and the Lord will fulfill his promise to me, ‘If your descendants watch their step and live faithfully in my presence with all their heart and being, then,’ he promised, ‘you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.”

That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord’s temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold all these offerings.

The real mother spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!”

But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so. When she comes, she will be in a disguise.”

He answered her, “While I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite, I said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard for silver, or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not sell you my vineyard.’”

As certainly as the Lord your God lives, my master has sent to every nation and kingdom in an effort to find you. When they say, ‘He’s not here,’ he makes them swear an oath that they could not find you.

King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth.

The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.

Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years.

The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada to take his place at the head of the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest to take Abiathar’s place.

The men of the city, the leaders and the nobles who lived there, followed the written orders Jezebel had sent them.

Just then, while she was still speaking to the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.

This woman’s child suffocated during the night when she rolled on top of him.

then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them.

He did this because David had done what he approved and had not disregarded any of his commandments his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite.

Then they will obey you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors.

He put the corpse into his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Ah, my brother!”

He removed from the land any male cultic prostitutes who had managed to survive the reign of his father Asa.

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.