The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the GNT. Switch to the GNT to read along with the audio.
11 And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem; and he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men apt for war, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.
2 But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
3 Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,
4 Thus saith Jehovah: Go not up, nor fight with your brethren; return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. And they hearkened to the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam.
5 And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.
6 And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,
7 and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,
8 and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,
9 and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,
10 and Zorah, and Ajalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities.
11 And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals, and of oil and wine;
12 and in every several city, targets and spears, and made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his.
13 And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their districts;
14 for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exercising the priesthood to Jehovah;
15 and he ordained for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats and for the calves that he had made.
16 —And after them, those out of all the tribes of Israel that set their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their fathers.
17 And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years; for during three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.
18 And Rehoboam took Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David as wife, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.
19 And she bore him children: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.
20 And after her he took Maachah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.
21 And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22 And Rehoboam established Abijah the son of Maachah at the head, to be ruler among his brethren; for [he thought] to make him king.
23 And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them food in abundance. And he desired [for them] a multitude of wives.
12 And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and when he had become strong, [that] he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.
2 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, because they had transgressed against Jehovah, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,
3 with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.
4 And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.
5 And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and [to] the princes of Judah that had gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus saith Jehovah: Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.
6 And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous.
7 And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a little deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
9 And Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all; and he took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made.
10 And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the couriers who kept the entrance of the king's house.
11 And it was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the couriers came and fetched them, and brought them again into the chamber of the couriers.
12 And when he humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, that he would not destroy him altogether; and also in Judah there were good things.
13 And king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
14 And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah.
15 And the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogical registers? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.
13 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3 And Abijah began the war with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valour.
4 And Abijah stood up on the top of mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel!
5 Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons [by] a covenant of salt?
6 But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.
7 And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them.
8 And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods.
9 Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God.
10 But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work:
11 and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for *we* keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but *ye* have forsaken him.
12 And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; and they were before Judah, and the ambush behind them.
14 And Judah looked back, and behold, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.
15 And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand.
17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; and there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
18 And the children of Israel were humbled at that time, and the children of Judah were strengthened, because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers.
19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its dependent villages, and Jeshanah with its dependent villages, and Ephron with its dependent villages.
20 And Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died.
21 But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.
26 And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 But he who searches the hearts knows what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God.
28 But we *do* know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose.
29 Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be [the] firstborn among many brethren.
30 But whom he has predestinated, these also he has called; and whom he has called, these also he has justified; but whom he has justified, these also he has glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who against us?
32 He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things?
33 Who shall bring an accusation against God's elect? [It is] God who justifies:
34 who is he that condemns? [It is] Christ who has died, but rather has been [also] raised up; who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 According as it is written, For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter.
37 But in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which [is] in Christ Jesus our Lord.
37 I pursued mine enemies, and overtook them; and I turned not again till they were consumed.
38 I crushed them, and they were not able to rise: they fell under my feet.
39 And thou girdedst me with strength to battle; thou didst subdue under me those that rose up against me.
40 And mine enemies didst thou make to turn their backs unto me, and those that hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried, and there was none to save;—unto Jehovah, and he answered them not.
42 And I did beat them small as dust before the wind; I did cast them out as the mire of the streets.
43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; thou hast made me the head of the nations: a people I knew not doth serve me.
44 At the hearing of the ear, they obey me: strangers come cringing unto me.
45 Strangers have faded away, and they come trembling forth from their close places.
46 Jehovah liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 The God who hath avenged me, and hath subjected the peoples to me;
48 Who hath delivered me from mine enemies: yea, thou hast lifted me up above them that rose up against me; from the man of violence hast thou delivered me.
49 Therefore will I give thanks to thee, Jehovah, among the nations, and will sing psalms to thy name.
50 [It is he] who giveth great deliverances to his king, and sheweth loving-kindness to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
27 Cease, my son, to hear the instruction which causeth to stray from the words of knowledge.
28 A witness of Belial scorneth judgment, and the mouth of the wicked swalloweth down iniquity.
29 Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of the foolish.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)