and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed.”

So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

So the watchman called out and informed the king. The king said, “If he is by himself, he brings good news.” The runner came ever closer.

a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen up! Listen up! Tell Joab, ‘Come near so that I may speak to you.’”

There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet and declare, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

As he was still speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in, for an important man like you must be bringing good news.”

King Solomon sent men to bring him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, “Go home.”

He said, “Please ask King Solomon if he would give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife, for he won’t refuse you.”

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!

Shimei said to the king, “My master the king’s proposal is acceptable. Your servant will do as you say.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

The king then gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went and executed Shimei. So Solomon took firm control of the kingdom.

Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord.

If you follow my instructions by obeying my rules and regulations, just as your father David did, then I will grant you long life.”

Solomon’s and Hiram’s construction workers, along with men from Byblos, did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple.

The wheels were constructed like chariot wheels; their crossbars, rims, spokes, and hubs were made of cast metal.

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold were used for each of these shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.

The altar split open and the ashes fell from the altar to the ground, in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the Lord’s authority.

King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

Dogs will eat the members of Baasha’s family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”

Zimri came in and struck him dead. (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah.) Zimri replaced Elah as king.