Daily reading in version Bible In Basic English - English
Now when Rehoboam's position as king had been made certain, and he was strong, he gave up the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because of their sin against the Lord,
With twelve hundred war-carriages and sixty thousand horsemen: and the people who came with him out of Egypt were more than might be numbered: Lubim and Sukkiim and Ethiopians.
And he took the walled towns of Judah, and came as far as Jerusalem.
Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the chiefs of Judah, who had come together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, The Lord has said, Because you have given me up, I have given you up into the hands of Shishak.
Then the chiefs of Israel and the king made themselves low and said, The Lord is upright.
And the Lord, seeing that they had made themselves low, said to Shemaiah, They have made themselves low: I will not send destruction on them, but in a short time I will give them salvation, and will not let loose my wrath on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
But still they will become his servants, so that they may see how different my yoke is from the yoke of the kingdoms of the lands.
So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took away all the stored wealth of the house of the Lord and the king's house: he took everything away, and with the rest the gold body-covers which Solomon had made.
And in their place King Rehoboam had other body-covers made of brass and gave them into the care of the captains of the armed men who were stationed at the door of the king's house.
And whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, the armed men went with him taking the body-covers, and then took them back to their room.
And when he made himself low, the wrath of the Lord was turned back from him, and complete destruction did not come on him, for there was still some good in Judah.
So King Rehoboam made himself strong in Jerusalem and was ruling there. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he was ruling for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the town which the Lord had made his out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there and his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.
And he did evil because his heart was not true to the Lord.
Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not recorded in the words of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
And Rehoboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David and Abijah his son became king in his place.
In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.
He was king in Jerusalem for three years his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
And Abijah went out to the fight with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand of his best men and Jeroboam put his forces in line against him, eight hundred thousand of his best men of war.
And Abijah took up his position on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Give ear to me, O Jeroboam and all Israel:
Is it not clear to you that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the rule over Israel to David and to his sons for ever, by an agreement made with salt?
But Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, took up arms against his lord.
And certain foolish and good-for-nothing men were joined with him, and made themselves strong against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and untested and not able to keep them back.
And now it is your purpose to put yourselves against the authority which the Lord has put into the hands of the sons of David, and you are a very great number, and you have with you the gold oxen which Jeroboam made to be your gods.
And after driving out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, have you not made priests for yourselves as the people of other lands do? so that anyone who comes to make himself priest by offering an ox or seven sheep, may be a priest of those who are no gods.
But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not been turned away from him we have priests who do the work of the Lord, even the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their places
By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.
And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.
But Jeroboam had put some of his men to make a surprise attack on them from the back, so some were facing Judah and others were stationed secretly at their back.
And Judah, turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns.
And the men of Judah gave a loud cry and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
And the children of Israel went in flight before Judah, and God gave them up into their hands.
And Abijah and his people put them to death with great destruction: five hundred thousand of the best of Israel were put to the sword.
So at that time the children of Israel were overcome, and the children of Judah got the better of them, because they put their faith in the Lord, the God of their fathers.
And Abijah went after Jeroboam and took some of his towns, Beth-el with its small towns and Jeshanah with its small towns and Ephron with its small towns.
And Jeroboam did not get back his power again in the life-time of Abijah and the Lord sent death on him.
But Abijah became great, and had fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are recorded in the account of the prophet Iddo.
So Abijah went to rest with his fathers, and they put him into the earth in the town of David, and Asa his son became king in his place in his time the land was quiet for ten years.
And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God
For he took away the altars of strange gods and the high places, and had the upright stones broken and the wood pillars cut down
And he made Judah go after the Lord, the God of their fathers, and keep his laws and his orders.
And he took away the high places and the sun-images from all the towns of Judah and the kingdom was quiet under his rule.
He made walled towns in Judah, for the land was quiet and there were no wars in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.
He said to Judah, Let us make these towns, building walls round them with towers and doors and locks. The land is still ours, because we have been true to the Lord our God we have been true to him and he has given us rest on every side. So they went on building and all went well for them.
And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah armed with body-covers and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand of Benjamin armed with body-covers and bows all these were men of war.
