wives were carried away captive for the same cause.

Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:

But some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

The king contributed some of what he owned for burnt sacrifices, including the morning and evening burnt sacrifices and the burnt sacrifices made on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other appointed times prescribed in the law of the Lord.

Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?

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?

Then Yahweh sent an angel, and he destroyed every mighty warrior of strength, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shamed face to his land and went into the house of his god. And some of the offspring of his loins fell upon him there with the sword.

This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites.

And he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more.

He did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and on their surrounding mountain shrines.

They were also in charge of the burden bearers [who carried heavy loads], and supervised all the workmen in any kind of service; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

Then Shaphan the scribe said to the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book; and he made a start at reading some of it to the king.

Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

Then Josiah provided for the {lay people} sheep, lambs, and young goats, all for the Passover for all who were found [there], to the sum of thirty thousand, along with three thousand bulls. These [were] the possession of the king.

They removed the burnt offerings so that they might be given to the divisions of the ancestral houses of the lay people to offer to the Lord, according to what is written in the book of Moses; they did the same with the bulls.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

And so the children of Israel that could be found, offered Passover the same time and kept the feast of sweet bread seven days.

Some time after all of this, after Josiah had finished preparing the Temple, King Neco of Egypt invaded Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah went out to fight him.

Some archers shot King Josiah, and the king told his servants, "Take me away, because I'm badly wounded."

Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house (temple) of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple there.

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. They defiled the Lord's temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.