Through the Bible – Day 155

Bible text(s)

2 Chronicles 13

King Abijah of Judah

₁Abijah became king of Judah in Jeroboam's eighteenth year as king of Israel, ₂and he ruled from Jerusalem for three years. His mother was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.

Some time later, Abijah and King Jeroboam of Israel went to war against each other. ₃Abijah's army had four hundred thousand troops, and Jeroboam met him in battle with eight hundred thousand troops.

₄Abijah went to the top of Mount Zemaraim in the hills of Ephraim and shouted:

Listen, Jeroboam and all you Israelites! ₅The LORD God of Israel has made a solemn promise that every king of Israel will be from David's family. ₆But Jeroboam, you were King Solomon's official, and you rebelled. ₇Then straight after Rehoboam became king, you and your bunch of worthless followers challenged Rehoboam, who was too young to know how to stop you.

₈Now you and your powerful army think you can stand up to the kingdom that the LORD has given to David's descendants. The only gods you have are those gold statues of calves that Jeroboam made for you. ₉You don't even have descendants of Aaron on your side, because you forced out the LORD's priests and Levites. In their place, you appoint ordinary people to be priests, just as the foreign nations do. In fact, anyone who brings a bull and seven rams to the altar can become a priest of your so called gods.

₁₀But we have not turned our backs on the LORD God! Aaron's own descendants serve as our priests, and the Levites are their assistants. ₁₁Twice every day they offer sacrifices and burn incense to the LORD. They set out the sacred loaves of bread on a table that has been purified, and they light the lamps in the gold lampstand every day at sunset. We follow the commands of the LORD our God—you have rejected him! ₁₂That's why God is on our side and will lead us into battle when the priests sound the signal on the trumpets. It's no use, Israelites. You might as well give up. There's no way you can defeat the LORD, the God your ancestors worshipped.

₁₃But while Abijah was talking, Jeroboam had sent some of his troops to attack Judah's army from behind, while the rest attacked from the front. ₁₄Judah's army realized they were trapped, and so they prayed to the LORD. The priests blew the signal on the trumpet, ₁₅and the troops let out a battle cry. Then with Abijah leading them into battle, God defeated Jeroboam and Israel's army. ₁₆The Israelites ran away, and God helped Judah's soldiers slaughter ₁₇five hundred thousand enemy troops. ₁₈Judah's army won because they had trusted the LORD God of their ancestors.

₁₉Abijah kept up his attack on Jeroboam's army and captured the Israelite towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, as well as the villages around them.

₂₀Jeroboam never regained his power during the rest of Abijah's rule. The LORD punished Jeroboam, and he died, but Abijah became more powerful.

₂₁Abijah had a total of fourteen wives, twenty-two sons, and sixteen daughters. ₂₂Everything Abijah said and did while he was king is written in the records of Iddo the prophet.

2 Chronicles 14

King Asa of Judah

₁Abijah died and was buried in Jerusalem. Then his son Asa became king, and Judah had ten years of peace.

₂Asa obeyed the LORD his God and did right. ₃He destroyed the local shrines and the altars to foreign gods. He smashed the stone images of gods and cut down the sacred poles used in worshipping the goddess Asherah. ₄Then he told everyone in Judah to worship the LORD God, just as their ancestors had done, and to obey his laws and teachings. ₅He destroyed every local shrine and incense altar in Judah.

₆The LORD blessed Judah with peace while Asa was king, and so during that time, Asa fortified many of the towns. ₇He said to the people, “Let's build walls and defence towers for these towns, and put in gates that can be locked with bars. This land still belongs to us, because we have obeyed the LORD our God. He has given us peace from all our enemies.” The people did everything Asa had suggested.

₈Asa had a large army of brave soldiers: three hundred thousand of them were from the tribe of Judah and were armed with shields and spears; two hundred and eighty thousand were from Benjamin and were armed with bows and arrows.

Judah defeats Ethiopia's army

₉Zerah from Ethiopia led an army of a million soldiers and three hundred chariots to the town of Mareshah in Judah. ₁₀Asa met him there, and the two armies prepared for battle in Zephathah Valley.

₁₁Asa prayed:

LORD God, only you can help a powerless army defeat a stronger one. So we depend on you to help us. We will fight against this powerful army to honour your name, and we know that you won't be defeated. You are the LORD our God.

