Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him ¹  the road the prophet ²  from Judah had taken.

He brought the holy items that he and his father had made into the Lord’s temple, including the silver, gold, and other articles. ¹ 

Elijah ¹  replied, “I have not brought disaster ²  on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. ¹ 

The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family ¹  the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds. ² 

(Now his father had never corrected ¹  him ²  by saying, “Why do you do such things?” He was also very handsome and had been born right after Absalom. ³ )

Then the king said to Shimei, “You are well aware of the way you mistreated my father David. ¹  The Lord will punish you for what you did. ² 

You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. ¹ 

When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to ¹  other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. ² 

The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property ¹  in Anathoth. You deserve to die, ²  but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.” ³ 

However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead.

This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: ¹  Solomon built a terrace and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ² 

King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served ¹  his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, ²  “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

The young advisers with whom Rehoboam ¹  had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ ²  Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! ³ 

Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David’s throne, and established a dynasty ¹  for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!”

Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in my father David’s place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced. ¹ 

“You know that my father David was unable to build a temple to honor the Lord ¹  his God, for he was busy fighting battles on all fronts while the Lord subdued his enemies. ² 

“As for this temple you are building, if you follow ¹  my rules, observe ²  my regulations, and obey all my commandments, ³  I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. ⁴ 

Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, ¹  just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ²