So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'" Jehu said, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me." The watchman said, "The messenger came to them, but he isn't coming back."

Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'" Jehu answered, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."

'Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,' says the LORD; 'and I will repay you in this plot of ground,' says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the word of the LORD."

A messenger came, and told him, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." He said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning."

Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let none be absent; for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live." But Jehu did it in subtlety, intending that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."

He said, "Open the window eastward"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot." and he shot. He said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them."

The man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall strike Syria just three times."

You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?'"

Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land."

You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall you fear other gods.

Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, "I have offended; return from me. That which you put on me, I will bear." The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

You say (but they are but vain words), 'There is counsel and strength for war.' Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"'"

Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall tell your master, 'Thus says the LORD, "Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?

Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, "The LORD, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.

Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.

I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.'

Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

"Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

"Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? From where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, even from Babylon."

He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says the LORD.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?"

He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;

neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."

because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.'"

"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.

Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD." Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD."

"Go inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us."

Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.'"

But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus you shall tell him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Concerning the words which you have heard,

because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,' says the LORD.

Then he said, "What monument is that which I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel."

The LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.'"

Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many children, neither did all their family multiply like the children of Judah.

and all their villages that were around the same cities, to Baal. These were their habitations, and they have their genealogy.

They struck the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have lived there to this day.

and said, "My God forbid it me, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy?" For they risked their lives to bring it. Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

David went out to meet them, and answered them, "If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit to you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it."

David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let us send abroad everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us;

and said to them, "You are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both you and your brothers, that you may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.

for I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tent to another.

In all places in which I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, 'Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'"'

I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

Then David the king went in, and sat before the LORD; and he said, "Who am I, LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

This was a small thing in your eyes, God; but you have spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come, and have respected me according to the estate of a man of high degree, LORD God.

LORD, for your servant's sake, and according to your own heart, you have worked all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

LORD, there is none like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Now, LORD, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as you have spoken.

For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you.

Now, LORD, you are God, and have promised this good thing to your servant.

Now it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, LORD, have blessed, and it is blessed forever."

But the leaders of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, "Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Haven't his servants come to you to search, to overthrow, and to spy out the land?"

Then there went certain persons, and told David how the men were served. He sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, "Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return."

David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

David said to God, "Isn't it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued."

But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.

Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of the LORD one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone; and you may add to them.

Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning.

But God said to me, 'You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.'

He said to me, 'Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

"All this," said David, "I have been made to understand in writing from the hand of the LORD, even all the works of this pattern."

Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

In addition, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, since I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house,

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.

The LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build you a house for your holy name comes from your hand, and is all your own.

I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things. Now have I seen with joy your people, that are present here, offer willingly to you.

and give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision."

Solomon said to God, "You have shown great loving kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place.

Now, LORD God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of those who hate you, neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king:

wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you; neither shall there any after you have the like."

Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father's,

But I have built you a house of habitation, and a place for you to dwell in forever."

"The LORD has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

There I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with the children of Israel."

who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.

"Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'

"But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven can't contain you; how much less this house which I have built.

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;

that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you have said that you would put your name; to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.

"If your people Israel be struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;

"When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:

then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

"If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

yet if they shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;'