The Revolt Against Rehoboam

¹dRehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, ewhere he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴f“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men,1 who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷And they said to him, g“If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. ⁹And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” ¹⁰And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. ¹¹And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, hwhich he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. iEach of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent jHadoram,2 who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Prologue

¹The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God agave him bto show to his servants1 the things that must soon take place. cHe made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ²dwho bore witness to the word of God and to ethe testimony of Jesus Christ, even fto all that he saw. ³gBlessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, hfor the time is near.

Greeting to the Seven Churches

⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from ihim jwho is and kwho was and who is to come, and from lthe seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ mthe faithful witness, nthe firstborn of the dead, and othe ruler of kings on earth.

To phim who loves us and qhas freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶and made us ra kingdom, rpriests to shis God and Father, to him be tglory and udominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷Behold, vhe is coming with the clouds, and wevery eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail2 on account of him. Even so. Amen.

⁸x“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, y“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹I, John, your brother and zpartner in athe tribulation and bthe kingdom and cthe patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos don account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰eI was in the Spirit fon the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice glike a trumpet ¹¹saying, h“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw iseven golden lampstands, ¹³and in the midst of the lampstands jone like ka son of man, lclothed with a long robe and mwith a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴nThe hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. oHis eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵phis feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and qhis voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶rIn his right hand he held seven stars, sfrom his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and this face was like the sun shining uin full strength.

¹⁷vWhen I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But vhe laid his right hand on me, wsaying, “Fear not, xI am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the living one. yI died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and zI have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹aWrite therefore bthe things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and cthe seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and dthe seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Judgment on Judah's Enemies

¹Gather together, yes, gather,

O sshameless nation,

²tbefore the decree takes effect1

—before the day passes away ulike chaff—

vbefore there comes upon you

the burning anger of the Lord,

before there comes upon you

the day of the anger of the Lord.

³wSeek the Lord, xall you humble of the land,

who do his just commands;2

yseek righteousness; seek humility;

yperhaps zyou may be hidden

on the day of the anger of the Lord.

⁴aFor Gaza shall be deserted,

and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;

Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon,

and Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵Woe to byou inhabitants of the seacoast,

you nation of cthe Cherethites!

dThe word of the Lord is against you,

eO Canaan, land of the Philistines;

and I will destroy you funtil no inhabitant is left.

⁶gAnd you, O seacoast, hshall be pastures,

with meadows3 for shepherds

and folds for flocks.

⁷iThe seacoast shall become the possession

of jthe remnant of the house of Judah,

hon which they shall graze,

and in the houses of Ashkelon

they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God kwill be mindful of them

and lrestore their fortunes.

⁸“I have heard mthe taunts of Moab

and nthe revilings of the Ammonites,

how they have taunted my people

and made boasts oagainst their territory.

⁹Therefore, pas I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

“Moab shall become qlike Sodom,

and the Ammonites qlike Gomorrah,

a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,

and a waste forever.

The remnant of my people shall plunder them,

and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”

¹⁰This shall be their lot in return rfor their pride,

because they taunted and boasted

against the people of the Lord of hosts.

¹¹The Lord will be awesome against them;

sfor he will famish all the gods of the earth,

and tto him shall bow down,

each in its place,

all uthe lands of the nations.

¹²vYou also, O Cushites,

shall be slain by my sword.

¹³And he will stretch out his hand against the north

wand destroy Assyria,

and he xwill make Nineveh a desolation,

a dry waste like the desert.

¹⁴yHerds shall lie down in her midst,

all kinds of beasts;4

zeven the owl and the hedgehog5

shall lodge in her capitals;

a voice shall hoot in the window;

devastation will be on the threshold;

for aher cedar work will be laid bare.

¹⁵This is the exultant city

bthat lived securely,

that said in her heart,

“I am, and there is no one else.”

What a desolation she has become,

ca lair for wild beasts!

dEveryone who passes by her

hisses and eshakes his fist.

The Resurrection

¹hBut on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, itaking the spices they had prepared. ²And they found jthe stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were perplexed about this, behold, ktwo lmen stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵And as they were mfrightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, nwhile he was still in Galilee, ⁷nthat the Son of Man omust be delivered into the hands of sinful men and pbe crucified and on qthe third day rise.” ⁸And rthey remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb they stold all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰Now it was tMary Magdalene and uJoanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and vthey did not believe them. ¹²But wPeter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw xthe linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³That very day ytwo of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles1 from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶zBut their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was aa prophet bmighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and chow our chief priests and drulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was ethe one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now fthe third day since these things happened. ²²Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. gThey were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³and hwhen they did not find his body, they came back saying that ithey had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴jSome of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶kWas it not necessary that lthe Christ should suffer these things and enter into mhis glory?” ²⁷And nbeginning with oMoses and pall the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸So they drew near to the village to which they were going. qHe acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and rthe day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at table with them, he took the bread and sblessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹tAnd their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And uhe vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, v“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he wopened to us the Scriptures?” ³³And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they xfound the eleven and ythose who were with them gathered together, ³⁴saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and zhas appeared to Simon!” ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and ahow he was known to them in bthe breaking of the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

³⁶As they were talking about these things, cJesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷But they were dstartled and efrightened and fthought they saw a spirit. ³⁸And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. gTouch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, hhe showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹And while they still disbelieved ifor joy and were marveling, jhe said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish,2 ⁴³and he took it and ate before them.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, k“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, lthat everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then mhe opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, “Thus nit is written, othat the Christ should suffer and on the third day prise from the dead, ⁴⁷and that qrepentance for3 the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed rin his name sto all nations, tbeginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸uYou are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And behold, I am sending vthe promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you ware clothed with xpower yfrom on high.”

The Ascension

⁵⁰And zhe led them out as far as aBethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹While he blessed them, bhe parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²And they cworshiped him and zreturned to Jerusalem dwith great joy, ⁵³and ewere continually in the temple fblessing God.