1 Kings 14 Cross References - ISV

¹ God Disciplines Jeroboam’s FamilyRight at that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became ill, ² so Jeroboam suggested to his wife, “Get up, disguise yourself so that no one will know that you’re Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh where the prophet Ahijah lives. He’s the one who told me that I would be king over this people. ³ Take ten loaves with you, some cakes, and a jar of honey and go visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
⁴ So that’s what Jeroboam’s wife did. She got up, went to Shiloh, and found Ahijah’s home. Ahijah was blind, because his eyes could not focus due to his age. ⁵ Meanwhile, the LORD had spoken to Ahijah, “Be on your guard! Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is ill. You’re to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else!”
⁶ When she arrived, Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came through the doorway. He said this to her: “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. What is this pretension at being someone else? I have some harsh news. ⁷ Go tell Jeroboam: ‘I raised you up from among the people.‘I made you Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel. ⁸ ‘I tore the kingdom away from David’s dynasty.‘Then I gave it to you.But you have not lived like my servant David, who kept my commands with all his heart, and did only what I considered to be right. ⁹ ‘Instead, you have done more evil than everyone who lived before you.‘You have gone out and crafted other gods for yourself.‘You made cast images.‘You have provoked me to anger.‘You have thrown me behind your back. ¹⁰ ‘Therefore, watch while I bring calamity on Jeroboam’s dynasty!‘I will eliminate every male, both slave and free in Israel, from Jeroboam.‘I will burn up Jeroboam’s dynasty, as a man burns up manure until it is gone. ¹¹ Dogs will eat anyone who dies in the city that belongs to Jeroboam’s household. The birds of the sky will eat anyone who dies in the open field, because the LORD has determined it.’ ¹² “Now get up and go home. When your feet cross the city line, your child will die. ¹³ Everyone in Israel will mourn for him and will bury him, because he alone from Jeroboam’s family will receive a decent burial, because something good was observed in him with respect to the LORD God of Israel out of all the household of Jeroboam! ¹⁴ “In addition to this, the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will eliminate Jeroboam’s dynasty, starting today and from now on. ¹⁵ The LORD will attack Israel, and Israel will shake like a reed shakes in a river current! He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and he will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they erected their Asherim and provoked the LORD to become angry! ¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and by which Jeroboam caused Israel to sin.”
¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left for Tirzah. As soon as she set foot over the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸ All of Israel mourned him at his burial, just as the LORD had said when he spoke through Ahijah the prophet.
¹⁹ The Death of JeroboamNow as for the rest of Jeroboam’s accomplishments, including how he waged war and how he reigned, you may read about them in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰ Jeroboam reigned for 22 years and then died, as had his ancestors, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.
²¹ Rehoboam Reigns over Judah
Meanwhile, Solomon’s son Rehoboam reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to place his Name. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. ²² Judah practiced what the LORD considered to be evil. They did more to provoke him to jealousy than their ancestors had ever done by committing the sins that they committed. ²³ They erected high places, sacred pillars, and Asherim for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ They even maintained male shrine prostitutes throughout the land, and imitated every detestable practice that the nations practiced whom the LORD had expelled in front of the Israelis.
²⁵ As a result, during the fifth year of the reign of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt invaded and attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He stripped the LORD’s Temple and the royal palace of their treasures. He took everything, even the gold shields that Solomon had made. ²⁷ King Rehoboam made shields out of bronze to take their place, and then committed them to the care and custody of the commanders of those who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king entered the LORD’s Temple, the guards would carry them to and from the guard’s quarters.
²⁹ As to the rest of Rehoboam’s accomplishments, and everything else that he undertook, they are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, aren’t they? ³⁰ There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, ³¹ but eventually Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother’s name had been Naamah the Ammonite, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.

⁵ You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

¹⁹ Ichabod is BornEli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and ready to give birth. When she heard the report about the capture of the Ark of God and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth, because her labor pains suddenly began. ²⁰ As she was about to die, the women standing around her said, “Don’t be afraid! You’ve given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay attention.

² The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons. The Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.

¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.
David’s Infant Son DiesAfter this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and the child became very ill.

³³ Despite everything that happened, Jeroboam never did repent of his evil practices. Instead, he appointed even more people to act as priests for the high places. Anyone who wanted to be a priest was ordained to be a priest in the high places. ³⁴ This practice became so sinful that the LORD decided to erase Jeroboam’s dynasty, thus eliminating it from the face of the earth.

¹² “Now get up and go home. When your feet cross the city line, your child will die. ¹³ Everyone in Israel will mourn for him and will bury him, because he alone from Jeroboam’s family will receive a decent burial, because something good was observed in him with respect to the LORD God of Israel out of all the household of Jeroboam!

¹ Other Tribal AllotmentsAfter this, the entire assembly of the Israelis gathered together at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there, where the land lay conquered before them.

⁸ Saul disguised himself, putting on different clothes. He went along with two men to the woman at night. He said, “Consult a familiar spirit for me and bring up for me the one whom I tell you.”

² so he sent messengers to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please play the role of a mourner, wear the clothes of a mourner, and refrain from using makeup. Act like a woman who’s been in mourning for the dead for many days.

²⁹ During that time, Jeroboam left Jerusalem and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Ahijah had wrapped himself up in a new cloak, and both of them were alone on the open road. ³⁰ Ahijah grabbed the new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces! ³¹ Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Pay attention! I’m going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s control and give you ten tribes. ³² I’ll leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and one tribe for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from all of the tribes of Israel. ³³ I’m doing this because they have abandoned me and worshipped that Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven’t lived my way by doing what I consider to be right and observing my statutes and my ordinances, like his father David did. ³⁴ ‘Nevertheless, I won’t take the entire kingdom away from him, but I’ll let him reign for the rest of his life, because of my servant David, whom I chose, who obeyed my commandments and statutes, ³⁵ but I will take the kingdom away from his son’s control and give ten tribes to you. ³⁶ I’ll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name. ³⁷ I’m going to take you and have you reign over whatever you desire. You will be king over Israel. ³⁸ If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I’ll give Israel to you.

⁵ Meanwhile, the LORD had spoken to Ahijah, “Be on your guard! Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is ill. You’re to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else!”
⁶ When she arrived, Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came through the doorway. He said this to her: “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. What is this pretension at being someone else? I have some harsh news.

³⁰ The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, “I’ll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle.

²⁹ The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, “I’ll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle.

² There is nothing covered up that won’t be exposed and nothing secret that won’t be made known.

⁷ Saul told the young man, “Look, we could go, but what could we bring the man? The bread is gone from our bags, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have with us?”
⁸ The young man answered Saul again, “Look here! I have in my hand a quarter shekel of silver. I’ll give it to the man of God, and he will tell us about our journey.”

⁷ So the king told the man of God, “Come back to my palace and rest a while. I’d like to give you a reward.”

² Meanwhile, Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria and lay injured. He sent messengers to Ekron with these orders: “Go and consult with Ekron’s god Baal-zebub to find out if I’m going to recover from this injury.”

⁴² Feeding of the Crowd
Later on, a man arrived from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God some bread as a first fruit offering. He had 20 loaves of barley and ripe ears of corn in his sack. So Elisha said, “Give them to the people so they can eat.”

⁵ The king of Aram replied, “Go now, and I’ll send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he left and took with him ten talents of silver and 6,000 units of gold, along with ten sets of clothing.

¹⁵ Gehazi’s Greed is PunishedNaaman went back to the man of God, along with his entire entourage, and stood before him. “Please look!” he said. “I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel! So please, take a present from your servant.”

⁷ The Murder of King Ben-hadad of AramLater on, Elisha traveled to Damascus. King Ben-hadad of Aram was ill, but someone informed him, “The man of God has come here!”
⁸ So the king told Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go meet the man of God. Inquire of the LORD through him and ask, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”
⁹ So Hazael went out to meet with him and took a gift with him—40 camel loads filled with samples of everything good in Damascus. He approached the man of God and said, “Your son King Ben-hadad from Aram has sent me to you to ask you, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”

² There a centurion’s servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die. ³ When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant’s life.

⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him repeatedly to come down and heal his son, because he was about to die.
⁴⁸ Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus and told him, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.”

¹ The Theft of Esau’s BlessingEventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see. One day, he called his eldest son Esau. “My son,” he called out to him.

¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyesight had become poor from age. Because he couldn’t see well, Joseph brought them close to him, and Israel kissed them both and embraced them.

⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight wasn’t impaired and he was still vigorous and strong.

² At that time Eli, whose vision was growing dim, was lying down in his bedroom.

³ When the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the LORD defeat us today when we fought the Philistines? Let’s take the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so it may go with us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” ⁴ So the people sent word to Shiloh and took away from there the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who sits above the cherubim.
Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

¹⁵ Now Eli was 98 years old, and his vision had failed.

²⁹ During that time, Jeroboam left Jerusalem and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Ahijah had wrapped himself up in a new cloak, and both of them were alone on the open road.

² so Jeroboam suggested to his wife, “Get up, disguise yourself so that no one will know that you’re Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh where the prophet Ahijah lives. He’s the one who told me that I would be king over this people.

¹⁰ We live for 70 years, or 80 years if we’re healthy, yet even in the prime years there are troubles and sorrow. They pass by quickly and we fly away.

³ when that day comes, the palace guards will tremble, strong men will stoop down, women grinders will cease because they are few, and the sight of those who peer through the lattice will grow dim.

¹² “Go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I first caused my name to dwell. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. ¹³ Now, because you have done all these things,” declares the LORD, “I spoke to you over and over again, but you didn’t listen. I called to you, but you didn’t answer. ¹⁴ Just as I did to Shiloh, I’ll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

²⁷ As she came near the man of God on the mountain, she grabbed his feet. When Gehazi intervened to push her away, the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is deeply troubled! The LORD has concealed the thing from me, and hasn’t informed me.”

⁸ The Arameans AttackEventually the king of Aram went to war against Israel, taking counsel with his advisors and concluding, “In such and such a place I’ll build my encampment.”
⁹ So the man of God sent a message to the king of Israel, warning him, “Keep an eye on that area, because the Arameans are going to be there!” ¹⁰ The king of Israel confirmed the matter about which the man of God had warned him. Having been forewarned, he was able to protect himself there on more than one or two occasions.
¹¹ The king of Aram flew into a rage over this, so he called in his advisors and asked them, “Will you please tell me which of us has joined the king of Israel?”
¹² “No, your majesty,” one of his servants said. “Elisha the prophet, who lives in Israel, tells the king of Israel what you talk about in your bedroom!”

¹ To the Music Director: A Davidic Song
God’s Knowledge and Presence LORD, you have examined me; you have known me. ² You know when I rest and when I am active. You understand what I am thinking when I am distant from you. ³ You scrutinize my life and my rest; you are familiar with all of my ways. ⁴ Even before I have formed a word with my tongue, you, LORD, know it completely!

³⁰ No wisdom, insight, or counsel can prevail against the LORD.

⁷ The LORD’s Purposes“Truly the Lord GOD will do nothing he has mentioned without revealing his purposes to his servants the prophets.

¹⁹ Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit told him, “Look! Three men are looking for you. ²⁰ Get up, go downstairs, and don’t hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

¹⁶ “Be quiet!” Samuel said. “I’ll tell you what the LORD told me last night.”
Saul told him, “Speak.”

²⁶ Samuel told Saul, “I won’t return with you because you have rejected the message from the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

¹⁸ Because you didn’t obey the LORD and didn’t display his fierce anger against Amalek, therefore, the LORD will do this thing to you today.

²⁰ Later, while they were sitting down at the table, a message from the LORD was delivered to the prophet who had brought him back, ²¹ so he cried out to the man of God from Judah: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you disobeyed a command from the LORD and haven’t done what the LORD your God commanded you to do, ²² but instead you returned to eat and drink in the very place that he told you “Eat no food and drink no water,” your body will not be buried in the same grave as your ancestors.’”

⁵ Meanwhile, the LORD had spoken to Ahijah, “Be on your guard! Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is ill. You’re to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else!”

¹⁰ ‘Therefore, watch while I bring calamity on Jeroboam’s dynasty!‘I will eliminate every male, both slave and free in Israel, from Jeroboam.‘I will burn up Jeroboam’s dynasty, as a man burns up manure until it is gone. ¹¹ Dogs will eat anyone who dies in the city that belongs to Jeroboam’s household. The birds of the sky will eat anyone who dies in the open field, because the LORD has determined it.’

⁴² He told the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you let the man whom I had dedicated to destruction go free, therefore your life is to be forfeited for his life, and your people for his people.’”

¹⁸ “Get up and go down to meet King Ahab of Israel. He’s in Samaria. Look! He’s in Naboth’s vineyard, where he’s gone to confiscate it. ¹⁹ Ask the king, ‘Did you commit murder? And now you’re going to steal as well?’ Also tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Where the dogs were licking up Naboth’s blood, dogs will also lick up your blood—that’s right—yours!”’”
²⁰ Later on, Ahab asked Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?”
But Elijah answered, “I’ve found you because you sold yourself to do what the LORD considers to be evil! ²¹ Now pay attention! I’m going to send evil in your direction! I will completely sweep you away and eliminate from Ahab every male, whether indentured servant or free, throughout Israel. ²² I will make your household resemble that of Nebat’s son Jeroboam, or like the household of Ahijah’s son Baasha, because of how you’ve provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. ²³ The LORD also has this to say about Jezebel: ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel within the outer ramparts of Jezreel. ²⁴ Dogs will eat whoever belongs to Ahab and who dies in the city. The birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the fields.’”

⁸ “There is still one man left by whom we could ask the LORD what to do,” the king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, “but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me. Instead, he prophesies evil. He is Imla’s son Micaiah.”
But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, “Kings should never talk like that.”

¹³ He captures the wise in their own craftiness, bringing a quick end to their cunning advice.

¹⁰ The LORD makes void the counsel of nations; he frustrates the plans of peoples.

² Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps the LORD will do some of his miraculous acts for us, and Nebuchadnezzar will depart from us.”
³ Jeremiah told them, “This is what you are to say to Zedekiah, ⁴ ‘This is what the LORD God of Israel says: “I’m about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. I’ll gather them into the center of this city. ⁵ Because of my anger, wrath, and great fury, I’ll fight against you myself with an outstretched hand and a strong arm. ⁶ I’ll strike down the residents of this city, both people and animals, and they’ll die from a terrible plague. ⁷ Afterwards,” declares the LORD, “I’ll give King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people—those who are left in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine—into the control of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, right into the hand of their enemies and the hand of those who want to kill them. He’ll execute them with swords and won’t pity them. He won’t spare them, nor will he have compassion on them.”’

⁴ They’re stubborn and strong willed. I’m sending you to them to tell them what the LORD says. ⁵ Whether this rebellious group listens to you or not, at least they’ll realize that a prophet had appeared in their midst!

³ “Son of Man, these men have taken idols into their hearts. They’ve placed the stumbling block that is their own iniquity right in front of their faces. Should I be consulted by them at all? ⁴ Therefore, speak up and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says, “Every person from Israel’s house who follows his idols and sets the stumbling block that is his own sin in front of his face, and then consults a prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to how many idols he embraces. ⁵ I’ll do this in order to capture the hearts of Israel’s house who have become alienated from me due to all of their idols.”’”

⁷ For when a native Israeli or a resident alien abandons me to set up idols in his heart behind my back, and then places the stumbling block of his iniquity right in front of his own face, then approaches a prophet to inquire of me on behalf of his own self-interest, I, the LORD will answer him myself. ⁸ I’m determined to oppose that person and make him an example. Proverbs will be written about him when I eliminate him from my people. Then you’ll know that I am the LORD.”’”

