1 Kings 14

1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, who spake concerning me that I should be king over this people.3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he will tell thee what shall become of the child.4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.5 And Jehovah said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to inquire of thee concerning her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her; for it will be, when she cometh in, that she will feign herself to be another woman.

6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,8 and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee; and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes,9 but hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:10 therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child, him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepeth away dung, till it be all gone.11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat: for Jehovah hath spoken it.12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thy house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.13 And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.14 Moreover Jehovah will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.15 For Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Jehovah to anger.16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin.

17 And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.18 And all Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.22 And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done.23 For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;24 and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah drove out before the children of Israel.

25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;26 and he took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.28 And it was so, that, as oft as the king went into the house of Jehovah, the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

1 KINGS 14

Jeroboam's Son Dies

1 About the same time, Abijah son of Jeroboam got sick.

2-3 Jeroboam told his wife:
Disguise yourself so no one will know you're my wife, then go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives. Take him ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and honey, and ask him what will happen to our son. He can tell you, because he's the one who told me I would become king.

4 She got ready and left for Ahijah's house in Shiloh.
Ahijah was now old and blind,

5 but the [Lord] told him, “Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask about her son. I will tell you what to say to her.”
Jeroboam's wife came to Ahijah's house, pretending to be someone else.

6 But when Ahijah heard her walking up to the door, he said:
Come in! I know you're Jeroboam's wife—why are you pretending to be someone else? I have some bad news for you. 7 Give your husband this message from the [Lord] God of Israel: “Jeroboam, you know that I, the [Lord], chose you over anyone else to be the leader of my people Israel.

8 I even took David's kingdom away from his family and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David. He always obeyed me and did what was right.

9 “You have made me very angry by rejecting me and making idols out of gold. Jeroboam, you have done more evil things than any king before you.
10  t “Because of this, I will destroy your family by killing every man and boy in it, whether slave or free. I will wipe out your family, just as fire burns up trash.

11 Dogs will eat the bodies of your relatives who die in town, and vultures will eat the bodies of those who die in the country. I, the [Lord], have spoken and will not change my mind!”
12 That's the [Lord]'s message to your husband. As for you, go back home, and right after you get there, your son will die.

13 Everyone in Israel will mourn at his funeral. But he will be the last one from Jeroboam's family to receive a proper burial, because he's the only one the [Lord] God of Israel is pleased with.
14 The [Lord] will soon choose a new king of Israel, who will destroy Jeroboam's family. And I mean very soon.t 15 The people of Israel have made the [Lord] angry by setting up sacred polest for worshiping the goddess Asherah. So the [Lord] will punish them until they shake like grass in a stream. He will take them out of the land he gave to their ancestors, then scatter them as far away as the Euphrates River.

16 Jeroboam sinned and caused the Israelites to sin. Now the [Lord] will desert Israel.
17 Jeroboam's wife left and went back home to the town of Tirzah. As soon as she set foot in her house, her son died.

18 Everyone in Israel came and mourned at his funeral, just as the [Lord]'s servant Ahijah had said.

Jeroboam Dies

20 He was king of Israel for 22 years, then he died, and his son Nadab became king.

King Rehoboam of Judah

(2 Chronicles 11.5—12.16)

21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was 41 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled 17 years from Jerusalem, the city where the [Lord] had chosen to be worshiped. His mother Naamah was from Ammon.
22 The people of Judah disobeyed the [Lord] and made him even angrier than their ancestors had. 23 t They also built their own local shrinest and stone images of foreign gods, and they set up sacred polest for worshiping the goddess Asherah on every hill and in the shade of large trees.

24 t Even worse, they allowed prostitutest at the shrines, and followed the disgusting customs of the foreign nations that the [Lord] had forced out of Canaan.
25  t After Rehoboam had been king for four years, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

26 t He took everything of value from the temple and the palace, including Solomon's gold shields.
27 Rehoboam had bronze shields made to replace the gold ones, and he ordered the guards at the city gates to keep them safe.

28 Whenever Rehoboam went to the [Lord]'s temple, the guards carried the shields. But they always took them back to the guardroom as soon as he was finished.
29 Everything else Rehoboam did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. 30 He and Jeroboam were constantly at war. 31 Rehoboam's mother Naamah was from Ammon, but when Rehoboam died, he was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem.t His son Abijam then became king.