John 11:28-57; 2 Chronicles 12; 2 Chronicles 13; Psalms 76

John 11:28-57

28 Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."

29 As soon as she heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.

30 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met Him.

31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. So they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and told Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died!"

33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved.

34 "Where have you put him?" He asked. "Lord," they told Him, "come and see."

35 Jesus wept.

36 So the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "Couldn't He who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying?"

38 Then Jesus, angry in Himself again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

39 "Remove the stone," Jesus said. Martha, the dead man's sister, told Him, "Lord, he already stinks. It's been four days."

40 Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You heard Me.

42 I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me."

43 After He said this, He shouted with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him and let him go."

45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He did believed in Him.

46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do since this man does many signs?

48 If we let Him continue in this way, everybody will believe in Him! Then the Romans will come and remove both our place and our nation."

49 One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all!

50 You're not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish."

51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,

52 and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God.

53 So from that day on they plotted to kill Him.

54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim. And He stayed there with the disciples.

55 The Jewish Passover was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country to purify themselves before the Passover.

56 They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple complex: "What do you think? He won't come to the festival, will He?"

57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it so they could arrest Him.

2 Chronicles 12

1 When Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he abandoned the law of the Lord-he and all Israel with him.

2 Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem

3 with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and countless people who came with him from Egypt-Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.

4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

5 Then Shemaiah the prophet went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them: "This is what the Lord says: 'You have abandoned Me; therefore, I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.' "

6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is righteous."

7 When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the Lord's message came to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them but will grant them a little deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

8 However, they will become his servants so that they may recognize [the difference between] serving Me and serving the kingdoms of the land."

9 So King Shishak of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem. He seized the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took the gold shields that Solomon had made.

10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them into the care of the captains of the royal escorts who guarded the entrance to the king's palace.

11 Whenever the king entered the Lord's temple, the royal escorts would carry the shields and take them back to the royal escorts' armory.

12 When Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord's anger turned away from him, and He did not destroy [him] completely. Besides that, conditions were good in Judah.

13 King Rehoboam established his royal power in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king; he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name. Rehoboam's mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.

14 Rehoboam did what was evil, because he did not determine in his heart to seek the Lord.

15 The events of Rehoboam's [reign], from beginning to end, are written about in the Events of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning genealogies. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.

16 Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.

2 Chronicles 13

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

2 he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; [she was] from Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

3 Abijah set his army of warriors in order with 400,000 choice men. Jeroboam arranged his mighty army of 800,000 choice men in battle formation against him.

4 Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Jeroboam and all Israel, hear me.

5 Don't you know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?

6 But Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.

7 Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young, inexperienced, and unable to assert himself against them.

8 "And now you are saying you can assert yourselves against the Lord's kingdom in the hand of [one of] David's sons. You are a vast multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.

9 Didn't you banish the priests of the Lord, the descendants of Aaron and the Levites, and make your own priests like the peoples of [other] lands do? Whoever comes to ordain himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.

10 "But as for us, the Lord is our God. We have not abandoned Him; the priests ministering to the Lord are descendants of Aaron, and the Levites [serve] at their tasks.

11 They offer a burnt offering and fragrant incense to the Lord every morning and every evening, and [they set] the rows of the bread [of the Presence] on the ceremonially clean table. They light the lamps of the gold lampstand every evening. We are carrying out the requirements of the Lord our God, while you have abandoned Him.

12 Look, God and His priests are with us at our head. The trumpets are ready to sound the charge against you. Israelites, don't fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed."

13 Now Jeroboam had sent an ambush around to advance from behind them. So they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

14 Judah turned and discovered that the battle was in front of them and behind them, so they cried out to the Lord. Then the priests blew the trumpets,

15 and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. When the men of Judah raised the battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

16 So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God handed them over to them.

17 Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 choice men of Israel were killed.

18 The Israelites were subdued at that time. The Judahites succeeded because they depended on the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured [some] cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

20 Jeroboam no longer retained his power during Abijah's reign; ultimately, the Lord struck him and he died.

21 However, Abijah grew strong, acquired 14 wives, and fathered 22 sons and 16 daughters.

22 The rest of the events of Abijah's [reign], along with his ways and his sayings, are written about in the Writing of the Prophet Iddo.

Psalms 76

1 God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel.

2 His tent is in Salem, His dwelling place in Zion.

3 There He shatters the bow's flaming arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

4 You are resplendent and majestic [coming down] from the mountains of prey.

5 The brave-hearted have been plundered; they have slipped into their [final] sleep. None of the warriors was able to lift a hand.

6 At Your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse lay still.

7 And You-You are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?

8 From heaven You pronounced judgment. The earth feared and grew quiet

9 when God rose up to judge and to save all the lowly of the earth. Selah

10 Even human wrath will praise You; You will clothe Yourself with their remaining wrath.

11 Make and keep your vows to the Lord your God; let all who are around Him bring tribute to the awe-inspiring One.

12 He humbles the spirit of leaders; He is feared by the kings of the earth.