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1 Corinthians 1 10-1 Corinthians 1 13
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.What I mean is this: One of you says,“ I follow Paul”; another,“ I follow Apollos”; another,“ I follow Cephas”; still another,“ I follow Christ.”Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
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Ephesians 4:3-6
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;one Lord, one faith, one baptism;one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
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Zechariah 11:14
Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.
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2 Samuel 20 6
David said to Abishai,“ Now Sheba son of Bikri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your master’s men and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.”
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Judges 12:1-6
The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah,“ Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”Jephthah answered,“ I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands.When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said,“ You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.”The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said,“ Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him,“ Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied,“ No,”they said,“ All right, say‘ Shibboleth.’” If he said,“ Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
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John 17:21
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
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1 Kings 12 16-1 Kings 12 20
When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:“ What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home.But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
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2 Samuel 20 1
Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted,“ We have no share in David, no part in Jesse’s son! Every man to his tent, Israel!”
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Judges 9:23-57
God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek.God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him.After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek.Then Gaal son of Ebed said,“ Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn’t he Jerub- Baal’s son, and isn’t Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem’s father! Why should we serve Abimelek?If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek,‘ Call out your whole army!’”When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry.Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying,“ Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields.In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.”So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies.Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul,“ Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!” Zebul replied,“ You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.”But Gaal spoke up again:“ Look, people are coming down from the central hill, and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners’ tree.”Then Zebul said to him,“ Where is your big talk now, you who said,‘ Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?’ Aren’t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!”So Gaal led out the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek.Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled.Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek.So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them.Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down.All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there,he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him,“ Quick! Do what you have seen me do!”So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it.Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women— all the people of the city— had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof.Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer,“ Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say,‘ A woman killed him.’” So his servant ran him through, and he died.When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
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Isaiah 19:2-3
“ I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian— brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.
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Ezekiel 37:22
I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.
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Isaiah 9:20-21
On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh; together they will turn against Judah. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
