Solomon and the entire assembly went to the worship center in Gibeon, for the tent where they met God was located there, which Moses the Lord's servant had made in the wilderness.

But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, was in front of the Lord's tabernacle. Solomon and the entire assembly prayed to him there.)

Now give me wisdom and discernment so I can effectively lead this nation. Otherwise no one is able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours."

God said to Solomon, "Because you desire this, and did not ask for riches, wealth, and honor, or for vengeance on your enemies, and because you did not ask for long life, but requested wisdom and discernment so you can make judicial decisions for my people over whom I have made you king,

Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt and from Que; the king's traders purchased them from Que.

we will get all the timber you need from Lebanon and bring it in raft-like bundles by sea to Joppa. You can then haul it on up to Jerusalem."

Solomon began building the Lord's temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Solomon laid the foundation for God's temple; its length (determined according to the old standard of measure) was 90 feet, and its width 30 feet.

He overlaid the temple's rafters, thresholds, walls and doors with gold; he carved decorative cherubim on the walls.

The combined wing span of the cherubs was 30 feet. One of the first cherub's wings was seven and one-half feet long and touched one wall of the temple; its other wing was also seven and one-half feet long and touched one of the second cherub's wings.

Likewise one of the second cherub's wings was seven and one-half feet long and touched the other wall of the temple; its other wing was also seven and one-half feet long and touched one of the first cherub's wings.

He also made the big bronze basin called "The Sea." It measured 15 feet from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven and one-half feet high. Its circumference was 45 feet.

Images of bulls were under it all the way around, ten every eighteen inches all the way around. The bulls were in two rows and had been cast with "The Sea."

"The Sea" stood on top of twelve bulls. Three faced northward, three westward, three southward, and three eastward. "The Sea" was placed on top of them, and they all faced outward.

He made ten washing basins; he put five on the south side and five on the north side. In them they rinsed the items used for burnt sacrifices; the priests washed in "The Sea."

He put "The Sea" on the south side, in the southeast corner.

Huram Abi made the pots, shovels, and bowls. He finished all the work on God's temple he had been assigned by King Solomon.

the big bronze basin called "The Sea" with its twelve bulls underneath,

and the pots, shovels, and meat forks. All the items King Solomon assigned Huram Abi to make for the Lord's temple were made from polished bronze.

Solomon made so many of these items they did not weigh the bronze.

Solomon also made these items for God's temple: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was kept,

When Solomon had finished constructing the Lord's temple, he put the holy items that belonged to his father David (the silver, gold, and all the other articles) in the treasuries of God's temple.

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).

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

The poles were so long their ends extending out from the ark were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. They have remained there to this very day.

The trumpeters and musicians played together, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they loudly praised the Lord, singing: "Certainly he is good; certainly his loyal love endures!" Then a cloud filled the Lord's temple.

The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord's splendor filled God's temple.

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

But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you.

Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place.

When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the Lord's splendor filled the temple.

The priests were unable to enter the Lord's temple because the Lord's splendor filled the Lord's temple.

When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the Lord's splendor over the temple, they got on their knees with their faces downward toward the pavement. They worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "Certainly he is good; certainly his loyal love endures!"

King Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the people dedicated God's temple.

Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord's temple. He offered burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings there, because the bronze altar that Solomon had made was too small to hold all these offerings.

After Solomon finished building the Lord's temple and the royal palace, and accomplished all his plans for the Lord's temple and his royal palace,

When I close up the sky so that it doesn't rain, or command locusts to devour the land's vegetation, or send a plague among my people,

As for this temple, which was once majestic, everyone who passes by it will be shocked and say, 'Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?'

After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord's temple and his royal palace,

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."

Then Solomon offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built in front of the temple's porch.

They did not neglect any detail of the king's orders pertaining to the priests, Levites, and treasuries.

All the work ordered by Solomon was completed, from the day the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid until it was finished; the Lord's temple was completed.

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.

When the queen of Sheba saw for herself Solomon's extensive wisdom, the palace he had built,

the food in his banquet hall, his servants and attendants in their robes, his cupbearers in their robes, and his burnt sacrifices which he presented in the Lord's temple, she was amazed.

I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn't hear even half the story! Your wisdom surpasses what was reported to me.

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."

(Huram's servants, aided by Solomon's servants, brought gold from Ophir, as well as fine timber and precious gems.

With the timber the king made steps for the Lord's temple and royal palace as well as stringed instruments for the musicians. No one had seen anything like them in the land of Judah prior to that.)

All of King Solomon's cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon's time.

The king had a fleet of large merchant ships manned by Huram's men that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet came into port with cargoes of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

All the kings of the earth wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom.

The rest of the events of Solomon's reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Annals of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Vision of Iddo the Seer pertaining to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

He said to them, "Go away for three days, then return to me." So the people went away.

The young advisers with whom Rehoboam had grown up said to him, "Say this to these people who have said to you, 'Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden' -- say this to them: 'I am a lot harsher than my father!

The king refused to listen to the people, because God was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

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.

"Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin,

The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord's priests.

Rehoboam married Mahalath the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab.

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

Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam's fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

Shemaiah the prophet visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, "This is what the Lord says: 'You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.'"

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem through Shishak.

Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations."

King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord's temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

Whenever the king visited the Lord's temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

So when Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; Judah experienced some good things.

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.

The events of Rehoboam's reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records.

Now you are declaring that you will resist the Lord's rule through the Davidic dynasty. You have a huge army, and bring with you the gold calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.

But you banished the Lord's priests, Aaron's descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods!

But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron's descendants serve as the Lord's priests and the Levites assist them with the work.

They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly we are observing the Lord our God's regulations, but you have rejected him.

The men of Judah turned around and realized they were being attacked from the front and the rear. So they cried out for help to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets,

Abijah's power grew; he had fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

The rest of the events of Abijah's reign, including his deeds and sayings, are recorded in the writings of the prophet Iddo.

He said to the people of Judah: "Let's build these cities and fortify them with walls, towers, and barred gates. The land remains ours because we have followed the Lord our God and he has made us secure on all sides." So they built the cities and prospered.

God's Spirit came upon Azariah son of Oded.

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he was encouraged. He removed the detestable idols from the entire land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had seized in the Ephraimite hill country. He repaired the altar of the Lord in front of the porch of the Lord's temple.

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.

They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign.

He brought the holy items that his father and he had made into God's temple, including the silver, gold, and other articles.

There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

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.

Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

"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.

Asa was so angry at the prophet, he put him in jail. Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time.

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

He placed troops in all of Judah's fortified cities and posted garrisons throughout the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had seized.

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in his ancestor David's footsteps at the beginning of his reign. He did not seek the Baals,

Jehoshaphat's power kept increasing. He built fortresses and storage cities throughout Judah.

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!"

But Micaiah said, "As certainly as the Lord lives, I will say what my God tells me to say!"

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.'"

Micaiah said, "That being the case, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the heavenly assembly standing on his right and on his left.