Day 178 of 365

1 Kgs 12:1–13:34

12:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

12:2 It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt,

12:3 and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

12:4 "Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you."

12:5 He said to them, "Depart for three days, then come back to me." The people departed.

12:6 King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?"

12:7 They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."

12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

12:9 He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'"

12:10 The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

12:11 Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

12:12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day."

12:13 The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him,

12:14 and 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 chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

12:15 So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of the Lord, that he might establish his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

12:16 When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David." So Israel departed to their tents.

12:17 But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

12:18 Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

12:19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

12:20 It happened, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

12:21 When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

12:22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

12:23 "Speak 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, saying,

12:24 'Thus says the Lord, "You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is of me."'" So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way, according to the word of the Lord.

12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and he went out from there, and built Penuel.

12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

12:27 If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"

12:29 He set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.

12:30 This thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan.

12:31 He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

12:32 Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; he did so in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

12:33 He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.

13:1 Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Beth El: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

13:2 He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, "Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men's bones on you.'"

13:3 He gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."

13:4 It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.

13:5 The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

13:6 The king answered the man of God, "Now entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again." The man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

13:7 The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."

13:8 The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;

13:9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came.'"

13:10 So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

13:11 Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.

13:12 Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah.

13:13 He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.

13:14 He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."

13:15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me, and eat bread."

13:16 He said, "I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.

13:17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, 'You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.'"

13:18 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.'" He lied to him.

13:19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

13:20 It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back;

13:21 and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,

13:22 but came 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.'"

13:23 It happened, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

13:24 When he had gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.

13:25 Behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

13:26 When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him."

13:27 He spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." They saddled it.

13:28 He went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey.

13:29 The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him.

13:30 He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

13:31 It happened, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

13:32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen."

13:33 After this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.

13:34 This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.

Acts 7:46–60

46 who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built him a house.

48 However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

49 'heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?' says the Lord; 'or what is the place of my rest?

50 Did not my hand make all these things?'

51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.

52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.

53 You received the Law as it was ordained by angels, and did not keep it!"

54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56 and said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

57 But they shouted out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.

58 They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

60 He kneeled down, and shouted out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Eccl 9:11–18

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

12 For man also doesn't know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great siege works against it.

15 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.