June 17th

And he cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah is his name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

Then he gave a miraculous sign the same day, saying, “This is the miraculous sign which Yahweh has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’ ”

Now it happened that when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.

The altar also was torn apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the miraculous sign which the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh.

Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.”

But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

For so it was commanded me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’ ”

So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and recounted to him all the work which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they recounted to their father.

And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.

So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”

Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

And he said, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’ ”

And he said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he dealt falsely with him.

So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

Now it happened as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back;

and he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have rebelled against the word of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you,

but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’ ”

Now it happened after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

Then he went and on the way a lion met him and put him to death, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body.

And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.

Then the prophet, who brought him back from the way, heard it and said, “It is the man of God, who rebelled against the command of Yahweh; therefore Yahweh has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and put him to death, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to him.”

Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.

And he went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.

So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.

He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

Now it happened after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, you shall bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

For the word shall surely happen which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”

After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but he returned and made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who delighted to be so, he ordained. So they became priests of the high places.

And this event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.

And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise now, and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people.

And take ten loaves with you, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

Then Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes had set because of his old age.

Now Yahweh had said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be when she arrives that she will pretend to be another woman.”

Now it happened as Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, that he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message.

Go, say to Jeroboam, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you ruler over My people Israel,

and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight;

you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back—

therefore behold, I am bringing evil on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.

Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the sky will eat; for Yahweh has spoken it.” ’

But you, arise, go to your house. When your feet enter the city the child will die.

And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

Moreover, Yahweh will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

“So Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Yahweh to anger.

And He will give Israel over on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and with which he made Israel to sin.”

Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and went away and came to Tirzah. As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died.

And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Now the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son became king in his place.

They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

And Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek.

So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews;’ but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’ ”

Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, a part to each soldier and also His tunic; now that tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.

So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be;” this was in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his home.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been finished, in order to finish the Scripture, *said, “I am thirsty.”

A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Then the Jews, because it was the day of Preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him;

but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

For these things came to pass in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.”

And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

Now after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.

And Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about one hundred litras.

So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

Therefore because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.