Now I am sending you Huram Abi, ¹  a skilled and capable man,

Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home. ¹ 

and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me:

Say, ‘This is what the king says: “Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and water ¹  until I return safely.”’”

They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. ¹ 

They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.

Lawless good-for-nothing men ¹  gathered around him and conspired ²  against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was an inexperienced young man ³  and could not resist them.

The king had a fleet of large merchant ships ¹  manned by Huram’s men ²  that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet ³  came into port with cargoes of ⁴  gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. ⁵ 

As his father David had decreed, Solomon ¹  appointed the divisions of the priests to do their assigned tasks, the Levitical orders to lead worship and help the priests with their daily tasks, ²  and the divisions of the gatekeepers to serve at their assigned gates. ³  This was what David the man of God had ordered. ⁴ 

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. ¹  But I despise ²  him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always ³  disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. ⁴  Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things!”

“Now send me a man who is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as purple, crimson, and violet colored fabrics, and who knows how to engrave. He will work with my skilled craftsmen here in Jerusalem ¹  and Judah, whom my father David provided.

He told David, ¹  ‘Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. ²  Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel.

However, he did not execute their sons. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, ¹  “Fathers must not be executed for what their sons do, ²  and sons must not be executed for what their fathers do. ³  A man must be executed only for his own sin.” ⁴ 

The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. ¹  The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

But the Lord told Shemaiah the prophet, ¹ 

Amaziah asked the prophet: ¹  “But what should I do about the hundred talents of silver I paid the Israelite troops?” The prophet ²  replied, “The Lord is capable of giving you more than that.”

Anyone who would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be executed, whether they were young or old, ¹  male or female.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered ¹  their young men in their temple. ²  He did not spare ³  young men or women, or even the old and aging. God ⁴  handed everyone over to him.

He told the judges, “Be careful what you do, ¹  for you are not judging for men, but for the Lord, who will be with you when you make judicial decisions.

But a prophet ¹  visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. ²