Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy great people?

And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of thy enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king:

Behold, I build a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual show-bread, and for the burnt-offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.

And they drew out the staffs of the ark, that the ends of the staffs were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is to this day.

Thou who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and hast spoken with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.

But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

That thy eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place of which thou hast said, that thou wouldst put thy name there; to hearken to the prayer which thy servant prayeth towards this place.

Hearken therefore to the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make towards this place: hear thou from thy dwelling-place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

If a man shall sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath shall come before thy altar in this house;

And if thy people Israel shall be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;

When the heaven is shut, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;

Then whatever prayer, or whatever supplication shall be made by any man, or by all the people of Israel, when every one shall know his own calamity, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:

Moreover concerning the stranger, who is not of thy people Israel, but hath come from a distant country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy out-stretched arm; if they come and pray in this house;

Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray to thee towards this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thy eyes be open, and let thy ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.

Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a by-word among all nations.

And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus to this land, and to this house?

And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.

But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day.

And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?

And they spoke to him, saying, If thou wilt be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.

And he said to them, What advice give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Ease somewhat the yoke that thy father put upon us?

And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done by me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

And Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him. In this thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

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.

And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

And say, Thus saith the king, Put this man in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.

And whatever cause shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.

It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them others besides 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 of Syria; and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.

Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry to thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD to you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

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 hath been called, The valley of Berachah, to this day.

And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly:

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

And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

This is the thing that ye shall do: A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests, and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors;

And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.

And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.

And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, Art thou made of the king's council? forbear? why shouldst thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbore, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel.

And in the time of his distress he trespassed yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.

For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

And all the congregation worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished.

For if ye turn again to the LORD, your brethren and your children will find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they will return into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession into their own cities.

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great abundance.

After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,

Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom hath been able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?

And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.

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.

And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

Now after this, he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish-gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great highth, and put captains of war in all the fortified cities of Judah.

Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel, and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:

Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.

Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou didst hear his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and didst humble thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.

Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thy 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.

And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

But he sent embassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he may not destroy thee.

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women have spoken of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold, they are written in the lamentations.