The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

So his servants took him out of the chariot, put him in another chariot that he owned, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors; all the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned Josiah.

The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him.

Now, Lord God, may your promise to my father David be realized, for you have made me king over a great nation as numerous as the dust of the earth.

King Huram of Tyre sent this letter to Solomon: “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”

He paneled the main hall with boards made from evergreen trees and plated it with fine gold, decorated with palm trees and chains.

In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length of 52½ feet, with each having a plated capital seven and one-half feet high.

He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side and the other on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin, and the one on the left Boaz.

Solomon also made these items for God’s temple: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was kept,

Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered.

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.

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

When I close up the sky so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, or send a plague among my people,

As for this temple, which was once majestic, everyone who passes by it will be shocked and say, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures of hammered gold were used for each shield.

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; 300 measures of gold were used for each of those shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.

There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to the throne. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side.

There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom.

“Your father made us work too hard! Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.”