¹⁹ Daniel’s InterpretationThen Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was greatly troubled for a while and was terrified by his thoughts. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its meaning terrify you.”
Belteshazzar responded, “Your majesty, if only the dream were about your enemies and its meaning about those who oppose you! ²⁰ The tree that you saw, which grew large and strong until its top reached the sky and became visible to the whole earth ²¹ with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit—enough food for everyone—and under which wild animals of the field found shelter and the birds of the air had nests in its branches— ²² it’s you, your majesty! You’ve become great and strong, your greatness has grown to the heavens, and your dominion reaches to the distant parts of the earth.
²³ “Your majesty saw a holy observer descending from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump in the ground, along with its roots, bound with iron and bronze in the field grass. Let him be soaked with the dew of the sky and live with the wild animals of the field until seven seasons pass over him.’
²⁴ “This is the meaning, your majesty, and this is the decree that the Most High has issued against his majesty, the king: ²⁵ You’ll be driven from people, and you’ll live among wild animals of the field. You’ll eat grass like cattle and be soaked with the dew of the sky while seven years pass you by—until you realize that the Most High is sovereign over human kingdoms and grants them to whomever he desires.

¹⁷ At this, Daniel answered, speaking directly to the king, “Let your gifts and rewards be given to someone else. However, I’ll read the writing for the king and tell him its meaning. ¹⁸ Your majesty, the Most High God gave your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty, as well as greatness, glory, and splendor. ¹⁹ And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages revered and feared him. He executed those whom he desired to execute, he spared those whom he wished to spare, he promoted those whom he desired to promote, and he humbled those whom he wished to humble. ²⁰ But when he became arrogant and his spirit hardened, he was removed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. ²¹ He was driven away from human society and given the mind of an animal. He lived with wild donkeys, ate grass like cattle, and his body was soaked with dew from the sky until he realized that the Most High God is sovereign over human kingdoms and places over them whomever he desires.
²² “But you, Belshazzar, his grandson, haven’t humbled yourself, even though you knew all of this.
²³ “You’ve exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven.
“You’ve had the vessels from his Temple brought into your presence.
“And you, your officials, and your wives and mistresses drank wine from them.
“You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can’t see, hear, or demonstrate knowledge.
“But you didn’t honor God, who holds in his power your very life and all your ways.
²⁴ “Therefore, the hand that wrote this inscription was sent from his presence. ²⁵ This is the written inscription: MENE, MENE, TEKEL AND PARSIN
²⁶ These are the meanings of the words:MENE: God has audited your kingdom—and has ended it. ²⁷ TEKEL: You’ve been weighed on the scales—and you don’t measure up. ²⁸ PERES: Your kingdom has been divided—and will be given to the Medes and Persians.”

²¹ For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”

²⁰ A Question about Paying Taxes
So they watched him closely and sent spies who pretended to be honest men in order to trap him in what he would say. They wanted to hand him over to the jurisdiction of the governor, ²¹ so they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach, and that you don’t favor any individual, but teach the way of God truthfully. ²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
²³ But he discerned their craftiness and responded to them,

³ Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? ⁴ As long as it remained unsold, wasn’t it your own? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn’t lie only to men, but also to God!”
⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized everyone who heard about it.

⁹ “How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter asked her. “Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well.” ¹⁰ She instantly fell down at Peter’s feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.

¹³ No creature can hide from him, but everyone is exposed and helpless before the eyes of the one to whom we must give a word of explanation.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron ²⁸ that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors’ family all the Israeli fire-offerings? ²⁹ Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I’ve commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.’
³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

⁷ But Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD God of Israel says:
“‘I anointed you king—and you became king over Israel.
“‘I delivered you from Saul’s control.
⁸ “‘I gave you your former master’s household.
“‘I placed your former master’s wives right in your arms.
“‘I gave you Israel and Judah.
“‘And if this had been too little, I would have added much more than that to you!

²⁴ ‘This is what the LORD says: “You are not to fight or even approach your fellow Israelis in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, because this development comes from me.”’” So they listened to what the LORD had to say and returned home, just as the LORD had directed.

² I raised you from the dirt to become Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel, but you’ve been living like Jeroboam, you’ve been leading my people Israel into sin, and you’ve been provoking me to anger with their sins.

¹⁴ If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I’ll also increase the length of your life.”

³⁰ Ahijah grabbed the new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces! ³¹ Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Pay attention! I’m going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s control and give you ten tribes.

⁵ because David had practiced what the LORD considered to be right. He never avoided anything that the LORD had commanded him during his entire lifetime, except for the case of Uriah the Hittite.

³ The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example set during his ancestor David’s preliminary years by not pursuing the Baals.

¹ Ahaz Succeds Jotham
Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not practice what the LORD considered to be right, as his ancestor David had done.

²² Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, ‘I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’

³⁶ Now David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died and was buried with his ancestors, and so he experienced decay.

¹⁷ “You are not to make molten gods for yourselves.

⁸ At Horeb you continually rebelled against the LORD, so that he was angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ Then I went up to the mountain to receive the two stone Tablets of the Covenant that the LORD had established with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating food or drinking water. ¹⁰ Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which God inscribed with his own finger all the words that the LORD spoke to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire that day when you were all assembled together. ¹¹ At the end of 40 days and nights, the LORD gave to me the two stone Tablets of the Covenant.
¹² “Then the LORD told me, ‘Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them, and have cast an idol for their use.’
¹³ “Then the LORD told me, ‘I have examined this people, and they are stubborn indeed. ¹⁴ Let me alone! I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I’ll make you into a nation that will be mighty and more numerous than they are.’
¹⁵ “So I turned and went down from the mountain while the mountain was on fire. The two Tablets of the Covenant were in both of my hands. ¹⁶ Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded.

²⁴ You have been rebelling against the LORD since the day I knew you.

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons— not to the real God— gods whom they didn’t know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared.

²¹ They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.

⁸ New gods were chosen, then war came to the city gates, but there wasn’t a shield or spear to be seen among 40,000 soldiers of Israel.

²⁸ So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, “It’s too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and by which Jeroboam caused Israel to sin.”

²² Judah practiced what the LORD considered to be evil. They did more to provoke him to jealousy than their ancestors had ever done by committing the sins that they committed.

³⁴ He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, living like Jeroboam did and leading Israel into sin.

³¹ In fact, as if it were nothing for him to live like Nebat’s son Jeroboam, Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Then he went out to serve Baal and worship him.

³ He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal, crafted an Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done, and worshipped and served the stars of heaven.

²⁶ Even so, the LORD did not turn away from his fierce and great anger that burned against Judah because of everything with which Manasseh had provoked him.

¹⁵ Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs and calves that he had made.

⁶ He burned his sons as an offering in the Ben-hinnom Valley, practiced fortune-telling, witchcraft, sorcery, and communicated with mediums and separatists. He did a lot of things that the LORD considered to be evil, thus provoking him.

²⁶ “Then they disobeyed, rebelled against you, and threw your Law behind their backs. They murdered your prophets who had admonished the people to return to you, committing terrible blasphemies.

¹⁷ You hate instruction and toss my words behind you.

⁴⁰ How they rebelled against him in the desert, grieving him in the wilderness!

⁵⁶ But they tested the Most High God by rebelling against him, and they did not obey his statutes.

¹⁹ They fashioned a calf at Horeb and worshipped a carved image. ²⁰ They exchanged their glory with the image of a grass-eating bull.

²⁹ They had provoked anger by their deeds, so that a plague broke out against them.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, crafted by human hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see. ⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell. ⁷ They have hands, but cannot touch; feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even groan with their throats. ⁸ Those who craft them will become like them, as will all those who trust in them.

