2 Chronicles 10

• 1. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king.
• 2. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt.
• 3. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him:
• 4. "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."
• 5. Rehoboam answered, "Come back to me in three days." So the people went away.
• 6. Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked.
• 7. They replied, "If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants."
• 8. But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
• 9. He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"
• 10. The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell the people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.
• 11. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'"
• 12. Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days."
• 13. The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders,
• 14. he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions."
• 15. So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
• 16. When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So all the Israelites went home.
• 17. But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
• 18. King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.
• 19. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Revelation 1

• 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which 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 testifies to everything he saw--that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
• 3. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
• 4. John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits
• 5. before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
• 6. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever 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 peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
• 8. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
• 9. I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
• 10. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
• 11. which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
• 12. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
• 13. and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
• 14. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.
• 15. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
• 16. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
• 17. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
• 18. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
• 19. "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
• 20. The mystery of the seven stars that 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

• 1. Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation,
• 2. before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's wrath comes upon you.
• 3. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.
• 4. Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted.
• 5. Woe to you who live by the sea, O Kerethite people; the word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. "I will destroy you, and none will be left."
• 6. The land by the sea, where the Kerethites dwell, will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens.
• 7. It will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes.
• 8. "I have heard the insults of Moab and the taunts of the Ammonites, who insulted my people and made threats against their land.
• 9. Therefore, as surely as I live," declares the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, "surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah- a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the survivors of my nation will inherit their land."
• 10. This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty.
• 11. The LORD will be awesome to them when he destroys all the gods of the land. The nations on every shore will worship him, every one in its own land.
• 12. "You too, O Cushites, will be slain by my sword."
• 13. He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert.
• 14. Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns. Their calls will echo through the windows, rubble will be in the doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed.
• 15. This is the carefree city that lived in safety. She said to herself, "I am, and there is none besides me." What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.

New International Version

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