The Daily Audio Bible

²⁰ On hearing that Yarov‘am had returned, all Isra’el summoned him to the assembly and proclaimed him king over all Isra’el. No one followed the dynasty of David except the tribe of Y’hudah.

²¹ When Rechav‘am arrived in Yerushalayim, he assembled all the house of Y’hudah and the tribe of Binyamin, 180,000 select soldiers, to fight the house of Isra’el and bring the rulership back to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo. ²² But this word from God came to Sh’ma‘yah the man of God: ²³ “Speak to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo, king of Y’hudah, to all the house of Y’hudah and Binyamin and to the rest of the people; tell them ²⁴ that this is what Adonai says: ‘You are not to go up and fight your brothers the people of Isra’el! Every man is to go back home, because this is my doing.’” They paid attention to the word of Adonai and turned back, as Adonai had told them to do.

²⁵ Then Yarov‘am built up Sh’khem in the hills of Efrayim and lived there. After that, he left and built up P’nu’el. ²⁶ Nevertheless Yarov‘am said to himself, “Now the rulership will return to the house of David. ²⁷ For if these people continue going up to offer sacrifices in the house of Adonai in Yerushalayim, their hearts will turn back to their lord, Rechav‘am king of Y’hudah. Then they will kill me and return to Rechav‘am king of Y’hudah.” ²⁸ After seeking advice, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people, “You have been going up to Yerushalayim long enough! Here are your gods, Isra’el, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ He placed one in Beit-El and the other in Dan, ³⁰ and the affair became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Beit-El and] all the way to Dan [to worship the other]. ³¹ He also set up temples on the high places and made cohanim from among all the people, even though they were not descended from Levi.

³² Yarov‘am instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, similar to the festival held in Y’hudah; he went up to the altar in Beit-El to sacrifice to the calves he had made; and he placed in Beit-El the cohanim he had appointed for the high places. ³³ He went up to the altar which he had set up in Beit-El on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had chosen on his own, and instituted a festival for the people of Isra’el; he went up to the altar to burn incense.

13 Just then, as Yarov‘am was standing by the altar to burn incense, a man of God came out of Y’hudah, directed to Beit-El by a word from Adonai. ² And by the word from Adonai he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar, here is what Adonai says: ‘A son will be born to the house of David; his name will be Yoshiyahu; and on you he will sacrifice the cohanim of the high places who burn incense on you! They will burn human bones on you!’” ³ That same day he also gave a sign: “Here is the sign which Adonai has decreed:

⁴ When the king heard what the man of God said, how he denounced the altar in Beit-El, Yarov‘am took his hand away from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But his hand, the one he had stretched out against him, shriveled up; so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ Also the altar was split apart, and the ashes scattered from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Adonai. ⁶ The king then responded to the man of God. “Ask now the favor of Adonai your God,” he said, “and pray for me, that my hand will be restored to me.” The man of God prayed to Adonai, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been before. ⁷ The king then said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. ⁸ But the man of God replied to the king, “Even if you give me half your household, I will not accept your hospitality; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place. ⁹ For this is the order I received through the word of Adonai: ‘Don’t eat food or drink water, and don’t return by the road you took when you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the road by which he had come to Beit-El.

¹¹ Now there lived an old prophet in Beit-El; and one of his sons came and told him all the things the man of God had done that day in Beit-El; also they told their father what he had said to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen what road the man of God from Y’hudah had taken. ¹³ He then said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and, riding on it, ¹⁴ he went after the man of God. He found him sitting under a pistachio tree and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Y’hudah?” He answered, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.” ¹⁶ He replied, “I cannot return with you or partake of your hospitality, nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place; ¹⁷ because it was said to me by the word of Adonai, ‘You are not to eat food or drink water there, and you are not to go back by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ The other said to him, “I too am a prophet, just like you; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Adonai and said, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he can eat food and drink water.’” But he was lying to him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him and did eat food and drink water in his house. ²⁰ As they were sitting at the table, the word of Adonai came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹ and he cried to the man of God who had come from Y’hudah, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Since you rebelled against the word of Adonai and didn’t obey the mitzvah Adonai your God gave you, ²² but came back and ate food and drank water in the place where he warned you not to eat food or drink water, your corpse will not arrive at the tomb of your ancestors.” ²³ After he had eaten food and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ But after he had gone, a lion encountered the man of God on the road and killed him. His corpse lay there in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to it. ²⁵ In time, people passed by and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing next to it; and they came and told about it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who rebelled against the word of Adonai; this is why Adonai handed him over to the lion to tear him to pieces and kill him, in keeping with the word Adonai spoke to him.” ²⁷ To his sons he said, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. ²⁸ He went and found his corpse lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to the corpse; the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ The prophet picked up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city where he lived, to mourn and bury him. ³⁰ He laid the corpse in his own burial cave, and they mourned him — “Oh! My brother!” ³¹ After burying him he said to his sons, “When I die, put me in the burial cave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones next to his bones. ³² For the thing he cried by the word of Adonai against the altar in Beit-El and against all the temples on the high places near the cities of Shomron will surely happen.”

³³ After this, Yarov‘am did not turn back from his evil way but continued appointing cohanim for the high places from among all the people; he consecrated anyone who wanted to be a cohen of the high places. ³⁴ This brought sin to the house of Yarov‘am that would eventually cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.

²⁶ On reaching Yerushalayim, he tried to join the talmidim; but they were all afraid of him — they didn’t believe he was a talmid. ²⁷ However, Bar-Nabba got hold of him and took him to the emissaries. He told them how Sha’ul had seen the Lord while traveling, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Dammesek Sha’ul had spoken out boldly in the name of Yeshua. ²⁸ So he remained with them and went all over Yerushalayim continuing to speak out boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He talked and debated with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they began making attempts to kill him. ³⁰ When the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹ Then the Messianic community throughout Y’hudah, the Galil and Shomron enjoyed peace and was built up. They lived in the fear of the Lord, with the counsel of the Ruach HaKodesh; and their numbers kept multiplying.

³² As Kefa traveled around the countryside, he came down to the believers in Lud. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas who had lain bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed. ³⁴ Kefa said to him, “Aeneas! Yeshua the Messiah is healing you! Get up, and make your bed!” ³⁵ Everyone living in Lud and the Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

Now in Yafo there was a talmidah named Tavita ³⁶ (which means “gazelle”); she was always doing tzedakah and other good deeds. ³⁷ It happened that just at that time, she took sick and died. After washing her, they laid her in a room upstairs. ³⁸ Lud is near Yafo, and the talmidim had heard that Kefa was there, so they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹ Kefa got up and went with them.

When he arrived, they led him into the upstairs room. All the widows stood by him, sobbing and showing all the dresses and coats Tavita had made them while she was still with them. ⁴⁰ But Kefa put them all outside, kneeled down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said, “Tavita! Get up!” She opened her eyes; and on seeing Kefa, she sat up. ⁴¹ He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet; then, calling the believers and the widows, he presented her to them alive. ⁴² This became known all over Yafo, and many people put their trust in the Lord. ⁴³ Kefa stayed on in Yafo for some time with a man named Shim‘on, a leather-tanner.