1 Kings 14

Disaster on the House of Jeroboam

1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became sick.  * 14:1 1Kg 14:12,17–182 Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go disguise yourself,  * 14:2 1Sm 28:8; 2Sm 14:2–3 so they won’t know that you’re Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh.  * 14:2 Jos 18:1 The prophet Ahijah is there; it was he who told about me becoming king over this people.  * 14:2 1Kg 11:29–393 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey,  * 14:3 1Sm 9:7–8 and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

4 Jeroboam’s wife did that: she went to Shiloh and arrived at Ahijah’s house. Ahijah could not see; he was blind  * 14:4 Lit see, for his eyes stood; 1Sm 4:15 due to his age.  * 14:4 1Sm 3:2; 4:155 But the Lord had said to Ahijah, "Jeroboam’s wife is coming soon to ask you about her son, for he is sick. You are to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will be disguised."  * 14:5 2Sm 14:1–2

6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised?  * 14:6 1Sm 28:12 I have bad news for you. 7 Go tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over my people Israel, 8 tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you.  * 14:7–8 1Kg 11:28–31; 16:2 But you were not like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what is right in my sight. 9 You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you.  * 14:9 1Kg 16:25,30 In order to anger me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images,  * 14:9 1Kg 11:33; 12:28–33 but you have flung me behind your back.  * 14:9 Neh 9:26; Ps 50:1710 Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam:

I will wipe out all of Jeroboam’s males,  * 14:10 Lit eliminate Jeroboam’s one who urinates against the wall

both slave and free,  * 14:10 Or males, even the weak and impaired; Hb obscure in Israel;

I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam

as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!  * 14:10 1Kg 15:29; 21:21–22

11 Anyone who belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city,

the dogs will eat,

and anyone who dies in the field,

the birds  * 14:11 Lit birds of the sky will eat,  * 14:11 1Kg 16:4; 21:24

for the Lord has spoken! ’

12 "As for you, get up and go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy will die.  * 14:12 1Kg 14:1713 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He alone out of Jeroboam’s house will be given a proper burial because out of the house of Jeroboam something favorable to the Lord God of Israel was found in him.  * 14:13 2Ch 12:12; 19:314 The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will wipe out the house of Jeroboam.  * 14:14 1Kg 15:27–29 This is the day, yes,  * 14:14 Hb obscure even today! 15 For the Lord will strike Israel so that they will  * 14:15 so that they will supplied for clarity shake as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that he gave to their ancestors.  * 14:15 Dt 29:28 He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates  * 14:15 2Kg 15:29; 17:6 because they made their Asherah poles, angering the Lord.  * 14:15 Ex 34:14–15; Dt 12:3–416 He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and caused Israel to commit."  * 14:16 1Kg 12:28–33; 13:34; 15:30

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and went to Tirzah.  * 14:17 1Kg 15:33; Sg 6:4 As she was crossing the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 He was buried, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through his servant the prophet Ahijah.  * 14:18 1Kg 14:12–13

19 As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, how he waged war  * 14:19 1Kg 14:30; 2Ch 13:2–20 and how he reigned, note that they are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. 20 The length of Jeroboam’s reign was twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and his son Nadab became king in his place.  * 14:20 1Kg 15:25–26

Judah’s King Rehoboam

21 Now Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah.  * 14:21 1Kg 12:1–24 Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name.  * 14:21 Dt 12:5; 1Kg 9:3; 11:32,36 Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.  * 14:21 2Ch 12:13

22 Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.  * 14:22 2Kg 17:19; 2Ch 12:1,14 They provoked him to jealous anger  * 14:22 Dt 32:21 more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed. 23 They also built for themselves high places,  * 14:23 1Kg 3:2; 12:31 sacred pillars,  * 14:23 Ex 23:24; Dt 16:21–22 and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; 24 there were even male cult prostitutes in the land.  * 14:24 Dt 23:17 They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.  * 14:24 Ex 23:24; Dt 18:9; 2Kg 16:3; 17:15; 21:2; 3Jn 11

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt  * 14:25 1Kg 11:40 went to war against Jerusalem.  * 14:25–28 2Ch 12:2–1126 He seized the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.  * 14:26 1Kg 10:16–1727 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and committed them into the care of the captains of the guards  * 14:27 Lit the runners,* 14:27 1Sm 22:17; 2Sm 15:1 who protected the entrance to the king’s palace. 28 Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the armory.  * 14:28 Lit the chamber of the runners,* 14:28 1Kg 10:17

29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign,  * 14:29–31 2Ch 12:15–16 along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.  * 14:30 1Kg 12:21–24; 15:631 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.  * 14:31 1Kg 14:21 His son Abijam  * 14:31 = Abijah in 2Ch 13,* 14:31 1Kg 15:1–8; 2Ch 11:20; 13:1–14:1 became king in his place.