Rehoboam’s Folly

1 ^fRehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come ^gto Shechem to make him king. 2 And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still ^hin 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 “Your father ⁱmade 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, “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 my 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, “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, “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 it was a turn of affairs ^jbrought about by the Lord that he might fulfill ^khis word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The Kingdom Divided

16 ^lAnd when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, ^m“What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent ⁿAdoram, 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 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David ^oto 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 ^pbut the tribe of Judah only.

21 ^qWhen 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 ^rShemaiah 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 rest 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, for ^sthis 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 built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 27 ^tIf this people go 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 made two ^ucalves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. ^vBehold 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 ^wthis thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.² 31 He also made ^xtemples on high places and ^yappointed 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 ^zlike the 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 the 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 to make offerings.

The Righteous Will Never Be Moved

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^aapostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and ^bfaithful brothers¹ in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 ^cWe always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since ^dwe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the ^ehope ^flaid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the ^gword of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed ^hin the whole world it is ⁱbearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^jheard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from ^kEpaphras our beloved fellow servant.² He is a faithful minister of Christ on your³ behalf 8 and has made known to us your ^llove in the Spirit.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have ^mnot ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge ⁿof his will in ^oall spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to ^pwalk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: ^qbearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being ^rstrengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks⁴ to the Father, who has qualified you⁵ to share in the ^sinheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has ^tdelivered us from the ^udomain of darkness and ^vtransferred us to the kingdom of his ^wbeloved Son, 14 in whom we have ^xredemption, the ^yforgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

15 He is the ^zimage of the ^ainvisible God, ^bthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For ^cby⁶ him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^dthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is ^ebefore all things, and in him all things ^fhold together. 18 And he is the ^ghead of the body, the church. He is ^hthe beginning, ⁱthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be ^jpreeminent. 19 For in him all the ^kfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him ^lto reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^mmaking peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, ⁿwho once were ^oalienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now ^preconciled ^qin his body of flesh by his death, ^rin order to present you ^sholy and blameless and ^tabove reproach before him, 23 ^uif indeed you continue in the faith, ^vstable and ^wsteadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation⁷ under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a ^xminister.

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am ^yfilling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his ^zbody, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the ^astewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the ^bmystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them ^cGod chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the ^driches of the glory of this ^emystery, which is Christ ^fin you, the ^ghope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone ^hmature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling ⁱwith all his energy that he powerfully ^jworks within me.

1 For I want you to know how great a ^kstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be ^lencouraged, being ^mknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s ⁿmystery, which is Christ, 3 ^oin whom are hidden ^pall the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am ^qabsent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good ^rorder and the ^sfirmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

6 Therefore, ^tas you ^ureceived Christ Jesus the Lord, so ^vwalk in him, 7 ^wrooted and ^xbuilt up in him and established in the faith, just as you were ^ytaught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one ^ztakes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human ^atradition, according to the ^belemental spirits⁸ of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole ^cfullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and ^dyou have been filled in him, who is the ^ehead of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were ^fcircumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^gputting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been ^hburied with him in ⁱbaptism, in which you were also ^jraised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, ^kwho raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were ^ldead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 ^mby ⁿcanceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the ^orulers and authorities⁹ and put them to open shame, by ^ptriumphing over them in him.¹⁰

Let No One Disqualify You

16 Therefore ^qlet no one pass judgment on you in questions of ^rfood and drink, or ^swith regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a ^tshadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one ^udisqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,^{11 v}puffed up ^wwithout reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the ^xHead, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, ^ywhy, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 ^z“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ^a(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^bhuman precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in ^cstopping the indulgence of the flesh.