Study Desk

Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, following the census which his father David had taken; and 153,600 were found.

'Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, so that My name might be there, nor did I choose a man to be the leader over My people Israel;

then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers.

"If there is a famine in the land, if there is a plague, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,

so that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.

if they take it to heart in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and plead to You in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and have acted wickedly';

if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name,

"If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

"And they will say, 'Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.'"

and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land under his rule.

that is, from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, Solomon raised them as forced laborers to this day.

Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.

From the algum trees the king made steps to the house of the LORD and for the king's palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and nothing like them was seen before in the land of Judah.

He was ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.

So Abijah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.

He built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and there was no one at war with him during those years, because the LORD had given him rest.

For he said to Judah, "Let's build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates 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.

Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD which was in front of the porch of the LORD.

He placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and placed garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which his father Asa had captured.

"But there is some good in you, for you have removed the Asheroth from the land and you have set your heart to seek God."