1 Kings 14

• 1. At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill,
• 2. and Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so you won't be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there-the one who told me I would be king over this people.
• 3. Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."
• 4. So Jeroboam's wife did what he said and went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh. Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age.
• 5. But the LORD had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else."
• 6. So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news.
• 7. Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel.
• 8. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.
• 9. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.
• 10. "'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone.
• 11. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'
• 12. "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die.
• 13. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the LORD, the God of Israel, has found anything good.
• 14. "The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now.
• 15. And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the LORD to anger by making Asherah poles.
• 16. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit."
• 17. Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died.
• 18. They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the LORD had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah.
• 19. The other events of Jeroboam's reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
• 20. He reigned for twenty-two years and then rested with his fathers. And Nadab his son succeeded him as king.
• 21. Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.
• 22. Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done.
• 23. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
• 24. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
• 25. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.
• 26. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
• 27. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.
• 28. Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.
• 29. As for the other events of Rehoboam's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
• 30. There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
• 31. And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.

Colossians 1

• 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
• 2. To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
• 3. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
• 4. because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints--
• 5. the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
• 6. that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.
• 7. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
• 8. and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
• 9. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
• 10. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
• 11. being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully
• 12. giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
• 13. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
• 14. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
• 16. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
• 17. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
• 18. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
• 19. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
• 20. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
• 21. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
• 22. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--
• 23. if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
• 24. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
• 25. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness--
• 26. the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.
• 27. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
• 28. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
• 29. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

Ezekiel 44

• 1. Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut.
• 2. The LORD said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it.
• 3. The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way."
• 4. Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.
• 5. The LORD said to me, "Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.
• 6. Say to the rebellious house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel!
• 7. In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant.
• 8. Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary.
• 9. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.
• 10. "'The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin.
• 11. They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them.
• 12. But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD.
• 13. They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices.
• 14. Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.
• 15. "'But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.
• 16. They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.
• 17. "'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.
• 18. They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.
• 19. When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that they do not consecrate the people by means of their garments.
• 20. "'They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed.
• 21. No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court.
• 22. They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests.
• 23. They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
• 24. "'In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.
• 25. "'A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself.
• 26. After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days.
• 27. On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign LORD.
• 28. "'I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.
• 29. They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings; and everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them.
• 30. The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household.
• 31. The priests must not eat anything, bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.

New International Version

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