Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us.

On the top of each pillar, right above the bulge beside the latticework, there were two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments arranged in rows all the way around.

“Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation.

(Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a very large quantity of fine timber and precious gems.

The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. It is ready to happen!

They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

He also removed Maacah his grandmother from her position as queen because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?”

But they did not repudiate the sinful ways of the family of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. There was even an Asherah pole standing in Samaria.

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example.

Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them.

So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits.

When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before Joab’s brother Abishai and withdrew into the city. Joab went back to Jerusalem.

In a battle in Gath there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot – twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.

The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the Lord with a willing attitude; King David was also very happy.

All the officers and warriors, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.

(Huram’s servants, aided by Solomon’s servants, brought gold from Ophir, as well as fine timber and precious gems.

So when Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; Judah experienced some good things.