⁹ A Rebuke to Idol WorshipNow, all the forming of images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they know nothing. So they will be put to shame.
¹⁰ Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing? ¹¹ To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. Then let them be terrified—they will be humiliated together.
¹² The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.
¹³ The carpenter measures it with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home in a shrine. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedars, or chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. Or he plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ He divides it up for people to burn. Taking part of it, he warms himself, makes a fire, and bakes bread. Or perhaps he constructs a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and bows down to it. ¹⁶ Half the wood he burns in the fire, and over that half he places meat so he can eat. He sits by its coals, warms himself, and says, “Ah! I am warm in front of the fire.” ¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god. To blocks of wood he bows down, worships, prays, and says, “Save me, since you are my god.”
¹⁸ They don’t realize; they don’t understand, because their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds, too, so they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one stops to think. No one has the knowledge or understanding to think—yes to think!—“Half of it I burned in the fire. I even baked bread on its coals, and I roasted meat and ate it. And am I about to make detestable things from what is left? Am I about to bow down to blocks of wood?” ²⁰ He tends ashes. A deceived mind has lead him astray. It cannot be his life, nor can he say, “There’s a lie in my right hand.”

⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don’t know, ¹⁰ and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, ‘We’re delivered’ so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God?

¹⁴ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false. There is no life in them. ¹⁵ They’re worthless, a work of mockery, and when the time of punishment comes, they’ll perish. ¹⁶ The Portion of Jacob is not like these. He made everything, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name.

³ The form of a hand reached out and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, brought me toward Jerusalem, and in visions that came from God took me through the doors of the inner gate that faced north, where an image that provoked God’s jealous anger had been erected.

¹⁷ “Do you see this, Son of Man?” he asked me. “Is it an insignificant thing for Judah’s house to commit the detestable things that they’re doing here? They’ve filled the land with violence and turned away from me, causing me to become angry again. Look how they’re sniffing with their noses!

³⁵ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you abandoned me and threw me behind your back, you will bear the consequences of your obscene conduct and sexual immorality.’”

²² or you’ll provoke the Lord to jealousy, won’t you? Are we stronger than he is?

³⁶ For the LORD will vindicate his people and bring comfort to his servants, because he will observe that their power has waned, when neither prisoner nor free person remain.

³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

²² May the LORD do this to the enemies of David—and more also—if by the morning I’ve left alive a single male of all those who belong to him.”

³⁴ For as surely as the LORD God of Israel lives, the one who restrained me from harming you—indeed, had you not quickly come to meet me, by dawn there wouldn’t be a single male left to Nabal.”

²⁵ Nadab Reigns over IsraelJeroboam’s son Nadab became king over Israel during the second year of the reign of King Asa over Judah. He reigned over Israel for two years, ²⁶ practicing what the LORD considered to be evil, living the way his father did, committing sins, and leading Israel to sin. ²⁷ So Ahijah’s son Baasha from the household of Issachar conspired against him and killed Nadab at Gibbethon in Philistia while Nadab and all of Israel were attacking Gibbethon. ²⁸ Baasha killed him during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah and took Nadab’s place as king.
²⁹ As soon as he was established as king, he killed everyone in the household of Jeroboam. He left not even one single person alive. He destroyed them completely, just as the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because he led Israel into sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to become angry.

¹¹ As soon as he had consolidated his reign, he executed the entire household of Baasha. He did not leave a single male alive, including any of Baasha’s relatives or friends.

²¹ Now pay attention! I’m going to send evil in your direction! I will completely sweep you away and eliminate from Ahab every male, whether indentured servant or free, throughout Israel.

⁸ The entire household of Ahab will die, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person in Israel, whether imprisoned or surviving. ⁹ I will make the household of Ahab like the household of Nebat’s son Jeroboam and the household of Ahijah’s son Baasha.

³⁷ and her corpse will lie like dung on the surface of the field on the property in Jezreel, but no one will say, “This is Jezebel.”’”

²⁶ For the LORD observed Israel’s bitter misery, and there was no one left, neither slave nor free, and there was no deliverer for Israel.

¹³ I’ll stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line that is Samaria and the plumb line that is Ahab’s dynasty. Then I’ll wipe Jerusalem like one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down!

⁷ he’ll perish forever, like his own excrement; those who saw him will ask, ‘Where is he?’

¹⁰ They were destroyed at En-dor and became as dung on the ground.

²⁵ Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against his people, so he stretched out his hands against them and afflicted them. The mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the middle of the streets. Throughout all of this, his anger has not turned away, and his hands are still stretched out to attack.

¹⁹ But you are cast away from your grave, like a repulsive branch, your clothing is the slain, those pierced by the sword; those who go down to the Pit. Like a dead body trampled underfoot,

²³ “And I’m going to make it a possession of the hedgehog—pools of water—and I’ll sweep with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

² They’ll be spread out to the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the heavens, which they loved and served, and which they followed, consulted, and worshipped. Their bones won’t be collected, nor will they be buried. They’ll be like dung on the surface of the ground.

⁴ and will destroy the city walls of Tyre. After they break down her fortified towers, I’ll scrape away the city’s debris, right down to the bare bedrock,

⁶ And when an alarm sounds in the city, the people will tremble, won’t they? If there is trouble in a city, the LORD has brought it about, has he not?”

¹⁷ “And I’ll bring so much distress to people that they will walk around like the blind. Because they have sinned against the LORD, their blood will be poured out like dust and their intestines will spill out like manure.

³ Look! I’m rebuking your descendants because of you, and I’ll spread waste on your faces, the waste of your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

³⁴ Tasteless Salt
“Now, salt is good. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can its flavor be restored? ³⁵ It’s suitable neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. People throw it away. Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”

⁴ Anyone from Baasha’s household who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the sky will eat.”

¹⁹ Ask the king, ‘Did you commit murder? And now you’re going to steal as well?’ Also tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Where the dogs were licking up Naboth’s blood, dogs will also lick up your blood—that’s right—yours!”’”

²⁴ “Then they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of the people who rebelled against me. For their worm will not die, nor will their fire be extinguished, and they will remain an object of revulsion to all humanity.”

³ “I’ll appoint four kinds of judgment for them,” declares the LORD: “the sword to kill, the dogs to drag off, the birds of the sky to devour, and the animals of the land to destroy.

¹⁷ An Invitation to Dine on Human Flesh“Now as for you, Son of Man, this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ‘Tell all of the birds and wild beasts, “Come! Gather together and participate in the sacrifice that I’m going to make for you. This great sacrifice will take place on the mountains of Israel, where you’ll be eating flesh and drinking blood. ¹⁸ You’ll eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the world’s princes, drinking the blood of these rams, lambs, goats, bulls, all of them fattened as if they’re from Bashan, fit for slaughter! ¹⁹ You’ll eat until you’re fat and satiated. You’ll drink blood until you’re drunk from the sacrifice that I’m going to make for all of you.

¹⁷ The Vision of the Angel’s InvitationThen I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried out in a loud voice to all the birds flying overhead, “Come! Gather for the great supper of God. ¹⁸ Eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of warriors, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, both unimportant and important.”

³ Take ten loaves with you, some cakes, and a jar of honey and go visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and by which Jeroboam caused Israel to sin.”
¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left for Tirzah. As soon as she set foot over the threshold of the house, the child died.

⁶ They replied, “We met a man who told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and ask him, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re going to consult with Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you won’t be getting up from that bed on which you’re lying. You will most certainly die!”’”

¹⁶ Then Elijah spoke to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Since you sent messengers to consult with Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel with whom to consult regarding his word?—therefore you’re not getting up from the bed on which you’re lying. You certainly will die!’”

⁵⁰ Jesus told him, “Go home. Your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus told him and started back home.
⁵¹ While he was on his way, his servants met him and told him that his child was alive. ⁵² So he asked them at what hour he had begun to recover, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon.”

