Thursday, 30 May

1.   And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2.   So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3.   Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4.   "Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you." 5.   So he said to them, "Come back to me after three days." And the people departed. 6.   Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, "How do you advise me to answer these people?" 7.   And they spoke to him, saying, "If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever." 8.   But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9.   And he said to them, "What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?" 10.   Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’ ––thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! 11.   ‘And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’" 12.   So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, "Come back to me the third day." 13.   Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, 14.   and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!" 15.   So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16.   Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: "What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David!" So all Israel departed to their tents. 17.   But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. 18.   Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19.   So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

1.   Now when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. 2.   But the word of the LORD 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 the LORD: "You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me."’" Therefore they obeyed the words of the LORD, and turned back from attacking Jeroboam. 5.   So Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. 6.   And he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7.   Beth Zur, Sochoh, Adullam, 8.   Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9.   Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10.   Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and Benjamin, fortified cities. 11.   And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. 12.   Also in every city he put shields and spears, and made them very strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his side. 13.   And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him. 14.   For the Levites left their common–lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the LORD. 15.   Then he appointed for himself priests for the high places, for the demons, and the calf idols which he had made. 16.   And after the Levites left , those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers. 17.   So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years. 18.   Then Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliah the son of Jesse. 19.   And she bore him children: Jeush, Shamariah, and Zaham. 20.   After her he took Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21.   Now Rehoboam loved Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and begot twenty–eight sons and sixty daughters. 22.   And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maachah as chief, to be leader among his brothers; for he intended to make him king. 23.   He dealt wisely, and dispersed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city; and he gave them provisions in abundance. He also sought many wives for them .

1.   Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel along with him. 2.   And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD, 3.   with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt––the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. 4.   And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem. 5.   Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, "Thus says the LORD: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’" 6.   So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, "The LORD is righteous." 7.   Now when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8.   "Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations." 9.   So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. 10.   Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 11.   And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. 12.   When he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah. 13.   Thus Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty–one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. 14.   And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the LORD. 15.   The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 16.   So Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. Then Abijah his son reigned in his place.

1.   And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2.   Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them , not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3.   Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men . 4.   And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 5.   When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." 6.   And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7.   "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8.   But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9.   "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘ Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10.   "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" ––He said to the paralytic, 11.   "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." 12.   Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" 13.   Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14.   As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. 15.   Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16.   And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" 17.   When Jesus heard it , He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." 18.   The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 19.   And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20.   "But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21.   "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22.   "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins." 23.   Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24.   And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" 25.   But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26.   "how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" 27.   And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28.   "Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."