1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 1 Kings 14; Joel 2:1-11

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

18 For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is God's power.

19 For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.

20 Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish?

21 For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.

22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom,

25 because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers, consider your calling: not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.

27 Instead, God has chosen the world's foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world's weak things to shame the strong.

28 God has chosen the world's insignificant and despised things-the things viewed as nothing-so He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something,

29 so that no one can boast in His presence.

30 But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

1 Kings 14

1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became sick.

2 Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go disguise yourself, so they won't know that you're Jeroboam's wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who told about me becoming king over this people.

3 Take with you 10 loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

4 Jeroboam's wife did that: she went to Shiloh and arrived at Ahijah's house. Ahijah could not see; his gaze was fixed due to his age.

5 But the Lord had said to Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming soon to ask you about her son, for he is sick. You are to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will be disguised."

6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised? I have bad news for you.

7 Go tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over My people Israel,

8 tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. But you were not like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all of his heart, doing only what is right in My eyes.

9 You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you. In order to provoke Me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images, but you have flung Me behind your back.

10 Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will eliminate all of Jeroboam's males, both slave and free, in Israel; I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!

11 Anyone who belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat, for the Lord has said it!'

12 "As for you, get up and go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy will die.

13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for this one alone out of Jeroboam's [sons] will come to the grave, because in him [alone] out of the house of Jeroboam something was found pleasing to the Lord God of Israel.

14 The Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel, who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam. This is the day, yes, even today!

15 For the Lord will strike Israel [and the people will shake] as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that He gave to their forefathers. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates because they made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord.

16 He will give up Israel, because of Jeroboam's sins that he committed and caused Israel to commit."

17 Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As she was crossing the threshold of the house, the boy died.

18 He was buried, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam's [reign], how he waged war and how he reigned, note that they are written about in the Historical Record of Israel's Kings.

20 The length of Jeroboam's reign was 22 years. He rested with his fathers, and his son Nadab became king in his place.

21 Now Rehoboam, Solomon's son, reigned in Judah. 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.

22 Judah did what was evil in the Lord's eyes. They provoked Him to jealous anger more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed.

23 They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;

24 there were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem.

26 He seized the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.

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

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

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

30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.

31 Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam became king in his place.

Joel 2:1-11

1 Blow the horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the residents of the land tremble, for the Day of the Lord is coming; in fact, it is near-

2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dense overcast, like the dawn spreading over the mountains; a great and strong people [appears], such as never existed in ages past and never will again in all the generations to come.

3 A fire destroys in front of them, and behind them a flame devours. The land in front of them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland; there is no escape from them.

4 Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like war horses.

5 They bound on the tops of the mountains. Their sound is like the sound of chariots, like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for war.

6 Nations writhe in horror before them; all faces turn pale.

7 They attack as warriors [attack]; they scale walls as men of war [do]. Each goes on his own path, and they do not change their course.

8 They do not push each other; each man proceeds on his own path. They dodge the missiles, never stopping.

9 They storm the city; they run on the wall; they climb into the houses; they enter through the windows like thieves.

10 The earth quakes before them; the sky shakes. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars cease their shining.

11 The Lord raises His voice in the presence of His army. His camp is very large; Those who carry out His command are powerful. Indeed, the Day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful- who can endure it?