1 Kings
Chapter 14
1 At that time, Abijah, Jeroboam’s son, became ill.
2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and change your look so no one knows you are my wife. Go to Shiloh where the prophet Ahijah lives. He’s the one who said I would become king of these people.”
3 Bring with you ten bread loaves, some biscuits, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will happen to the child.
4 Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told, got up, traveled to Shiloh, and arrived at Ahijah’s home. However, Ahijah could not see because he was old and his eyesight had failed.
5 God told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is sick. This is what you should tell her: When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”
6 When Ahijah heard her footsteps as she entered the door, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife; why are you pretending to be someone else? I have serious news for you.”
7 Go, tell Jeroboam, “God says, ‘Because I lifted you up from the people and made you leader over Israel, my people,
8 He took the kingdom from David’s family and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands and followed me with his whole heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.
9 You have done worse than anyone before you: you made other gods and idols to make me angry, and you ignored me.
10 So listen, I will bring trouble on Jeroboam’s family. I will destroy every male belonging to Jeroboam, both slave and free in Israel. I will sweep away the rest of Jeroboam’s family like someone sweeps away poop until it’s all gone.
11 Dogs will eat those who die in the city belonging to Jeroboam, and birds will eat those who die in the fields, because God has said it.
12 Get up, go to your house. When you step into the city, the child will die.
13 All Israel will grieve for him and bury him; he is the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will be buried because he has some goodness in him toward God of Israel.
14 God will raise a king over Israel who will destroy Jeroboam’s family that day, and even now it is happening.
15 God will strike Israel, like a reed shakes in the water, and will uproot Israel from the good land given to their ancestors, scattering them across the river because they made their worship sites, making God angry.
16 God will let Israel be defeated because of Jeroboam’s sins, who sinned and led Israel to sin.
17 Jeroboam’s wife got up, left, and went to Tirzah. As soon as she reached the doorway, the child died.
18 They buried him, and all Israel grieved for him, just as God had said through his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 The other things Jeroboam did, his battles and his rule, are written in the history book of Israel’s kings.
20 Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years, then he died, and his son Nadab became king after him.
21 Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, became king in Judah. He was 41 when he started ruling, and he ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city God chose from all of Israel’s tribes to bear His name. His mother was Naamah, from the people of Ammon.
22 Judah did bad things that God saw, and their sins made God very jealous, even more than their ancestors had done.
23 They also made worship sites, idols, and sacred gardens on every tall hill and under every green tree.
24 There were also people doing wrong sexual acts in the land, behaving in all the bad ways of the nations that God had removed before the Israelites.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s rule, Shishak, the king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem.
26 He removed the treasures from God’s house and the king’s palace; he took everything, even all the gold shields Solomon had made.
27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace the old ones and gave them to the leader of the guard who protected the entrance to the king’s palace.
28 When the king entered God’s house, the guards carried the items and then returned them to the guardroom.
29 The other things Rehoboam did and all his actions, aren’t they recorded in the book of Judah’s kings’ histories?
30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were at war for their whole lives.
31 Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah, from Ammon. His son Abijam became king after him.