12After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord . 2Because they had been unfaithful to the Lord , Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of Ki
11When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the house of Judah and Benjamin-a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men-to make war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam. 2But this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of Go
10Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Isra
9When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan-with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones-she came to Solomon and talked wit
8At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the Lord and his own palace, 2Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram had given him, and settled Israelites in them. 3Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. 4He also bu
7When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3
19When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, 2Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord ? Because of this, the wrath of the
15After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2Then David said, No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the a
17After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent. 2Nathan replied to David, Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you
21Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. 2Jehoram's brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All
13David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send word far and wide to t
11All Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, We are your own flesh and blood. 2In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my peo
3Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord , and the wall around Jerusalem. 2The people, however, were still sacr
5When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: 3You know that because
9When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3The Lord said to him: I have heard the prayer a
10When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the Lord , she came to test him with hard questions. 2Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan-with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and
3These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3the five rulers
4After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD . 2So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he
5On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: 2When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves- praise the LORD ! 3Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD , I will sing; I
6Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD , and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and