אֶ֫רֶץ

Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.

Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the heavens trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.

I ground them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like mud in the streets.

…is like the light of the morning at sunrise of a cloudless dawn, the glistening after the rain on the sprouting grass of the earth.’

Then they went to Gilead and the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.

At the end of nine months and twenty days, having gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem.

So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, he went out and bowed facedown before the king.

And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers on behalf of the land, and the plague upon Israel was halted.

So the king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” And Nathan went in and bowed facedown before the king.

Bathsheba bowed facedown in homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth was split by the sound.

And Solomon replied, “If he is a man of character, not a single hair of his will fall to the ground. But if evil is found in him, he will die.”

“I am about to go the way of all the earth. So be strong and prove yourself a man.

Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, including the territories of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was also one governor in the land of Judah.

And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

So men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

…and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

…then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

…then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

…and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

…and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name,

For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”

…so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other!

And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’”

King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire.

“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.

Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,

…as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

…their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.

She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and wisdom is true.

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired—whatever she asked—besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned to her own country, along with her servants.