Egypt Plunders Jerusalem

1 ^zWhen the rule of Rehoboam was established ^aand he was strong, ^bhe abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. 2 ^cIn the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, ^dShishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—^eLibyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. 4 And he took ^fthe fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5 Then ^gShemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, ^h‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” 6 Then the princes of ⁱIsrael and the king humbled themselves and said, ^j“The Lord is righteous.” 7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: ^k“They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, ^land my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, ^mthat they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

9 ⁿSo Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away ^othe shields of gold that Solomon had made, 10 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 11 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. 12 And when ^phe humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, ^qconditions were good¹ in Judah.

13 ^rSo King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 14 And he did evil, ^sfor he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

15 ^tNow the acts of Rehoboam, ^ufrom first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of ^vShemaiah the prophet and of ^wIddo ^xthe seer?² There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and ^yAbijah³ his son reigned in his place.

Abijah Reigns in Judah

1 ^zIn the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, ^yAbijah began to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^aMicaiah⁴ the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

^bNow there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam ^cdrew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. 4 Then Abijah stood up on Mount ^dZemaraim that is in ^ethe hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! 5 Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel ^fgave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by ^ga covenant of salt? 6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up ^hand rebelled against his lord, 7 and certain ⁱworthless scoundrels⁵ gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was ^jyoung and irresolute⁶ and could not withstand them.

8 “And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you ^kthe golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. 9 ^lHave you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^mfor ordination⁷ with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are ⁿnot gods. 10 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the Lord who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. 11 They offer to the Lord ^oevery morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out ^pthe showbread on the table of pure gold, ^qand care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may ^rburn every evening. For we ^skeep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him. 12 Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests ^twith their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, ^udo not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”

13 Jeroboam had sent ^van ambush around to come upon them from behind. Thus his troops⁸ were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. 14 And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. ^wAnd they cried to the Lord, and the priests ^tblew the trumpets. 15 Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, ^xGod defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The men of Israel fled before Judah, ^yand God gave them into their hand. 17 Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. 18 Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, ^zbecause they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. 19 And Abijah pursued Jeroboam ^aand took cities from him, Bethel with its villages and Jeshanah with its villages and ^bEphron⁹ with its villages. 20 Jeroboam did not recover his power in the days of Abijah. ^cAnd the Lord struck him down, ^dand he died. 21 But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the ^estory of the prophet ^fIddo.

Asa Reigns in Judah

1 ^gAbijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. 2 ¹¹ And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He took away the foreign altars ^hand the high places and broke down ⁱthe pillars and cut down the ^jAsherim 4 and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. 5 He also took out of all the cities of Judah ^hthe high places and the ^kincense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. 6 He built ^lfortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, ^mfor the Lord gave him peace. 7 And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with ⁿwalls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, ^mand he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army of ^o300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

9 Zerah ^pthe Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as ^qMareshah. 10 And Asa went out to meet him, and ^rthey drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at ^qMareshah. 11 And Asa ^scried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, ^tfor we rely on you, ^uand in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” 12 ^vSo the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^wGerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah¹² carried away very much spoil. 14 And they attacked all the cities around ^wGerar, ^xfor the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. 15 And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Asa’s Religious Reforms

1 ^yThe Spirit of God came¹³ upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^zThe Lord is with you while you are with him. ^aIf you seek him, he will be found by you, ^bbut if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 ^cFor a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 ^dbut when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace ^eto him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 ^fBut you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, ^gfor your work shall be rewarded.”

8 As soon as Asa heard these words, ^hthe prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ⁱthe cities that he had taken in ^jthe hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord ^kthat was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.¹⁴ 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, ^land those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day ^mfrom the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 ⁿAnd they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^oshould be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, ^pand the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 ^qEven Maacah, ^rhis mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image ^sfor Asherah. Asa cut down her image, ^tcrushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 ^uBut the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Asa’s Last Years

1 ^vIn the ^wthirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, ^xthat he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3 “There is a covenant¹⁵ between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the ^ystore cities of Naphtali. 5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time ^zHanani ^athe seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ^b“Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. 8 Were not ^cthe Ethiopians and ^dthe Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^ebecause you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. 9 ^fFor the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those ^gwhose heart is blameless¹⁶ toward him. ^hYou have done foolishly in this, for from now on ⁱyou will have wars.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him ^jin the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

11 ^kThe acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. 13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier ^lthat had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, ^mand they made a very great fire in his honor.

Stephen’s Speech

1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:

^j“Brothers and fathers, hear me. ^kThe God ^lof glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, ^mbefore he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ⁿ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 ^mThen he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And ^oafter his father died, ^pGod removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised ^qto give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, ^rthough he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that ^shis offspring would ^tbe sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them ^ufour hundred years. 7 ‘But ^vI will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out ^wand worship me in this place.’ 8 And ^xhe gave him the covenant of circumcision. And ^yso Abraham became the father of Isaac, and ^zcircumcised him on the eighth day, and ^aIsaac became the father of Jacob, and ^bJacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, ^cjealous of Joseph, ^dsold him into Egypt; but ^eGod was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and ^fgave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ^gwho made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now ^hthere came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 ⁱBut when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And ^jon the second visit ^kJoseph made himself known to his brothers, and ^lJoseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And ^mJoseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, ⁿseventy-five persons in all. 15 And ^oJacob went down into Egypt, and ^phe died, he ^qand our fathers, 16 and ^rthey were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that ^sAbraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “But ^tas the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, ^uthe people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king ^vwho did not know Joseph. 19 ^wHe dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, ^xso that they would not be kept alive. 20 ^yAt this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and ^zwhen he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses ^awas instructed in ^ball the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was ^cmighty in his words and deeds.

23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart ^dto visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 ^eAnd on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ^f‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort ^gMoses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, ^hwhere he became the father of two sons.

30 “Now when forty years had passed, ⁱan angel appeared to him ^jin the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ^k‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ^l‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 ^mI have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and ⁿhave heard their groaning, and ^oI have come down to deliver them. ^pAnd now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, ^qsaying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer ^rby the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 ^sThis man led them out, performing ^twonders and signs ^uin Egypt and ^vat the Red Sea and ^win the wilderness for ^xforty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you ^ya prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one ^zwho was in the congregation in the wilderness with ^athe angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. ^bHe received ^cliving ^doracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and ^ein their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ^f‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And ^gthey made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and ^hwere rejoicing in ⁱthe works of their hands. 42 But ^jGod turned away and ^kgave them over to worship ^lthe host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: