2 Chronicles 12:1-12 (NRSV)
When
the rule of Rehoboam was established and he grew strong, he abandoned the
law of the LORD, he and all Israel with him. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam,
because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, King Shishak of Egypt came
up against Jerusalem with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalry.
A countless army came with him from Egypt — Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.
He took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then
the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the officers of Judah, who had
gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, "Thus says
the LORD: You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak."
Then the officers of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The
LORD is in the right." When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves,
the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying: "They have humbled
themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance,
and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
Nevertheless they shall be his servants, so that they may know the difference
between serving me and serving the kingdoms of other lands." So
King Shishak of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures
of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took everything.
He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made; but King Rehoboam
made in place of them shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands
of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. Whenever
the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard would come along bearing
them, and would then bring them back to the guardroom. Because he humbled
himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to destroy them
completely; moreover, conditions were good in Judah.
ELCA's
daily Bible readings are chosen from "Revised
Common Lectionary Daily Readings," prepared by Consultation
on the Common Texts, © 2005.
All text is from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division
of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches USA,
and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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