That very night God appeared to Solomon and told him, "Ask what I am to give you."

Then Solomon prayed: "Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said:

"The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the Lord GOD of Israel.

"LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God of heaven and earth, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. It is you, LORD God, who has kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today.

"If a famine comes to the land, or if there comes plant diseases, mildew, locusts, or grasshoppers, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is,

"When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name,

"And now may the LORD God arise, to your place of rest, you, and the ark of your power! Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and cause your godly ones to find their joy in what is good.

"Everything I heard about your wisdom and what you have to say is true!" she gasped,

"but I didn't believe it at first! But then I came here and I've seen it for myself! It's amazing! I wasn't told half of what's really great about your wisdom. You're far better in person than what the reports have said about you!

In return, King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and requested in addition to what she had brought for the king. Afterward, she returned to her own land, accompanied by her servants.

while King Rehoboam conferred with his advisors who had worked with his father Solomon during his administration. He asked them, "What is your advice as to what response I should return to these people?"

As a result, he asked them, "What's your advice, so we can give an answer to these people who have asked me, "Please lighten the burden that your father put on us'?"

"This is what you should tell the people who asked you: "Your father made our burden heavy, but you must make it lighter for us!'" the young men who had grown up with Rehoboam replied. "Tell them "My little finger will be thicker than my father's whole body!

Instead, Rehoboam spoke to them along the lines of what the younger men suggested. He told them, "My father burdened you heavily, but I will add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I will, too with scorpions!"

All of Israel since the king wasn't going to listen to them the people responded to the king, "What's the point in following David? We have no inheritance in the descendants of Jesse. Let's go home, Israel! David, take care of your own household!" So all of Israel left for home.

"This is what the LORD says: "You are not to fight or even to approach your relatives in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, for this development comes from me."'" So they listened to what the LORD had to say and called off their attack on Jeroboam.

Right then, Shemaiah the prophet approached Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he told them, "This is what the LORD says: "You abandoned me, so I've abandoned you to Shishak.'"

Nevertheless, they will become his slaves so they may learn to differentiate between what it means to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of these nations."

Every morning and evening, they're offering burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD, the showbread is set out on the pure table, and they take care of the golden lamp stand so its lamps can continue to burn every evening. We continue to be faithful over what the LORD our God entrusted to us, but you have abandoned him.

Asa practiced what the LORD his God considered to be right

Encouraged by what Oded's son Azariah the prophet had said in his prophecy, Asa removed the detestable idols from throughout the entire territories of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the LORD's altar that stood in front of the vestibule of the LORD's Temple.

So King Ben-hadad did just what King Asa had asked: he sent his commanding officers to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Bel-maim, and all of the storage centers in Naphtali.

In response, Asa flew into a rage and locked up the seer in stocks in the palace prison because of what Hanani had told him. Asa also tortured some of the people of Israel at that time.

"There is still one man left by whom we could ask the LORD what to do," the king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "but I hate him because he won't prophesy anything good about me. Instead, he always prophesies evil. He is Imla's son Micaiah." But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, "Kings should never talk like that."

Chenaanah's son Zedekiah made iron horns for himself and told them, "This is what the LORD says, "With these horns you are to gore the Arameans until they are eliminated!'"

"As the LORD lives," Micaiah replied, "I'll say what my God tells me to say."

But Micaiah responded, "Therefore, listen to what the LORD has to say. I saw the LORD, sitting on his throne, and the entire Heavenly Army was surrounding him on his right hand and on his left hand.

"You are to carry out your duties in the fear of the LORD, serving him faithfully with your whole heart. No matter what case comes before you from your fellow citizens who live in their own cities, whether it's a dispute between blood relatives or a dispute regarding the Law and the commands, statutes, or verdicts, you are to warn the parties so that they do not become guilty in the LORD's presence and so that anger does not come upon you and your fellow citizens.

Our God, you are going to punish them, aren't you? We have no strength to face this vast multitude that has come against us, nor do we know what to do, except that our eyes are on you."

"Pay attention, everyone in Judah, in Jerusalem, and you, too, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says to you: "Stop being afraid, and stop being discouraged because of this vast invasion force, because the battle doesn't belong to you, but to God.

He followed the example of his father Asa and never departed from it, practicing what the LORD considered to be right.

He lived like the kings of Israel, following the example of Ahab's dynasty, since he had married Ahab's daughter, and he practiced what the LORD considered to be evil.

"This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: "You haven't lived like your father Jehoshaphat and like King Asa of Judah. Instead, you have lived like the kings of Israel by causing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit cultic sexual immorality just like Ahab's dynasty did! And you've killed your brothers who were better than you your own father's dynasty!

Look what's going to happen! The LORD is going to strike your people, your children, your wives, and everything you own with a massive tragedy.

So he practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, just like Ahab's dynasty had done, because after his father died, he was given advice that resulted in his destruction.

And that's exactly what happened. While Jehu was punishing Ahab's dynasty, he located the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers who were ministering to Ahaziah, and he put them to death.

"Look! The king's son is going to rule, just as the LORD promised David's descendants. So here's what you'll need to do: One third of you priests and descendants of Levi who are on duty during the Sabbath will serve as guards at the temple gates.

What Jehoiada the priest ordered is precisely what the descendants of Levi and all of Judah did. Each of them took the men who were on duty on the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty. Jehoiada the priest did not release the divisions from service,

Joash practiced what the LORD considered to be right during the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest,

As a result, the workmen did their labor, and the repair work progressed steadily under their supervision, and they restored God's Temple back to what it should be, and strengthened it, too.

