There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom. ¹ 

“Your father made us work too hard. ¹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ² 

Baana son of Ahilud was in charge of Taanach and Megiddo, ¹  as well as all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah and on past Jokmeam.

As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry ¹  were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built.

He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters ¹  of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens.

The palace where he lived was constructed in a similar way. ¹  He also constructed a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. ² 

the food in his banquet hall, ¹  his servants and attendants, ²  their robes, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he presented in the Lord’s temple, she was amazed. ³ 

I will leave ¹  his son one tribe so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me ²  in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as my home. ³ 

All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family ¹  who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good.

When he became king and occupied the throne, he killed Baasha’s entire family. He did not spare any male belonging to him; he killed his relatives and his friends. ¹ 

When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his robe and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. All of a sudden ¹  a voice asked him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

The prophet ¹  then said to him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Because you released a man I had determined should die, you will pay with your life and your people will suffer instead of his people.’” ² 

She wrote out orders, ¹  signed Ahab’s name to them, ²  and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders ³  to the leaders ⁴  and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. ⁵ 

Micaiah ¹  said, “That being the case, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the heavenly assembly standing on his right and on his left.

They washed off the chariot at the pool of Samaria (this was where the prostitutes bathed); ¹  dogs licked his blood, just as the Lord had said would happen. ² 

Solomon replied, “You demonstrated ¹  great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served ²  you faithfully, properly, and sincerely. ³  You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne. ⁴ 

When King Solomon finished constructing the Lord’s temple, he ¹  put the holy items that belonged to his father David (the silver, gold, and other articles) in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.

¹ Then Solomon convened in Jerusalem ²  Israel’s elders, all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David (that is, Zion). ³ 

Now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, ¹  provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.’ ² 

Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He ¹  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, ²  the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  His mother was an Ammonite woman ⁴  named Naamah.