<p class="bodytext">David felt guilty<n id="1" /> after he had numbered the army. David said to the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O <sc>Lordsc>, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.&#8221;p>

and he<n id="1" /> told them, &#8220;Take your master&#8217;s<n id="2" /> servants with you, put my son Solomon on my mule, and lead him down to Gihon.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites<n id="1" /> went down, put Solomon on King David&#8217;s mule, and led him to Gihon.

<p class="bodytext">Now Adonijah and all his guests heard the commotion just as they had finished eating.<n id="1" /> When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he asked, &#8220;Why is there such a noisy commotion in the city?&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext"><v id="(5:15)" /><n id="1" /> King Hiram of Tyre<n id="2" /> sent messengers<n id="3" /> to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father&#8217;s place. (Hiram had always been an ally of David.)

<p class="bodytext">He also made the large bronze basin called &#8220;The Sea.&#8221;<n id="1" /> It measured 15 feet<n id="2" /> from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven-and-a-half feet<n id="3" /> high. Its circumference was 45 feet.<n id="4" />

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.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings<n id="1" /> on the altar he had built for the <sc>Lordsc>, burning incense along with them before the <sc>Lordsc>. He made the temple his official worship place.<n id="2" />p>

At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah<n id="1" /> was wearing a brand new robe,

I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules.

The young advisers with whom Rehoboam<n id="1" /> had grown up said to him, &#8220;Say this to these people who have said to you, &#8216;Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.&#8217;<n id="2" /> Say this to them: &#8216;I am a lot harsher than my father!<n id="3" />

After he buried him, he said to his sons, &#8220;When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet<n id="1" /> is buried; put my bones right beside his bones,

All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam&#8217;s family<n id="1" /> who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel found anything good.

The prophet Jehu son of Hanani received from the <sc>Lordsc> the message predicting the downfall of Baasha and his family because of all the evil Baasha had done in the sight of the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" /> His actions angered the <sc>Lordsc> (including the way he had destroyed Jeroboam&#8217;s dynasty), so that his family ended up like Jeroboam&#8217;s.<n id="2" />p>

Elijah approached all the people and said, &#8220;How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision?<n id="1" /> If the <sc>Lordsc> is the true God,<n id="2" /> then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!&#8221; But the people did not say a word.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now King Ben Hadad of Syria assembled all his army, along with thirty-two other kings with their horses and chariots. He marched against Samaria<n id="1" /> and besieged and attacked it.<n id="2" />

Elijah replied to the captain,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!&#8221; Fire then came down<n id="2" /> from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.p>

Elijah replied to them,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!&#8221; Fire from God<n id="2" /> came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.p>

<p class="bodytext">When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what happened, he took off<n id="1" /> up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him and ordered, &#8220;Shoot him too.&#8221; They shot him while he was driving his chariot up the ascent of Gur near Ibleam.<n id="2" /> He fled to Megiddo<n id="3" /> and died there.

<p class="bodytext">Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its lid. He placed it on the right side of the altar near the entrance of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance would put into it all the silver brought to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.