When they had completed the work, they brought what was left of the money to the king and to Jehoiada, and it was used to cast utensils for the LORD's Temple that were to be utilized for daily service and for burnt offerings, for incense vessels, and for both gold and silver vessels. Burnt offerings were offered on a regular basis in the LORD's Temple throughout Jehoiada's lifetime.

But after Jehoiada had died, officials from Judah came, bowed down to the king, and the king listened to what they had to say.

Then Jehoiada the priest's son Zechariah was clothed by the Spirit of God, and he stood above the people and told them, "This is what God has to say: "Why are you breaking the LORD's commandments. You'll never be successful! Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'"

He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, but not with a perfect heart.

but he did not execute their children in obedience to what is written in the Law, the writings of Moses, where the LORD commanded, "Fathers are not to die because of what their children do, nor are children to die because of what their fathers do, but each person is to die for his own sins."

Amaziah asked the man of God, "What are we to do about the 100 talents that I have paid to the army of Israel?"

He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, following the example set by his father Amaziah's accomplishments.

He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, just as his father Uzziah had done, even though he did not enter the Temple. Nevertheless, the people continued acting corruptly.

Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not practice what the LORD considered to be right, as his ancestor David had done.

He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, following all of the examples set by his ancestor David.

"Pay attention to me, you descendants of Levi! Consecrate yourselves and the Temple of the LORD God of your ancestors by taking out from the Holy Place whatever is unclean. Our ancestors have been unfaithful. They practiced what the LORD considers to be evil, abandoned him, turned their faces away from the place where the LORD resides, and turned their backs to him.

They also brought together their brothers, consecrated themselves, and proceeded to cleanse the LORD's Temple, just as the king had ordered in accordance with what the LORD had told him.

Hezekiah and all of the people were ecstatic with joy because of what God had done for the people, since everything had come about so suddenly.

God also poured out his grace throughout Judah, giving them a dedicated heart to do what the king and princes had decreed according to the message from the LORD.

Hezekiah also directed the people who lived in Jerusalem to give what was due to the priests and descendants of Levi, so they could be strengthened in the LORD's Law.

Hezekiah did this throughout all of Judah, and he acted well, doing what the LORD his God considered to be right and true.

He only has the strength of his own flesh, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles." So the people were encouraged from what King Hezekiah of Judah told them.

"This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: "What are you leaning on that makes you stay behind while Jerusalem comes under siege?

Don't you know what my predecessors have done to all the other people in other lands? Were the gods of the people who lived in those lands able to deliver their countries out of my control?

What god, out of all the gods of those nations that my predecessors utterly destroyed, has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors?

But Hezekiah's response wasn't commensurate with what had been done for him because he was arrogant in heart, so wrath came upon him, upon Judah, and upon Jerusalem.

Later on, envoys came from the princes of Babylon to inquire about the miracle that had happened in the land. God left Hezekiah to himself, so that he might make known what was really in Hezekiah's heart.

But he practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by behaving detestably, as did the nations whom the LORD expelled in front of the Israelis.

Now as to the rest of Manasseh's accomplishments, including his prayer to God and what the seers had to say to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, they are included among the Acts of the Kings of Israel.

He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, just as his father Manasseh had done, sacrificing to and serving all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made,

He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, following the example of his ancestor David, turning neither to the right nor to the left.

As soon as he heard what the Law said, he tore his clothes.

So Hilkiah and the others who had received orders from the king went to visit Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Tokhath's son Shallum, grandson of Hasrah. She was the king's wardrobe supervisor, and she lived in Jerusalem's Second Quarter. They asked her about what had happened.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Tell the man who sent you to me, "This is what the LORD says: "Pay attention! I'm bringing evil to visit this place and its inhabitants every single curse written in the book that they've been reading to the King of Judah.

"Now tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask the LORD about this: "This is what the LORD God of Israel says about what you've heard:

"Because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he had to say about this place and its inhabitants indeed, because you humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes, and cried out to me, I have heard you," declares the LORD.

While standing in his appointed place, the king made a public covenant with the LORD to follow the LORD, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, and to do so with all of his heart and soul, and to carry out what was written in the covenant contained in the book.

"Put the holy ark in the Temple that Solomon, the son of Israel's King David, built. It will no longer be a burden on their shoulders. Now go serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves by divisions according to your ancestral households, keeping to what King David of Israel and his son Solomon wrote about this.

That's how the LORD's service was prepared that day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the LORD's altar according to what King Josiah had commanded.

But he sent messengers to him, who asked him, "What do we have in common, King of Judah? I am not here today opposing you. I am fighting the dynasty that is fighting me, and God has ordered me to hurry. For your own good, stop interfering with God, who is with me, and he won't destroy you!"

But Josiah wouldn't turn around. In fact, he put on a disguise so he could fight Neco. He wouldn't listen to what God told him through what Neco had to say, and as a result, Josiah came to attack Neco on the Megiddo plain.

Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, but he practiced what the LORD his God considered to be evil.

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem, all the while doing what the LORD considered to be evil.

He practiced what the LORD his God considered to be evil and never humbled himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.

All of this fulfilled what the LORD had predicted through Jeremiah. And so the land enjoyed its Sabbaths, and the length of the land's desolation lasted until a 70-year long Sabbath had been completed.