The Revolt Against Rehoboam^(A)

12 And ^(B)Rehoboam went to ^(C)Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² So it happened, when ^(D)Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in ^(E)Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt), ³ that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our ^(F)yoke ^[a]heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, ^(G)“If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[b]scourges!’ ”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered the people ^[c]roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[d]scourges!” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people; for ^(H)the turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had ^(I)spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

So Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over ^(K)the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam ^(L)sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So ^(M)Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰ Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all ^(N)Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah ^(O)only.

^13 (A)And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be ^(B)glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ^[a]ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Jesus Promises Another Helper

^15 (C)“If you love Me, ^[b]keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and ^(D)He will give you another ^[c]Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ^17 (E)the Spirit of truth, ^(F)whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you ^(G)and will be in you. ^18 (H)I will not leave you orphans; ^(I)I will come to you.

Indwelling of the Father and the Son

¹⁹ “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but ^(J)you will see Me. ^(K)Because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ At that day you will know that ^(L)I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ^21 (M)He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and ^[d]manifest Myself to him.”

^22 (N)Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, ^(O)and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and ^(P)the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

The Gift of His Peace

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. ²⁶ But ^(Q)the ^[e]Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will ^(R)send in My name, ^(S)He will teach you all things, and bring to your ^(T)remembrance all things that I said to you. ^27 (U)Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ²⁸ You have heard Me ^(V)say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because ^[f]I said, ^(W)‘I am going to the Father,’ for ^(X)My Father is greater than I.

²⁹ “And ^(Y)now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, ^(Z)for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has ^(AA)nothing in Me. ³¹ But that the world may know that I love the Father, and ^(AB)as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

The Philosophers at Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, ^(A)his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was ^[a]given over to idols. ¹⁷ Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. ^18 [b]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this ^[c]babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them ^(B)Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the ^[d]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? ²⁰ For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Addressing the Areopagus

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of the ^[e]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: ^24 (C)God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is ^(D)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(E)does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He ^(F)gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one ^[f]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and ^(G)the boundaries of their dwellings, ^27 (H)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, ^(I)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(J)in Him we live and move and have our being, ^(K)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, ^(L)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, ^(M)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but ^(N)now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which ^(O)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by ^(P)raising Him from the dead.”

³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” ³³ So Paul departed from among them. ³⁴ However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.