John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 ^bIn the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^cPontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and ^dHerod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother ^ePhilip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of ^fAnnas and ^gCaiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a ^hbaptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You ^kbrood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the ^lwrath to come? 8 Bear fruits ^min keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have ⁿAbraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^oEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has ^ptwo tunics² is to ^qshare with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, ^r“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning ^sJohn, whether he might be ^tthe Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you ^uwith water, ^vbut he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the ^wHoly Spirit and fire. 17 His ^xwinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ^ygather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with ^zunquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 ^aBut Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, ^bhis brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that ^che locked up John in prison.

25 Therefore, having put away ^bfalsehood, let each one of you ^cspeak the truth with his neighbor, for ^dwe are members one of another. 26 ^eBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and ^fgive no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest ^gwork with his own hands, ^hso that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 ⁱLet no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for ^jbuilding up, as fits the occasion, ^kthat it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And ^ldo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were ^msealed for the ⁿday of redemption. 31 ^oLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be ^pkind to one another, tenderhearted, ^qforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Teth

A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

1 And behold, a ^aman of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. 2 ^bAnd the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, ^cJosiah by name, and ^dhe shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and ^ehuman bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, ^f“If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet’s Disobedience

11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons¹ came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. 14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” 23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 ^gAnd as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” 27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city² to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, ^h“Alas, my brother!” 31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, ⁱbury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the ^jhouses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but ^kmade priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. 34 And ^lthis thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to ^mcut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

Prophecy Against Jeroboam

1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, ⁿAhijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people. 3 ^oTake with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”

4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were ^pdim because of his age. 5 And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.”

When she came, she pretended to be another woman. 6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^q“Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel 8 and ^rtore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, ^swho kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, 9 but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, 10 therefore behold, ^tI will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will ^ucut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone. 11 ^vAnyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.”’ 12 Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because ^win him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, 15 ^xthe Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and ^yroot up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and ^zscatter them beyond the Euphrates,³ because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up ^abecause of the ^bsins of Jeroboam, ^cwhich he sinned and made Israel to sin.”

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to ^dTirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

The Death of Jeroboam

19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the ^eBook of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah

21 ^fNow Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had ^gchosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to ^hput his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 22 And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they ⁱprovoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 ^jFor they also built for themselves high places and ^kpillars and Asherim ^lon every high hill and under every green tree, 24 and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did ^maccording to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, ⁿShishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. 26 He took away the ^otreasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the ^pshields of gold that Solomon had made, 27 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. 28 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the ^qBook of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 And there was ^rwar between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.