David sent some messengers to get her. ¹  She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. ²  (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) ³  Then she returned to her home.

So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. ¹ 

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

While he was offering sacrifices, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s adviser, ¹  to come from his city, Giloh. ²  The conspiracy was gaining momentum, and the people were starting to side with Absalom.

So all the men of Israel deserted ¹  David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River ²  to Jerusalem. ³ 

Then follow him up as he comes and sits on my throne. He will be king in my place; I have decreed ¹  that he will be ruler over Israel and Judah.”

“As for this temple you are building, if you follow ¹  my rules, observe ²  my regulations, and obey all my commandments, ³  I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. ⁴ 

May he make us submissive, ¹  so we can follow all his instructions ²  and obey ³  the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors.

This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: ¹  Solomon built a terrace and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ² 

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and followed in the footsteps ²  of his father and mother; like Jeroboam son of Nebat, he encouraged Israel to sin. ³ 

So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom ¹  set out together. They wandered around on the road for seven days and finally ran out of water for the men and animals they had with them.

So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. ¹  His skin became as smooth as a young child’s ²  and he was healed.

So they tracked them ¹  as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste. ²  The scouts ³  went back and told the king.

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 did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord. He continued in ²  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins. ³ 

But they did not repudiate ¹  the sinful ways of the family ²  of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. ³  There was even an Asherah pole ⁴  standing in Samaria.

He followed in the footsteps of ¹  the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, ²  a horrible sin practiced by the nations ³  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. ¹  Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus. ² 

They performed music ¹  before the sanctuary ²  of the meeting tent until Solomon built the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. ³  They carried out their tasks according to regulations.

These were the areas where Aaron’s descendants lived: ¹  The following belonged to the Kohathite clan, for they received the first allotment: ²