20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

21 And when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin — 180,000 chosen warriors — to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23“Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people 24that this is what the Lord says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’”

So they listened to the word of the Lord and turned back according to the word of the Lord.

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And from there he went out and built Penuel.

26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David. 27If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

29 One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.

31 Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites. 32And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.

33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. So he ordained a feast for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.

1 Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord. 2And he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, “O altar, O altar, this is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’”

3 That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The Lord has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”

4 Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back. 5And the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

6 Then the king responded to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.”

So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him as it was before.

7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

8 But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9For this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”

10 So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

11 Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that the man had spoken to the king.

12“Which way did he go?” their father asked.

And his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God, who had come from Judah. 13So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.”

Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it 14and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he replied.

15 So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”

16 But the man replied, “I cannot go home with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17For I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”

18 Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’”

The old prophet was lying to him, 19but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, 21and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God gave you, 22but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”

23 And after the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him. 24As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.

25 And there were men passing by who saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported this in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard this, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord had spoken to him.”

27 Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it, 28and he went and found the body lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey. 29So the old prophet lifted up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. 30Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”

31 After he had buried him, the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, you must bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones, 32for the message that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass.”

33 Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places. 34And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.

26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.

28 So Saul stayed with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

32 As Peter traveled throughout the area, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. 33There he found a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. 34“Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and put away your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up, 35and all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity. 37At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to urge him, “Come to us without delay.”

39 So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

40 Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41Peter took her by the hand and helped her up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her to them alive.

42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43And Peter stayed for several days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.