<p class="bodytext">David said to God, &#8220;I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;God does not really live with humankind on the earth!<n id="1" /> Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

Respond to the requests of your servant and your people Israel for this place.<n id="1" /> Hear from your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably and forgive.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The time will come when<n id="1" /> the skies<n id="2" /> are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people<n id="3" /> sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you,<n id="4" /> and turn away from their sin because you punish<n id="5" /> them,

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help,<n id="1" /> as they acknowledge their intense pain<n id="2" /> and spread out their hands toward this temple,

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation<n id="1" /> and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds;<n id="2" /> they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple.

then I will remove you<n id="1" /> from my land I have given you,<n id="2" /> I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence,<n id="3" /> and I will make you<n id="4" /> an object of mockery and ridicule<n id="5" /> among all the nations.

<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 asked them, &#8220;How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, &#8216;Lessen the demands your father placed on us&#8217;?&#8221;<n id="1" />

&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says this: &#8220;Do not attack and make war with your brothers. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" /> They obeyed the <sc>Lordsc> and called off the attack against Jeroboam.<n id="2" />p>

Our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us! We don&#8217;t know what we should do; we look to you for help.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

He said: &#8220;Pay attention, all you people of Judah,<n id="1" /> residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says to you: &#8216;Don&#8217;t be afraid and don&#8217;t panic<n id="2" /> because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God&#8217;s.

So Edom has remained free from Judah&#8217;s control to this very day.<n id="1" /> At that same time Libnah also rebelled and freed themselves from Judah&#8217;s control<n id="2" /> because Jehoram<n id="3" /> rejected the <sc>Lordsc> God of his ancestors.

Azariah, the head priest from the family of Zadok, said to him, &#8220;Since the contributions began arriving in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, we have had plenty to eat and have a large quantity left over. For the <sc>Lordsc> has blessed his people, and this large amount remains.&#8221;

He put an idolatrous image he had made in God&#8217;s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, &#8220;This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.<n id="1" />

&#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which they read before the king of Judah.

&#8216;You displayed a sensitive spirit<n id="1" /> and humbled yourself before God when you heard his words concerning this place and its residents. You humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.

&#8216;Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace.<n id="1" /> You will not have to witness all the disaster I will bring on this place and its residents.&#8217;&#8221;&#8217;&#8221; Then they reported back to the king.p>

The king stood by his pillar<n id="1" /> and renewed<n id="2" /> the covenant before the <sc>Lordsc>, agreeing to follow<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,<n id="4" /> by carrying out the terms<n id="5" /> of this covenant recorded on this scroll.

O <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt<n id="1" /> no one can really stand before you.&#8221;p>