For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there and do not go home the way you came.’”

But he replied, “I can’t go back with you or eat and drink with you in this place.

Do to him what you think is appropriate, but don’t let him live long and die a peaceful death.

God said to him, “Because you asked for the ability to make wise judicial decisions, and not for long life, or riches, or vengeance on your enemies,

King David was very old; even when they covered him with blankets, he could not get warm.

I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not remain loyal to the Lord, like his father David had.

So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel.

But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I could not go with you and eat and drink in this place.

(Now his father had never corrected him by saying, “Why do you do such things?” He was also very handsome and had been born right after Absalom.)

Next the king summoned Shimei and told him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there – but you may not leave there to go anywhere!

Your servant stands among your chosen people; they are a great nation that is too numerous to count or number.

The poles were so long their ends were visible from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. They have remained there to this very day.

The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord’s glory filled his temple.

When Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the cities Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.

the food in his banquet hall, his servants and attendants, their robes, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he presented in the Lord’s temple, she was amazed.

and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. But he did not obey the Lord’s command.

He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been.

Jehoshaphat built a fleet of large merchant ships to travel to Ophir for gold, but they never made the voyage because they were shipwrecked in Ezion Geber.

Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my sailors join yours in the fleet,” but Jehoshaphat refused.