Old/New Testament
13 ¶ Now in the year eighteen of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3 And Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.
4 And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel;
5 do ye not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, unto him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
6 Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the slave of Solomon the son of David, is risen up and has rebelled against his lord.
7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the sons of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them.
8 And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David because ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.
9 Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may become a priest of those that are not gods.
10 But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business;
11 and they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and aromatic incense, and they place the showbread upon the clean table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but ye have forsaken him.
12 And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.
13 ¶ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.
14 So when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind; and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.
15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16 And the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.
17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
18 Thus the sons of Israel were humbled at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.
19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with its towns and Jeshanah with its towns and Ephron with its towns.
20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died.
21 But Abijah waxed mighty and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah and his ways and his words are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
14 ¶ So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land had rest ten years.
2 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God,
3 for he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places and broke down the images and cut down the groves
4 and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and they fulfilled the law and the commandments.
5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images, and the kingdom had rest before him.
6 And he built fenced cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years because the LORD had given him rest.
7 Therefore, he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities and make about them walls and towers, gates, and bars, now that the land is 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 were prospered.
8 And Asa had an army of men that bore shields and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and eighty thousand; all these were mighty men of valour.
9 ¶ And there came out against them Zerah, the Ethiopian, with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots and came unto Mareshah.
10 Then Asa went out against him, and they ordered the battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
11 And Asa cried unto the LORD his God and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with those that have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; do not let man prevail against thee.
12 So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
13 And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar, and the Ethiopians were overthrown until there were none left alive, for they were destroyed before the LORD and before his host, and they carried away very much spoil.
14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them.
15 They smote also the booths of livestock and carried away sheep and camels in abundance and returned to Jerusalem.
12 ¶ Jesus, therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those that sat at the table with him.
3 Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
4 Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who should betray him,
5 Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarius and given to the poor?
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and would take from what was put therein.
7 Therefore Jesus said, Let her alone; against the day of my burying she has kept this;
8 for the poor ye always have with you, but ye shall not always have me.
9 A great multitude of the Jews therefore knew that he was there; and they came not only for Jesus’ sake, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
10 So the princes of the priests took counsel that they might also put Lazarus to death
11 because by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
12 ¶ On the next day the multitude that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna; Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.
14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat upon it, as it is written,
15 Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, thy King comes, sitting on an ass’s colt.
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him.
17 The multitude, therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead, bore witness.
18 For this cause the multitude also met him, for they had heard that he had done this sign.
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
20 ¶ And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast;
21 the same came therefore to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Lord, we desire to see Jesus.
22 Philip came and told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour comes in which the Son of man shall be clarified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.
25 He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If anyone serves me, let them follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; the one that serves me, will my Father honour.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International