Rehoboam’s Folly

1 ⁱRehoboam went to ^jShechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And as soon as ^kJeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^lhe was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from¹ Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 ^m“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, ⁿ“Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7 And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” 10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. 11 And now, whereas ^mmy father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, ^o“Come to me again the third day.” 13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, 14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, ^m“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for ^pit was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which ^qthe Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The Kingdom Divided

16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. ^rTo your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over ^sthe people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent ^tAdoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 ^uSo Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but ^vthe tribe of Judah only.

21 ^wWhen Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to ^xShemaiah the man of God: 23 “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the ^yrest of the people, 24 ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, ^zfor this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again, according to the word of the Lord.

Jeroboam’s Golden Calves

25 Then Jeroboam ^abuilt Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and ^bbuilt Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 27 If this people ^cgo up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel and ^dmade two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. ^eBehold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then ^fthis thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.² 31 He also made ^gtemples on high places and ^happointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like ⁱthe feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel ^jthe priests of the high places that he had made. 33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar ^kto make offerings.

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

1 Finally, my brothers,^{1 k}rejoice in the Lord. ^lTo write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

2 Look out for ^mthe dogs, look out for ⁿthe evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For ^owe are the circumcision, ^pwho worship ^qby the Spirit of God² and ^rglory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 ^sthough I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 ^tcircumcised on the eighth day, ^uof the people of Israel, ^vof the tribe of Benjamin, ^ua Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, ^wa Pharisee; 6 ^xas to zeal, ^ya persecutor of the church; ^zas to righteousness under the law,³ blameless. 7 But ^awhatever gain I had, ^bI counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of ^cthe surpassing worth of ^dknowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I ^ehave suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having ^fa righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but ^gthat which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 ^hthat I may know him and ⁱthe power of his resurrection, and ^jmay share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may ^kattain the resurrection from the dead.

Straining Toward the Goal

12 Not that I have already ^lobtained this or ^mam already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: ⁿforgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for ^othe prize of the upward ^pcall of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are ^qmature think this way, and if in anything ^ryou think otherwise, ^sGod will reveal that also to you. 16 Only ^tlet us hold true to what we have attained.

17 Brothers, ^ujoin in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk ^vaccording to the example you have in us. 18 For ^wmany, of whom I have often told you and now tell you ^xeven with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 ^yTheir end is destruction, ^ztheir god is their belly, and ^athey glory in their shame, with ^bminds set on earthly things. 20 But ^cour citizenship is in heaven, and ^dfrom it we ^eawait a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform ^four lowly body ^gto be like his glorious body, ^hby the power that enables him even ⁱto subject all things to himself.

The Temple’s Chambers

1 Then he led me out into ^xthe outer court, ^ytoward the north, and he brought me to ^xthe chambers that were opposite ^zthe separate yard and opposite ^athe building on the north. 2 The length of the building whose door faced north was ^ba hundred cubits,¹ and ^cthe breadth fifty cubits. 3 Facing ^dthe twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing ^ethe pavement that belonged to the outer court, was ^fgallery² against gallery in three stories. 4 And ^gbefore the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and ^ha hundred cubits long,³ and ^gtheir doors were on the north. 5 Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 6 For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. 7 And ⁱthere was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, ^jfifty cubits long. 8 For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite ^kthe nave⁴ were ^la hundred cubits long. 9 Below these chambers was ^man entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer court.

10 In the thickness of ⁿthe wall of the court, on the south⁵ also, opposite ^othe yard and opposite ^othe building, there were ^pchambers 11 with ^qa passage in front of them. They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits⁶ and arrangements and ^qdoors, 12 as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before ⁿthe corresponding wall on the east as one enters them.⁷

13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite ^othe yard are the holy chambers, ^rwhere the priests who approach the Lord ^sshall eat the ^tmost holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—^tthe grain offering, ^uthe sin offering, and ^uthe guilt offering—for the place is holy. 14 When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court ^vwithout laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. ^vThey shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”

15 Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by ^wthe gate that faced east, and measured the temple area all around. 16 He measured the east side with ^xthe measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. 17 He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. 18 He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. 20 He measured it on the four sides. It had ^ya wall around it, ^z500 cubits long and ^z500 cubits broad, ^ato make a separation between the holy and the common.

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People