And you did not stop there, O God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. ¹  You have revealed to me what men long to know, ²  O Lord God.

As for the Hebronites: Hashabiah and his relatives, 1,700 respected men, were assigned responsibilities in Israel west of the Jordan; they did the Lord’s work and the king’s service.

Joab son of Zeruiah started to count the men but did not finish. God was angry with Israel ¹  because of this, so the number was not recorded in the scroll ²  called The Annals of King David.

Solomon sent a message to King Huram ¹  of Tyre: ²  “Help me ³  as you did my father David, when you sent him cedar logs ⁴  for the construction of his palace. ⁵ 

As for this temple, which was once majestic, ¹  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and say, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn’t hear even half the story! ¹  Your wisdom surpasses what was reported to me.

Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the Lord, he handed them over to you!

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a foot disease. ¹  Though his disease was severe, he did not seek the Lord, but only the doctors. ² 

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, “Which way did the Lord’s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?”

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter. ¹  He did evil in the sight of ²  the Lord.

After about two years his intestines came out because of the disease, so that he died a very painful death. ¹  His people did not make a bonfire to honor him, as they had done for his ancestors. ² 

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord like Ahab’s dynasty because, after his father’s death, they ²  gave him advice that led to his destruction.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ¹  He did not do what pleased the Lord, in contrast to his ancestor David. ² 

Ahaz passed away ¹  and was buried in the City of David; ²  they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.

For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord our God and abandoned him! They turned ²  away from the Lord’s dwelling place and rejected him. ³ 

They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

Hezekiah dammed up the source of the waters of the Upper Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the City of David. ¹  Hezekiah succeeded in all that he did.

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped ²  them.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹  He did evil in the sight of ²  the Lord his God.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered ¹  their young men in their temple. ²  He did not spare ³  young men or women, or even the old and aging. God ⁴  handed everyone over to him.