¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor. ⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel: ⁵Should you not know that the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord. ⁷Then worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them. ⁸And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lᴏʀᴅ, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods. ⁹Have you not cast out the priests of the Lᴏʀᴅ, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods? ¹⁰But as for us, the Lᴏʀᴅ is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the Lᴏʀᴅ are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. ¹¹And they burn to the Lᴏʀᴅ every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening; for we keep the command of the Lᴏʀᴅ our God, but you have forsaken Him. ¹²Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lᴏʀᴅ God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!” ¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the Lᴏʀᴅ, and the priests sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lᴏʀᴅ God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephrain with its villages. ²⁰So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lᴏʀᴅ struck him, and he died. ²¹But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet Iddo.

¹“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ²Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. ³Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. ⁴You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ⁶He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ‘ ⁷“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: ⁸I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. ⁹Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. ¹⁰Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. ¹²He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. ¹³He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ‘ ¹⁴“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ¹⁵I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— ¹⁸I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. ²¹To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. ²²He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ‘ ”

¹In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ²“Thus speaks the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lᴏʀᴅ’s house should be built.” ’ ” ³Then the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” ⁵Now therefore, thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts: “Consider your ways! ⁶“You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” ⁷Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts: “Consider your ways! ⁸Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ⁹“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. ¹¹For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” ¹²Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lᴏʀᴅ their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lᴏʀᴅ their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹³Then Haggai, the Lᴏʀᴅ’s messenger, spoke the Lᴏʀᴅ’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the Lᴏʀᴅ.” ¹⁴So the Lᴏʀᴅ stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts, their God, ¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

¹On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. ³And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” ⁴Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” ⁶Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. ⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. ⁹When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. ¹⁰And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” ¹¹This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. ¹²After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. ¹³Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. ¹⁵When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. ¹⁶And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” ¹⁷Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” ¹⁸So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” ¹⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” ²¹But He was speaking of the temple of His body. ²²Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. ²³Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. ²⁴But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, ²⁵and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.