1 Kings 12–13
1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, heard of it (for he had fled from King Solomon and stayed in Egypt), 3 they called and sent for him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke unbearable. Now, therefore, make the grievous service to your father and the heavy yoke he put upon us lighter, and we will serve you.”
5 He said to them, “Depart for three days, and then come back to me.” And the people departed.
6 King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who advised his father Solomon while he was still alive and asked, “How do you advise me to answer the people?”
7 And 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 kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the advice that the old men gave him and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and who stood before him, 9 and he said to them, “What advice do you give on how we should answer this people, who have spoken to me saying, ‘Make the yoke your father put on us lighter’?”
10 And the young men who grew up with him said, “Thus shall you answer this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger will be thicker than my father’s loins! 11 Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your burden. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions!’”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had appointed, saying, “Come to me again the third day.” 13 The king answered the people roughly and forsook the counsel the old men gave him, 14 and instead spoke to them following the advice of the young men. He said, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your burden. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” 15 Thus the king did not listen to the people, for the cause was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His saying, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 So when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people responded to the king, saying,
“What portion do we have in David?
We also do not have an inheritance in the son of Jesse.
To your tents, O Israel,
and see to your own house, David!”
So the people of Israel departed to their tents. 17 But the people of Israel living in the cities of Judah were ruled over by Rehoboam.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. As a result, King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David, and it remains so even to this day.
20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him before the congregation and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.
21 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel and to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying: 23 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the remnant of the people, saying, 24 “Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers the children of Israel. Every man is to return to his house, for this thing is from Me.” They listened therefore to the word of the Lord and turned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and lived there and went out from there and built Peniel.
26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “The kingdom will return to the house of David. 27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28 At that point, the king got some advice and made two golden calves and said to the people, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 He set one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. 30 This was a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even all the way in Dan.
31 He also made houses on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not Levites. 32 Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast in Judah, and he offered sacrifice on the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made. 33 So he made offerings on the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a holiday he imagined in his own heart, and ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and he sacrificed on the altar and burned incense.
Chapter 13
1 A man of God came out of Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A child named Josiah will be born in the house of David, and he will sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and these men’s bones shall be burned upon you.’” 3 He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it will be poured out.’”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Bethel, he reached out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” And the hand that he put forth against him dried up so that he could not pull it back in again. 5 The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, just as the man of God had said it would as a sign of the Lord.
6 The king answered and said to the man of God, “Seek the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand will be healed.” And the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was healed and became as it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
8 The man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water in this place, 9 for so I was commanded by the word of the Lord, saying: You shall eat no bread, nor drink water nor return by the same way that you came.” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the same way he came to Bethel.
11 Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king. 12 Their father said to them, “What way did he go?” For his sons had seen the way the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it. 14 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 He said, “I may not return with you or go in with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for I was commanded by the word of the Lord: You shall eat no bread and drink no water there nor return by the way you came.”
18 He said to him, “I am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he had lied to him. 19 So he went back with him to his house and ate bread and drank water.
20 Then as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back, 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Since you have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but instead came back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord told you to eat no bread and drink no water, your carcass will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers!”
23 After he had eaten bread and had drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 As he was going, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown in the road, and both the donkey and lion stood by it. 25 Some men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road with the lion standing by the body, and they came and told the story in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord, and thus the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn and slain him, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke to him.”
27 He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey,” and they saddled it. 28 He then went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion were still standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. 29 The prophet picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on his donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him. 30 He laid his body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I am dead, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”
33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he consecrated to be priests of the high places. 34 This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
Luke 22:1–30
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, drew near. 2 And the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to kill Jesus, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. 4 He went and discussed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Him to them. 5 They were glad and agreed to give him money. 6 He fully consented and searched for an opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowds.
7 Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came, when the Passover lamb must be killed. 8 He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat it.”
9 They said to Him, “Where will You have us prepare it?”
10 He said to them, “Now, as you enter the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you there. Follow him into the house which he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12 He will show you a large furnished upper room. Prepare there.”
13 They went and found it as He had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour had come, He and the twelve apostles with Him sat down. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 And He took the cup and gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 Then He took the bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 In like manner, He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you. 21 But see the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me at the table. 22 Indeed, the Son of Man goes as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!” 23 They began to inquire among themselves which of them it was who would do this.
24 There was also rivalry among them concerning which of them was to be counted the greatest. 25 He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But you are not so. Instead, let him who is greatest among you be as the younger, and he who rules as he who serves. 27 For who is greater: he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? But I am among you as He who serves. 28 You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I appoint to you a kingdom as My Father has appointed one to Me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”