Then Solomon sent word to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with my father David and sent him cedars to build himself a house in which to live, [please] do the same for me.

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’;

but I did not believe the reports until I came and saw it with my own eyes. Behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told to me; you have surpassed the report that I heard.

But as for the Israelites who lived in Judah’s cities, Rehoboam ruled over them.

Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built [fortified] cities for defense in Judah.

He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout the territories of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions, and he sought many wives for them.

Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and from the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria), who lived in Damascus, saying,

So Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

Then it was reported to Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude has come against you from beyond the [Dead] Sea, out of Aram (Syria); and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is, Engedi).”

They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying,

God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites.

King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and, being a leper, he lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And his son Jotham took charge of the king’s household, judging and governing the people of the land.

For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for Ahaz had allowed unrestrained and undisciplined behavior in Judah and had been very unfaithful to the Lord.

He made his sons pass through the fire [as an offering to his gods] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, and practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And he gave the book to Shaphan.

So Hilkiah and those whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem, in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her about this.