Old/New Testament
Rehoboam’s Foolishness
12 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 Now when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of King Solomon and settled in Egypt. 3 They summoned him, so Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying: 4 “Your father made our yoke burdensome. Now therefore lighten the harsh labor of your father and his heavy yoke which he laid on us and we will serve you.”
5 He said to them: “Go away for three more days and then come back to me.” So the people departed.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to respond to these people?”
7 They spoke to him, saying: “If you will be a servant to this people today, serving them, granting them their petition, and speaking favorably to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the counsel the elders had given him, instead consulting with the young men who grew up with him and stood before him. 9 So he asked them, “How do you advise me to respond to these people who have spoken to me saying: ‘Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us?’”
10 The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him saying: “Thus you should say to these people who spoke to you saying ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ thus you should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! 11 So now, my father laid on you a heavy yoke, and as for me, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but as for me, I will chastise you with scorpions.’”
12 Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king told them, saying, “Come back to me on the third day.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. He rejected the counsel the elders had given him, 14 and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
Ten Tribes Revolt
15 So the king did not listen to the people. For it was a turn of events from Adonai fulfilling His word, which Adonai spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. 16 But when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king saying:
“What share have we in David?
No inheritance in Jesse’s son!
To your tents, O Israel!
Now look at your own house, David!”
So the Israelites departed to their tents. 17 But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. Then King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 Israel has rebelled against the house of David to this day.
20 Now when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David. 21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah as well as the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 select soldiers, to fight against the house of Israel in order to restore the kingship back to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying: 23 “Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people saying, 24 Thus says Adonai: you are not to go up or fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Turn back every man to his own house, for this matter is from Me.”
So they heeded the word of Adonai. They turned and went back, according to the word of Adonai.
25 Then Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and resided there. From there he went out and built Penuel.[a]
Jeroboam Resorts to Idolatry
26 But Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David. 27 If this people keep going up to offer sacrifices in the House of Adonai at Jerusalem, then the heart of these people will turn back to their lord—to King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” 28 So the king sought counsel and made two golden calves. He said to them, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough! Here are your gods O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 Then he set up one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even up in Dan.
31 He also made shrines on the high places and appointed priests from among the people, who were not sons of Levi. 32 Then Jeroboam instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, imitating the Festival that is in Judah. He went up to the altar that he built in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves that he had made. He installed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he made. 33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month—in the month that he had made up from his own heart—and made up a festival for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.
Prophet Against Bethel
13 Unexpectedly, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel with the word of Adonai while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 He cried out against the altar with the word of Adonai and said: “O altar, altar, thus says Adonai, behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon you will he sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’” 3 The same day he gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign that Adonai has spoken, the altar is about to be split apart and the fat ashes on it will be poured out.”
4 Now when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he proclaimed against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar saying: “Seize him!” But the hand which he stretched out against him withered—he could not even draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split apart and the fat ashes poured out from the altar, just as was the sign that the man of God gave with the word of Adonai.
6 So the king responded by saying to the man of God: “Please seek the face of Adonai your God, and pray for me, so my hand may be restored to me!” So the man of God sought the face of Adonai and the king’s hand was restored to him, becoming as it was before.
7 Then the king said to the man of God: “Come home with me and have something to eat, and then, I will give you a reward.”
8 But the man of God said to the king: “Even if you give me half your house, I will not go with you nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 For so I was charged by the word of Adonai, saying, ‘You are to eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way by which you came.’” 10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 Now one old prophet was living in Bethel. His son came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and all the words that he had spoken to the king they related to their father. 12 Then their father asked them: “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen which way the man of God that came from Judah went.
13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me!” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. 14 Then he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“I am,” he said.
15 “Come home with me,” he said to him, “and eat bread!”
16 But he said: “I cannot return with you nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 For it was said to me by the word of Adonai: You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor should you return back by the way by which you came.”
18 So he said to him: “I also am a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me with the word of Adonai saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He lied to him.) [b] 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20 Now while 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 that came from Judah saying, “Thus says Adonai: Because you rebelled against the word of Adonai, and did not keep the commandment which Adonai your God commanded you, 22 but turned back, ate bread and drank water in the place of which He said to you, ‘Eat no bread and drink no water,’ your carcass will not enter the tomb of your fathers.”
23 So after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet he had brought back. 24 But when he was gone, a lion met him along the way and killed him. So his carcass was thrown on the road with both the donkey and the lion standing beside the carcass. 25 Then, men passed by and saw the carcass thrown on the road with the lion standing by the carcass. So they came and told it in the town where the old prophet lived. 26 Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard it, he said: “It is the man of God who defied the word of Adonai; therefore Adonai gave him to the lion which mauled him and killed him, according to the word Adonai spoke to him.”
27 Then he spoke to his sons saying: “Saddle the donkey for me!” So they saddled it. 28 Then he went and found his carcass lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing by the carcass. The lion had not eaten the carcass nor mauled the donkey. 29 Then the prophet picked up the carcass of the man of God, he laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the town of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30 He laid his carcass in his own tomb and they mourned over him saying, “Oy, my brother!” 31 After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message he declared by the word of Adonai against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places which are in the towns of Samaria, will surely come to pass.”
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil way, but once again, he appointed priests for the high places from among all ranks of the people. Whoever wanted to be a priest, he consecrated him for the high places. 34 So this matter became sin against the house of Jeroboam, in the end, wiping it out and destroying it from the face of the earth.
The Day before Pesach
22 Now the Feast of Matzah, which is called Passover, was approaching. 2 The ruling kohanim and Torah scholars were searching for a way to do away with Yeshua, for they were afraid of the people.
3 Then satan entered into Judah, the one from Kriot, one of the twelve. 4 And he went away and talked with the ruling kohanim and officers of the Temple guard about how he might deliver Yeshua over to them. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 So he agreed and began looking for a chance to hand Yeshua over to them without a crowd.
7 Then came the day of matzah when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Now Yeshua sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so we may eat.”
9 Then they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”
10 And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters. 11 And say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12 And with that, he will show you a large upper room, fully furnished. Make preparations there.” 13 So they left and found just what Yeshua had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
The Seder in the Upper Room
14 When the hour came, Yeshua reclined at table, and the emissaries with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 And when He had taken a cup and offered the bracha, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that I will never drink of the fruit of the vine from now on, until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And when He had taken matzah[a] and offered the bracha, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you. Do this in memory of Me.” 20 In the same way, He took the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. [b] 21 But look, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table. [c] 22 For indeed, the Son of Man is going as has been predetermined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
23 So they began to discuss among themselves which of them it might be who would do this thing. 24 But there was also a quarrel among them about which of them is considered the greatest. 25 And Yeshua said to them, “The kings of the nations have mastery over them, and those exercising authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26 But with you, it is not so. Rather, let the one who is greatest among you become like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who reclines or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves.
28 “You are the ones who have remained with Me in My times of testing. 29 And just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, so I grant to you 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you shall sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.