²⁹ When the entire community saw that Aaron had died, they mourned in memory of Aaron for 30 days.

¹² After he had humbled himself, the LORD stopped being angry with him, and did not destroy Rehoboam completely. Furthermore, conditions became good in Judah.

³ Nevertheless, a few good things have been found in you, in that you have removed the Asheroth from the land and you have disciplined yourself to seek God.”

²⁸ Job Reminds His Friends of Judgment“When you’re thinking about asking yourselves, ‘How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem is with him?’

¹⁰ “Don’t cry for the dead or grieve for them. Weep bitterly for the one going away, because he won’t return again nor see the land of his birth.

¹⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, “They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!’ They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!’

¹⁴ Personal Accountability for Sin“Now suppose that he produced a son who practiced all of his father’s sins, but then that son began to fear me and stopped doing all of these things. ¹⁵ That is, suppose he doesn’t eat at the mountain shrines, doesn’t look to the idols of Israel’s house, doesn’t defile his neighbor’s wife, ¹⁶ doesn’t oppress anyone, doesn’t take possession of a debtor’s pledge, or doesn’t steal, but instead shares his food with the hungry, gives clothes to those who are naked, ¹⁷ doesn’t refuse to help the afflicted, or refuses to loan with usury or exact interest, but instead follows my ordinances and lives his life consistent with my statutes. He won’t die because of his father’s sin, will he? No! He’ll certainly live. ¹⁸ As for his father, watch out! If he wrongfully oppressed or robbed his brother and did what wasn’t good among his people, he’ll die because of his own sin.”
¹⁹ The Person who Sins will Die“Yet you keep asking, ‘Why wouldn’t the son bear the punishment of his father’s sin?’ Because the son has done what was lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes and obeyed them, he’s certainly going to live. ²⁰ The soul who sins dies. The son won’t bear the punishment of his father’s sin and the father won’t bear the punishment of his son’s sin. The righteous deeds of that righteous person will be attributed to him, while the wicked deeds of the wicked person will be charged against him. ²¹ But if the wicked person turns from all his sins, which he did and keeps my statutes, then he’ll live. He won’t die. ²² None of the transgressions that he had committed will be held against him. Because of the righteous deeds that he had done, he’ll live.
²³ “I don’t take delight in the death of the wicked, do I?” asks the Lord GOD. “Shouldn’t I rather delight when he turns from his wicked ways and lives? ²⁴ But when the righteous person abandons his righteous deeds and commits evil, detestable practices, as wicked people do, he won’t live, will he? None of the righteous acts that he had done will be remembered. He’ll die in his treacherous unfaithfulness and sins that he had committed.”
²⁵ Accusing God of Unrighteousness“Yet you keep saying, ‘The LORD isn’t being consistent with his standards.’ Pay attention, you house of Israel: Is my behavior really inconsistent with my standards? Isn’t it your behavior that isn’t just?
²⁶ “When a righteous person turns from his righteous deeds and does evil, he’ll die because of that evil. He’ll die because of his unrighteous acts that he committed. ²⁷ When a wicked person quits his wicked behavior and does what’s just and right, he’ll be enabled to live. ²⁸ Because he reconsidered his transgression and turned away from everything that he had been doing, he’ll certainly live and not die. ²⁹ Yet Israel’s house keeps saying, ‘The LORD isn’t being consistent with his standards.’ Is it my behavior that’s inconsistent with my standards? Is it not your behavior that’s inconsistent with my standards?”
³⁰ A Command to Repent“Therefore, Israel, I’m going to judge you according to the behavior of each and every one of you,” declares the Lord GOD. “So repent and turn from all your sins so that sin won’t keep on being a stumbling block for you. ³¹ Stop your transgressing—the deeds by which you’ve rebelled—and then make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, you house of Israel? ³² I don’t take pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the LORD. “So repent, so you may live!”

⁶ I pray that your partnership in the faith may become effective as you fully acknowledge every blessing that is ours in the Messiah.

⁸ for as long as that righteous man lived among them, day after day he was being tortured in his righteous soul by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions— ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and to hold unrighteous people for punishment on the day of judgment,

²⁷ So Ahijah’s son Baasha from the household of Issachar conspired against him and killed Nadab at Gibbethon in Philistia while Nadab and all of Israel were attacking Gibbethon. ²⁸ Baasha killed him during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah and took Nadab’s place as king.
²⁹ As soon as he was established as king, he killed everyone in the household of Jeroboam. He left not even one single person alive. He destroyed them completely, just as the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

¹¹ The Wisdom of Fearing GodWhenever a sentence for a crime is not carried out swiftly, the human mind becomes determined to commit evil.

² “Son of Man, this is what Lord GOD says to the land of Israel: ‘It’s over! All four corners of the land are out of time! ³ Your time is up! I’m sending my anger against you to judge you according to how you live your lives, and I’m going to pay you back with the consequences of all your detestable practices. ⁴ I won’t be showing pity on you and I won’t be showing compassion. I’m going to turn your own lifestyles against you while your detestable practices remain among you. Then you’ll learn that I am the LORD.’”
⁵ One Bad Thing after Another“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘It’s one evil event after another!
“‘Look out! It’s coming!
⁶ “‘The end is coming!
“‘The end is here!
“‘And it’s looking in your direction!
“‘Look out! It’s arrived!
⁷ “‘Your doom has come to you, you who live in the land. The time has arrived, and the day of confusion is near. There will be no shouts of joy on the mountains.

²² “Son of Man, what’s this proverb you have concerning Israel’s land that says, ‘The days pass slowly and every vision ends in nothing.’? ²³ Therefore you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says, “I’m about to put an end to use of this proverb in Israel. It will never be used again as a proverb in Israel. Instead, tell them that the days are drawing near when every vision will be fulfilled. ²⁴ There will no longer be worthless visions and flattering divinations in the midst of Israel’s house. ²⁵ Because I am the LORD, I’ll speak and the message that I communicate will be accomplished without delay. While you continue to be a rebellious house, I’ll speak the message and then fulfill it,” declares the Lord GOD.’”
²⁶ The Imminent FulfillmentLater, this message came to me from the LORD: ²⁷ “Son of Man, pay attention! The house of Israel keeps on saying, ‘The vision that he’s talking about concerns the distant future. He’s prophesying concerning times that are far in the future!’ ²⁸ Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says, “None of my messages will be delayed any longer. Any message that I speak will be fulfilled,” declares the Lord GOD.’”

⁹ Do not complain about each other, brothers, or you will be condemned. Look! The Judge is standing at the door!

³ In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. The ancient verdict against them is still in force, and their destruction is not delayed.

¹³ Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles— ¹⁴ indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD’s name is Jealous—he’s a jealous God—

³² I’ll make the land so desolate that your enemies who live in it will be astonished.”
³³ Captivity among the Nations“I’ll scatter you among the nations and draw the sword after you so that your land becomes desolate and your towns become ruins. ³⁴ Then the land will finally be pleased with its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time, the land will rest and take its Sabbaths.

⁴³ They will leave the land so it can rest while it lies desolate without them. That’s when they’ll receive the punishment of their iniquity, because indeed they will have rejected my ordinances and despised my statutes.

²⁶ Heaven and earth will testify against what has occurred today: you’ll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess by crossing the Jordan River. You won’t live long in it, because you’ll certainly be exterminated. ²⁷ Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among the nations, and you’ll be fewer in number in the nations where the LORD your God will drive you.

³ Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place.”
⁴ Sacrifice at the Central Sanctuary“You must not act like this with respect to the LORD your God.

³⁶ “The LORD will banish you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you’ll serve other gods of wood and stone.

