1 Kings 13 - Legacy Standard Bible

1 Kings 13

The Altar Shall Be Torn Apart

Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 And he cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah is his name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 Then he gave a miraculous sign the same day, saying, “This is the miraculous sign which Yahweh has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’” 4 Now it happened that when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But 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 apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the miraculous sign which the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh. 6 Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.” 8 But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 For so it was commanded me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

The Prophet Rebels Against Yahweh

11 Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and recounted to him all the work which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they recounted to their father. 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. 14 So 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 cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’” 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he dealt falsely with him. 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water. 20 Now it happened as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have rebelled against the word of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, 22 but have returned and 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 grave of your fathers.’” 23 Now it happened after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 Then he went and on the way a lion met him and put him to death, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26 Then the prophet, who brought him back from the way, heard it and said, “It is the man of God, who rebelled against the command of Yahweh; therefore Yahweh has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and put him to death, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to him.” 27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30 He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 Now it happened after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, you shall bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the word shall surely happen which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.” 33 After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but he returned and made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who delighted to be so, he ordained. So they became priests of the high places. 34 And this event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

2 Chronicles 11

Rehoboam Builds Cities for Fortification

Then Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who could wage war, to fight against Israel to return the kingdom to Rehoboam. 2 But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 3 “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, 4 ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You shall not go up and fight against your brothers; return every man to his house, for this thing is from Me.”’” So they listened to the words of Yahweh and returned from going against Jeroboam. 5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for fortifications in Judah. 6 Thus he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. 11 He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and stores of food, oil and wine. 12 And he put large shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin. 13 Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him from all their territories.

Jeroboam Sets Up His Own Priests

14 For the Levites left their pasture lands and their possession of land and went to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from ministering as priests to Yahweh— 15 And he set up priests of his own for the high places, for the goat demons and for the calves which he had made— 16 Now those from all the tribes of Israel who gave their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 17 They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and gave courage to Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

18 Then Rehoboam took as a wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, 19 and she bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. 22 And Rehoboam set up Abijah the son of Maacah to be head and ruler among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. 23 And he acted with discernment and distributed some of his sons through all the lands of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them sustenance in abundance. And he sought a multitude of wives for them.

Revelation 21

The New Heaven and Earth

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things passed away.” 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “They are done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 8 But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” 9 Then one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

New Jerusalem, the Holy City

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like precious stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 12 It had a great and high wall. It had twelve gates and at those gates, twelve angels; and names have been written on those gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And the one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. 16 And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, 12,000 stadia; its length and width and height are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, 144 cubits, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. 18 And the material of the wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like pure glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 And I saw no sanctuary in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 And its gates will never be closed by day, for there will be no night there; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 And nothing defiled, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Psalm 2

The Reign of Yahweh’s Anointed

Why do the nations rage

And the peoples meditate on a vain thing?

The kings of the earth take their stand

And the rulers take counsel together

Against Yahweh and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us tear their fetters apart

And cast away their cords from us!”

He who sits in the heavens laughs,

The Lord mocks them.

Then He speaks to them in His anger

And terrifies them in His fury, saying,

“But as for Me, I have installed My King

Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

“I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh:

He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth as Your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron,

You shall shatter them like a potter’s vessel.’”

So now, O kings, show insight;

Take warning, O judges of the earth.

Serve Yahweh with fear

And rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way,

For His wrath may soon be kindled.

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!