1 Kings 12
1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. 3 They sent for him, and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
6 King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 7 They said to him, “Today if you will be a servant to these people and grant their request, speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants from this time forward.” 8 But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. 9 He asked them, “How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” 10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! 11 My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’”
12 Jeroboam and all the people reported to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, “Return to me on the third day.” 13 The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men 14 and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” 15 The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, “We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse! Return to your homes, O Israel! Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!” So Israel returned to their homes. 17 (Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.) 18 King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the supervisor of the work crews, out after them, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day. 20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one except the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22 But God told Shemaiah the prophet, 23 “Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah, and to all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home. Indeed this thing has happened because of me.”’” So they obeyed the Lord’s message. They went home in keeping with the Lord’s message.
25 Jeroboam built up Shechem in the Ephraimite hill country and lived there. From there he went out and built up Penuel. 26 Jeroboam then thought to himself: “Now the Davidic dynasty could regain the kingdom. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” 28 After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. 30 This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves.
31 He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests common people who were not Levites. 32 Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made.
33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.
Philipians 3
1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials 4 —though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. 6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. 10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. 16 Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.
17 Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. 18 For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.
Ezekiel 42
1 Then he led me out to the outer court, toward the north, and brought me to the chamber that was opposite the courtyard and opposite the building on the north. 2 Its length was 175 feet on the north side, and its width 87½ feet. 3 Opposite the 35 feet that belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement that belonged to the outer court, gallery faced gallery in the three stories. 4 In front of the chambers was a walkway on the inner side, 17½ feet wide at a distance of 1¾ feet, and their entrances were on the north. 5 Now the upper chambers were narrower, because the galleries took more space from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 6 For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore, the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and middle ones. 7 As for the outer wall by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court facing the chambers, it was 87½ feet long. 8 For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet long, while those facing the temple were 175 feet long. 9 Below these chambers was a passage on the east side as one enters from the outer court.
10 At the beginning of the wall of the court toward the south, facing the courtyard and the building, were chambers 11 like those on the north with a passage in front of them. The chambers that were toward the south were the same length and width as those on the north, and had matching exits and entrances and arrangements. 12 There was an opening at the head of the passage, the passage in front of the corresponding wall toward the east when one enters.
13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers that face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy. 14 When the priests enter, then they will not go out from the sanctuary to the outer court without taking off their garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they will put on other garments, then they will go near the places where the people are.”
15 Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple, he led me out by the gate that faces east and measured all around. 16 He measured the east side with the measuring stick as 875 feet by the measuring stick. 17 He measured the north side as 875 feet by the measuring stick. 18 He measured the south side as 875 feet by the measuring stick. 19 He turned to the west side and measured 875 feet by the measuring stick. 20 He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy and common places.
Psalms 94
1 O Lord, the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor.
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?
4 They spew out threats and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”
8 Take notice of this, you ignorant people.
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?
10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11 The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts
are morally bankrupt.
12 How blessed is the one whom you instruct, O Lord,
the one whom you teach from your law,
13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,
until the wicked are destroyed.
14 Certainly the Lord does not forsake his people;
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.
15 For justice will prevail,
and all the morally upright will be vindicated.
16 Who will rise up to defend me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?
17 If the Lord had not helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,
your soothing touch makes me happy.
20 Cruel rulers are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws.
21 They conspire against the blameless,
and condemn to death the innocent.
22 But the Lord will protect me,
and my God will shelter me.
23 He will pay them back for their sin.
He will destroy them because of their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
