¹⁸ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, ^(A)in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.

² And he went out ^[a]to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. ^(A)The Lord is with you while you are with Him. ^(B)If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but ^(C)if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

⁹ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this ^(A)calamity on them.’ ”

³¹ And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(A)that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the ^(B)Sidonians; ^(C)and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.

²⁵ But ^(A)there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, ^(B)because Jezebel his wife ^[a]stirred him up.

The Persecuted Church

⁸ “And to the ^[a]angel of the church in Smyrna write,

‘These things says ^(A)the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: ⁹ “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are ^(B)rich); and I know the blasphemy of ^(C)those who say they are Jews and are not, ^(D)but are a ^[b]synagogue of Satan.

²⁰ Or else let those who are here themselves say ^[a]if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council,

¹³ Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.