But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God give you 100 times as many people, no matter how many there are! And may your eyes see this thing happen. But why do you want to do this?”
And if you obey the Lord, then the Lord will keep his promise about me. The Lord said, ‘If your sons carefully live the way I tell them, sincerely, with all their heart, then the king of Israel will always be a man from your family.’”
Solomon answered, “You were very kind to your servant, my father David. He followed you. He was good and lived right. And you showed the greatest kindness to him when you allowed his son to rule on his throne {after him}.
“So the Lord has kept the promise that he gave. I am the king now in place of David my father. Now I rule the people of Israel like the Lord promised. And I built the temple for the Lord, the God of Israel.
Then David said to all the group of people gathered together, “Now give praise to the Lord your God.” So all the people gave praise to the Lord God, the God their ancestors {\cf2\super [325]} worshiped. They bowed to the ground to give honor to the Lord and to the king.
Then these Levites spoke again: Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah. They said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God!”
Then at the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven. And I was in my right mind again. Then I gave praise to God Most High. I gave honor and glory to him who lives forever.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has great mercy, and because of his mercy he gave us a new life. This new life brings us a living hope through Jesus Christ’s rising from death.