The Daily Audio Bible
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(1 Kings 12:21-24)
11 When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand specially chosen[a] soldiers, to wage war against Israel in order to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
2 But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God: 3 “Say the following to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin: 4 This is what the Lord says. Do not attack and do not fight against your brother Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this turn of events is from me.”
They listened to the words of the Lord and refrained from going against Jeroboam.
Rehoboam Builds Cities for Defense
5 Rehoboam resided in Jerusalem. He built cities for defense in Judah. 6 He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth Zur, Soko, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. 11 He built up their fortifications. He placed commanders in them and stores of food, oil, and wine. 12 In each and every city he placed shields and spears and made the cities very strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
Faithful Priests and People Come to Rehoboam
13 The priests and Levites who were living in Israel left the land allotted to them and took their stand with Rehoboam. 14 The Levites left their pasturelands and their holdings. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had removed them from their ministry as priests of the Lord.
15 Jeroboam had appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goats and calves he had made.
16 From all the tribes of Israel, those people who set their hearts on seeking the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the priests and Levites and came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. 17 They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam son of Solomon secure for three years, because for those three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.
The Family of Rehoboam
18 Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath, who was the daughter[b] of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab. 19 She gave birth to these sons for him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20 In addition to her, he took Ma’akah, the granddaughter[c] of Absalom. She gave birth for him to Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21 Rehoboam loved Ma’akah, the granddaughter of Absalom, more than any of his other wives and concubines. He took eighteen wives and sixty concubines and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah, the son of Ma’akah, as crown prince among his brothers, because he was going to make him king. 23 Rehoboam acted wisely and dispersed his sons throughout all the areas of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities. He provided them with abundant provisions and obtained many wives for them.
Shishak Attacks Jerusalem
12 When Rehoboam had established his rule as king and had become strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord. All Israel went along with him.
2 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because Israel had been unfaithful to the Lord. 3 He came with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand charioteers.[d] The forces that came with him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites, could not be counted. 4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and advanced as far as Jerusalem.
5 Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the officials of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “This is what the Lord says. You abandoned me, so now I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.”
6 Then the officials of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”
7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying: “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will give them deliverance in a little while. My anger will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 However, they will become his servants. They will learn what it is to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of the foreign lands.”
9 Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures from the house of the Lord and the treasures from the house of the king. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. 10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and he entrusted them to the captains of the guard who were keeping watch at the entrance of the king’s palace. 11 Whenever the king went to the House of the Lord, the guards would go along and carry the shields. Then they would return them to the guardroom.[e]
12 Because he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned from him. He did not completely destroy them, so conditions were good in Judah.[f]
The Closing Summary of Rehoboam’s Reign
13 King Rehoboam strengthened his position in Jerusalem and ruled as king. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and for seventeen years he ruled as king in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel to put his Name there. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Na’amah the Ammonite.
14 He did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
15 The acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the annals of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, which deal with genealogy? Rehoboam and Jeroboam waged war with each other throughout all their days.
16 Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah ruled as king in his place.
Abijah King of Judah
13 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah,[g] the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.[h]
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Abijah got ready for battle with an army of four hundred thousand strong warriors, each man specially chosen.[i] Jeroboam lined up for battle against him with eight hundred thousand strong warriors, each man specially chosen.
4 Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said this to them:
Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel. 5 You should know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, to him and to his sons, with a covenant of salt. 6 But Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official who served Solomon, the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master. 7 Worthless, good-for-nothing men gathered around him. They strongly opposed Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to stand up against them. 8 Now you are planning to take your stand against the kingdom of the Lord, which is under the control of the sons of David. You are a great horde, and you have the golden calves with you, which Jeroboam made to be your gods.
9 But haven’t you driven out the priests of the Lord, who are the descendants of Aaron, as well as the Levites? You have made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands. Anyone who comes with a young bull and seven rams can ordain himself—but only as a priest to nonexistent gods!
10 As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned him, and we have not abandoned the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who minister to the Lord, or the Levites, who serve with them. 11 They send burnt offerings up to the Lord in smoke, every morning and every evening, along with incense made of sweet spices. They arrange the bread on the pure table and take care of the gold lampstand, lighting its lamps every evening. We are fulfilling our duties to the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him.
12 Look! God is with us as our head, and his priests with their trumpets are sounding the call to battle against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.
13 However, Jeroboam had set up an ambush to come around them from behind. So the main enemy forces were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. 14 When Judah turned and saw that the battle line was in front of them and behind them, they cried out to the Lord while the priests kept blowing the trumpets.
15 The men of Judah raised a battle cry. When they raised the battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The men of Israel fled from Judah, and God gave them into their hand. 17 Abijah and his people inflicted very heavy casualties on them. Five hundred thousand specially chosen men of Israel fell in battle.
18 So the men of Israel were subdued at that time. The men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. 19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages. 20 Jeroboam never recovered his power during the days of Abijah. Then the Lord struck Jeroboam, and he died.
21 But Abijah grew strong. He took for himself fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his words, are written in the notes of the prophet Iddo.
26 In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we should pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that are not expressed in words. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints, according to God’s will.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, 29 because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified.
Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love
31 What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?
33 Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus,[a] who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! 35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 Just as it is written:
For your sake we are being put to death all day long.
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.[b]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors[c] through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
David’s Victories
37 I pursued my enemies, and I overtook them.
So I did not turn back until they were wiped out.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise again.
They fell beneath my feet.
39 You wrapped me with strength for battle.
You made those who rose up against me bow down to me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs and flee.
I destroyed those who hate me.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them.
They cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 So I grind them as fine as dust blown by the wind.
I dump them out like mud in the streets.
43 You delivered me from the accusations of the people.
You made me the head of nations.
A people I did not know serve me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me.
Foreigners cower before me.
45 Foreigners fall exhausted.
They come trembling from their strongholds.
Closing Words of Faith
46 The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock!
May the God who saves me be exalted!
47 The God who avenges me subdues peoples under me.
48 You delivered me from my enemies.
Yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me.
You rescued me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, Lord.
To your name I will make music.
50 By providing great salvation for his King,
he shows mercy to his Anointed One,
to David and to his Descendant[a] forever.
27 If you stop listening to discipline, my son,
you will stray from the sayings that give knowledge.
28 A malicious witness mocks justice,
and the mouth of the wicked swallows evil.
29 Punishments have been prepared for scoffers
and beatings for the backs of fools.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.