Study Desk

‘Since the day I brought my people Isra'el out of Egypt, I chose no city from any of the tribes of Isra'el in which to build a house, so that my name might be there; but I did choose David to be over my people Isra'el.'

Now therefore, Adonai , God of Isra'el, keep what you promised to your servant David, my father, when you said, ‘You will never lack a man in my presence to sit on the throne of Isra'el, if only your children are careful about what they do, so that they live in my presence, just as you have lived in my presence.'

then hear in heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, so that his way of life devolves on his own head, and vindicating the one who is right, giving him what his righteousness deserves.

"When they sin against you, and in consequence the sky is shut, so that there is no rain; then, if they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you have brought them low;

so that they will fear you throughout the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

then hear in heaven where you live, and act in accordance with everything about which the foreigner is calling to you; so that all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as does your people Isra'el, and so that they will know that this house which I have built bears your name.

"If they sin against you — for there is no one who doesn't sin — and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, so that they carry them off captive to the land of their enemy, whether far away or nearby;

and forgive your people who have sinned against you — forgive their transgressions which they have committed against you, and give them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they will show compassion toward them;

"May your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Isra'el, so that you will hear them whenever they cry out to you.

In this way he will incline our hearts toward him, so that we will live according to his ways and observe his mitzvot, laws and rulings which he ordered our fathers to obey.

May these words of mine, which I have used in my plea before Adonai , be present with Adonai our God day and night, so that he will uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Isra'el day by day.

For when Shlomo became old, his wives turned his heart away toward other gods; so that he was not wholehearted with Adonai his God, as David his father had been.

Hadad became a great favorite of Pharaoh, so that he gave him his own wife's sister in marriage, that is, the sister of Tachp'neis the queen.

The sister of Tachp'neis bore him G'nuvat his son, and Tachp'neis brought him up in Pharaoh's own house, so that G'nuvat was in Pharaoh's house along with Pharaoh's sons.

When Hadad in Egypt heard that David slept with his ancestors and Yo'av the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, so that I can return to my own country."

I will do this because they have abandoned me and worshipped ‘Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni, K'mosh the god of Mo'av and Milkom the god of the people of ‘Amon. They haven't lived according to my ways, so that they could do what was right in my view and obey my regulations and rulings, as did David his father.

To his son I will give one tribe, so that David my servant will always have a light burning before me in Yerushalayim, the city I chose for myself as the place to put my name.

Now if you will listen to all that I order you, live according to my ways and do what is right in my view, so that you observe my regulations and mitzvot, as David my servant did; then I will be with you, and I will build you a lasting dynasty, as I built for David; and I will give Isra'el to you.

He asked them, "What advice would you give me, so that we can give an answer to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us'?"

So the king didn't listen to the people; and that was something Adonai brought about, so that he could fulfill his word, which Adonai had spoken through Achiyah from Shiloh to Yarov‘am the son of N'vat.