Old/New Testament
The Reign of Jeroboam[a][b]
Chapter 12
Revolt against Rehoboam. 1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard about this in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, he returned from Egypt.
3 They sent for Jeroboam, and when he arrived, he and the whole assembly of Israel spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. If you make our service and our heavy yoke lighter than the heavy load your father laid on us, then we will serve you.” 5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days, and then come back to me.” So the people departed.
6 King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had stood before Solomon, his father, during his lifetime. He said, “How do you advise me to answer this people, so that I can give them an answer?” 7 They answered him, “If you become a servant to this people today and you serve them and you give them a favorable answer, then they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he ignored the advice that the elders had given him, and instead, he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him. 9 He asked them, “What advice do you give me so that we can give an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke lighter than that which your father laid upon us?’ ”
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “Say the following to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; will you lighten it for us?’ Say this to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11 My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’ ”
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all of the people returned to Rehoboam as the king had decreed when he said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king responded harshly to the people. He ignored the counsel that the elders had given him. 14 He said to them what the young men had advised him saying, “My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
15 Thus the king would not listen to the people, for the Lord had brought this about to fulfill what he said when the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. 16 When all of Israel realized that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? What inheritance do we have in the son of Jesse? To your own tents, O Israel. Look after your own house, O David.” So the people of Israel returned to their homes.[c]
17 Rehoboam still ruled over those Israelites who were living in the cities of Judah. 18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram who was in charge of the forced labor, but all of Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19 Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David up to the present day.
20 When all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and summoned him to an assembly. They made him king over all of Israel. No one followed the house of David except for the tribe of Judah.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled the entire house of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand fighting men to battle against the house of Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all of the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says the Lord, You are not to go up or fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Let each man return home, for this thing is from me.’ ” They obeyed the word of the Lord, and they turned around and left, as the Lord had instructed.
25 Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and he dwelt there. He went out from there and built Penuel.
26 Jeroboam’s Idolatry. Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom is going to return to the house of David. 27 If this people goes up to sacrifice in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam, the king of Judah. They will kill me and they will return to Rehoboam, the king of Judah.”
28 The king sought counsel, and so he made two golden calves.[d] He said to them, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 He placed one in Bethel, and he placed the other in Dan.[e] 30 This thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before one of them, even to Dan.
31 He built shrines upon the high places, and he appointed priests from the lowliest of people who were not Levites.
32 He established a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the one that was celebrated in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. He did this in Bethel, offering sacrifices to the calves that he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places that he had made.
33 And so he established a festival for the Israelites on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a date of his own choosing, and he offered up a sacrifice on the altar he had built in Bethel. He offered up a sacrifice and burned incense on the altar.
Chapter 13
Prophetic Disobedience. 1 A man of God came from Judah and went to Bethel, led by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar offering incense. 2 He cried out the word of the Lord against the altar saying, “O altar, O altar, thus says the Lord, ‘A son will be born to the house of David by the name of Josiah. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now burn incense upon you. Human bones will be burnt upon you.’ ”[f]
3 That same day he gave a sign saying, “This is a sign of what the Lord has proclaimed: The altar will be split in two and the ashes on it will be poured out.”
4 When the king heard the man of God speaking against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar proclaiming, “Seize him!” The hand that he stretched out toward him shriveled up, and he could not pull it back again. 5 The altar split apart and its ashes spilt out from the altar, fulfilling the sign that the man of God had proclaimed through the word of the Lord.
6 The king said to the man of God, “Intercede now to the Lord, your God, and pray for me so that my hand might be made well.” The man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was made well, just like it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.” 8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half of what belongs to you, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.” 9 I received a command by the word of the Lord, “Do not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.” 10 He returned by another way, and did not go back by the way that he had come to Bethel.
11 Fate of a Disobedient Prophet.[g] Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel whose sons came and told him all about the things that the man of God had done in Bethel that day. 12 They also told their father what he had said to the king. Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons showed him the way on which the man of God from Judah had gone. 13 He said to his sons, “Saddle up the donkey for me.” They saddled up the donkey, and he rode on it.
