The Message of the Man of God

13 And behold, ^(A)a man of God went from Judah to Bethel ^[a]by the word of the Lord, ^(B)and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. ² Then he cried out against the altar ^[b]by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, ^(C)Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be ^(D)burned on you.’ ” ³ And he gave ^(E)a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

⁴ So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. ⁵ The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. ⁶ Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please ^(F)entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. ⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and ^(G)I will give you a reward.”

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, ^(H)“If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. ⁹ For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ^(I)‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’ ” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

Death of the Man of God

¹¹ Now an ^(J)old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his ^[c]sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. ¹² And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons ^[d]had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, ¹⁴ and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

And he said, “I am.”

¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

¹⁶ And he said, ^(K)“I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For ^[e]I have been told ^(L)by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’ ”

¹⁸ He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (He was lying to him.)

¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

²⁰ Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹ and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, ²² but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the ^(M)place of which the Lord said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ”

²³ So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ When he was gone, ^(N)a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. ²⁵ And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

²⁶ Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.” ²⁷ And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. ²⁸ Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey. ²⁹ And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him. ³⁰ Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, ^(O)“Alas, my brother!” ³¹ So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; ^(P)lay my bones beside his bones. ^32 (Q)For the ^[f]saying which he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the ^[g]shrines on the high places which are in the cities of ^(R)Samaria, will surely come to pass.”

^33 (S)After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. ^34 (T)And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as ^(U)to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

Judgment on the House of Jeroboam

14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. ² And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that ^(V)I would be king over this people. ^3 (W)Also take ^[h]with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.” ⁴ And Jeroboam’s wife did so; she arose ^(X)and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were ^[i]glazed by reason of his age.

⁵ Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Here is the wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶ And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have been sent to you with bad news. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(Y)“Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, ⁸ and ^(Z)tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, ^(AA)who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes; ⁹ but you have done more evil than all who were before you, ^(AB)for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and ^(AC)have cast Me behind your back— ¹⁰ therefore behold! ^(AD)I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and ^(AE)will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, ^(AF)bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. ¹¹ The dogs shall eat ^(AG)whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” ’ ¹² Arise therefore, go to your own house. ^(AH)When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. ¹³ And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall ^[j]come to the grave, because in him ^(AI)there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

^14 (AJ)“Moreover the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; ^[k]this is the day. What? Even now! ¹⁵ For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will ^(AK)uproot Israel from this ^(AL)good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them ^(AM)beyond ^[l]the River, ^(AN)because they have made their ^[m]wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶ And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, ^(AO)who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to ^(AP)Tirzah. ^(AQ)When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸ And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, ^(AR)according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he ^(AS)made war and how he reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ The period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers. Then ^(AT)Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah^(AU)

²¹ And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. ^(AV)Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city ^(AW)which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. ^(AX)His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. ^22 (AY)Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they ^(AZ)provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. ²³ For they also built for themselves ^(BA)high^[n] places, ^(BB)sacred pillars, and ^(BC)wooden images on every high hill and ^(BD)under every green tree. ^24 (BE)And there were also ^[o]perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the ^(BF)abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of ^(BG)Israel.

^25 (BH)It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ^26 (BI)And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields ^(BJ)which Solomon had made. ²⁷ Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and ^[p]committed them to the hands of the captains of the ^[q]guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. ²⁸ And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them, then brought them back into the guardroom.

^29 (BK)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 ^(BL)war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ^31 (BM)So Rehoboam ^[r]rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. ^(BN)His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. Then ^(BO)Abijam^[s] his son reigned in his place.

Egypt Attacks Judah^(A)

12 Now ^(B)it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that ^(C)he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him. ^2 (D)And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, ³ with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt—^(E)the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. ⁴ And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ Then ^(F)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’ ”

⁶ So the leaders of Israel and the king ^(G)humbled themselves; and they said, ^(H)“The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, ^(I)the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ Nevertheless ^(J)they will be his servants, that they may distinguish ^(K)My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.”

^9 (L)So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had ^(M)made. ¹⁰ Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them ^(N)to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. ¹¹ And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. ¹² When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam’s Reign^(O)

¹³ Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now ^(P)Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, ^(Q)the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an ^(R)Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵ The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, ^(S)and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? ^(T)And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ So Rehoboam ^[a]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. Then ^(U)Abijah^[b] his son reigned in his place.

Qualities of a Sound Church

2 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: ² that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; ³ the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— ⁴ that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be discreet, chaste, ^(A)homemakers, good, ^(B)obedient to their own husbands, ^(C)that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

⁶ Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, ⁷ in all things showing yourself to be ^(D)a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, ^(E)incorruptibility,^{[a] 8} sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of ^[b]you.

⁹ Exhort ^(F)bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, ¹⁰ not ^[c]pilfering, but showing all good ^[d]fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

Trained by Saving Grace

¹¹ For ^(G)the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ^13 (H)looking for the blessed ^(I)hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ^14 (J)who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed ^(K)and purify for Himself ^(L)His own special people, zealous for good works.

¹⁵ Speak these things, ^(M)exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.