And Zerah the Ethiopian, with an army of a million, and three hundred war-carriages, came out against them to Mareshah.
And Asa went out against him, and they put their forces in position in the valley north of Mareshah.
And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God let not man's power be greater than yours.
So the Lord sent fear on the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah and the Ethiopians went in flight.
And Asa and the people who were with him went after them as far as Gerar and so great was the destruction among the Ethiopians that they were not able to get their army together again, for they were broken before the Lord and before his army and they took away a great amount of their goods.
And they overcame all the towns round Gerar, because the Lord sent fear on them and they took away their goods from the towns, for there were stores of wealth in them.
And they made an attack on the tents of the owners of the cattle, and took away great numbers of sheep and camels and went back to Jerusalem.
And the spirit of God came on Azariah, the son of Oded
And he came face to face with Asa and said to him, Give ear to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him if your heart's desire is for him, he will be near you, but if you give him up, he will give you up.
Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law
But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded.
In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the people of the lands.
And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them.
But be you strong and let not your hands be feeble, for your work will be rewarded.
And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house.
And he got together all Judah and Benjamin and those of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were living with them for numbers of them came to him out of Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
So they came together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the rule of Asa.
And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul
And that anyone, small or great, man or woman, who was not true to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death.
And they made an oath to the Lord, with a loud voice, sounding wind-instruments and horns.
And all Judah was glad because of the oath, for they had taken it with all their heart, turning to the Lord with all their desire and he was with them and gave them rest on every side.
And Asa would not let Maacah, his mother, be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah and Asa had her image cut down and broken up and burned by the stream Kidron.
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel but still the heart of Asa was true to the Lord all his life.
He took into the house of God all the things which his father had made holy and those which he himself had made holy, silver and gold and vessels.
And there was no more war till the thirty-fifth year of the rule of Asa.
And it came about that when he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees on the Sabbath, to have a meal, they were watching him.
And a certain man was there who had a disease.
And Jesus, answering, said to the scribes and Pharisees, Is it right to make people well on the Sabbath or not?
But they said nothing. And he made him well and sent him away.
And he said to them, Which of you, whose ox or ass has got into a water-hole, will not straight away get him out on the Sabbath?
And they had no answer to that question.
And he gave teaching in the form of a story to the guests who came to the feast, when he saw how they took the best seats saying to them,
When you get a request to come to a feast, do not take the best seat, for a more important man than you may be coming,
And then the giver of the feast will come to you and say, Give your place to this man and you, with shame, will have to take the lowest seat.
But when you come, go and take the lowest seat, so that when the giver of the feast comes, he may say to you, Friend, come up higher and then you will have honour in the eyes of all the others who are there.
For every man who gives himself a high place will be put down, but he who takes a low place will be lifted up.
And he said to the master of the house, When you give a feast, do not send for your friends and your brothers and your family or your neighbours who have wealth, for they may give a feast for you, and so you will get a reward.
But when you give a feast, send for the poor and the blind and those who are broken in body:
And you will have a blessing, because they will not be able to give you any payment, and you will get your reward when the upright come back from the dead.
And, hearing these words, one of those who were at table with him said to him, Happy is the man who will be a guest in the kingdom of God.
And he said to them, A certain man gave a great feast, and sent word of it to a number of people.
And when the time had come, he sent his servants to say to them, Come, for all things are now ready.
And they all gave reasons why they were not able to come. The first said to him, I have got a new field, and it is necessary for me to go and see it: I am full of regret that I am unable to come.
And another said, I have got some cattle, and I am going to make a test of them: I am full of regret that I am unable to come.
And another said, I have been married, and so I am not able to come.
And the servant came back and gave his master an account of these things. Then the master of the house was angry and said to the servant, Go out quickly into the streets of the town and get the poor, the blind, and those who are broken in body.
And the servant said, Lord, your orders have been done, and still there is room.
And the lord said to the servant, Go out into the roads and the fields, and make them come in, so that my house may be full.
For I say to you that not one of those who were requested to come will have a taste of my feast.