Study Desk

And Absalom replied, "Because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Geshur if he didn't intend to see me. I might as well have stayed there. Let me see the king; if he finds me guilty of anything, then let him kill me."

And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today."

"I'm here because I belong to the man who is chosen by the Lord and by all the men of Israel," Hushai replied.

The battle raged all across the countryside, and more men died because of the forest than were killed by the sword.

There was a famine during David's reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the Lord about it. And the Lord said, "The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites."

The king spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, who was Saul's grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord .

"Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the heavens shook; they quaked because of his anger.

He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.

Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not kill you now, because you carried the Ark of the Sovereign Lord for David my father and you shared all his hardships."

Solomon replied, "You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.

So God replied, "Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—

"You know that my father, David, was not able to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord his God because of the many wars waged against him by surrounding nations. He could not build until the Lord gave him victory over all his enemies.

Solomon did not weigh all these things because there were so many; the weight of the bronze could not be measured.

The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord .

then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.

"If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple,

"If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them,

"In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name,

That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord 's Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the Lord 's presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.