Study Desk

"He said to me, 'Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courtyards; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a Father to him.

In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you."

'Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.'

"Now then, LORD, God of Israel, keep to Your servant David, my father, that which You promised him, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay attention to their way, to walk in My Law as you have walked before Me.'

that Your eye will be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.'

Then Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has entered are holy."

'This is what the LORD says: "You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives; return, every man, to his house, for this event is from Me."'" So they listened to the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam.

"He said, 'I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' Then He said, 'You shall entice him, and you will also prevail. Go out and do so.'

Then he commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and wholeheartedly.

"Whenever any dispute comes to you from your countrymen who live in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, you shall warn them so that they will not be guilty before the LORD, and wrath will not come on you and your countrymen. This you shall do and you will not be guilty.

"Behold, Amariah the chief priest will be over you in every matter that pertains to the LORD, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all that pertains to the king. Also the Levites shall be officers before you. Act resolutely, and may the LORD be with the upright."

Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them, "Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the sons of David.

"This is the thing which you shall do: a third of you, of the priests and Levites who come in on the Sabbath, shall be gatekeepers,

and a third shall be at the king's house, and a third at the Gate of the Foundation; and all the people shall be in the courtyards of the house of the LORD.

And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were appointed over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her is to be put to death with the sword." For the priest said, "You shall not put her to death in the house of the LORD."

He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God annually, and you shall do the work quickly." But the Levites did not act quickly.

However, he did not put their children to death, but did as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons be put to death for fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin."

'Is it not the same Hezekiah who removed His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, "You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense"?

He built altars in the house of the LORD of which the LORD had said, "My name shall be in Jerusalem forever."