<p class="bodytext">Three years later two of Shimei&#8217;s servants ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. Shimei was told, &#8220;Look, your servants are in Gath.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Solomon had twelve district governors appointed throughout Israel who acquired supplies for the king and his palace. Each was responsible for one month in the year.

<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>

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

<t /><p class="bodytext">Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, &#8220;As certainly as the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel lives (whom I serve),<n id="1" /> there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the <sc>Lordsc> told Elijah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">The prophet<n id="1" /> visited the king of Israel and instructed him, &#8220;Go, fortify your defenses.<n id="2" /> Determine<n id="3" /> what you must do, for in the spring<n id="4" /> the king of Syria will attack<n id="5" /> you.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">He died just as the <sc>Lordsc> had prophesied through Elijah.<n id="1" /> In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah&#8217;s brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, &#8220;You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while,<n id="1" /> for the <sc>Lordsc> has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned<n id="1" /> the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians<n id="2" /> and the royal bodyguard.<n id="3" /> He met with them<n id="4" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. He made an agreement<n id="5" /> with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. Then he showed them the king&#8217;s son.

In the ninth year of Hoshea&#8217;s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel<n id="1" /> to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.p>

I will add fifteen years to your life and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />

King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered<n id="1" /> to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign,<n id="2" /> took Jehoiachin<n id="3" /> prisoner.

So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside<n id="1" /> it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah&#8217;s reign.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars,<n id="1" /> Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down.

<p class="bodytext">These were the descendants of Levi according to their families, that is, the leaders of families as counted and individually listed who carried out assigned tasks in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and were twenty years old and up.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">What follows is a list of Israelite family leaders and commanders of units of a thousand and a hundred, as well as their officers who served the king in various matters. Each division was assigned to serve for one month during the year; each consisted of 24,000 men.<n id="1" />p>

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>

<p class="bodytext"><v id="(13:23)" /><n id="1" /> Abijah passed away<n id="2" /> and was buried in the City of David.<n id="3" /> His son Asa replaced him as king. During his reign<n id="4" /> the land had rest for ten years.p>

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa&#8217;s reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.<n id="1" />