⁶³ Just as the LORD delighted to prosper and increase you, so now the LORD will delight to destroy, exterminate, and banish you from the land that you are about to enter to possess.”
⁶⁴ Scattering among the Nations“He’ll scatter you among the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you’ll serve other gods made of wood and stones, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you’ll have no rest. There’ll be no resting place for the soles of your feet. Instead, the LORD will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a despairing spirit. ⁶⁶ You’ll cling to life, being fearful by both night and day, with no assurance of survival. ⁶⁷ In the morning you’ll say, ‘I wish it were evening.’ Yet in the evening you’ll say, “I wish it were morning,” on account of what you’ll dread and what you’ll see. ⁶⁸ Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you’ll never see again. There you’ll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

²⁴ All the nations will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this land? What is the meaning of this fierce and great anger?’ ²⁵ Then they will answer themselves, ‘Because they’ve abandoned the covenant of their LORD, the God of their ancestors that he had made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶ They followed and worshipped other gods whom they had not known and whom he did not assign to them. ²⁷ For this reason, the anger of the LORD raged against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that were written in this book. ²⁸ The LORD uprooted them from the land in his anger, wrath, and great fury, deporting them to another land, and that’s the way things are today.’

¹⁵ However, just as all of the good things have come about that the LORD your God promised, so also the LORD will bring upon you all of the threats until he has destroyed you from possessing this good land that he has given you. ¹⁶ When you break the covenant of the LORD your God that he commanded you to obey by going to serve other gods and worship them, then the anger of the LORD will blaze against you, and you will perish quickly from this good land that he gave you.”

²⁵ But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

⁹ ‘Instead, you have done more evil than everyone who lived before you.‘You have gone out and crafted other gods for yourself.‘You made cast images.‘You have provoked me to anger.‘You have thrown me behind your back.

²³ They erected high places, sacred pillars, and Asherim for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ They even maintained male shrine prostitutes throughout the land, and imitated every detestable practice that the nations practiced whom the LORD had expelled in front of the Israelis.

²⁹ During the lifetime of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead, Galilee, and the entire territory of Naphtali, and carried its people off to Assyria.

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.
⁷ The Idolatry of the Northern KingdomThis happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods,

²³ until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, ¹² because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.

⁵ But God will tear you down forever; he will take you away, even snatching you out of your tent! He will uproot you from the land of the living. Interlude

²² But the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

²⁸ Rebels and sinners will be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD will be consumed. ²⁹ They’ll be ashamed of the oak trees that you desired; and you’ll blush because of the gardens that you have chosen.

⁹ Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites in front of them, though their height seemed like a cedar, though their strength seemed like an oak, but whose fruit I destroyed from above and the roots from beneath.

²⁷ So I will cause you to be taken captive beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is God of the Heavenly Armies.

⁴ “For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon deserted— Ashdod will be emptied at high noon; even Ekron will be uprooted.

⁷ As they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

¹³ He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be pulled up by the roots.

²⁴ When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to ask the crowds about John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

⁴³ You even took along the tent of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made in order to worship them. So I will take you into exile as far as Babylon.’

²¹ Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you brought such great sin upon them?”

³⁵ Then the LORD sent a plague on the people because they made the calf (the one Aaron made).

³⁰ Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols.

³⁴ This practice became so sinful that the LORD decided to erase Jeroboam’s dynasty, thus eliminating it from the face of the earth.

³⁰ because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because he led Israel into sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to become angry.

¹² So I allowed them to continue in their stubbornness, living by their own advice.

²⁴ No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the earth, than he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest sweeps them away like stubble.

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

¹¹ Ephraim is crushed, broken by judgment, because he willingly pursued idols. ¹² Therefore I will consume Ephraim like a moth, and the house of Judah as rottenness consumes.

¹¹ The glory of Ephraim will fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, not even a conception. ¹² Even if they rear their children, I will, in turn, make them childless— in fact, woe to them when I turn away from them!

¹⁶ Ephraim is blighted; its roots shriveled. It can bear no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill their cherished offspring. ¹⁷ “My God will reject them, because they did not obey him, and they will become wanderers among the nations.”

¹⁶ You keep Omri’s statutes and observe the customs of the house of Ahab. Because you live according to their advice, I’ll make you desolate and turn your inhabitants into an object of scorn. Therefore you will bear the shame of my people.”

⁷ How terrible it will be for the world due to its temptations to sin! Temptations to sin are bound to happen, but how terrible it will be for that person who causes someone to sin!

¹³ Acting in LoveTherefore, let’s no longer criticize each other. Instead, make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

²⁴ The king of Tirzah: 1
Total number of all kings: 31

²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the LORD give you descendants from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would return to their home.
²¹ The LORD took note of Hannah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel continued to grow, and the LORD was constantly with him.
²² Judgment against Eli’s SonsNow Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to the Israelis, and how they lay with the women who were serving regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ²³ “Why are you doing these things that I’m hearing about?” he asked his sons, “These reports about your evil deeds are coming from all these people! ²⁴ No, my sons, I’m not hearing good news being circulated by the LORD’s people. ²⁵ If a person sins against another, God will mediate for him, but if a person sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”
But they would not follow the advice of their father; for the LORD wanted to put them to death. ²⁶ But the boy Samuel continued to grow both physically and in favor with the LORD and the people.
²⁷ A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron ²⁸ that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors’ family all the Israeli fire-offerings? ²⁹ Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I’ve commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.’
³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt. ³¹ The time is coming when I’ll cut away at your family and your ancestor’s family until there are no old men left in your family. ³² Distress will settle down to live in your household, and despite all the good that I do for Israel, there will never be an old man in your family forever, and you will never again have an old man in my house. ³³ Any of you whom I don’t eliminate from serving at my altar will grow tired from weeping, and their souls will grieve. All the increase of your family will die by violence. ³⁴ Here’s a sign for you—your two sons Hophni and Phineas will both die on the same day!

¹⁸ When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backwards by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, since he was old and heavy. Eli had judged Israel for 40 years.

²¹ When Baasha learned of this, he stopped fortifying Ramah and remained in Tirzah,

³³ Baasha Reigns over IsraelDuring the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahijah’s son Baasha became king over all of Israel. He reigned for 24 years at Tirzah.

⁶ Eventually, Baasha died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah was installed as king in his place.
⁷ In addition, a message from the LORD came through Hanani’s son Jehu the prophet against Baasha and his household, not only because of all of the things that Baasha did that the LORD considered to be evil, including provoking the LORD to anger by what he did and by being like the household of Jeroboam, but also because Baasha had destroyed Jeroboam’s household.
⁸ Elah Reigns over IsraelDuring the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Baasha’s son Elah became king over Israel and reigned at Tirzah for two years. ⁹ But his servant Zimri, who commanded half of his chariot forces, conspired against Elah while he was drinking himself drunk in the home of Arza, who managed the household at Tirzah.

¹⁵ Zimri Reigns over IsraelZimri reigned for seven days at Tirzah during the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. At that time, the army was encamped in a siege against Gibbethon of Philistia.

²³ During the thirty-first year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king over Israel. He reigned for twelve years, six of them at Tirzah.

⁴ The LoverYou are beautiful, my darling, like Tirzah, lovely like Jerusalem, as awesome as an army with banners.

¹³ Everyone in Israel will mourn for him and will bury him, because he alone from Jeroboam’s family will receive a decent burial, because something good was observed in him with respect to the LORD God of Israel out of all the household of Jeroboam!

²⁹ As to the rest of Rehoboam’s accomplishments, and everything else that he undertook, they are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, aren’t they? ³⁰ There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam,

³¹ Now the rest of Nadab’s accomplishments, including everything he undertook, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

⁵ Now the rest of Baasha’s accomplishments, including everything that he undertook, as well as his strengths, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

¹⁴ Now the rests of Elah’s accomplishments, including everything he undertook, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

²⁰ The rest of Zimri’s accomplishments, including his conspiracy that he carried out, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

²⁷ Now the rest of Omri’s accomplishments, including the power that he demonstrated, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

³⁹ Now as to the rest of Ahab’s accomplishments, everything that he undertook, the ivory palace he built, and the cities that he built, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

²⁴ Zeruiah’s son Joab began the census, but never completed it. Nevertheless, God became angry with Israel because of this, so the number was never entered into the official records of the Annals of King David.

