Study Desk

Solomon left all the utensils unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

so the priests could not stand [in their positions] to minister because of the cloud, for the glory and brilliance of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house (temple).

"But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you did well, in that it was in your heart.

"When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and then they turn to You again and praise Your Name and pray and ask for Your favor and compassion in this house (temple),

"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house (temple) of the LORD; for he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to hold [all] the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.

On the eighth (fifteenth) day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness which the LORD had shown to David His servant and Israel His people.

"And they [who know] will say, 'Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they have chosen other gods and have worshiped and served them; that is the reason the LORD has brought on them all this adversity.'"

"Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, He made you king to execute justice and righteousness."

So the LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

because they have abandoned Me and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways and followed My commandments, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances as did his father David.

'However, I will not take the entire kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.

Now this thing became a sin [for Israel]; because the people went to worship before the one [or the other of them] as far as Dan.

And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,

Jeroboam's wife did so. She got up and went [twenty miles] to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, because his eyes were dim from old age.

And the LORD said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you about her son, because he is sick. You shall say such and such to her, for when she arrives, she will pretend to be another woman."

"Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: "Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel,

"All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to [be placed in] the grave, because in him there was found something good and pleasing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

"The LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.