Old/New Testament

Abijah’s Rule in Judah

13 Abijah became the king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah began the battle with an army of powerful soldiers, 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam came ready for battle against him with 800,000 chosen men who were powerful soldiers.

⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵ Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by an agreement of salt? ⁶ But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, went against his lord the king. ⁷ And men of no worth gathered around him. They were bad men who were too strong for Rehoboam the son of Solomon. Rehoboam was young and weak and could not stand against them. ⁸ So now you plan to stand against the power of the Lord through the sons of David. You think you can because you have many people and the gold calves Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹ Have you not driven out the religious leaders of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites? And have you not made religious leaders for yourselves like the people of other lands? Whoever comes to make himself holy with a young bull and seven rams becomes a religious leader of false gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God. We have not left Him. The sons of Aaron are working for the Lord as religious leaders. And the Levites are doing their work. ¹¹ Every morning they give burnt gifts and burn special perfume to the Lord. The holy bread is set on the clean table. And the gold lamp-stand with its lamps is ready to light every evening. For we do the work of the Lord our God. But you have left Him. ¹² Now see, God is with us at our head. His religious leaders are ready to blow the horns, to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers. For you cannot win.”

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent soldiers to come from behind. So Israel was in front of Judah, and soldiers were behind them also. ¹⁴ When Judah looked, they saw that the battle was both in front of them and behind them. So they cried to the Lord, and the religious leaders blew the horns. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah sounded a war cry. And when they sounded the war cry, God began destroying Jeroboam and all Israel around Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ The men of Israel ran away from Judah. God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people killed many of them. There were 500,000 chosen men of Israel killed. ¹⁸ So the sons of Israel were set back at that time. The sons of Judah were strong because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah went after Jeroboam. He took from him the cities of Bethel with its towns, Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephron with its towns. ²⁰ Jeroboam did not become strong again in the days of Abijah. And the Lord destroyed him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah became very strong. He married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words, are written in the story of Iddo the man of God.

King Asa Rules in Judah

14 Abijah died and they buried him in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. In his days the land had peace ten years.

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³ For he put away the strange altars and high places. He tore down the pillars used in worship of false gods. And he cut down the false goddesses, the Asherim. ⁴ He told Judah to follow the Lord God of their fathers, and to obey the Laws. ⁵ He put the high places and the altars of special perfume away from all the cities of Judah. And the nation had rest under his rule. ⁶ He built strong cities in Judah, since the land had rest. No one fought a war with him during those years, because the Lord had given him rest. ⁷ So he said to the people of Judah, “Let us build these cities. And let us build walls and towers around them, with iron gates. The land is still ours, because we have followed the Lord our God. We have followed Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and did well. ⁸ Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, with large battle-coverings and spears. And he had 280,000 men from Benjamin, with battle-coverings and bows. All of them were powerful soldiers.

⁹ Zerah the Ethiopian came out to fight against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 war-wagons. He came as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out to meet him. They made themselves ready for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one but You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak. So help us, O Lord God. For we trust in You. In Your name we have come against these many people. O Lord, You are our God. Do not let any man win the fight against You.” ¹² So the Lord began to destroy the Ethiopians in front of Asa and the people of Judah, and the Ethiopians ran away. ¹³ Asa and the people with him went after them as far as Gerar. The Ethiopians were killed until none were left alive. They were destroyed before the Lord and His army. And they carried away many things that had belonged to the Ethiopians. ¹⁴ Then they destroyed all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they took everything of worth that was in the cities, for there was much left. ¹⁵ They destroyed the tents of the animals. And they took away many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Mary of Bethany Puts Special Perfume on Jesus ^(A)

12 It was six days before the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. ² They made supper for Him. Martha put the food on the table. Lazarus was at the table with Him.

³ Mary took a jar of special perfume that cost much money and poured it on the feet of Jesus. She dried His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the smell of the special perfume.

⁴ Judas Iscariot was one of the followers. He was about to hand Jesus over to the leaders of the country. He said, ⁵ “Why was not this special perfume sold for much money and given to poor people?” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared for poor people. He said this because he was a robber. He carried the bag of money and would steal some of it for himself. ⁷ Jesus said, “Let her alone. She has kept it for the time when I will be buried. ⁸ You will always have poor people with you. You will not always have Me.”

The Jews Talk about Having Lazarus Killed

⁹ Many Jews came to the place because they knew Jesus was there. They came not only to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus also. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. ¹⁰ The religious leaders of the Jews talked together about having Lazarus killed also. ¹¹ Because of Lazarus, many Jews were leaving their own religion. They were putting their trust in Jesus.

The Last Time Jesus Goes to Jerusalem ^(B)

¹² The next day many people were in Jerusalem for the religious gathering. They heard Jesus was coming. ¹³ They took branches of trees and went to meet Him. They spoke with a loud voice, “Greatest One! Great and honored is He Who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of the Jews!” ¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. The Holy Writings say, ¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, people of Jerusalem. See! Your King comes sitting on a young donkey!” ^{(C) 16} His followers did not understand what this meant at first. When Jesus had gone back to heaven to receive great honor, they remembered these things were written about Him. They remembered they had done this to Him.

¹⁷ The people who had been with Jesus when He had called Lazarus from the grave kept telling of this powerful work to others. They had seen Lazarus raised from the dead. ¹⁸ Because of this the people went to meet Jesus. They had heard He had done this powerful work. ¹⁹ The proud religious law-keepers said among themselves, “Look, we are losing followers. Everyone is following Jesus!”

The Greek People Want to See Jesus

²⁰ Some Greek people had come to worship at the religious gathering. They were among the others who had come to worship. ²¹ These Greek people came to Philip. He was from the city of Bethsaida in the country of Galilee. They said to him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus!” ²² Philip went and told Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

The Law of Life

²³ Jesus said to them, “The hour is near for the Son of Man to be taken to heaven to receive great honor. ²⁴ For sure, I tell you, unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it will only be a seed. If it dies, it will give much grain. ²⁵ Anyone who loves his life will lose it. Anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it forever. ²⁶ If anyone wants to serve Me, he must follow Me. So where I am, the one who wants to serve Me will be there also. If anyone serves Me, My Father will honor him.