Teth

12 After three years of prosperity and military strength, Rehoboam and all Israel living in the Southern Kingdom rejected the Eternal’s laws. ² Their unfaithfulness resulted in Shishak, king of Egypt, attacking Jerusalem during King Rehoboam’s fifth year. ³ Shishak’s army included 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless mercenaries from Libya, Suk, and Ethiopia.^{[a] 4} He conquered the fortified cities in Judah, and as he approached Jerusalem ⁵ Shemaiah the prophet brought another message from the True God to Rehoboam and Judah’s governors (who had fled to Jerusalem at the threat of Shishak’s army).

⁹ Then Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem and plundered the Eternal’s temple and the palace of the king. He took every treasure, including Solomon’s golden shields.

¹⁰ To replace his father’s golden shields, King Rehoboam cast bronze shields and gave them to the commanders who guarded the palace entrance. ¹¹ The commanders carried those shields whenever they accompanied the king to the Eternal’s temple, then they returned the shields to the guardroom.

¹² Because Rehoboam had humbled himself, the Eternal subdued His anger and did not destroy him. Things were good in the Southern Kingdom

⁷ Listen to your leaders, who have spoken God’s word to you. Notice the fruits of their lives and mirror their faith.

⁸ Jesus the Anointed One is always the same: yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by diverse and strange ways of believing or worshiping. It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about what you can eat (which do no good even for those who observe them). ¹⁰ We approach an altar from which those who stand before the altar in the tent have no right to eat. ¹¹ In the past, the bodies of those animals whose blood was carried into the sanctuary by the high priest to take away sin were all burned outside the camp. ¹² (In the same way, Jesus suffered and bled outside the city walls of Jerusalem to sanctify the people.)

¹³ Let’s then go out to Him and resolve to bear the insult and abuse that He endured. ¹⁴ For as long as we are here, we do not live in any permanent city, but are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, then, let us keep offering to God our own sacrifice, the praise of lips that confess His name without ceasing. ¹⁶ Let’s not neglect what is good and share what we have, for these sacrifices also please God.

¹⁷ Listen to your leaders and submit to their authority over the community, for they are on constant watch to protect your souls and someday they must give account. Give them reason to be joyful and not to regret their duty, for that will be of no good to you.

^18-19 Pray for us, for we have no doubt that our consciences are clean and that we seek to live honestly in all things. But please pray for me that I may be restored to you even more quickly.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who brought the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, back from the dead through the blood of the new everlasting covenant, ²¹ perfect you in every good work as you work God’s will. May God do in you only those things that are pleasing in His sight through Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, to whom we give glory always and forever. Amen.