'King' in the Bible

Solomon replied to God, "You demonstrated great loyalty to my father David and have made me king in his place.

Now, Lord God, may your promise to my father David be realized, for you have made me king over a great nation as numerous as the dust of the earth.

God said to Solomon, "Because you desire this, and did not ask for riches, wealth, and honor, or for vengeance on your enemies, and because you did not ask for long life, but requested wisdom and discernment so you can make judicial decisions for my people over whom I have made you king,

you are granted wisdom and discernment. Furthermore I am giving you riches, wealth, and honor surpassing that of any king before or after you."

The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands.

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

King Huram of Tyre sent this letter to Solomon: "Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king."

Huram Abi made the pots, shovels, and bowls. He finished all the work on God's temple he had been assigned by King Solomon.

and the pots, shovels, and meat forks. All the items King Solomon assigned Huram Abi to make for the Lord's temple were made from polished bronze.

The king had them cast in earthen foundries in the region of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival in the seventh month.

Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered.

Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there.

The king and all the people were presenting sacrifices to the Lord.

King Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the people dedicated God's temple.

The priests stood in their assigned spots, along with the Levites who had the musical instruments used for praising the Lord. (These were the ones King David made for giving thanks to the Lord and which were used by David when he offered praise, saying, "Certainly his loyal love endures.") Opposite the Levites, the priests were blowing the trumpets, while all Israel stood there.

Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, "My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy."

Huram sent him ships and some of his sailors, men who were well acquainted with the sea. They sailed with Solomon's men to Ophir, and took from there 450 talents of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king.

She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your wise sayings and insight was true!

May the Lord your God be praised because he favored you by placing you on his throne as the one ruling on his behalf! Because of your God's love for Israel and his lasting commitment to them, he made you king over them so you could make just and right decisions."

She gave the king 120 talents of gold and a very large quantity of spices and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.

With the timber the king made steps for the Lord's temple and royal palace as well as stringed instruments for the musicians. No one had seen anything like them in the land of Judah prior to that.)

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, more than what she had brought him. Then she left and returned to her homeland with her attendants.

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures of hammered gold were used for each shield.

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; 300 measures of gold were used for each of those shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.

The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

All of King Solomon's cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon's time.

The king had a fleet of large merchant ships manned by Huram's men that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet came into port with cargoes of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth.

The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands.

Then Solomon passed away and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam replaced him as king.

Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king.

When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, "How do you advise me to answer these people?"

Jeroboam and all the people reported to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, "Return to me on the third day."

The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men

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

When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, "We have no portion in David -- no share in the son of Jesse! Return to your homes, O Israel! Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!" So all Israel returned to their homes.

King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the supervisor of the work crews, out after them, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

"Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin,

Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam's fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is just."

King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord's temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

Whenever the king visited the Lord's temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; he was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

Then Rehoboam passed away and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah replaced him as king.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

Abijah passed away and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa replaced him as king. During his reign the land had rest for ten years.

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

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.

Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

"I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land."

Ben Hadad accepted King Asa's offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. He used the materials to build up Geba and Mizpah.

At that time Hanani the prophet visited King Asa of Judah and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.

His son Jehoshaphat replaced him as king and solidified his rule over Israel.

These were the ones who served the king, besides those whom the king placed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

King Ahab of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I will support you; my army is at your disposal and will support you in battle."

So the king of Israel assembled 400 prophets and asked them, "Should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?" They said, "Attack! God will hand it over to the king."

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord's will. But I despise him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said, "The king should not say such things!"

The king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah."

Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their royal robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

All the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, "Attack Ramoth Gilead! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king!"

Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success!"

Micaiah came before the king and the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?" He answered him, "Attack! You will succeed; they will be handed over to you."

The king said to him, "How many times must I make you solemnly promise in the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?"

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?"

The Lord said, 'Who will deceive King Ahab of Israel, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?' One said this and another that.

Then the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the city official and Joash the king's son.

Say, 'This is what the king says: "Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and water until I return safely."'"

The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah attacked Ramoth Gilead.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and then enter the battle; but you wear your royal attire." So the king of Israel disguised himself and they entered the battle.

Now the king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders, "Do not fight common soldiers or high ranking officers; fight only the king of Israel!"

When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "He must be the king of Israel!" So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. The Lord helped him; God lured them away from him.

When the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him.

Now an archer shot an arrow at random and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king ordered his charioteer, "Turn around and take me from the battle line, for I am wounded."

While the battle raged throughout the day, the king stood propped up in his chariot opposite the Syrians. He died in the evening as the sun was setting.

When King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home safely to Jerusalem,

the prophet Jehu son of Hanani confronted him; he said to King Jehoshaphat, "Is it right to help the wicked and be an ally of those who oppose the Lord? Because you have done this the Lord is angry with you!

You will report to Amariah the chief priest in all matters pertaining to the Lord's law, and to Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the family of Judah, in all matters pertaining to the king. The Levites will serve as officials before you. Confidently carry out your duties! May the Lord be with those who do well!"

He said: "Pay attention, all you people of Judah, residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says to you: 'Don't be afraid and don't panic because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God's.

Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

Later King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel, who did evil.

Jehoshaphat passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jehoram replaced him as king.

His brothers, Jehoshaphat's sons, were Azariah, Jechiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All of these were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Israel.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.

During Jehoram's reign Edom freed themselves from Judah's control and set up their own king.

Jehoram received this letter from Elijah the prophet: "This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: 'You have not followed in the footsteps of your father Jehoshaphat and of King Asa of Judah,

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. No one regretted his death; he was buried in the City of David, but not in the royal tombs.

The residents of Jerusalem made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

He followed their advice and joined Ahab's son King Joram of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram.

Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded.

So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Ahaziah's son Joash and sneaked him away from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him.

and the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, "The king's son will rule, just as the Lord promised David's descendants.

The Levites must surround the king. Each of you must hold his weapon in his hand. Whoever tries to enter the temple must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes."

Jehoiada the priest gave to the officers of the units of hundreds King David's spears and shields that were kept in God's temple.

He placed the men at their posts, each holding his weapon in his hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side and stood near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king.