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I. The Reign of Solomon
Chapter 1
Solomon at Gibeon. Solomon, son of David, strengthened his hold on the kingdom, for the Lord, his God, was with him, making him ever greater.
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David had, however, brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem, where he had provided a place and pitched a tent for it;
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Solomon answered God: “You have shown great favor to David my father, and you have made me king to succeed him.
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Now, Lord God, may your word to David my father be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
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Moreover, Solomon sent this message to Huram, king of Tyre: “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build a house for his dwelling—
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Now, send me men skilled at work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, in purple, crimson, and violet fabrics, and who know how to do engraved work, to join the skilled craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father appointed.
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He added: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, for having given King David a wise son of intelligence and understanding, who will build a house for the Lord and also his own royal house.
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son of a Danite woman and of a father from Tyre; he knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, with stone and wood, with purple, violet, fine linen, and crimson, and also how to do all kinds of engraved work and to devise every type of design that may be given him and your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord David your father.
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Thereupon Solomon took a census of all the alien men resident in the land of Israel (following the census David his father had taken of them); they were found to number one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
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Chapter 3
Building of the Temple. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, which had been shown to David his father, in the place David had prepared, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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Chapter 5
Dedication of the Temple. When all the work undertaken by Solomon for the house of the Lord was completed, he brought in the votive offerings of David his father, putting the silver, the gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of God.
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Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion.
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He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying:
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but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.
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When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
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“Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke. I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has said, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
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the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father. That which you promised him, your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day.
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And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking by my law, as you have.
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Now, Lord, God of Israel, may the words which you spoke to David your servant be confirmed.
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Lord God, do not reject the plea of your anointed, remember the devotion of David, your servant.”
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The priests were standing at their stations, as were the Levites, with the musical instruments of the Lord which King David had made to give thanks to the Lord, “whose love endures forever,” when David offered praise through them. The priests opposite them blew the trumpets and all Israel stood.
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On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart because of all the blessings the Lord had given to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel.
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As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,
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I will establish the throne of your kingship as I covenanted with David your father when I said, There shall never be wanting someone from your line as ruler in Israel.
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Solomon’s Piety. Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “No wife of mine shall dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”
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And according to the ordinance of David his father he appointed the various divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites according to their functions of praise and attendance upon the priests, as the daily duty required. The gatekeepers by their divisions stood guard at each gate, since such was the command of David, the man of God.
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Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, his father, and Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
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When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king: “What share have we in David? We have no heritage in the son of Jesse. Everyone to your tents, Israel! Now look to your own house, David!” So all Israel went off to their tents,
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And so Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
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Thus they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, son of Solomon, prevail for three years; for they walked in the way of David and Solomon three years.
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Rehoboam’s Family. Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth, son of David and of Abihail, daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse.
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Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah succeeded him as king.
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Do you not know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given David kingship over Israel forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?
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Yet Jeroboam, son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, son of David, arose and rebelled against his lord!
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But now, do you think you are a match for the kingdom of the Lord led by the descendants of David, simply because you are a huge multitude and have with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods?
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Abijah rested with his ancestors; they buried him in the City of David and his son Asa succeeded him as king. During his time, the land had ten years of peace.
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They buried him in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the City of David, after laying him on a couch that was filled with spices and various kinds of aromatics compounded into an ointment; and they kindled a huge fire for him.
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The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the earlier ways of David his father, and did not seek the Baals.
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Chapter 21
Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors; he was buried with them in the City of David. Jehoram, his son, succeeded him as king.
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Even so, the Lord was unwilling to destroy the house of David because of the covenant he had made with David and because of his promise to leave him and his sons a holding for all time.
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Jehoram Punished. A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet with this message: “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: Because you have not walked in the way of your father Jehoshaphat, nor of Asa, king of Judah,
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He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He departed unloved; and they buried him in the City of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.
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The whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. Jehoiada said to them: “Here is the king’s son who must reign, as the Lord promised concerning the sons of David.
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Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains the spears, shields, and bucklers of King David which were in the house of God.
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Then Jehoiada gave the charge of the Lord’s house into the hands of the levitical priests, to whom David had assigned turns in the Lord’s house for sacrificing the burnt offerings of the Lord, as is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and song, as David had provided.
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They buried him in the City of David with the kings, because of the good he had done in Israel, especially for God and his house.
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After the Arameans had departed from him, abandoning him to his many injuries, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. They killed him on his sickbed. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
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Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.
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Chapter 28
Ahaz’s Misdeeds. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done.
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He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, just as David his father had done.
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He stationed the Levites in the Lord’s house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for this command was from the Lord through his prophets.
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The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
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Then Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be sacrificed on the altar. At the very moment the burnt offering began, they also began the song of the Lord, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel.
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King Hezekiah and the princes then told the Levites to sing the praises of the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises till their joy was full, then fell down and worshiped.
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There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like it in the city.
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He then looked to his defenses: he rebuilt the wall where it was broken down, raised towers upon it, and built another wall outside. He strengthened the Millo of the City of David and made a great number of spears and shields.
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This same Hezekiah stopped the upper outlet for water from Gihon and redirected it underground westward to the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
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Hezekiah rested with his ancestors; he was buried at the approach to the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.
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An idol he had made he placed in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon: In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall set my name forever.
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Afterward he built an outer wall for the City of David to the west of Gihon in the valley, extending to the Fish Gate and encircling Ophel; he built it very high. He stationed army officers in all the fortified cities of Judah.
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He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, walking in the way of David his father, not turning right or left.
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In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, he began to seek after the God of David his father. Then in his twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the asherahs, and the carved and molten images.
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He said to the Levites who were to instruct all Israel, and who were consecrated to the Lord: “Put the holy ark in the house built by Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Serve now the Lord, your God, and his people Israel.
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Prepare yourselves by your ancestral houses and your divisions according to the prescriptions of David, king of Israel, and the prescriptions of his son Solomon.
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The singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their posts as commanded by David and by Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king’s seer. The gatekeepers were at every gate; there was no need for them to leave their stations, for their fellow Levites prepared for them.