1 Kings 14
Amplified Bible
Ahijah Prophesies against the King
14 At that time Abijah the son [and crown prince, heir] of Jeroboam became sick. 2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that people will not know that you are Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there, the one who told me that I would be king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a bottle of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She got up and went [twenty miles] to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, because his eyes were dim from old age. 5 And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the [a]wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you about her son, because he is sick. You shall say such and such to her, for when she arrives, she will pretend to be another woman.”
6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another woman? For I have been sent to you [by God] with a harsh message. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—but you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes, 9 but have done more evil than all [the [b]kings] who were before you; for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back— 10 therefore behold, I am bringing evil on the house (royal line) of Jeroboam, and I will cut off (destroy) from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free, in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. 11 The dogs will eat [the carcass of] anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat [the carcass of] anyone who dies in the field, for the Lord has spoken it.”’(A) 12 Now as for you (Jeroboam’s wife), arise, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child [Abijah] will die. 13 All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family [c]will come to [be placed in] the grave, because in him there was found something good and pleasing toward the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house (royal line) of Jeroboam this day and from now on.
15 “The Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their [d]Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 He will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam which he has committed, and with which he has made Israel sin [by leading them into idolatry].”
17 So Jeroboam’s wife arose and left and came to Tirzah [the king’s residence]. As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child [Abijah] died. 18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 Now as for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years, and he slept with his fathers [in death]; and Nadab his son reigned in his place.
Rehoboam Misleads Judah
21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name (Presence). His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22 And [the people of] Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They provoked Him to [e]jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with their sins which they had committed. 23 For they also built for themselves high places [to worship idols] and sacred pillars and Asherim [for the goddess Asherah]. These were on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree. 24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed all the repulsive acts of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the Israelites.
25 Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt [Jeroboam’s brother-in-law] came up against Jerusalem. 26 He took away the treasures of the house (temple) of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything, he even took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and handed them over to the captains of the palace guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 28 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guards would carry them and bring them back into the guardroom.
29 Now as for the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 There was also war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam (Abijah) his son became king in his place.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 14:5 There is an insertion in the Septuagint, found in the Vatican manuscript after 1 Kin 12:24, in which Jeroboam’s wife is identified as Ano, the older sister of Tahpenes the wife of King Shishak of Egypt. When Jeroboam fled to Egypt to escape death at the hands of King Solomon, he went to King Shishak of Egypt and remained with him until the death of Solomon. Jeroboam asked permission of King Shishak to return to his own land, and the king told him, “Ask of me a request, and I will give it to you.” In reply, Jeroboam apparently asked for Ano.
- 1 Kings 14:9 I.e. Saul, David, and Solomon.
- 1 Kings 14:13 It was considered disgraceful, shameful and disgusting for a corpse to be left unburied and exposed to animals.
- 1 Kings 14:15 Idols of the goddess Asherah.
- 1 Kings 14:22 God does not tolerate the transfer of the honor and worship that is due Him to any other being or object.
1 Kings 14
Contemporary English Version
Jeroboam's Son Dies
14 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 (A) “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.[a] 15 The people of Israel have made the Lord angry by setting up sacred poles[b] 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
19 Everything else Jeroboam did while he was king, including the battles he won, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. 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 (B) They also built their own local shrines[c] and stone images of foreign gods, and they set up sacred poles[d] for worshiping the goddess Asherah on every hill and in the shade of large trees. 24 (C) Even worse, they allowed prostitutes[e] at the shrines, and followed the disgusting customs of the foreign nations that the Lord had forced out of Canaan.
25 (D) After Rehoboam had been king for four years, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 (E) 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.[f] His son Abijam then became king.
Footnotes
- 14.14 And I mean very soon: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 14.15 sacred poles: Or “trees,” used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility.
- 14.23 local shrines: See the note at 3.2.
- 14.23 sacred poles: See the note at 14.15.
- 14.24 prostitutes: Men and women sometimes served at the local shrines as prostitutes in the worship of Canaanite gods, but the Lord had forbidden the people of Israel to worship in this way (see Deuteronomy 23.17,18).
- 14.31 Jerusalem: See the note at 2.10,11.
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