<t /><p class="bodytext">King Ahasuerus then imposed forced labor on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will deliver the king;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will answer us<n id="2" /> when we call to him for help!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">With trumpets and the blaring of the ram&#8217;s horn,p> <p class="poetry">shout out praises before the king, the <sc>Lordsc>!p>

<p class="poetry">King Solomon made a sedan chair<n id="1" /> for himselfp> <p class="poetry">of wood imported from Lebanon.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the year King Ahaz died,<n id="1" /> this message was revealed:<n id="2" />p>

(On the fifth day of the month &#8211; it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin&#8217;s exile &#8211;

Now Daniel lived on until the first<n id="1" /> year of Cyrus the king.p>

<p class="bodytext">Ziba said to the king, &#8220;Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.&#8221; So Mephibosheth was a regular guest<n id="1" /> at David&#8217;s table,<n id="2" /> just as though he were one of the king&#8217;s sons.p>

I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful.<n id="1" /> But your servant said, &#8216;I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant<n id="2" /> asks.

Then Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground and thanked<n id="1" /> the king. Joab said, &#8220;Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your<n id="2" /> servant!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">But Ittai replied to the king, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether dead or alive,<n id="1" /> there I<n id="2" /> will be as well!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they<n id="1" /> all came before him.p><t /><p class="bodytext">But the Israelite soldiers<n id="2" /> had all fled to their own homes.<n id="3" />

He said to the king, &#8220;Don&#8217;t think badly of me, my lord, and don&#8217;t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left<n id="1" /> Jerusalem!<n id="2" /> Please don&#8217;t call it to mind!

<p class="bodytext">Then all the men of Israel began coming to the king. They asked the king, &#8220;Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, sneak the king away and help the king and his household cross the Jordan &#8211; and not only him but all of David&#8217;s men as well?&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">

<p class="bodytext">Joab replied to the king, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?&#8221;p>

His servants advised<n id="1" /> him, &#8220;A young virgin must be found for our master, the king,<n id="2" /> to take care of the king&#8217;s needs<n id="3" /> and serve as his nurse. She can also sleep with you<n id="4" /> and keep our master, the king, warm.&#8221;<n id="5" />

The king&#8217;s servants have even come to congratulate<n id="1" /> our master<n id="2" /> King David, saying, &#8216;May your God<n id="3" /> make Solomon more famous than you and make him an even greater king than you!&#8217;<n id="4" /> Then the king leaned<n id="5" /> on the bed

<p class="bodytext">So Bathsheba visited King Solomon to speak to him on Adonijah&#8217;s behalf. The king got up to greet<n id="1" /> her, bowed to her, and then sat on his throne. He ordered a throne to be brought for the king&#8217;s mother,<n id="2" /> and she sat at his right hand.

<p class="bodytext">When he came before the king, the king asked him, &#8220;Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?&#8221; He answered him, &#8220;Attack! You will succeed; the <sc>Lordsc> will hand it over to the king.&#8221;<n id="1" />

He summoned<n id="1" /> the officers of the units of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of land, and he then led the king down from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne.