Mar 16 - 1 Kings 12-14
1 Kings
1Then Rehoboam went to Shechem. For in that place, all of Israel had gathered to appoint him as king2Yet truly, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, while he was still in Egypt as a fugitive from the face of king Solomon, hearing of his death, returned from Egypt3And they sent and called him. Therefore, Jeroboam went, with the entire multitude of Israel, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying4"Your father imposed a very harsh yoke upon us. And so, you should now take away a little from the very harsh rule of your father and from his very grievous yoke, which he imposed upon us, and we will serve you.5And he said to them, "Go away, until the third day, and then return to me." And when the people had gone away6king Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had assisted before his father Solomon while he was still living. And he said, "What counsel do you give to me, so that I may respond to this people?7They said to him, "If today you will obey and serve this people, and yield to their petition, and if you will speak lenient words to them, they will be your servants for all days.8But he abandoned the counsel of the old men, which they had given to him. And he consulted the young men who had been raised with him, and who were assisting him9And he said to them: "What counsel do you give to me, so that I may respond to this people, who have said to me: ‘Make light the yoke that your father imposed on us?’ 10And the young men who had been raised with him, said: "You shall speak in this way to this people, who have spoken to you, saying: ‘Your father weighed down our yoke. You should relieve us.’ You shall say this to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than the back of my father11And now, my father placed a heavy yoke upon you, but I will add more upon your yoke. My father cut you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.’ 12Therefore, Jeroboam and all the people went to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying, "Return to me on the third day.13And the king responded to the people harshly, leaving behind the counsel of the elders that they had given to him14And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: "My father weighed down your yoke, but I will add more to your yoke. My father cut you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.15And the king did not acquiesce to the people. For the Lord had turned him away, so that he might raise up his word, which he had spoken by the hand of Ahijah, the Shilonite, to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat16And so the people, seeing that the king had not been willing to listen to them, responded to him, saying: "What part do we have in David? Or what inheritance do we have in the son of Jesse? Go to your own tents, O Israel. Now David, see to your own house." And Israel went away to their own tents17But over all the sons of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned18Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute. And all of Israel stoned him, and he died. Therefore, king Rehoboam hurrying, climbed into the chariot, and fled to Jerusalem19And Israel drew away from the house of David, even to the present day20And it happened that, when all of Israel had heard that Jeroboam had returned, gathering an assembly, they sent and called him, and they appointed him as king over all of Israel. And no one followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone21Then Rehoboam went to Jerusalem, and he gathered together the entire house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand elect men of war, so that they might fight against the house of Israel, and might bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon22But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying23"Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah, and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying24‘Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, and you shall not make war against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Let each man return to his own house. For this word came from me.’ " And they listened to the word of the Lord, and they returned from the journey, as the Lord had instructed them25Then Jeroboam built up Shechem, on mount Ephraim, and he lived there. And departing from there, he built up Penuel26And Jeroboam said in his heart: "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David27if this people ascend to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. And the heart of this people will be converted to their lord Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and they will put me to death, and return to him.28And devising a plan, he made two golden calves. And he said to them: "No longer choose to ascend to Jerusalem. Behold, these are your gods, O Israel, who led you away from the land of Egypt!29And he stationed one in Bethel, and the other in Dan30And this word became an occasion of sin. For the people went to adore the calf, even to Dan31And he made shrines on the high places, and he made priests out of the lowest people, who were not of the sons of Levi32And he appointed a solemn day in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, in imitation of the solemnity that was celebrated in Judah. And ascending to the altar, he acted similarly in Bethel, so that he immolated to the calves, which he had made. And in Bethel, he appointed priests of the high places, which he had made33And he ascended to the altar, which he had raised up in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the day that he had decided in his own heart. And he made a solemnity to the sons of Israel, and he ascended to the altar, so that he might burn incense
1And behold, by the word of the Lord, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing over the altar, and burning incense2And by the word of the Lord, he cried out against the altar. And he said: "O altar, O altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And upon you, he will immolate the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon you. And upon you, he will burn up the bones of men.’ 3And he gave a sign on the same day, saying: "This will be the sign that the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.4And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar at Bethel, he extended his hand from the altar, saying, "Apprehend him!" But his hand, which he had extended against him, withered. And he was unable to draw it back to himself5Also, the altar was torn apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, in accord with the sign that the man of God had predicted by the word of the Lord6And the king said to the man of God, "Entreat the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me." And the man of God prayed before the face of the Lord, and the hand of the king was restored to him, and it became as it had been before7Then the king said to the man of God: "Come home with me, so that you may dine. And I will give you gifts.8And the man of God responded to the king: "Even if you will give me one half part of your house, I will not go with you, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place9For so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, ordering: ‘You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water, nor shall you return by the way that you came.’ 10Then he departed by another way, and he did not return along the way that he had traveled to Bethel11Now a certain elderly prophet was living in Bethel. His sons went to him, and they described to him all the works which the man of God had accomplished on that day in Bethel. And they described to their father the words that he had spoken to the king12And their father said to them, "By which way did he depart?" His sons showed him the way by which the man of God, who had come from Judah, had departed13And he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled it, he climbed on14and he went away after the man of God. And he found him sitting under a terebinth tree. And he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he responded, "I am.15And he said to him, "Come home with me, so that you may eat bread.16But he said: "I am not able to turn back, nor to go with you. Neither will I eat bread, or drink water in this place17For the Lord has spoken to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, "You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water in that place, nor shall you return by the way that you arrived.18And he said to him: "I, too, am a prophet like you. And an Angel spoke to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Lead him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread, and drink water.’ " And so he deceived him19And he led him back with him. Then he ate bread and drank water in his house20And while they were sitting at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had led him back21And he cried out to the man of God who had arrived from Judah, saying: "Thus says the Lord: Because you were not obedient to the mouth of the Lord, and you did not keep the commandment that the Lord your God instructed to you22and you turned back, and ate bread, and drank water in the place where he commanded you that you should not eat bread, nor drink water: your dead body shall not be carried back to the sepulcher of your fathers.23And when he had eaten and had drunk, he saddled his donkey for the prophet whom he had led back24And when he had departed, a lion found him along the way, and it killed him, and his dead body was left upon the road. Now the donkey was standing beside him. And the lion was standing beside the dead body25And behold, men who were passing by saw the dead body lying in the road, with the lion standing beside the body. And they went and made it widely known in the city where that elderly prophet was living26And when that prophet, who had led him back from the way, had heard it, he said: "It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord. And the Lord has delivered him to the lion. And it has torn him apart and killed him, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him.27And he said to his sons, "Saddle a donkey for me." And when they had saddled it28and he had departed, he found the dead body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the dead body. The lion did not eat from the dead body, nor did it harm the donkey29Then the prophet took the dead body of the man of God, and he placed it upon the donkey, and returning, he brought it into the city of the elderly prophet, so that he might mourn for him30And he placed his dead body in his own sepulcher. And they mourned for him, saying: "Alas! Alas! My brother!31And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: "When I will have died, bury me in the sepulcher in which the man of God was buried. Place my bones beside his bones32For certainly, the word will arrive, which he predicted by the word of the Lord, against the altar, which is in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places, which are in the cities of Samaria.33After these words, Jeroboam did not turn back from his very evil way. Instead, to the contrary, he made priests for the high places out of the least of the people. Whosoever was willing, he filled his hand, and he became a priest of the high places34And for this reason, the house of Jeroboam sinned, and was uprooted, and was wiped from the face of the earth
1In that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became ill2And Jeroboam said to his wife: "Rise up, and change clothing, so that you will not be recognized to be the wife of Jeroboam. And go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah is, who said to me that I should reign over this people3Also, take in your hand ten loaves, and dried bread, and a container of honey, and go to him. For he will reveal to you what will happen to this boy.4The wife of Jeroboam did just as he had said. And rising up, she went away to Shiloh. And she arrived at the house of Ahijah. But he was unable to see, because his eyes had dimmed due to old age5Then the Lord said to Ahijah: "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam enters, so that she may consult you over her son, who is ill. You shall say one thing and another to her." Therefore, as she was entering, not presenting herself to be who she was6Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, entering through the door. And he said: "Enter, O wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be someone you are not? But I have been sent to you with harsh news7Go, and tell Jeroboam: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Although I exalted you from the midst of the people, and I granted to you to be the leader over my people Israel8and I tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and I gave it to you, yet you have not been like David, my servant, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with his whole heart, doing what was pleasing in my sight9Instead, you have worked evil beyond all those who were before you. And you have made for yourself strange gods and molten images, so that you provoke me to anger. And you have cast me behind your back10For this reason, behold, I will lead evils over the house of Jeroboam, and I will strike down from Jeroboam that which urinates against a wall, and that which is lame, and that which is last in Israel. And I will cleanse that which remains of the house of Jeroboam, just as dung is usually cleaned away, until there is purity11Those who will have died of Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will devour them. And those who will have died in the field, the birds of the heavens will devour them. For the Lord has spoken.12Therefore, you must rise up, and go to your house. And in the city, at the very entrance of your feet, the boy will die13And all of Israel will mourn him, and will bury him. For he alone of Jeroboam shall be brought into a sepulcher. For concerning him, there has been found a good word from the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam14But the Lord has appointed for himself a king over Israel, who will strike down the house of Jeroboam, in this day and in this time15And the Lord God shall strike Israel, just as a reed is usually shaken in the water. And he will uproot Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers. And he will winnow them beyond the river. For they have made for themselves sacred groves, so that they have provoked the Lord16And the Lord will hand over Israel, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who has sinned and caused Israel to sin.17And so, the wife of Jeroboam rose up, and she went away. And she arrived at Tirzah. And as she was entering the threshold of the house, the boy died18And they buried him, and all of Israel mourned for him, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Ahijah, the prophet19Now the rest of the words of Jeroboam, the manner in which he fought, and the manner in which he reigned, behold, these were written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel20And the days during which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers. And Nadab, his son, reigned in his place21Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he had begun to reign. And he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose, out of all the tribes of Israel, so that he might place his name there. And the name of his mother was Naamah, an Ammonite22And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him beyond all that their fathers had done, by their sins that they committed23For they, too, built for themselves altars, and statues, and sacred groves, upon every high hill and under every leafy tree24Moreover, the effeminate were in the land, and they committed all the abominations of the peoples that the Lord had destroyed before the face of the sons of Israel25Then, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, Shishak, the king of Egypt, ascended against Jerusalem26And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the royal treasures, and he plundered everything, including the shields of gold that Solomon had made27In place of these, king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and he delivered them into the hand of the commanders of the shield bearers, and of those who were keeping the night watch before the gate of the king’s house28And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, these were carried by those who held the office to go before him. And afterward, they carried them back to the armory of the shield bearers29Now the rest of the words of Rehoboam, and all that he did, behold, these were written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, during all the days31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place