Reader

A reading from the First Book of Kings And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road.

Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country.

Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.

And he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,

Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes.

But he shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

There shall be no strange God among you.

You shall not bow down to a foreign God.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

but my people did not listen to my voice.

Israel would have none of me, so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels.

Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways.

I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.

And they brought to him a man who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech.

And they begged him to lay his hand upon him.

And taking him aside from the multitude privately,

he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.