14 He rode after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.” 15 So he said to him, “Come home and eat with me.” 16 He answered, “I cannot return nor can I go with you. I cannot eat bread with you nor drink water with you in that place. 17 The word of the Lord told me, ‘Do not eat bread nor drink water there. Do not return by the way which you came.’ ”
18 He said, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke the word of the Lord to me, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house so that he can eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he was lying.
19 The man of God returned with him and he ate bread and drank water in his house. 20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back. 21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you defied the mouth of the Lord and have not observed the command that the Lord, your God, commanded you, 22 but you came back and ate bread and drank water in the place that I told you not to eat bread nor drink water, therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.’ ”
23 When he had finished eating bread and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey up for him. 24 On the way, a lion came upon him and killed him, and his body was thrown down upon the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing alongside of him.
25 Some of those who were passing by on the road saw his body tossed down there, and there was a lion standing by the body. They came and reported it in the city where the old prophet was living. 26 When the prophet who had brought him back while he was on his way heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord. The Lord has delivered him over to the lion who tore him to pieces and killed him, just as the word of the Lord had declared to him.”
27 The prophet said to his sons, “Saddle up the donkey for me,” and they saddled it up. 28 They went out and found the body that had been thrown down along the way, and the donkey and the lion were standing alongside of it. The lion had not eaten the body nor had it attacked the donkey. 29 The prophet picked up the body of the man of God and put it upon the donkey. He brought it back to the old prophet’s city to mourn for him and bury him. 30 Then he laid the body in his own grave. They mourned over him saying, “Oh, my brother!”
31 After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones alongside of his. 32 The thing that he proclaimed by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all of the shrines on the high places throughout the cities of Samaria will certainly be fulfilled.”
33 Even after this, though, Jeroboam did not turn away from his evil ways. Once again he appointed priests for the high places from the lowliest of people. He consecrated as priests for the high places anyone who wanted to be consecrated. 34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam[h] that caused it to be cut off and wiped out from the face of the earth.
The Passion and Resurrection[a]
Chapter 22
The Conspiracy against Jesus.[b] 1 Now the feast of Unleavened Bread, known as the Passover, was drawing near, 2 and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for some way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people.
Judas Betrays Jesus.[c] 3 Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. 4 And he went to the chief priests and temple guards to discuss how he might betray Jesus to them 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He accepted their offer and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present.
The Last Supper[d]
The Preparations for the Passover.[e] When the day of the feast of Unleavened Bread arrived, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed, 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make the preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to make the preparations?”10 He replied, “When you enter the city, a man will meet you carrying a jug of water. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says this to you: “Where is the room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 12 Then he will show you a large upper room that is furnished. Make the preparations there.” 13 They went forth and found everything just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
14 The Last Supper.[f] When the hour came, Jesus took his place at table along with the apostles. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you that from this moment on I shall never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from this moment I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 Jesus Gives His Body and His Blood.[g] Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you. Do this in memory of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be poured out for you.
21 The Betrayer Foretold.[h]“But behold, the hand of the one who will betray me is here with me on the table. 22 The Son of Man goes on his appointed path, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.” 23 Then they began to question among themselves as to which one of them might do this.
24 The Disciples Are To Serve on Earth.[i] Then a dispute also broke out among them as to which one of them should be considered the greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them are given the title of ‘Benefactor.’[j]
26 “But it must not be so with you. Rather, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the leader must be like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater—the one seated at table or the one who serves? Surely, the one who sits at table. And yet I am in your midst as one who serves.
28 Judges of the Twelve Tribes.[k]“You are the ones who have stood by my side in my trials, 29 and now I confer on you a kingdom just as my Father has conferred one on me. 30 In my kingdom, you will eat and drink at my table, and you will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.[l]
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