He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. ¹ 

He was committed to following the Lord; ¹  he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

Joash was determined to repair the Lord’s temple. ¹ 

and prayed: ¹  “O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth! You maintain covenantal loyalty ²  to your servants who obey you with sincerity. ³ 

Now I have chosen and consecrated this temple by making it my permanent home; ¹  I will be constantly present there. ² 

All the kings of the earth wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom. ¹ 

You defeated Edom ¹  and it has gone to your head. ²  Gloat over your success, ³  but stay in your palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and Judah along with you?” ⁴ 

But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. ¹  He disobeyed ²  the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar.

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹ 

But Hezekiah was ungrateful; he had a proud attitude, provoking God to be angry at him, as well as Judah and Jerusalem. ¹ 

But then Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem humbled themselves and abandoned their pride, and the Lord was not angry with them for the rest of Hezekiah’s reign. ¹ 

When they return to you with all their heart and being ¹  in the land where they are held prisoner and direct their prayers toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, ² 

On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon ¹  sent the people home. They left ²  happy and contented ³  because of the good the Lord had done for David, Solomon, and his people Israel.

After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, and accomplished all his plans for the Lord’s temple and his royal palace, ¹ 

Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves ¹  to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings ²  to the Lord’s temple.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and whoever desired to do so ³  brought burnt sacrifices.

Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites, ¹  who demonstrated great skill in serving the Lord. ²  They feasted for the seven days of the festival, ³  and were making peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors.