The Daily Audio Bible

²⁰ Now it happened when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation and made him king over all Israel. ^(A)None but the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

^21 (B)Then Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who could wage war, to fight against the house of Israel to return the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²² But the word of God came to ^(C)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 ^(D)rest of the people, saying, ²⁴ ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You shall not go up and fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, ^(E)for this thing is from Me.”’” So they listened to the word of Yahweh, and returned to go their way according to the word of Yahweh.

Jeroboam Makes Golden Calves

²⁵ Then ^(F)Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived ^[a]there. And he went out from there and built ^(G)Penuel. ²⁶ And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. ^27 (H)If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king took counsel, and ^(I)made two golden ^(J)calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; ^(K)behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ And he set ^(L)one in ^(M)Bethel, and one he put in ^(N)Dan. ³⁰ Now ^(O)this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. ³¹ And ^(P)he made houses on high places, and ^(Q)made priests from among ^[b]all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. ³² And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, ^(R)like the feast which is in Judah, and he ^[c]went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he had made. And he had ^(S)the priests of the high places, which he had made, stand in Bethel. ³³ Then he ^[d]went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had ^[e](T)devised ^[f]in his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel and ^[g]went up to the altar ^(U)to burn ^[h]incense.

The Altar Shall Be Torn Apart

13 Now behold, there came ^(V)a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar ^(W)to burn incense. ^2 (X)And he cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, ^(Y)Josiah is his name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” ³ Then he gave a miraculous sign the same day, saying, “^(Z)This is the miraculous sign which Yahweh has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn apart and the ^[i]ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’” ⁴ Now it happened that when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ The altar also was torn apart and the ^[j]ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the miraculous sign which the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh. ⁶ Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please ^[k](AA)entreat Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So ^(AB)the man of God ^[l]entreated Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. ⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and ^(AC)I will give you a gift.” ⁸ But the man of God said to the king, “^(AD)If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. ⁹ For so ^[m]it was commanded me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

The Prophet Rebels Against Yahweh

¹¹ Now ^(AE)an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his ^[n]sons came and recounted to him all the work which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they recounted to their father. ¹² And their father said to them, “^[o]Which way did he go?” And his sons ^[p]had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. ¹⁴ So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under ^[q]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 And he said, “^(AF)I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For a word came to me ^(AG)by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “^(AH)I also am a prophet like you, and ^(AI)an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But ^(AJ)he dealt falsely with him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ Now it happened as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹ and he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have rebelled against the ^[r]word of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, ²² but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’” ²³ Now it happened after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ Then he went and on the way ^(AK)a lion met him and put him to death, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. ²⁵ And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and spoke about it in the city where ^(AL)the old prophet lived.

²⁶ Then the prophet, who brought him back from the way, heard it and said, “It is the man of God, who rebelled against the ^[s]command of Yahweh; therefore Yahweh has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and put him to death, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to him.” ²⁷ Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. ²⁸ And he went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “^(AM)Alas, my brother!” ³¹ Now it happened after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, you shall bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; ^(AN)lay my bones beside his bones. ^32 (AO)For the word shall surely happen which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and ^(AP)against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of ^(AQ)Samaria.”

³³ After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but ^(AR)he returned and made priests of the high places from among ^[t]all the people; ^(AS)any who delighted to be so, he ordained. So ^[u]they became priests of the high places. ^34 [v](AT)And this event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, ^(AU)even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

^26 (A)And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, ^[a]but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But ^(B)Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and recounted to them how he had ^(C)seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how ^(D)at Damascus he had ^(E)spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he was with them, ^[b]moving about freely in Jerusalem, ^(F)speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ And he was talking and arguing with the ^[c](G)Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death. ³⁰ But when ^(H)the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to ^(I)Caesarea and ^(J)sent him away to ^(K)Tarsus.

³¹ So ^(L)the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up. And going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it continued to multiply.

Peter Heals Aeneas

³² Now it happened that as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to ^(M)the ^[d]saints who lived at ^[e](N)Lydda. ³³ And there he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. ³⁴ And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise up and make your bed.” Immediately he rose up. ³⁵ And all who lived at ^[f](O)Lydda and ^(P)Sharon saw him, and they ^(Q)turned to the Lord.

Peter Raises Tabitha to Life

³⁶ Now in ^(R)Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated is called ^[g]Dorcas). This woman was full of good works and charity which she continually did. ³⁷ And it happened ^[h]at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an ^(S)upper room. ³⁸ Now since Lydda was near ^(T)Joppa, ^(U)the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, pleading with him, “Do not delay in coming to us.” ³⁹ So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the ^(V)upper room; and all the ^(W)widows stood beside him, crying and showing all the ^[i]tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them. ⁴⁰ But Peter ^(X)sent them all out and ^(Y)knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “^(Z)Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹ And he gave her his hand and raised her up. And calling ^(AA)the ^[j]saints and ^(AB)widows, he presented her alive. ⁴² And it became known all over ^(AC)Joppa, and ^(AD)many believed in the Lord. ⁴³ And it happened that he stayed many days in ^(AE)Joppa with ^(AF)a tanner named Simon.

Yahweh Has Chosen Zion

A Song of Ascents.