“just as I swore to you by the LORD God of Israel: Your son Solomon is to become king after me, and he is the one who is to sit on my throne in my place, that is exactly what I will do this very day.”

The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD in the presence of my father David and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”

“So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? ”

Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this.

So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life[fn] or riches for yourself, or the death[fn] of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice,

The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’ ”

This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces,

You have kept what you promised

to your servant, my father David.

You spoke directly to him

and you fulfilled your promise by your power

as it is today.

But will God indeed live on earth?

Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you,

much less this temple I have built.

so that your eyes may watch over this temple night and day,

toward the place where you said,

“My name will be there,”

and so that you may hear the prayer

that your servant prays toward this place.

Hear the petition of your servant

and your people Israel,

which they pray toward this place.

May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven.

May you hear and forgive.

When a man sins against his neighbor

and is forced to take an oath,[fn]

and he comes to take an oath

before your altar in this temple,

When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,

because they have sinned against you,

and they return to you and praise your name,

and they pray and plead with you

for mercy in this temple,

When the skies are shut and there is no rain,

because they have sinned against you,

and they pray toward this place

and praise your name,

and they turn from their sins

because you are afflicting them,

every prayer or petition

that any person or that all your people Israel may have —

they each know their own affliction[fn] —

as they spread out their hands toward this temple,

for they will hear of your great name,

strong hand, and outstretched arm,

and will come and pray toward this temple —

may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,

and do according to all the foreigner asks.

Then all peoples of earth will know your name,

to fear you as your people Israel do

and to know that this temple I have built

bears your name.

“Be wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD our God to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”

Though this temple is now exalted,[fn] everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff.[fn] They will say, “Why did the LORD do this to this land and this temple?”

So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother? ” So he called them the Land of Cabul,[fn] as they are still called today.

This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the LORD’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely ​— ​Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is still this way today.

The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.

and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David.

They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’? ”

The young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us! ’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

Israel is still in rebellion against the house of David today.

“‘This is what the LORD says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you return home, for this situation is from me.’ ”

So they listened to the word of the LORD and went back according to the word of the LORD.

“If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.”

This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.[fn]

But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your house, I still wouldn’t go with you, and I wouldn’t eat food or drink water in this place,

Then their father asked them, “Which way did he go? ” His sons had seen[fn] the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah.

But he answered, “I cannot go back with you or accompany you; I will not eat food or drink water with you in this place.

Even after this, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil way but again made priests for the high places from the ranks of the people. He ordained whoever so desired it, and they became priests of the high places.

This was the sin that caused the house of Jeroboam to be cut off and obliterated from the face of the earth.