The king had a fleet of large merchant ships<n id="1" /> manned by Huram&#8217;s men<n id="2" /> that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet<n id="3" /> came into port with cargoes of<n id="4" /> gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.<n id="5" />p>

On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="1" /> For eight more days they consecrated the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the first year of the reign of<n id="1" /> King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the promise he delivered through Jeremiah,<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> moved<n id="3" /> King Cyrus of Persia to issue a written decree throughout his kingdom.

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem;<n id="1" /> he<n id="2" /> was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the <sc>Lordsc> chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.<n id="3" /> Rehoboam&#8217;s<n id="4" /> mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, &#8220;There is still one man through whom we can seek the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s will.<n id="1" /> But I despise<n id="2" /> him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always<n id="3" /> disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.<n id="4" /> Jehoshaphat said, &#8220;The king should not say such things!&#8221;