The Death of Jeroboam’s Son Abijah

14 At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. ² And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Get ready and dress yourself so no one will know that you are the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the man who speaks for God is there. He is the one who said that I would be king over these people. ³ Take ten loaves, some sweet bread and a jar of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” ⁴ Jeroboam’s wife did so. She got ready and went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah could not see. His eyes were weak because he was old. ⁵ The Lord had said to Ahijah, “The wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask you about her son, for he is sick. This is what you should say to her. When she comes she will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶ When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming to the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another woman? For I have been given news that will be hard for you. ⁷ Go and say to Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says. “I gave you honor from among the people. I made you the leader of My people Israel. ⁸ I tore the nation away from the family of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like My servant David. He kept My Laws and followed Me with all his heart. He did only what was right in My eyes. ⁹ But you have done more sinful things than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and objects to look like gods to make Me angry. You have put Me behind your back. ¹⁰ So I am bringing trouble upon the family of Jeroboam. I will kill every male from Jeroboam, both owned and free in Israel. I will clean away the family of Jeroboam, as one cleans away animal waste until it is all gone. ¹¹ The dogs will eat anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city. And the birds of the air will eat anyone who dies in the field. For the Lord has said it.” ‘ ¹² “Get up and go to your house. When your feet go into the city the child will die. ¹³ All Israel will have sorrow for him and bury him. For he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave. Because in him there is found something good to the Lord God of Israel, in the family of Jeroboam. ¹⁴ But the Lord will send a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam this day and from now on. ¹⁵ For the Lord will punish Israel, as a piece of grass is shaken in the water. He will send Israel out from this good land He gave to their fathers. He will spread them out on the other side of the Euphrates River, because they have their false gods, and have made the Lord angry. ¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and came to Tirzah. As she came to the door of the house, the child died. ¹⁸ And all Israel buried him and had sorrow for him, as the Word of God was spoken through His servant Ahijah the man who spoke for God.

The Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he ruled, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰ Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years. Then he died and his son Nadab ruled in his place.

Rehoboam Rules Judah

²¹ Now Solomon’s son Rehoboam ruled in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. And he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the families of Israel to put His name there. The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah of Ammon. ²² Judah did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. They made Him jealous with their sins, more than all their fathers had done. ²³ For they built for themselves high places, holy objects and false gods on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ In their religion there were men in the land who sold the use of their bodies. They did all the hated things of the nations which the Lord drove away before the people of Israel.

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶ He took away the riches of the Lord’s house and the riches of the king’s house. He took everything. He even took all the body coverings of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made body coverings of brass in their place. He put them in the care of the captain of the soldiers who watched the door of the king’s house. ²⁸ Every time the king went into the house of the Lord, the soldiers would carry them and return them again to their room.

²⁹ 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 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam always. ³¹ Rehoboam died and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah of Ammon. And his son Abijam became king in his place.