Then Solomon and all the assembly went to the high place at Gibeon [to offer sacrifices, where the Canaanites had habitually worshiped], for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.

Now the bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out.

And Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark were visible from the front of the Holy of Holies (inner sanctuary), but were not visible from the outside. They are there to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets [of the Ten Commandments] which Moses put there at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt.

‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city among all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name (Presence) might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a leader over My people Israel;

but I have chosen Jerusalem that My Name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

and he said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on the earth, keeping covenant and showing mercy and lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You [in obedience] with all their heart,

Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, that which You promised him, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, provided your sons are careful to walk in My law as you, [David,] have walked before Me.’

“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict and humble them;

“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there are [migratory] locusts or grasshoppers, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,

“When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and hand them over to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far away or near,

if they take it to heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and pray to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and have acted wickedly’;

Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house of the Lord, for it was there that he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which he had made was not sufficient to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat [all together].

then I will establish your royal throne just as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

that he built and fortified the cities which Huram (Hiram) had given to him, and settled the Israelites there.

And Huram (Hiram) sent him, by his servants, ships and servants familiar with the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and took from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.

Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from him which he did not make clear to her.

and the food of his table, the [vast] seating order of his officials, the attendance and service of his ministers and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, she was breathless.

There were six steps to the throne and a golden footstool attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the arms.

Also, twelve lions were standing there, one on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made for any [other] kingdom.

Those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.

Now the acts of Rehoboam, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, according to genealogical enrollment? There were wars between Rehoboam [of Judah] and Jeroboam [of Israel] continually.

He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam [of Israel].

and worthless (unprincipled, unethical) men gathered around him, useless and wicked men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam the son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and timid, and could not assert himself against them.

Abijah and his people inflicted on them a great defeat, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

Now Zerah the Ethiopian (Cushite) came out against Judah with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah.

Asa called out to the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in and rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”

They attacked and destroyed all the cities around Gerar, for the dread of the Lord had fallen on them. They plundered all the cities, for there was a large amount of spoil in them.

In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, for great suffering came on all the inhabitants of the lands.

And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

“Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord still here by whom we may inquire?”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies [anything] good for me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so [perhaps this time it will be different].”

Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’

But there are some good things found in you, for you have removed the Asherim (idols) from the land and you have set your heart to seek God [with all your soul’s desire].”

So now let the fear (reverent awe) of the Lord be on you [to keep you from making unjust decisions]; be careful in what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality, or acceptance of a bribe.”

Then on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for it was there that they blessed the Lord. For that reason they named that place “The Valley of Beracah (blessing)” until today.

Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of David your father (ancestor): ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

They came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house (palace), together with his sons and his wives; so there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

But the downfall of Ahaziah was ordained by God, in that he went to Joram (Jehoram). For when he arrived there he went out [as an ally] with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

She looked, and there was the [young] king, standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters were beside him. And all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments were directing the [singing of] praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”

So they seized Athaliah, and when she arrived at the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house (palace), they put her to death there.

It came about that whenever the Levites brought the chest to the king’s official, and whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money, the king’s secretary and the chief priest’s representative would come and empty the chest, and take it, and return it to its place. They did this day after day and collected a large amount of money.

Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there.

As Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked toward him, behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he also hurried to get out because the Lord had stricken him.

But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that was returning to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He handed them over to you; but you have killed them in a rage that has reached as far as heaven.

and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here; for we are guilty before the Lord already, and what you intend to do will add more to our sins and our guilt. For our guilt is so great that His burning anger is against Israel.”

The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the low country and of the Negev (the South country) of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with their villages, and also Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and they settled there.

So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.

Now when all of this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and smashed the [pagan] pillars (obelisks, memorial stones) in pieces, cut down the Asherim (wooden symbols of a female deity), and tore down the high places and the altars [of idolatry] throughout all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons (descendants) of Israel returned to their own cities, each to his own property.

The genealogical registration included all their little children, their wives, and their sons and daughters, for the whole assembly, because they consecrated themselves faithfully in holiness.

Also for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the pasture lands of their cities or in each and every city, there were men who were designated by name to give portions to every male among the priests and to everyone genealogically registered among the Levites.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the army that is with him; for the One with us is greater than the one with him.

And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed every brave warrior, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king returned to his own land in shame. And when he entered the house (temple) of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword.

But Hezekiah did nothing [for the Lord] in return for the benefit bestowed on him, because his heart had become proud; therefore God’s wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

And stand in the holy place [of the priests] according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your fellow kinsmen the lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of [the families of] a father’s household.

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

But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy or healing.

He deported to Babylon those who had escaped from the sword; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the kingdom of Persia was established there,

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem]!’” Cross references: 2 Chronicles 36:9 : 2 Kin 24:8 2 Chronicles 36:21 : Lev 25:4; 26:43; Jer 25:11; 29:10 end of crossrefs