and the <sc>Lordsc> will fulfill his promise to me,<n id="1" /> &#8216;If your descendants watch their step<n id="2" /> and live faithfully in my presence<n id="3" /> with all their heart and being,<n id="4" /> then,&#8217; he promised,<n id="5" /> &#8216;you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.&#8217;<n id="6" />p>

He said, &#8220;You know that the kingdom<n id="1" /> was mine and all Israel considered me king.<n id="2" /> But then the kingdom was given to my brother, for the <sc>Lordsc> decided it should be his.<n id="3" />

When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected<n id="1" /> the king, for they realized<n id="2" /> that he possessed supernatural wisdom<n id="3" /> to make judicial decisions.p>

<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.

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>

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb.<n id="1" /> It was there that<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

He prayed:<n id="1" /> &#8220;O <sc>Lord,sc> God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty<n id="2" /> to your servants who obey you with sincerity.<n id="3" />

Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place.<n id="1" /> Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place<n id="2" /> and respond favorably.<n id="3" />p>

then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly<n id="1" /> you will then teach them the right way to live<n id="2" /> and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess.<n id="3" />p>

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

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is worthy of praise because he has made Israel his people secure<n id="1" /> just as he promised! Not one of all the faithful promises he made through his servant Moses is left unfulfilled!<n id="2" />

May the <sc>Lordsc> our God be constantly aware of these requests of mine I have presented to him,<n id="1" /> so that he might vindicate<n id="2" /> his servant and his people Israel as the need arises.

Solomon offered as peace offerings<n id="1" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the Israelites dedicated the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the <sc>Lordsc> our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt<n id="1" /> in the south.<n id="2" />

On the fifteenth day after the festival started,<n id="1" /> he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king<n id="2" /> and then went to their homes, happy and content<n id="3" /> because of all the good the <sc>Lordsc> had done for his servant David and his people Israel.p>

They came from nations about which the <sc>Lordsc> had warned the Israelites, &#8220;You must not establish friendly relations with them!<n id="1" /> If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.&#8221;<n id="2" /> But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them.<n id="3" />p>

Then he told Jeroboam, &#8220;Take ten pieces, for this is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says: &#8216;Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon&#8217;s hand and I will give ten tribes to you.

King Rehoboam sent Adoniram,<n id="1" /> the supervisor of the work crews,<n id="2" /> out after them, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from all of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin<n id="1" /> to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

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