1 KingsChapter 14

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¹At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam got sick. ²So Jeroboam said to his wife, "Get up and put on a disguise. Then no one will know you are my wife. Go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there. He is the one who told me I would be king over these people. ³Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy." ⁴Jeroboam's wife did what he said. She got up and went to Shiloh. She came to Ahijah's house. Now Ahijah could not see. His eyes had gone dim because he was old. ⁵But the LORD had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is sick. Tell her what I tell you. I am telling you because when she comes, she will be pretending to be someone else." ⁶Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the door. So he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been sent to give you bad news. ⁷Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I lifted you up from among the people. I made you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸I tore the kingdom away from David's family and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He kept my commands and followed me with all his heart. He did only what was right in my eyes. ⁹You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have made other gods for yourself. You made idols out of melted metal to make me angry. You have thrown me behind your back. ¹⁰Because of all this, I am bringing disaster on Jeroboam's family. I will cut off every male in Israel who belongs to Jeroboam, both slave and free. I will burn up Jeroboam's family the way someone burns up dung until it is all gone! ¹¹Dogs will eat anyone from Jeroboam's family who dies in the city. Birds will eat anyone who dies in the open country.' The LORD has spoken! ¹²As for you, get up and go home. When your feet step into the city, the child will die. ¹³All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one from Jeroboam's family who will be buried properly. That is because the LORD, the God of Israel, has found something good in him. He is the only one in Jeroboam's family like that. ¹⁴The LORD will also raise up a king over Israel for himself. That king will cut off Jeroboam's family. That day is coming. Yes, it is starting even now! ¹⁵The LORD will strike Israel, and it will shake like a reed in the water. He will pull Israel up by the roots out of this good land. He gave this land to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River. That is because they made their Asherah poles and made the LORD angry. ¹⁶He will give Israel up because of Jeroboam's sins. Jeroboam sinned, and he made Israel sin too." ¹⁷Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left. She went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped through the doorway of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him. It happened just as the LORD had said through his servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹The rest of what Jeroboam did is written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. It tells how he fought wars and how he ruled. ²⁰Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years. Then he died and was laid to rest with his ancestors. His son Nadab became king after him. ²¹Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king. He ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem. That is the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. He chose it as the place to put his Name. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah. She was an Ammonite. ²²The people of Judah did evil in the LORD's eyes. Their sins made him jealous and angry. They sinned more than all their ancestors had. ²³They also built high places for themselves. They set up sacred stone pillars and Asherah poles. They put them on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. The people copied all the disgusting things the other nations did. Those were the nations the LORD had driven out ahead of the Israelites. ²⁵In the fifth year that Rehoboam was king, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶He took the treasures from the LORD's temple and from the king's palace. He took everything. He even took all the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to take their place. He gave them to the captains of the guard. These men guarded the entrance to the king's palace. ²⁸Each time the king went into the LORD's temple, the guards carried the shields. Later they took them back to the guardroom. ²⁹The rest of what Rehoboam did is written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. ³⁰There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time they lived. ³¹Rehoboam died and was laid to rest with his ancestors. He was buried with them in the City of David. His mother was Naamah. She was an Ammonite. His son Abijam became king after him.