“May you be attentive ¹  to your servant’s and your people Israel’s requests for help and may you respond to all their prayers to you. ² 

Ben Hadad sent another message to him, “May the gods judge me severely ¹  if there is enough dirt left in Samaria for my soldiers to scoop up in their hands.” ² 

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.

In the second year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Jeroboam’s son Nadab became the king of Israel; he ruled Israel for two years.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?”

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places. ¹  Solomon would offer up ²  a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there.

He said, “You know that the kingdom ¹  was mine and all Israel considered me king. ²  But then the kingdom was given to my brother, for the Lord decided it should be his. ³ 

and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with our ancestors ¹  when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

“When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, ¹  and they direct their prayers to the Lord ²  toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, ³ 

for the prophecy he announced with the Lord’s authority ¹  against the altar in Bethel ²  and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north ³  will certainly be fulfilled.”

He purchased the hill of Samaria ¹  from Shemer for two talents ²  of silver. He launched a construction project there ³  and named the city he built after Shemer, the former owner of the hill of Samaria.

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 

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ¹  as they acknowledge their pain ²  and spread out their hands toward this temple,

When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported ¹  Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he ²  ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. ³ 

Solomon then woke up and realized it was a dream. ¹  He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered up burnt sacrifices, presented peace offerings, ²  and held a feast for all his servants.

“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 

The prophet ¹  visited the king of Israel and instructed him, “Go, fortify your defenses. ²  Determine ³  what you must do, for in the spring ⁴  the king of Syria will attack ⁵  you.”

Now I’d like to ask you for just one thing. Please don’t refuse me.” ¹  She said, “Go ahead and ask.” ² 

In the month Ziv ¹  of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign ²  the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple.

Hadad, ¹  who was only a small boy at the time, escaped with some of his father’s Edomite servants and headed for Egypt. ²