Study Desk

Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her. For he said, "My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy."

Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on His throne to be king for the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel enough to establish them forever, He has made you king over them to carry out justice and righteousness."

All of King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.

So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.'"

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.

And Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Because the land was at peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. In those days no one made war with him, because the LORD had given him rest.

So he said to the people of Judah, "Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought Him and He has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.

and attacked all the cities around Gerar, because the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all the cities, since there was much plunder there.

In those days there was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many conflicts.

King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah as the queen mother, because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

At that time, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and told him, "Because you have relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.

Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison because he was so enraged over this matter. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.

Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek out the Baals,

The king of Israel answered, "There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king should not say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.