2 Chronicles 10
THE KINGDOM DIVIDED
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it — for he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence — Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 So they summoned him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: 4 “Your father made our yoke harsh. Therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5 Rehoboam replied, “Return to me in three days.” So the people left.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had attended his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people? ”
7 They replied, “If you will be kind to this people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him, and he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, the ones attending him. 9 He asked them, “What message do you advise we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’? ”
10 Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us! ’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11 Now therefore, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.’ ”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” 13 Then the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elders’ advice 14 and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.”
15 The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that the Lord might carry out his word that he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered the king:
What portion do we have in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
Israel, each to your tent;
David, look after your own house now!
So all Israel went to their tents. 17 But as for the Israelites living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. However, King Rehoboam managed to get into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 Israel is in rebellion against the house of David until today.
Revelation 1
PROLOGUE
The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father — to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
And all the tribes of the earth
will mourn over him.
So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
JOHN’S VISION OF THE RISEN LORD
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet 11 saying,“Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. 14 The hair of his head was white as wool — white as snow — and his eyes like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. 16 He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. 20 The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Zephaniah 2
A CALL TO REPENTANCE
Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable nation,
2 before the decree takes effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord’s anger overtakes you,
before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,
who carry out what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be concealed
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
JUDGMENT AGAINST THE NATIONS
4 For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a ruin.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.
5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
Canaan, land of the Philistines:
I will destroy you until there is no one left.
6 The seacoast will become pasturelands
with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.
7 The coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
they will find pasture there.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of Ashkelon,
for the Lord their God will return to them
and restore their fortunes.
8 I have heard the taunting of Moab
and the insults of the Ammonites,
who have taunted my people
and threatened their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live —
this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel —
Moab will be like Sodom
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah:
a place overgrown with weeds,
a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of my people will plunder them;
the remainder of my nation will dispossess them.
10 This is what they get for their pride,
because they have taunted and acted arrogantly
against the people of the Lord of Armies.
11 The Lord will be terrifying to them
when he starves all the gods of the earth.
Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations
will bow in worship to him,
each in its own place.
12 You Cushites will also be slain by my sword.
13 He will also stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
he will make Nineveh a desolate ruin,
dry as the desert.
14 Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal.
Both eagle owls and herons
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound from the window,
but devastation will be on the threshold,
for he will expose the cedar work.
15 This is the jubilant city
that lives in security,
that says to herself:
I exist, and there is no one else.
What a desolation she has become,
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
scoffs and shakes his fist.
Psalm 119:49-72
49 Remember your word to your servant;
you have given me hope through it.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction:
Your promise has given me life.
51 The arrogant constantly ridicule me,
but I do not turn away from your instruction.
52 Lord, I remember your judgments from long ago
and find comfort.
53 Fury seizes me because of the wicked
who reject your instruction.
54 Your statutes are the theme of my song
during my earthly life.
55 Lord, I remember your name in the night,
and I obey your instruction.
56 This is my practice:
I obey your precepts.
ח Cheth
57 The Lord is my portion;
I have promised to keep your words.
58 I have sought your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 I thought about my ways
and turned my steps back to your decrees.
60 I hurried, not hesitating
to keep your commands.
61 Though the ropes of the wicked
were wrapped around me,
I did not forget your instruction.
62 I rise at midnight to thank you
for your righteous judgments.
63 I am a friend to all who fear you,
to those who keep your precepts.
64 Lord, the earth is filled with your faithful love;
teach me your statutes.
ט Teth
65 Lord, you have treated your servant well,
just as you promised.
66 Teach me good judgment and discernment,
for I rely on your commands.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
68 You are good, and you do what is good;
teach me your statutes.
69 The arrogant have smeared me with lies,
but I obey your precepts with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are hard and insensitive,
but I delight in your instruction.
71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I could learn your statutes.
72 Instruction from your lips is better for me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
— 2 Chronicles 10, Revelation 1, Zephaniah 2, Psalm 119:49-72 (CSB)