1 Corinthians 2; 1 Kings 15:1-32; Joel 2:12-32

1 Corinthians 2

1 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.

2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power,

5 so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power.

6 However, among the mature we do speak a wisdom, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

7 On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory.

8 None of the rulers of this age knew it, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 But as it is written: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and what has never come into a man's heart, is what God has prepared for those who love Him.

10 Now God has revealed them to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.

11 For who among men knows the concerns of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the concerns of God except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order to know what has been freely given to us by God.

13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

14 But the natural man does not welcome what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to know it since it is evaluated spiritually.

15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.

16 For: who has known the Lord's mind, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Kings 15:1-32

1 In the eighteenth year of [Israel's] King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah;

2 he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

3 Abijam walked in all the sins his father had done before him, and he was not completely devoted to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been.

4 But because of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem

5 because David did what was right in the Lord's eyes, and he did not turn aside from anything He had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

6 There had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam's life.

7 The rest of the events of Abijam's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings. There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

8 Abijam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place.

9 In the twentieth year of Israel's King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah;

10 he reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what was right in the Lord's eyes, as his ancestor David had done.

12 He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all of the idols that his fathers had made.

13 He also removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

14 The high places were not taken away; but Asa's heart was completely with the Lord his entire life.

15 He brought his father's consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord's temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.

17 Israel's King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to deny anyone access to Judah's King Asa.

18 So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace and put it into the hands of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, saying,

19 "There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me."

20 Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinneroth, and the whole land of Naphtali.

21 When Baasha heard [about it], he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah with them.

23 The rest of all the events of Asa's [reign], along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings. But in his old age he developed a disease in his feet.

24 Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his forefather David. His son Jehoshaphat became king in his place.

25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Judah's King Asa; he reigned over Israel two years.

26 Nadab did what was evil in the Lord's sight and followed the example of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

27 Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.

28 In the third year of Judah's King Asa, Baasha killed Nadab and reigned in his place.

29 When Baasha became king, he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone alive until he had destroyed his family according to the word of the Lord He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the Shilonite.

30 This was because of Jeroboam's sins he had committed and had caused Israel to commit in the provocation he had provoked the Lord God of Israel with.

31 The rest of the events of Nadab's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Israel's Kings.

32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.

Joel 2:12-32

12 Even now- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

13 Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster.

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him, [so you can] offer grain and wine to the Lord your God.

15 Blow the horn in Zion! Announce a sacred fast; proclaim an assembly.

16 Gather the people; sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom, and the bride her honeymoon chamber.

17 Let the priests, the Lord's ministers, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say: "Have pity on Your people, Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "

18 Then the Lord became jealous for His land and spared His people.

19 The Lord answered His people: Look, I am about to send you grain, new wine, and olive oil. You will be satiated with them, and I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations.

20 I will drive the northerner far from you and banish him to a dry and desolate land, his front ranks into the Dead Sea, and his rear guard into the Mediterranean Sea. His stench will rise; yes, his rotten smell will rise, for he has done catastrophic things.

21 Don't be afraid, land; rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has done great things.

22 Don't be afraid, wild animals, for the wilderness pastures have turned green, the trees bear their fruit, and the fig tree and grapevine yield their riches.

23 Children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God, because He gives you the autumn rain for your vindication. He sends showers for you, both autumn and spring rain as before.

24 The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

25 I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust ate, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust- My great army that I sent against you.

26 You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied. You will praise the name of Yahweh your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. My people will never again be put to shame.

27 You will know that I am present in Israel and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.

28 After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.

29 I will even pour out My Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days.

30 I will display wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awe-inspiring Day of the Lord comes.

32 Then everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised, among the survivors the Lord calls.