Judgment on the House of Jeroboam

14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. ² And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that ^(A)I would be king over this people. ^3 (B)Also take ^[a]with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.” ⁴ And Jeroboam’s wife did so; she arose ^(C)and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were ^[b]glazed by reason of his age.

⁵ Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Here is the wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶ And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have been sent to you with bad news. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(D)“Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, ⁸ and ^(E)tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, ^(F)who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes; ⁹ but you have done more evil than all who were before you, ^(G)for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and ^(H)have cast Me behind your back— ¹⁰ therefore behold! ^(I)I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and ^(J)will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, ^(K)bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. ¹¹ The dogs shall eat ^(L)whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” ’ ¹² Arise therefore, go to your own house. ^(M)When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. ¹³ And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall ^[c]come to the grave, because in him ^(N)there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

^14 (O)“Moreover the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; ^[d]this is the day. What? Even now! ¹⁵ For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will ^(P)uproot Israel from this ^(Q)good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them ^(R)beyond ^[e]the River, ^(S)because they have made their ^[f]wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶ And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, ^(T)who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to ^(U)Tirzah. ^(V)When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸ And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, ^(W)according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he ^(X)made war and how he reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ The period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers. Then ^(Y)Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah^(Z)

²¹ And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. ^(AA)Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city ^(AB)which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. ^(AC)His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. ^22 (AD)Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they ^(AE)provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. ²³ For they also built for themselves ^(AF)high^[g] places, ^(AG)sacred pillars, and ^(AH)wooden images on every high hill and ^(AI)under every green tree. ^24 (AJ)And there were also ^[h]perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the ^(AK)abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of ^(AL)Israel.

^25 (AM)It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ^26 (AN)And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields ^(AO)which Solomon had made. ²⁷ Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and ^[i]committed them to the hands of the captains of the ^[j]guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. ²⁸ And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them, then brought them back into the guardroom.

^29 (AP)Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁰ And there was ^(AQ)war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ^31 (AR)So Rehoboam ^[k]rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. ^(AS)His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. Then ^(AT)Abijam^[l] his son reigned in his place.

Abijam Reigns in Judah^(AU)

15 ^(AV)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. ² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. ^(AW)His mother’s name was ^(AX)Maachah the granddaughter of ^(AY)Abishalom. ³ And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; ^(AZ)his heart was not ^[m]loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. ⁴ Nevertheless ^(BA)for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; ⁵ because David ^(BB)did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, ^(BC)except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ^6 (BD)And there was war between ^[n]Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. ^7 (BE)Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

^8 (BF)So Abijam ^[o]rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa Reigns in Judah^(BG)

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. ¹⁰ And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. ^11 (BH)Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. ^12 (BI)And he banished the ^[p]perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³ Also he removed ^(BJ)Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of ^[q]Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and ^(BK)burned it by the Brook Kidron. ^14 (BL)But the ^[r]high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa’s ^(BM)heart was loyal to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ He also brought into the house of the Lord the things which his father ^(BN)had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.

¹⁶ Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷ And ^(BO)Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built ^(BP)Ramah, ^(BQ)that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to ^(BR)Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in ^(BS)Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

²⁰ So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and ^(BT)sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked ^(BU)Ijon, ^(BV)Dan, ^(BW)Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in ^(BX)Tirzah.

^22 (BY)Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built ^(BZ)Geba of Benjamin, and ^(CA)Mizpah.

²³ The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But ^(CB)in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴ So Asa ^[s]rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. ^(CC)Then ^(CD)Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Cornelius Sends a Delegation

10 There was a certain man in ^(A)Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian ^[a]Regiment, ^2 (B)a devout man and one who ^(C)feared God with all his household, who gave ^[b]alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. ³ About ^[c]the ninth hour of the day ^(D)he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

⁴ And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”

So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. ⁵ Now ^(E)send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with ^(F)Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. ^(G)He^[d] will tell you what you must do.” ⁷ And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. ⁸ So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Peter’s Vision

⁹ The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, ^(H)Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about ^[e]the sixth hour. ¹⁰ Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and ^(I)saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. ¹³ And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

¹⁴ But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! ^(J)For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

¹⁵ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ^(K)“What God has ^[f]cleansed you must not call common.” ¹⁶ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

Summoned to Caesarea

¹⁷ Now while Peter ^[g]wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. ¹⁸ And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there.

¹⁹ While Peter thought about the vision, ^(L)the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. ^20 (M)Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”

²¹ Then Peter went down to the men ^[h]who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?”

²² And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and ^(N)has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.” ²³ Then he invited them in and lodged them.

On the next day Peter went away with them, ^(O)and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

Blessed Unity of the People of God

A Song of Ascents. Of David.