<p class="bodytext">The Israelites who were in Jerusalem observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests were praising the <sc>Lordsc> every day with all their might.<n id="1" />

The Israelites and people of Judah<n id="1" /> who lived in the cities of Judah also contributed a tenth of their cattle and sheep, as well as a tenth of the holy items consecrated to the <sc>Lordsc> their God. They brought them and placed them in many heaps.<n id="2" />

As for the descendants of Aaron, the priests who lived in the outskirts of all their cities,<n id="1" /> men were assigned<n id="2" /> to disburse portions to every male among the priests and to every Levite listed in the genealogical records.p>

He put an idolatrous image he had made in God&#8217;s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, &#8220;This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.<n id="1" />

Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the areas belonging to the Israelites and encouraged<n id="1" /> all who were in Israel to worship the <sc>Lordsc> their God. Throughout the rest of his reign<n id="2" /> they did not turn aside from following the <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors.p>

The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king&#8217;s prophet.<n id="1" /> The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

<p class="bodytext">The rest of the events of Jehoiakim&#8217;s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah.<n id="1" /> His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.p>

whose mother is a Danite and whose father is a Tyrian.<n id="1" /> He knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stones, and wood, as well as purple, violet, white, and crimson fabrics. He knows how to do all kinds of engraving and understands any design given to him. He will work with your skilled craftsmen and the skilled craftsmen of my lord David your father.

Now, O <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, &#8216;You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel,<n id="1" /> provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.&#8217;<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, &#8220;We have no portion in David &#8211; no share in the son of Jesse!<n id="1" /> Return to your homes, O Israel!<n id="2" /> Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!&#8221;<n id="3" /> So all Israel returned to their homes.<n id="4" />

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem;<n id="1" /> he<n id="2" /> was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the <sc>Lordsc> chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.<n id="3" /> Rehoboam&#8217;s<n id="4" /> mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, &#8220;There is still one man through whom we can seek the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s will.<n id="1" /> But I despise<n id="2" /> him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always<n id="3" /> disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.<n id="4" /> Jehoshaphat said, &#8220;The king should not say such things!&#8221;

King Joash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, &#8220;A thorn bush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, &#8216;Give your daughter to my son as a wife.&#8217; Then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn bush.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">When all this was over, the Israelites<n id="1" /> who were in the cities of Judah went out and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished<n id="2" /> all the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh.<n id="3" /> Then all the Israelites returned to their own homes in their cities.<n id="4" />p>

He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel about things consecrated to the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Place the holy ark in the temple which King Solomon son of David of Israel built. Don&#8217;t carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the <sc>Lordsc> your God and his people Israel!