Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines. ¹  He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines; he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

But you banished ¹  the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods! ² 

Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, equipped with large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried small shields and were adept archers; they were all skilled warriors.

He met ¹  Asa and told him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are loyal to him. ²  If you seek him, he will respond to you, ³  but if you reject him, he will reject you.

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he was encouraged. ¹  He removed the detestable idols from the entire land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had seized in the Ephraimite hill country. He repaired the altar of the Lord in front of the porch of the Lord’s temple. ² 

He assembled all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the settlers ¹  from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had come to live with them. Many people from Israel had come there to live ²  when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. ¹  They conquered ²  Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, ³  and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. ¹  He used the materials to build up ²  Geba and Mizpah.

Certainly ¹  the Lord watches the whole earth carefully ²  and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. ³  You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.

Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their royal robes, at the threshing floor at ¹  the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

Micaiah ¹  replied, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’”

Whenever your countrymen who live in the cities bring a case before you ¹  (whether it involves a violent crime ²  or other matters related to the law, commandments, rules, and regulations), warn them that they must not sin against the Lord. If you fail to do so, God will be angry with you and your colleagues; but if you obey, you will be free of guilt. ³ 

He prayed: “O Lord God of our ancestors, ¹  you are the God who lives in heaven ²  and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you.

He said: “Pay attention, all you people of Judah, ¹  residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t panic ²  because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s.

But the Lord was unwilling to destroy David’s dynasty ¹  because of the promise ²  he had made to give David a perpetual dynasty. ³ 

They attacked Judah and swept through it. ¹  They carried off everything they found in the royal palace, ²  including his sons and wives. None of his sons was left, except for his youngest, Ahaziah.

The residents of Jerusalem ¹  made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. ²  So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria. ¹  They brought him to Jehu and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned, ²  “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his whole heart.” There was no one in Ahaziah’s family strong enough to rule in his place. ³ 

and the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the temple of God. Jehoiada ¹  said to them, “The king’s son will rule, just as the Lord promised David’s descendants.