Hannah prayed, ¹  “My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn ²  is exalted high because of the Lord. I loudly denounce ³  my enemies, for I am happy that you delivered me. ⁴ 

You ¹  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ²  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ³  and he did not rebuke them.

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and presumption is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as ¹  king.”

Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the Lord will certainly establish the house of my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. May no evil be found in you all your days!

Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, ¹  not having eaten anything ²  all that day and night.

So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness ¹  to your lord Saul by burying him.

David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.” ¹ 

But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick ¹  over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.

But the king said, “What do we have in common, ¹  you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this?’”

His royal court was so large because ¹  he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah ²  to Gaza; he was at peace with all his neighbors. ³ 

When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was very happy. He said, “The Lord is worthy of praise today because he ¹  has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

“The time will come when ¹  your people Israel are defeated by an enemy ²  because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, ³  and pray for your help ⁴  in this temple,

“The Lord is worthy of praise because he has made Israel his people secure ¹  just as he promised! Not one of all the faithful promises he made through his servant Moses is left unfulfilled! ² 

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ²  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept the covenantal rules I gave you, ¹  I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events ¹  so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made ²  through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

He did this ¹  because David had done what he approved ²  and had not disregarded any of his commandments ³  his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite.

He also removed Maacah his grandmother ¹  from her position as queen because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

This happened because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and which they made Israel commit. They angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols. ¹ 

This happened because of the sins he committed. He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to continue sinning. ²