² He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Uriel’s daughter Micaiah from Gibeah.
A war started between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah started the battle with an army of 400,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers, but Jeroboam opposed him with 800,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers. ⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and announced: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and Israel! ⁵ Don’t you know that the LORD God of Israel assigned the kingship over Israel to David and his descendants forever by a salt covenant? ⁶ Even so, Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who used to serve David’s son Solomon, rose in rebellion against his own master! ⁷ Useless troublemakers soon gathered around him, who turned out to be too strong for Rehoboam, because he was young, timid, and unable to withstand them. ⁸ “So now you think you’ll be able to withstand the LORD’s kingdom as controlled by David’s descendants, just because you have a large crown and have brought with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. ⁹ Haven’t you already driven away the LORD’s priests, the descendants of Aaron and the descendants of Levi? Haven’t you established your own priests like the people of other lands? ¹⁰ “Now as far as we’re concerned, the LORD is our God, and we haven’t abandoned him. The descendants of Aaron are ministering to the LORD as priests, and the descendants of Levi continue their work. ¹¹ Every morning and evening, they’re offering burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD, the showbread is set out on the pure table, and they take care of the golden lamp stand so its lamps can continue to burn every evening. We continue to be faithful over what the LORD our God entrusted to us, but you have abandoned him. ¹² Now listen! God is with us to lead us, and his priests are about to sound their battle trumpets against you. Descendants of Israel, don’t fight against the LORD God of your ancestors, because you won’t succeed!”
¹³ But Jeroboam had sent an ambush to attack from the rear, so Israel was in front of Judah, with the ambush set in place behind them. ¹⁴ When the army of Judah turned around to look, they were being attacked from both front and rear, so they cried out to the LORD while the priests sounded their trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the army of Judah sounded a war cry, and God routed Jeroboam and the entire army of Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah and his army defeated them in a tremendous slaughter that resulted in 500,000 special forces from Israel being slain. ¹⁸ And so the descendants of Israel were defeated at that time. The descendants of Judah were victorious because they trusted in the LORD God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ After this Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.
²⁰ Jeroboam’s Death and Asa’s Reign in JudahJeroboam never recovered his strength for the rest of Abijah’s life. The LORD struck Jeroboam, and he died,

¹ Haman’s Plan Begins to UnravelThat night the king could not sleep, so he gave instructions to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read to the king.

¹⁰ David Dies and Solomon Consolidates His Reign
After this, David died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David.

⁴³ Then Solomon died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

²⁵ Nadab Reigns over IsraelJeroboam’s son Nadab became king over Israel during the second year of the reign of King Asa over Judah. He reigned over Israel for two years, ²⁶ practicing what the LORD considered to be evil, living the way his father did, committing sins, and leading Israel to sin. ²⁷ So Ahijah’s son Baasha from the household of Issachar conspired against him and killed Nadab at Gibbethon in Philistia while Nadab and all of Israel were attacking Gibbethon. ²⁸ Baasha killed him during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah and took Nadab’s place as king.
²⁹ As soon as he was established as king, he killed everyone in the household of Jeroboam. He left not even one single person alive. He destroyed them completely, just as the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because he led Israel into sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to become angry.
³¹ Now the rest of Nadab’s accomplishments, including everything he undertook, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

¹² so also a person lies down and does not get up; they won’t awaken until the heavens are no more, nor will they arise from their sleep.”

⁵ I lie down and sleep, I wake up, because the LORD sustains me.

⁸ I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, LORD, enable me to live securely.

²⁴ You are to make an altar of earth for me, and you are to sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep, and your cattle. Everywhere I cause my name to be remembered, I’ll come to you and bless you.

⁵ Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live.

²¹ “If the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the LORD has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities as much as you please.

³ “No Ammonite or Moabite may participate in the assembly of the LORD, and none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, to the tenth generation,

¹⁶ ‘From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’

⁴⁴ “When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name,

³² I’ll leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and one tribe for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from all of the tribes of Israel.

³⁶ I’ll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name.

³¹ but eventually Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother’s name had been Naamah the Ammonite, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.

¹³ The Death of Rehoboam
King Rehoboam consolidated his reign in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that that LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to establish his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah from Ammon.

⁷ Useless troublemakers soon gathered around him, who turned out to be too strong for Rehoboam, because he was young, timid, and unable to withstand them.

⁶⁸ But he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves. ⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary, high as the heavens, like the earth that he established forever.

¹ A psalm by the descendants of Korah. A song.
The Holy City for All People God’s foundation is in the holy mountains. ² The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob.

¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion, desiring it as his dwelling place. ¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever. Here I will live, because I desire to do so.

⁶ Shout aloud, and sing for joy, you who live in Zion, because great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

²⁴ Indeed, the LORD your God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God.”

²⁸ The LORD uprooted them from the land in his anger, wrath, and great fury, deporting them to another land, and that’s the way things are today.’

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons— not to the real God— gods whom they didn’t know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared. ¹⁸ You neglected the Rock that fathered you; you abandoned God, who was awaiting your birth.
¹⁹ The LORD’s ResponseThe LORD saw it and became jealous, provoked by his sons and daughters. ²⁰ So he said: “Let me hide my face from them. I will observe what their end will be, because they are a perverted generation, children within whom there is no loyalty. ²¹ They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.

⁷ The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served Canaanite male and female deities.

¹² Ehud, Israel’s Second JudgeThe Israelis again practiced evil in full view of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab in his control over Israel, because they had practiced evil in full view of the LORD.

¹ Deborah, Israel’s Fourth JudgeAfter Ehud died, while the LORD was watching, the Israelis made the evil they had been practicing even worse,

³⁰ Omri’s son Ahab practiced more of what the LORD considered to be evil than anyone who had lived before him.

¹⁹ But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen,

¹¹ “Because King Manasseh of Judah has committed these despicable things, acting more sinfully than did all of the Amorites who preceded him, including making Judah sin with its idols,

¹ Shishak Invades Judah
At the height of his power, after he had consolidated his rule, Rehoboam abandoned the LORD’s Law, along with all of Israel with him.

¹⁴ He practiced evil by not setting his heart to seek the LORD.

⁵⁸ they angered him with their high places and with their carved images they made him jealous.

³ a people who continually provoke me to my face; they keep sacrificing in gardens and waving their hands over stone altars; ⁴ who sit among graves, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pigs’ meat, with the broth of detestable things in their pots;

⁷ I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’ But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. ⁸ I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery. ⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the LORD.
¹¹ A Call for RepentanceThen the LORD told me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

⁴⁷ It wasn’t just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!”
⁴⁸ Sins of Sodom“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “your sister Sodom and her daughters didn’t do what you and your daughters have done.

¹ Rewards for Obedience“You are not to make worthless idols, images, or pillars for yourselves, nor set up for yourselves carved images to bow down to them in the land, because I am the LORD your God.

² Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you’re going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

²² Furthermore, you are not to erect for yourselves a sacred stone pillar, because the LORD your God detests these things.

² The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD.

¹⁵ The LORD will attack Israel, and Israel will shake like a reed shakes in a river current! He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and he will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they erected their Asherim and provoked the LORD to become angry!

⁹ The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree,

³ He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal, crafted an Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done, and worshipped and served the stars of heaven. ⁴ He also built altars in the LORD’s Temple, about which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will place my Name.” ⁵ He built two altars to every star in the heavens in the two courts of the LORD’s Temple. ⁶ He made his son into a burnt offering, practiced witchcraft, used divination, and consorted with mediums and spirit-channelers. He practiced many things that the LORD considered to be evil and provoked him.
⁷ He also erected the carved image of Asherah that he had made inside the Temple about which the LORD had spoken to David and to his son Solomon, “I will put my Name forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel.

