⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against ^(A)your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.

²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but ^(A)God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people^[a] should be kept alive, as they are today.

⁸ The men of Israel took captive 200,000 ^(A)of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^(B)was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage ^(C)that has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Now hear me, and send back the captives ^(D)from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

¹² Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war ¹³ and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. ¹⁵ And ^(E)the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, ^(F)provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, ^(G)the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

⁷ But ^(A)a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. ⁸ But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? ^(B)For God has power to help or to cast down.” ⁹ And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” ¹⁰ Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again. And they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger.

¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, ^(A)which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. ^(B)Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents.

²⁹ And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet ^(A)Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. ³⁰ Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, ^(B)and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^(C)I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes ³² (but ^(D)he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(E)the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³ because they have^[a] forsaken me ^(F)and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. ³⁴ Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. ^35 (G)But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. ³⁶ Yet to his son ^(H)I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have ^(I)a lamp before me in Jerusalem, ^(J)the city where I have chosen to put my name. ³⁷ And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, ^(K)I will be with you and ^(L)will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Love One Another

¹¹ For ^(A)this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, ^(B)that we should love one another. ¹² We should not be like ^(C)Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? ^(D)Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers,^{[a] (E)}that the world hates you.

Suffering for Righteousness' Sake

⁸ Finally, all of you, ^(A)have unity of mind, sympathy, ^(B)brotherly love, ^(C)a tender heart, and ^(D)a humble mind.

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

13 Let ^(A)brotherly love continue.