2 Chronicles 10–12; John 11:30–57

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2 Chronicles 10–12

The Revolt Against Rehoboam

dRehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, ewhere he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, fYour 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. He said to them, Come to me again in three days. So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men,1 who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, How do you advise me to answer this people? And they said to him, gIf you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever. 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. 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 the 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 them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, 14 King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. 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 brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, hwhich he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. iEach of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David. So all 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 jHadoram,2 who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam Secures His Kingdom

kWhen Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. But the word of the Lord came to lShemaiah the man of God: Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against myour relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me. So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built ncities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, oMareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. 11 He made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. 12 And he put shields and spears in all the cities and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

Priests and Levites Come to Jerusalem

13 And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. 14 For the Levites left ptheir common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, qbecause Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, 15 and he appointed his own rpriests for the high places and for the goat idols and for sthe calves that he had made. 16 tAnd those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. 17 uThey strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

Rehoboam’s Family

18 Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of vEliab the son of Jesse, 19 and she bore him sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 After her he took wMaacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore him xAbijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). 22 yAnd Rehoboam appointed xAbijah the son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. 23 And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities, and he gave them abundant provisions and procured wives for them.3

Egypt Plunders Jerusalem

zWhen the rule of Rehoboam was established aand he was strong, bhe abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. cIn the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, dShishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from EgypteLibyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. And he took fthe fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 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, hYou abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak. Then the princes of iIsrael and the king humbled themselves and said, jThe Lord is righteous. When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: kThey 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. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, mthat they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

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 good4 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?5 There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and yAbijah6 his son reigned in his place.


John 11:30–57

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews swho were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, tLord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he uwas deeply moved1 in his spirit and vgreatly troubled. 34 And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. 35 wJesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, See xhow he loved him! 37 But some of them said, Could not he ywho opened the eyes of the blind man zalso have kept this man from dying?

Jesus Raises Lazarus

38 Then Jesus, adeeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was ba cave, and ca stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for dhe has been dead four days. 40 Jesus said to her, eDid I not tell you that if you believed you would see fthe glory of God? 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus glifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 hI knew that you always hear me, but I said this ion account of the people standing around, jthat they may believe that you sent me. 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. 44 kThe man who had died came out, lhis hands and feet bound with linen strips, and mhis face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him, and let him go.

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45 nMany of the Jews therefore, owho had come with Mary and phad seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees qgathered rthe council and said, sWhat are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and tthe Romans will come and take away both our uplace and our nation. 49 But one of them, vCaiaphas, wwho was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that xit is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but ybeing high priest that year zhe prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and anot for the nation only, but also bto gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they cmade plans to put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore dno longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

55 Now ethe Passover of the Jews was at hand, and fmany went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover gto purify themselves. 56 hThey were looking for2 Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.