This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created – when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.

Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

and they started on their journey. The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

You must cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents.

When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it,

but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today.

God chose new leaders, then fighters appeared in the city gates; but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found, among forty military units in Israel.

God will severely punish David, if I leave alive until morning even one male from all those who belong to him!”

When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

The one true God acts in a faithful manner; the Lord’s promise is reliable; he is a shield to all who take shelter in him.

King Solomon then swore an oath by the Lord, “May God judge me severely, if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life!

Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God maintained his dynasty in Jerusalem by giving him a son to succeed him and by protecting Jerusalem.

Then he said, “May God judge me severely if Elisha son of Shaphat still has his head by the end of the day!”

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, the Lord’s spokesman.

The rest of the needs for the temple of your God that you may have to supply, you may do so from the royal treasury.

and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom – for true wisdom has two sides – so that you would know that God has forgiven some of your sins.