Abijah Reigns in Judah

¹zIn the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, yAbijah began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was aMicaiah1 the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

bNow there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam cdrew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. ⁴Then Abijah stood up on Mount dZemaraim that is in ethe hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel fgave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by ga covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up hand rebelled against his lord, ⁷and certain iworthless scoundrels2 gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was jyoung and irresolute3 and could not withstand them.

⁸“And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you kthe golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹lHave you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes mfor ordination4 with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are nnot gods. ¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the Lord who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. ¹¹They offer to the Lord oevery morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out pthe showbread on the table of pure gold, qand care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may rburn every evening. For we skeep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him. ¹²Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests twith their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, udo not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”

¹³Jeroboam had sent van ambush around to come upon them from behind. Thus his troops5 were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. wAnd they cried to the Lord, and the priests tblew the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, xGod defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶The men of Israel fled before Judah, yand God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. ¹⁸Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, zbecause they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam aand took cities from him, Bethel with its villages and Jeshanah with its villages and bEphron6 with its villages. ²⁰Jeroboam did not recover his power in the days of Abijah. cAnd the Lord struck him down, dand he died. ²¹But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the estory of the prophet fIddo.

To the Church in Sardis

¹“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him iwho has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation jof being alive, kbut you are dead. ²Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works lcomplete in the sight of my God. ³mRemember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, nI will come olike a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. ⁴Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not psoiled their garments, and they will walk with me qin white, for they are rworthy. ⁵sThe one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never tblot his name out of uthe book of life. vI will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. ⁶pHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

To the Church in Philadelphia

⁷“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of wthe holy one, xthe true one, ywho has the key of David, zwho opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

⁸“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you aan open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹Behold, I will make those of bthe synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, cI will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that dI have loved you. ¹⁰eBecause you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try fthose who dwell on the earth. ¹¹gI am coming soon. hHold fast what you have, so that no one may seize iyour crown. ¹²jThe one who conquers, I will make him ka pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him lthe name of my God, and mthe name of the city of my God, mthe new Jerusalem, nwhich comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own onew name. ¹³pHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

To the Church in Laodicea

¹⁴“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the pAmen, qthe faithful and true witness, rthe beginning of God's creation.

¹⁵“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. sWould that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷tFor you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, ublind, and naked. ¹⁸I counsel you vto buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and wwhite garments so that you may clothe yourself and xthe shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, uso that you may see. ¹⁹yThose whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ²⁰Behold, I stand at the door and zknock. aIf anyone hears my voice and opens the door, bI will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹cThe one who conquers, dI will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as eI also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²²pHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

¹aIn the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to bZerubbabel the son of cShealtiel, governor of Judah, and to dJoshua the son of eJehozadak, the high priest: ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” ³Then the word of the Lord came fby the hand of Haggai the prophet, ⁴g“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while hthis house lies in ruins? ⁵Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. ⁶jYou have sown much, and harvested little. kYou eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who learns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

⁷“Thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. ⁸Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that mI may take pleasure in it and that nI may be glorified, says the Lord. ⁹jYou looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, oI blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house hthat lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. ¹⁰Therefore pthe heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹And qI have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on rthe grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and son all their labors.”

The People Obey the Lord

¹²tThen uZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and uJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all vthe remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. ¹³Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, w“I am with you, declares the Lord.” ¹⁴And xthe Lord stirred up the spirit of uZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of yJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all zthe remnant of the people. And they came and aworked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, ¹⁵bon the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

The Wedding at Cana

¹On hthe third day there was a wedding at iCana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with jhis disciples. ³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴And Jesus said to her, k“Woman, lwhat does this have to do with me? mMy hour has not yet come.” ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Now there were six stone water jars there nfor the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty ogallons.1 ⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹When the master of the feast tasted pthe water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested qhis glory. And rhis disciples believed in him.

¹²After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and shis brothers2 and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹³tThe Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus uwent up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴vIn the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make wmy Father's house a house of trade.” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, x“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸So the Jews said to him, y“What sign do you show us for doing these things?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, z“Destroy this temple, and in three days aI will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,3 and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking about bthe temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, chis disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed dthe Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus Knows What Is in Man

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name ewhen they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴But Jesus fon his part did not entrust himself to them, because ghe knew all people ²⁵and needed no one to bear witness about man, for ghe himself knew what was in man.