Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

14 At this time, Aviyah the son of Yarov‘am fell ill. ² Yarov‘am said to his wife, “Please come, and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Yarov‘am’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Achiyah the prophet is there, the one who said that I would be king over these people. ³ Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes and a jug of honey; and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

⁴ Yarov‘am’s wife did this; she set out, went to Shiloh and arrived at the house of Achiyah. Now Achiyah could not see, because his eyes were dim with age. ⁵ Adonai had told Achiyah, “Yarov‘am’s wife is on her way to you to ask about her son, who is ill. You are to tell her thus and thus; moreover, when she comes, she will be pretending she is another woman.”

⁶ When Achiyah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the door, he said, “Enter, wife of Yarov‘am! Why pretend you are someone else? I’ve been given bad news for you. ⁷ Go, tell Yarov‘am that this is what Adonai says: ‘I raised you up from among the people, made you prince over my people Isra’el, ⁸ tore the kingdom away from the dynasty of David and gave it to you. In spite of this, you have not been like my servant David, who obeyed my mitzvot and followed me with all his heart, so that he could do only what I regarded as right. ⁹ Rather, you have committed more evil than anyone before you! You went and made other gods for yourself and images of cast metal to make me angry, but me you shoved behind your back! ¹⁰ Therefore, I will now bring disaster on the house of Yarov‘am. I will cut off every male of Yarov‘am’s line, whether a slave or free in Isra’el; I will sweep away the house of Yarov‘am as completely as when someone sweeps away dung until it’s all gone. ¹¹ If someone from the line of Yarov‘am dies in the city, the dogs will eat him; if he dies in the countryside, the vultures will eat him. For Adonai has said it.’ ¹² So get up and go home; when your feet enter the city, the boy will die. ¹³ All Isra’el will mourn him, and they will bury him; he is the only one of Yarov‘am’s line who will lie in a grave, because he alone in the house of Yarov‘am has in him an element of good toward Adonai the God of Isra’el. ¹⁴ Moreover, Adonai will raise up for himself a king over Isra’el who at that time will cut off the house of Yarov‘am. And what will God do now? ¹⁵ Adonai will strike Isra’el until it shakes like a reed in the water; he will uproot Isra’el from this good land, which he gave to their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River; because they made sacred poles for themselves, thus making Adonai angry. ¹⁶ He will give up on Isra’el because of the sins of Yarov‘am, which he committed himself, and with which he made Isra’el sin as well.”

¹⁷ Yarov‘am’s wife got up, left and went to Tirtzah. The moment she reached the threshold of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸ All Isra’el buried him and mourned him, in keeping with the word of Adonai spoken through his servant Achiyah the prophet.

¹² and I thank the one who has given me strength, the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, that he considered me trustworthy enough to put me in his service, ¹³ even though I used to be a man who blasphemed and persecuted and was arrogant! But I received mercy because I had acted in unbelief, not understanding what I was doing. ¹⁴ Our Lord’s grace overflowed to me with trust and love that come through the Messiah Yeshua. ¹⁵ So here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted: the Messiah came into the world to save sinners, and I’m the number one sinner! ¹⁶ But this is precisely why I received mercy — so that in me, as the number one sinner, Yeshua the Messiah might demonstrate how very patient he is, as an example to those who would later come to trust in him and thereby have eternal life. ¹⁷ So to the King — eternal, imperishable and invisible, the only God there is — let there be honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen.

¹⁸ This charge, son Timothy, I put to you, in keeping with the prophecies already made about you, so that by these prophecies you may fight the good fight, ¹⁹ armed with trust and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, some have made shipwreck of their trust; ²⁰ among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander. I have turned them over to the Adversary, so that they will learn not to insult God.