Six steps led up to the throne. A golden footstool was attached to the throne, which had armrests on each side of the seat and two lions standing on either side of each armrest.

King Rehoboam consolidated his reign in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that that LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to establish his name. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon.

The battle continued on for the rest of the day while the king of Israel propped himself up in front of the Arameans until the sun set, at which time he died.

Three days later, they assembled together in the Beracah Valley, where they blessed the LORD, which is why the name of that place is called Beracah Valley to this day.

The rest of Jehoshaphat's accomplishments, from first to last, are recorded in the annals of Hanani's son Jehu, which appears in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

He also agreed with King Ahaziah to build ships to sail toward Tarshish, which they built in Ezion-geber.

So King Joash of Israel went out to battle against King Amaziah of Judah, and they fought at Beth-shemesh, which is part of Judah's territory.

Now you're intending to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves. Surely you have your own sins against the LORD your God for which you're accountable, don't you?

He also built altars in the LORD's Temple, about which the LORD had spoken "My name will reside in Jerusalem forever."

He also placed an image that he had carved in God's Temple, the place about which God had told to David and to his son Solomon, "I will place my name in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,"

after which the king of Egypt dethroned him and imposed a fine on the land of 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold.

During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form:

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.

During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form:

All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORD God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem.

In response, the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and descendants of Levi, and all those who had been prompted by God, prepared to travel to rebuild the Temple of the LORD, which was in Jerusalem.

King Cyrus also brought out from storage the service instruments from the Temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his gods.

This is to inform the king that we traveled to the Temple of the great God in the Judean province, which is being built with large stones and reinforced with wooden beams in its walls. The work proceeds diligently and is in capable hands.

Let the Temple be rebuilt where they offered sacrifices. Let the foundations thereof be laid with a height of 60 cubits and a width of 60 cubits, constructed with three layers of foundation stone interlaced with a row of new timber, the expenses for which are to be paid from the king's treasury.

You have authority to act for the king and for his Council of Seven to conduct an inquiry concerning Judah and Jerusalem in accordance with the Law of your God, which is in your possession.

together with all of the silver and gold that you can raise in the province of Babylon, plus the freewill offerings given by the people and the priests, contributed for the Temple of their God, which is in Jerusalem.

Accordingly, you are to exercise due diligence to utilize this money to purchase bulls, rams, lambs, grain offerings, and drink offerings, and to offer them upon the altar of the Temple of your God, which is in Jerusalem.

and divided between them the silver, the gold, the vessels, and the offering for the Temple of our God which the king had offered, along with his advisors, his senior officials, and all of Israel assembled there.

So let's make a promise to our God by which we divorce all of these foreign wives as well as those born to them in accordance with the counsel of our Lord and of those who tremble at our God's command. Furthermore, let it be done according to the Law.

along with a letter to Asaph, the royal Commissioner of Forests, so that he will supply me with timber to craft beams for the gatehouses of the Temple, for the city walls, and for the house in which I will be living."

Uzai's son Palal carried on repairs over against the angle of the wall at the tower that stands out from the king's upper palace, which is located by the royal guard's court. Next to him, Parosh's son Pedaiah carried on repairs.

I found a register of the original inhabitants in which there was recorded a list of descendants of the province of Judah who returned from captivity, from those who had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They had come back to Jerusalem and to Judah, each one to his town.

All the people gathered as a united body into the plaza in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

"You multiplied their descendants like the stars in heaven and brought them to the land about which you told their ancestors to enter and possess.

You admonished them to return to your Law, but they acted arrogantly, and would not listen to your commands. They sinned against your regulations, which if anyone obeys, he will live by them. They turned away, being stubborn and stiff-necked, and they did not listen.

Furthermore, neither our kings, nor our leaders, nor our priests nor our ancestors have practiced your Law or paid attention to your commands and warnings by which you admonished them.

Then I brought up the leaders of Judah to the crest of the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs, the first of which proceeded on the wall to the right toward the Dung Gate.

At the Fountain Gate, which stood opposite them, they ascended the stairs of the City of David where the wall rose above the house of David east of the Water Gate.

At that time I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in sacks of grain, loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. They brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I rebuked them on the day on which they were selling food.

If it seems good to the king, let a royal decree go out from him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Ahasuerus. Let the king give her royal position to another woman who is better than she.

Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve month period, at which time she was treated according to the regulations for women. This process completed the period of her beauty treatments six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and cosmetics for women.

Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

let them bring royal robes that the king has worn and a horse on which the king has ridden, with a royal crown placed on its head.

She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I've found favor with him, and if the matter is proper in the king's opinion, and if I'm pleasing to the king, let an order be issued revoking the letters devised by Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, which ordered the destruction of the Jewish people throughout the king's provinces.

The king's scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, and everything that Mordecai commanded the Jewish people, the regional authorities, the governors, and the provincial officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush was written down for each province according to its script, for each people according to their language, and for the Jewish people according to their script and language.

Throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the one day for the Jewish people to do this was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the king's order and edict was about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jewish people expected to prevail over them, things were turned around so that the Jewish people themselves prevailed over those who hated them.

as the days on which the Jewish people enjoyed relief from their enemies. It was a month when things turned around for them, from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday. They were to celebrate these days as days of feasting and joy, and they were to send presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

Now as to all the powerful and great deeds of Ahasuerus, along with an exact statement about the high position of Mordecai to which the king promoted him, these things are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia, are they not?

which is what wise men have explained, who didn't withhold anything from their ancestors.

For when only a few years have elapsed, I'll start down a path from which I'll never return."

Make sure that you remain wary of God's sword, for God's wrath brings with it the sword of punishment, by which you'll know there's a judgment."

Because he knows the road on which I travel, when he had tested me, I'll come out like gold.

"I'll teach you about the power of God, that which is with the Almighty I won't conceal.

His flesh wastes away; his bones, which once couldn't be seen, are visible.

Remember to magnify his awesome activities, about which mortal man has sung.

Therefore humanity fears him, which none of the wise can quite comprehend."

which I've reserved for the tribulation to come, for the day of battle and war?

to bring rain upon a land without inhabitants, a desert in which no human beings live,

"Please observe Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like an ox.

As for all my enemies, they will be put to shame; they will be greatly frightened and suddenly turn away ashamed. A Davidic psalm, which he sang to the LORD, because of the words of Cush the descendant of Benjamin.

so I may declare everything for which you should be praised in the gates of the daughter of Zion, so I will rejoice in your deliverance.

which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, or like a champion who rejoices at the beginning of a race.

False witnesses stepped forward and questioned me concerning things about which I knew nothing.

"LORD, let me know how my life ends, and the standard by which you will measure my days, whatever it is! Then I will know how transient my life is.

They have set a snare for my feet, which makes me depressed. They dug a pit in front of me, but they are the ones who fell into it! Interlude

You mountains of many peaks, why do you watch with envy the mountain in which God has chosen to dwell? Indeed, the LORD will live there forever.

For there is a cup in the hand of the LORD, foaming with well-mixed wine that he will pour out, leaving only the dregs, from which all the wicked of the earth will drink.

He brought the people to the border of his holy mountain, which he acquired by his might.

But he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves.

Pay back our neighbors seven times the reproach with which they reproached you, LORD.

There, the ships pass through; Leviathan, which you created, frolics in it.

Confirm your promise to your servant, which is for those who fear you.

I will take delight in your commands, which I love.

I will lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. Zayin

Remember what you said to your servant, by which you caused me to hope.

Those who are trusting in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be overthrown. They remain forever.

The LORD made an oath to David from which he will not retreat: "One of your sons I will set in place on your throne.

A wise man attacks the city of the mighty, bringing down the fortress in which they trust.

Here are some more proverbs by Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed.

The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: the LORD gave them both eyes with which to see.

Three things are stately in procession, four which are stately in their gait:

The words of King Lemuel a pronouncement with which his mother encouraged him.

Does anything exist about which someone might say, "Look at this! Is this new?" It happened ages ago; it existed before we did.

That which was, now is; and that which will be, already is; and God examines what has already taken place.

Look! I observed that it is good and prudent to eat, drink, and enjoy all that is good of a person's work that he does on earth during the limited days of his life, which God gives him, for this is his allotment.

So then I recommended enjoyment of life, because it is better on earth for a man to eat, drink, and be happy, since this will stay with him throughout his struggle all the days of his life, which God grants him on earth.

Whatever the activity in which you engage, do it with all your ability, because there is no work, no planning, no learning, and no wisdom in the next world where you're going.

Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well, whether this one or that, or even if both will do equally well.

Even if a person lives many years, let him enjoy them all, recalling that there will be many days of darkness to come all of which are pointless.

Come out, young women of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day his day of great delight.

Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon, beside the gate of Beth-rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which faces Damascus.

For the vineyard of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden in which he delights. He looked for justice, but saw only bloodshed; he searched for righteousness, but heard only an outcry!

Even though a tenth of its people remain in it, it will once again be burned, like a terebinth or an oak tree, the stump of which, though the tree has been felled, still contains holy seed."

Then he will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he'll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself, a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem.

At the time, when the LORD gives you rest from your suffering, turmoil, and the cruel bondage which they forced you to serve,

For the fields of Heshbon wither, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and pushed to the desert. Its shoots spread out and passed over the sea."

which sends envoys by the sea, in papyrus boats over the water! Go, swift messengers, to a tall, smooth-skinned nation, to a people feared far and wide, a nation that metes out punishment and oppresses, whose land the rivers divide.

At the end of 70 years, the LORD will deal with Tyre, at which time she'll return to her courtesan's trade, and prostitute herself with the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.

How terrible it will be for that arrogant garland the drunks of Ephraim! How terrible it will be for that fading flower of his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, of people overcome with wine!

And that fading flower, his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, will be like an early fig before summer whenever someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it's in his hand.

to Egypt, which gives help that is worthless and useless. Therefore I call her, "Rahab, who just sits still.'"

Take note: you're relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to everybody who depends on him!

"Here is what to tell your master," Isaiah told them. "This is what the LORD says: "Don't be afraid of the words you've heard those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me.

Your insolence has reached my ears, so I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I'll make you turn back on the road by which you came.