Abijah Succeeds Rehoboam

13 ^(A)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned in Jerusalem for three years; and his mother’s name was ^[a]Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

^(B)Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah began the battle with an army of warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men who were valiant warriors.

Civil War

⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount ^(C)Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel: ⁵ Do you not know that ^(D)the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David ^[b]and his sons by ^(E)a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet ^(F)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ^[c]master, ⁷ and worthless men gathered to him, wicked men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when ^[d](G)he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.

⁸ “So now you intend to assert yourselves against the kingdom of the Lord ^[e]through the sons of David, ^[f]being a great multitude and having with you ^(H)the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods. ^9 (I)Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^(J)to consecrate himself with a bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of things that are ^(K)not gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the Lord as priests, and the Levites ^[g]attend to their work. ¹¹ Every morning and evening ^(L)they ^[h]burn to the Lord burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and ^(M)the showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we perform our duty to the Lord our God, but you have abandoned Him. ¹² Now behold, God is with us at our head, and ^(N)His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the war cry against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³ But Jeroboam ^(O)had set an ambush to come from behind, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ When Judah turned around, behold, ^[i]they were attacked both from front and rear; so ^(P)they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, God ^[j](Q)defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the sons of Israel fled from Judah, ^(R)God handed them over to them. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ The sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah ^[k]conquered ^(S)because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and ^[l]Ephron with its villages.

Death of Jeroboam

²⁰ Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the ^(T)Lord struck him and ^(U)he died.

²¹ But Abijah became powerful, and he took fourteen wives for himself, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in ^(V)the ^[m]treatise of ^(W)Iddo the prophet.

Paul’s Apostolic Ministry

4 Therefore, since we have this ^(A)ministry, as we ^(B)received mercy, we ^(C)do not lose heart, ² but we have renounced the ^(D)things hidden because of shame, not walking in trickery nor ^(E)distorting the word of God, but by the open proclamation of the truth ^(F)commending ourselves to every person’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our ^(G)gospel is ^(H)veiled, it is veiled ^[a]to ^(I)those who are perishing, ⁴ in whose case ^(J)the god of ^(K)this ^[b]world has ^(L)blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that ^[c]they will not see the ^(M)light of the gospel of the ^(N)glory of Christ, who is the ^(O)image of God. ⁵ For we ^(P)do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants ^[d]on account of Jesus. ⁶ For God, who said, “^(Q)Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has ^(R)shone in our hearts to give the ^(S)Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in ^[e](T)earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of ^(U)the power will be of God and not from ourselves; ⁸ we are ^(V)afflicted in every way, but not ^(W)crushed; ^(X)perplexed, but not despairing; ^9 (Y)persecuted, but not ^(Z)abandoned; ^(AA)struck down, but not destroyed; ^10 (AB)always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that ^(AC)the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death works in us, but life in you.

¹³ But having the same ^(AD)spirit of faith, according to what is written: “^(AE)I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who ^(AF)raised the Lord Jesus ^(AG)will also raise us with Jesus, and will ^(AH)present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are ^(AI)for your sakes, so that grace, having ^[f](AJ)spread to more and more people, will cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we ^(AK)do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our ^(AL)inner person is ^(AM)being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary, ^(AN)light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we ^(AO)look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Asa Succeeds Abijah in Judah

14 ^[a](A)So Abijah ^[b]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.

^2 [c]And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord his God, ³ for he removed ^(B)the foreign altars and ^(C)high places, tore down the memorial stones, cut down the ^[d](D)Asherim, ⁴ and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to ^[e]comply with the Law and the commandment. ⁵ He also removed the high places and the ^(E)incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him. ^6 (F)He built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and ^[f]there was no one at war with him during those years, ^(G)because the Lord had given him rest. ⁷ For he said to Judah, “^(H)Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ^[g]ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸ Now Asa had an army of ^(I)three hundred thousand from Judah, carrying large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, carrying shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

⁹ Now Zerah the Ethiopian ^(J)went out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^(K)Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out ^[h]to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa ^(L)called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; help us, Lord our God, ^(M)for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You.” ¹² So ^(N)the Lord ^[i]routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^(O)Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that ^[j]they could not recover, for they were shattered before the Lord and before His army. And they carried away a very large amount of plunder. ¹⁴ They ^[k]destroyed all the cities around Gerar, ^(P)for the dread of the Lord had fallen on them; and they pillaged all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also fatally struck ^[l]those who owned livestock, and they led away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

20 ^(A)On one of the days while ^(B)He was teaching the people in the temple and ^(C)preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders ^(D)confronted Him, ² and they declared, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?” ³ But He replied to them, “I will also ask you a ^[a]question, and you tell Me: ⁴ Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” ⁵ They discussed among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, since they are convinced that John was a ^(E)prophet.” ⁷ And so they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Vine-growers

^9 (F)But He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to ^[b]vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰ At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ And he proceeded to send another slave; but they beat him also and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he proceeded to send a third; but this one too they wounded and threw out. ¹³ Now the ^[c]owner of the vineyard said, ‘What am I to do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will ^(G)respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the vine-growers saw him, they discussed with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ And so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the ^[d]owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and ^(H)put these vine-growers to death, and will give the vineyard to others.” However, when they heard this, they said, “^(I)May it never happen!” ¹⁷ But ^[e]Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what is this statement that has been written:

^18 (L)Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests ^(M)tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and yet they feared the people; for they were aware that He had spoken this parable against them. ^20 (N)And so they watched Him ^[g]closely, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order ^(O)that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could hand Him over to the jurisdiction and authority of ^(P)the governor. ²¹ And the spies questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You ^[h]are not partial to anyone, but You teach the way of God on the basis of truth. ²² Is it ^[i]permissible for us ^(Q)to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” ²³ But He saw through their trickery and said to them, ²⁴ “Show Me a ^[j]denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵ And He said to them, “Then ^(R)pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶ And they were unable to ^(S)catch Him in a statement in the presence of the people; and they were amazed at His answer, and said nothing.