⁴ He sacrificed and burned incense on high places, on the top of hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every spreading tree, who slaughter your children in the ravines, under the clefts of the rocks?

²⁰ “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, But you said, ‘I won’t serve you!’ Instead, on every high hill and under every green tree, you bend down to commit fornication.

¹³ ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree. But you haven’t obeyed me,’ declares the LORD.

² When their sons remember, they remember their altars and their Asherah poles beside green trees on the high hills.

²⁴ “You built raised mounds and high places for yourself on every plaza. ²⁵ At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality.

²⁸ I brought them to the land that I had promised to give them. But whenever they saw any high hill and or any leafy tree, they slaughtered their sacrifices there and presented their offerings that provoked my anger. There they presented their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offering. ²⁹ So I asked them, ‘What is the high place to which you’re going?’ That’s why the name of the place has been called Bamah to this day.”’

¹⁴ I will uproot your cultic gods from you, and I will tear down your cities.

⁵ They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to visit you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

¹⁷ Cultic Prostitution Prohibited“There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel.

²² While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden certain ungodly men who lived in the city surrounded the house, pounded on the door, and ordered the old man who owned the home, “Bring out the man who came to visit your home so we can have sex with him.”

¹² He also removed the male cult prostitutes from the land and destroyed all the idols that his ancestors had made.

⁴⁶ He also eliminated the male cult prostitutes who still remained from the time of his father Asa.

⁷ He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating in the LORD’s Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah.

²⁴ For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as they followed the lusts of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged God’s truth for a lie and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
²⁶ For this reason, God delivered them to degrading passions as their females exchanged their natural sexual function for one that is unnatural. ²⁷ In the same way, their males also abandoned their natural sexual function toward females and burned with lust toward one another. Males committed indecent acts with males, and received within themselves the appropriate penalty for their perversion.

⁹ You know that wicked people will not inherit the kingdom of God, don’t you? Stop deceiving yourselves! Sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals,

⁴⁰ That’s why Solomon tried to execute Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, where he lived as a guest of King Shishak and remained until Solomon had died.

² Because he had been unfaithful to the LORD, during the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry. The Lubim, Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians who invaded from Egypt with Shishak were innumerable. ⁴ Shishak captured the fortified cities of Judah and invaded as far as Jerusalem.

⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt invaded Jerusalem and looted the treasure stores in the LORD’s Temple and in the royal palace. He took everything, including the golden shields that Solomon had made.

⁵¹ Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the LORD’s Temple was finished. Then Solomon brought in the articles that had been dedicated by his father David, including silver, gold, and other utensils, and he placed them into storage in the treasuries of the LORD’s Temple.

¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each large shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces, ¹⁷ and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces. The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest.

¹⁸ But Asa removed all the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and from his royal palace, placed them into the care of some servants, and then sent them to Tabrimmon’s son King Ben-hadad of Aram, the grandson of Hezion, who lived in Damascus.

¹³ Jerusalem’s Citizens are Sent into ExileNebuchadnezzar carried off from there all of the treasures of the LORD’s Temple, along with the treasures in the king’s palace. He cut into pieces all the gold vessels in the LORD’s Temple that King Solomon of Israel had made, just as the LORD had said would happen.

¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces, ¹⁶ and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces. The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest.

⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt invaded Jerusalem and looted the treasure stores in the LORD’s Temple and in the royal palace. He took everything, including the golden shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ After this, King Rehoboam made shields out of bronze to take their place, committing them to the care and custody of the commanders of those who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. ¹¹ As often as the king entered the LORD’s Temple, the guards came and transported the shields to the Temple and then brought them back to the guard’s quarters.

⁶ In fact, people walk around as shadows. Surely, they busy themselves for nothing, heaping up possessions but not knowing who will get them.

³⁵ I have sworn by my holiness once for all: I will not lie to David. ³⁶ His dynasty will last forever and his throne will be like the sun before me. ³⁷ It will be established forever like the moon, a faithful witness in the sky.” Interlude
³⁸ A Commitment to PersevereBut you have spurned, rejected, and became angry with your anointed one. ³⁹ You have dishonored the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown on the ground. ⁴⁰ You have broken through all his walls; you have laid his fortresses in ruin. ⁴¹ All who pass by on their way plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors. ⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; you have caused all of his enemies to rejoice. ⁴³ Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword and did not support him in battle. ⁴⁴ You have caused his splendor to cease and cast down his throne to the ground. ⁴⁵ You have caused the days of his youth to be cut short; you have covered him with shame. Interlude

⁵ When you fix your gaze on it, it’s gone, for it sprouts wings for itself and flies to the sky like an eagle.

¹⁸ The Pointlessness of LaborThen I despised everything I had worked for on earth, that is, the things that I will leave to the person who will succeed me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Either way, he will take possession of everything that I have done on earth, especially where I have excelled. This also is pointless.

¹¹ He said, “This is how the king who rules over you will operate: He will conscript your sons and assign them to his chariots. He will conscript them as his horsemen, and they’ll run in front of his chariots.

¹⁷ The king told the guards, who were standing beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they supported David, and because they knew he was fleeing, but didn’t inform me.” But the officials of the king did not want to lift their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.

¹ Absalom Instigates Civil WarSometime later, Absalom acquired a chariot equipped with horses and recruited 50 men to accompany him.

¹ God Disciplines Jeroboam’s FamilyRight at that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became ill,

⁴⁶ After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.

¹ Zion’s Punishment How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner. ² Though the precious people of Zion were like fine gold, how they are valued like clay vessels, the handiwork of a potter!

¹¹ As often as the king entered the LORD’s Temple, the guards came and transported the shields to the Temple and then brought them back to the guard’s quarters.

⁴¹ The Death of Solomon
Now the rest of Solomon’s accomplishments, including everything else he did, as well as records of his wisdom, are recorded in the Book of the Acts of Solomon, are they not?

¹⁹ The Death of JeroboamNow as for the rest of Jeroboam’s accomplishments, including how he waged war and how he reigned, you may read about them in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

²³ The rest of Asa’s accomplishments, his strength, everything that he undertook, and the cities that he fortified are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? However, as he approached old age, he became diseased in his feet.

⁴⁵ Now the rest of Jehoshaphat’s accomplishments, the power that he demonstrated, and how he waged war are written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

¹⁵ Now Rehoboam’s accomplishments, from first to last, are written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, enrolled by genealogy, are they not? ¹⁶ Later, Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.

²¹ As soon as Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled 180,000 elite soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, intending to attack the dynasty of Israel and restore the kingdom to Solomon’s son Rehoboam.

⁶ There was continual military conflict between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout his entire lifetime. ⁷ The rest of Abijah’s accomplishments, including everything he undertook, are written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? And a state of war continued to exist between Abijah and Jeroboam.

¹⁵ Now Rehoboam’s accomplishments, from first to last, are written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, enrolled by genealogy, are they not?

²⁰ Jeroboam reigned for 22 years and then died, as had his ancestors, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.
²¹ Rehoboam Reigns over Judah
Meanwhile, Solomon’s son Rehoboam reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to place his Name. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

³ He practiced the same sins that his father committed before he was born. Unlike his ancestor David, his heart never became devoted to the LORD his God.

²⁴ Then Asa died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, his ancestor. His son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.

⁵⁰ Later, Jehoshaphat died, as did his ancestors, and he was buried alongside his ancestors in the City of David. Jehoram his son became king in his place.

¹⁰ Solomon’s descendants included Rehoboam, his son Abijah, his son Asa, his son Jehoshaphat,

¹⁶ Later, Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.

⁷ Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asaph,