He went to Samaria and exterminated all the members of Ahab’s family who were still alive in Samaria, just as the Lord had announced to Elijah.

The royal bodyguard took their stations, each holding his weapon in his hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side and stood near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king.

So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence.

What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters. But his brothers did not have many sons, so their whole clan was not as numerous as the sons of Judah.

In the east they settled as far as the entrance to the desert that stretches to the Euphrates River, for their cattle had increased in numbers in the land of Gilead.

The half-tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan as far as Baal Hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. They grew in number.

Their property and settlements included Bethel and its surrounding towns, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its surrounding towns to the west, and Shechem and its surrounding towns as far as Ayyah and its surrounding towns.

Each day men came to help David until his army became very large.

When they arrived at the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to take hold of the ark, because the oxen stumbled.

David was angry because the Lord attacked Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, which remains its name to this very day.

For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places.

David went in, sat before the Lord, and said: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you should have brought me to this point?

You made Israel your very own nation for all time. You, O Lord, became their God.

So now, O Lord, may the promise you made about your servant and his family become a permanent reality! Do as you promised,

so it may become a reality and you may gain lasting fame, as people say, ‘The Lord who commands armies is the God of Israel.’ David’s dynasty will be established before you,

So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved their beards off. He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed and then sent them away.

When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.

He will build a temple to honor me; he will become my son, and I will become his father. I will grant to his dynasty permanent rule over Israel.’

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