A House Divided Cannot Stand^(A)

^14 (B)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, ^(C)“He casts out demons by ^[a]Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶ Others, testing Him, ^(D)sought from Him a sign from heaven. ^17 (E)But ^(F)He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out demons ^(G)with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ^21 (H)When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. ²² But ^(I)when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his ^[b]spoils. ^23 (J)He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

An Unclean Spirit Returns^(K)

^24 (L)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and ^(M)the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

Keeping the Word

²⁷ And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ^(N)“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸ But He said, ^(O)“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Various Exhortations

¹² And we urge you, brethren, ^(A)to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and ^[a]admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. ^(B)Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ Now we ^[b]exhort you, brethren, ^(C)warn those who are ^[c]unruly, ^(D)comfort the fainthearted, ^(E)uphold the weak, ^(F)be patient with all. ^15 (G)See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always ^(H)pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

^16 (I)Rejoice always, ^17 (J)pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

^19 (K)Do not quench the Spirit. ^20 (L)Do not despise prophecies. ^21 (M)Test all things; ^(N)hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.

Blessing and Admonition

²³ Now may ^(O)the God of peace Himself ^(P)sanctify^[d] you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body ^(Q)be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is ^(R)faithful, who also will ^(S)do it.

²⁵ Brethren, pray for us.

²⁶ Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.

²⁷ I charge you by the Lord that this ^[e]epistle be read to all the ^[f]holy brethren.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

An Earnest Appeal for Guidance and Deliverance

A Psalm of David.

Abijah Reigns in Judah^(A)

13 In ^(B)the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over ^(C)Judah. ² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^[a]Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.

⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount ^(D)Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel: ⁵ Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel ^(E)gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, ^(F)by a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and ^(G)rebelled against his lord. ⁷ Then ^(H)worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was ^(I)young and inexperienced and could not withstand them. ⁸ And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam ^(J)made for you as gods. ^9 (K)Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, ^(L)so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of ^(M)things that are not gods? ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our ^(N)God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. ^11 (O)And they burn to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the ^(P)showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps ^(Q)to burn every evening; for we keep the command of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him. ¹² Now look, God Himself is with us as our ^(R)head, ^(S)and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

¹³ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they ^(T)cried out to the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God ^(U)struck 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 Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, ^(V)because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.

¹⁹ And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and ^(W)Ephrain^[b] with its villages. ²⁰ So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord ^(X)struck him, and ^(Y)he died.

²¹ But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in ^(Z)the ^[c]annals of the prophet Iddo.

Asa Reigns over Judah

14 So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then ^(AA)Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.

Asa Reigns in Judah^(AB)

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, ³ for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and ^(AC)the ^[d]high places, and ^(AD)broke down the sacred pillars ^(AE)and cut down the wooden images. ⁴ He commanded Judah to ^(AF)seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. ⁵ He also removed the ^[e]high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. ⁶ And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him ^(AG)rest. ⁷ Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸ And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried ^[f]shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew ^(AH)bows; all these were mighty men of ^(AI)valor.

^9 (AJ)Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^(AK)Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa ^(AL)cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is ^(AM)nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and ^(AN)in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”

¹² So the Lord ^(AO)struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to ^(AP)Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much ^[g]spoil. ¹⁴ Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for ^(AQ)the fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much ^[h]spoil in them. ¹⁵ They also ^[i]attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

The Reforms of Asa

15 Now ^(AR)the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ² And he went out ^[j]to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. ^(AS)The Lord is with you while you are with Him. ^(AT)If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but ^(AU)if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. ^3 (AV)For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a ^(AW)teaching priest, and without ^(AX)law; ⁴ but ^(AY)when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. ⁵ And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. ^6 (AZ)So nation was ^[k]destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. ⁷ But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”

⁸ And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of ^[l]Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities ^(BA)which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule of the Lord. ⁹ Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and ^(BB)those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰ So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ^11 (BC)And they offered to the Lord ^[m]at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the ^[n]spoil they had brought. ¹² Then they ^(BD)entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; ^13 (BE)and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel ^(BF)was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴ Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and ^(BG)sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the Lord gave them ^(BH)rest all around.

¹⁶ Also he removed ^(BI)Maachah, the ^[o]mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of ^[p]Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron. ¹⁷ But ^(BJ)the ^[q]high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.

¹⁸ He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils. ¹⁹ And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Asa’s Treaty with Syria^(BK)

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, ^(BL)Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, ^(BM)that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ² Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, ³ “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. ⁵ Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work. ⁶ Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

Hanani’s Message to Asa

⁷ And at that time ^(BN)Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: ^(BO)“Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were ^(BP)the Ethiopians and ^(BQ)the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your ^(BR)hand. ^9 (BS)For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this ^(BT)you have done foolishly; therefore from now on ^(BU)you shall have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer, and ^(BV)put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

Illness and Death of Asa^(BW)

^11 (BX)Note that the acts of Asa, first and last, are indeed written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he ^(BY)did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.

^13 (BZ)So Asa ^[r]rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in his own tomb, which he had ^[s]made for himself in the City of David; and they laid him in the bed which was filled ^(CA)with spices and various ingredients prepared in a mixture of ointments. They made ^(CB)a very great burning for him.