The Resurrection
(Matthew 28.1-8; Luke 24.1-12; John 20.1-10)

Mark 16 After the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices to go and anoint the body of Jesus. ²Very early on Sunday morning, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. ^3-4On the way they said to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" (It was a very large stone.) Then they looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back. ⁵So they entered the tomb, where they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe--and they were alarmed.
⁶"Don't be alarmed," he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here--he has been raised! Look, here is the place where he was placed. ⁷Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: 'He is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.'"
⁸So they went out and ran from the tomb, distressed and terrified. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

AN OLD ENDING TO THE GOSPEL
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
(Matthew 28.9, 10; John 20.11-18)

[ ⁹After Jesus rose from death early on Sunday, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons. ¹⁰She went and told his companions. They were mourning and crying; ¹¹and when they heard her say that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe her.

Jesus Appears to Two Followers
(Luke 24.13-35)

¹²After this, Jesus appeared in a different manner to two of them while they were on their way to the country. ¹³They returned and told the others, but these would not believe it.

Jesus Appears to the Eleven
(Matthew 28.16-20; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)

¹⁴Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive. ¹⁵He said to them, "Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷Believers will be given the power to perform miracles: they will drive out demons in my name; they will speak in strange tongues; ¹⁸if they pick up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed; they will place their hands on sick people, and these will get well."

Jesus Is Taken Up to Heaven
(Luke 24.50-53; Acts 1.9-11)

¹⁹After the Lord Jesus had talked with them, he was taken up to heaven and sat at the right side of God. ²⁰The disciples went and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and proved that their preaching was true by the miracles that were performed.]

ANOTHER OLD ENDING

[ ⁹The women went to Peter and his friends and gave them a brief account of all they had been told. ¹⁰After this, Jesus himself sent out through his disciples from the east to the west the sacred and everliving message of eternal salvation.]

The Northern Tribes Revolt
(2 Chronicles 10.1-19)

1 Kings 12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the people of northern Israel had gathered to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had gone to Egypt to escape from King Solomon, heard this news, he returned from Egypt. ³The people of the northern tribes sent for him, and then they all went together to Rehoboam and said to him, ⁴"Your father Solomon treated us harshly and placed heavy burdens on us. If you make these burdens lighter and make life easier for us, we will be your loyal subjects."
⁵"Come back in three days and I will give you my answer," he replied. So they left.
⁶King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. "What answer do you advise me to give these people?" he asked.
⁷They replied, "If you want to serve this people well, give a favorable answer to their request, and they will always serve you loyally."
⁸But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers. ⁹"What do you advise me to do?" he asked. "What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?"
¹⁰They replied, "This is what you should tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!' ¹¹Tell them, 'My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!'"
¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them. ¹³The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people, ¹⁴as the younger men had advised. He said, "My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!" ¹⁵It was the will of the LORD to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.
¹⁶When the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they shouted, "Down with David and his family! What have they ever done for us? People of Israel, let's go home! Let Rehoboam look out for himself !"
So the people of Israel rebelled, ¹⁷leaving Rehoboam as king only of the people who lived in the territory of Judah.
¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, to go to the Israelites, but they stoned him to death. At this, Rehoboam hurriedly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹Ever since that time the people of the northern kingdom of Israel have been in rebellion against the dynasty of David.
²⁰When the people of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they invited him to a meeting of the people and made him king of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to David's descendants.

Shemaiah's Prophecy
(2 Chronicles 11.1-4)

²¹When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he called together 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He intended to go to war and restore his control over the northern tribes of Israel. ²²But God told the prophet Shemaiah ²³to give this message to Rehoboam and to all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin: ²⁴"Do not attack your own relatives, the people of Israel. Go home, all of you. What has happened is my will." They all obeyed the LORD's command and went back home.

Jeroboam Turns Away from God

²⁵King Jeroboam of Israel fortified the town of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there for a while. Then he left and fortified the town of Penuel. ^26-27He said to himself, "As things are now, if my people go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to the LORD in the Temple there, they will transfer their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah and will kill me."
²⁸After thinking it over, he made two bull-calves of gold and said to his people, "You have been going long enough to Jerusalem to worship. People of Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt!" ²⁹He placed one of the gold bull-calves in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰And so the people sinned, going to worship in Bethel and in Dan. ³¹Jeroboam also built places of worship on hilltops, and he chose priests from families who were not of the tribe of Levi.

Hosea's Plea to Israel

Hosea 14 Return to the LORD your God, people of Israel. Your sin has made you stumble and fall. ²Return to the LORD, and let this prayer be your offering to him: "Forgive all our sins and accept our prayer, and we will praise you as we have promised. ³Assyria can never save us, and war horses cannot protect us. We will never again say to our idols that they are our God. O LORD, you show mercy to those who have no one else to turn to."

The LORD Promises New Life for Israel

⁴The LORD says,
"I will bring my people back to me.
I will love them with all my heart;
no longer am I angry with them.
⁵I will be to the people of Israel
like rain in a dry land.
They will blossom like flowers;
they will be firmly rooted
like the trees of Lebanon.
⁶They will be alive with new growth,
and beautiful like olive trees.
They will be fragrant
like the cedars of Lebanon.
⁷Once again they will live under my protection.
They will grow crops of grain
and be fruitful like a vineyard.
They will be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.
⁸The people of Israel will have nothing more to do with idols;
I will answer their prayers and take care of them.
Like an evergreen tree I will shelter them;
I am the source of all their blessings."

Conclusion

⁹May those who are wise understand what is written here, and may they take it to heart. The LORD's ways are right, and righteous people live by following them, but sinners stumble and fall because they ignore them.