Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the <sc>Lordsc>, he handed them over to you!

He did evil in the sight of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> like Ahab&#8217;s dynasty because, after his father&#8217;s death, they<n id="2" /> gave him advice that led to his destruction.

and built up Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to him,<n id="1" /> and all the cities where chariots and horses were kept.<n id="2" /> He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem,<n id="3" /> Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served<n id="1" /> his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them,<n id="2" /> &#8220;How do you advise me to answer these people?&#8221;

He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus whom he thought had defeated him.<n id="1" /> He reasoned,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Since the gods of the kings of Damascus helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.&#8221; But they caused him and all Israel to stumble.

But there were not enough priests to skin all the animals,<n id="1" /> so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests could consecrate themselves. (The Levites had been more conscientious about consecrating themselves than the priests.)<n id="2" />