₁₂The LORD helped Asa and his army defeat the Ethiopians. The enemy soldiers ran away, ₁₃but Asa and his troops chased them as far as Gerar. It was a total defeat—the Ethiopians could not even fight back!

The soldiers from Judah took everything that had belonged to the Ethiopians. ₁₄The people who lived in the villages around Gerar learnt what had happened and were afraid of the LORD. So Judah's army easily defeated them and carried off everything of value that they wanted from these towns. ₁₅They also attacked the camps where the shepherds lived and took a lot of sheep, goats, and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 15

Asa destroys the idols in Judah

₁Some time later, God spoke to Azariah son of Oded. ₂At once, Azariah went to Asa and said:

Listen to me, King Asa and you people of Judah and Benjamin. The LORD will be with you and help you, as long as you obey and worship him. But if you disobey him, he will desert you.

₃For a long time, the people of Israel did not worship the true God or listen to priests who could teach them about God. They refused to obey God's Law. ₄But whenever trouble came, Israel turned back to the LORD their God and worshipped him.

₅There was so much confusion in those days that it wasn't safe to go anywhere in Israel. ₆Nations were destroying each other, and cities were wiping out other cities, because God was causing trouble and unrest everywhere.

₇So you must be brave. Don't give up! God will honour you for obeying him.

₈As soon as Asa heard what Azariah the prophet said, he gave orders for all the idols in Judah and Benjamin to be destroyed, including those in the towns he had captured in the territory of Ephraim. He also repaired the LORD's altar that was in front of the temple porch.

₉Asa called together the people from Judah and Benjamin, as well as the people from the territories of Ephraim, West Manasseh, and Simeon who were living in Judah. Many of these people were now loyal to Asa, because they had seen that the LORD was with him.

₁₀In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's rule, they all met in Jerusalem. ₁₁That same day, they took seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats from what they had brought back from Gerar and sacrificed them as offerings to the LORD. ₁₂They made a solemn promise to faithfully worship the LORD God their ancestors had worshipped, ₁₃and to put to death anyone who refused to obey him. ₁₄The crowd solemnly agreed to keep their promise to the LORD, then they celebrated by shouting and blowing trumpets and horns. ₁₅Everyone was happy because they had made this solemn promise, and in return, the LORD blessed them with peace from all their enemies.

₁₆Asa's grandmother Maacah had made a disgusting idol of the goddess Asherah, so he cut it down, crushed it, and burnt it in Kidron Valley. Then he removed Maacah from her position as queen mother. ₁₇As long as Asa lived, he was faithful to the LORD, even though he did not destroy the local shrines in Israel. ₁₈He placed in the temple all the silver and gold objects that he and his father had dedicated to God.

₁₉There was peace in Judah until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's rule.

2 Chronicles 13:1-15:19CEVOpen in Bible reader

John 15

Jesus is the true vine

₁Jesus said to his disciples:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ₂He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. ₃You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

₄Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. ₅I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. ₆If you don't stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burnt in a fire.

₇Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. ₈When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honoured. ₉I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. ₁₀If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him.

₁₁I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am. ₁₂Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you. ₁₃The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them. ₁₄And you are my friends, if you obey me. ₁₅Servants don't know what their master is doing, and so I don't speak to you as my servants. I speak to you as my friends, and I have told you everything that my Father has told me.

₁₆You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name. ₁₇So I command you to love each other.

The world's hatred

Jesus continued:

₁₈If the people of this world hate you, just remember that they hated me first. ₁₉If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don't belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and that is why its people hate you. ₂₀Remember how I told you that servants are not greater than their master. So if people ill-treat me, they will ill-treat you. If they do what I say, they will do what you say.

₂₁People will do to you exactly what they did to me. They will do it because you belong to me, and they don't know the one who sent me. ₂₂If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

₂₃Everyone who hates me also hates my Father. ₂₄I have done things that no one else has ever done. If they had not seen me do these things, they would not be guilty. But they did see me do these things, and they still hate me and my Father too. ₂₅That is why the Scriptures are true when they say, “People hated me for no reason.”

₂₆I will send you the Spirit who comes from the Father and shows what is true. The Spirit will help you and will tell you about me. ₂₇Then you will also tell others about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 15:1-27CEVOpen in Bible reader