When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. ¹  They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.”

Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple ¹  and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other.

So all the people went to Gilgal, where ¹  they established Saul as king in the Lord’s presence. They offered up peace offerings there in the Lord’s presence. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.

Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan River ¹  to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal; the entire army that was with him was terrified.

So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ¹  to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”

David restrained his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and started down ¹  the road.

Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. ¹  In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums ²  and magicians ³  from the land.

Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.

Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and fattened steers at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, ¹  as well as all the men of Judah, the king’s servants.

When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected ¹  the king, for they realized ²  that he possessed supernatural wisdom ³  to make judicial decisions.

Inside the stand was a round opening that was a foot-and-a-half deep; it had a support that was two and one-quarter feet long. ¹  On the edge of the opening were carvings in square frames. ² 

Solomon also made all these items for the Lord’s temple: the gold altar, the gold table on which was kept the Bread of the Presence, ¹ 

The next day Hazael ¹  took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad’s ²  face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king.

He passed his son ¹  through the fire ²  and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. ³  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁴ 

These were the leaders of David’s warriors who helped establish and stabilize his rule over all Israel, in accordance with the Lord’s word. ¹ 

Shelomith ¹  and his relatives were in charge of all the storehouses containing the consecrated items dedicated by King David, the family leaders who led units of a thousand and a hundred, and the army officers.

They held a feast ¹  before the Lord that day and celebrated. ²  Then they designated Solomon, David’s son, as king a second time; ³  before the Lord they anointed him as ruler and Zadok as priest.

Hezekiah was very wealthy and greatly respected. He made storehouses for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, and all his other valuable possessions. ¹