1 Kings 14

Wycliffe Bible

14 In that time Abijah, (the) son of Jeroboam, was sick.

² And Jeroboam said to his wife, Rise thou up, and change clothing, that thou be not known, that thou art the wife of Jeroboam; and go thou into Shiloh, where Ahijah, the prophet, is, which spake to me, that I should reign upon this people. (And Jeroboam said to his wife, Rise thou up, and change your clothes, so that thou shalt not be known, that thou art Jeroboam’s wife; and go thou to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah is, who spoke to me, and said that I would reign upon this people.)

³ Also take thou in thine hand ten loaves, and a cake, and a vessel of honey, and go thou to him; for he shall show to thee, what shall befall to this child.

⁴ The wife of Jeroboam did as he said, and she rose up, and went into Shiloh, and came into the house of Ahijah; and Ahijah might not see, for his eyes dimmed for eld (age). (And Jeroboam’s wife did as he said, and she rose up, and went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah’s house; and Ahijah could not see, for his eyes had dimmed because of old age.)

⁵ Forsooth the Lord said to Ahijah, Lo! the wife of Jeroboam entereth, that she counsel (with) thee on her son, which is sick (who is sick); thou shalt speak these and these things to her. Therefore when she had entered, and had feigned herself to be that (which) she was not,

⁶ Ahijah heard the sound of the feet of her entering by the door, and he said, Enter thou, the wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thee to be another? Forsooth I am sent (to be) an hard messenger, that is, (one) telling hard things, to thee (For I am sent with a hard message for thee).

⁷ Go thou, and say to Jeroboam, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, For I enhanced thee from the midst of the people, and I gave thee (to be) duke on my people Israel (and I made thee the leader of my people Israel),

⁸ and I cutted the realm of the house of David, and I gave it to thee, and (yet) thou were not as my servant David, that kept my behests, and followed me in all his heart, and did that that was pleasant in my sight; (and I cut away the kingdom from the house of David, and I gave it to thee, and yet thou were not like my servant David, who obeyed my commands, and followed me with all his heart, and did what was pleasing in my sight;)

⁹ but thou hast wrought evil, over all men that were before thee, and madest to thee alien gods, and welled those together, that thou shouldest excite me/thou shouldest stir me to wrathfulness, soothly thou hast cast forth me behind thy back. (but thou hast brought forth evil, more than all the men who were before thee, and madest other gods for thyself, and welded those together, so that thou shouldest stir me to anger, truly thou hast thrown me behind thy back.)

¹⁰ Therefore lo! I shall bring in evils upon the house of Jeroboam, and I shall smite the house of Jeroboam unto a pisser to the wall, and unto him that is imprisoned, and the last in Israel (and I shall strike down the house of Jeroboam unto a pisser on the wall, and unto him who is imprisoned, and the last in Israel); and I shall cleanse the relics, or remnants, of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is wont to be cleansed unto purity, either cleanness^[a];

¹¹ soothly dogs shall eat them, that shall die of the house of Jeroboam in the city; and birds of the air shall devour them, that shall die in the field; for the Lord spake. (truly the dogs shall eat those of the house of Jeroboam who shall die in the city; and the birds of the air shall devour those who shall die in the field; for the Lord hath spoken.)

¹² Therefore rise thou, and go into thine house; and in that entering of thy feet into the city, the child shall die. (And so rise thou up, and go to thy house; and with the entry of thy feet into the city, the child shall die.)

¹³ And all Israel shall bewail him, and shall bury him; for this child alone of Jeroboam shall be borne into the sepulchre, for a good word is found on him of the Lord God of Israel, in (all) the house of Jeroboam. (And all Israel shall bewail, or mourn, him, and shall bury him; for only this child of Jeroboam shall have a proper burial, because only in him is there found any good toward the Lord God of Israel, in all the house of Jeroboam.)

¹⁴ Forsooth the Lord shall ordain to him(self) a king upon Israel, that shall smite the house of Jeroboam, in this day, and in this time, that is, of nigh; (And the Lord shall ordain for himself a king upon Israel, who shall strike the house of Jeroboam, on this day, and at this time, that is, very soon;)

¹⁵ and the Lord God of Israel shall smite, as a reed in the water is wont to be moved; and he shall draw out Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and he shall winnow them over the flood, for they made to them maumet woods, that they should stir the Lord to ire. (and the Lord God shall strike Israel, like a reed in the water is wont to be shaken; and he shall pull Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their forefathers, and he shall scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they made for themselves sacred groves, and poles, and stirred the Lord to anger.)

¹⁶ And the Lord God shall betake Israel to his enemies, for the sins of Jeroboam, that sinned, and made Israel to do sin. (And the Lord God shall abandon Israel, for the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned, and made Israel to do sin.)

¹⁷ Therefore the wife of Jeroboam rose (up), and went (away), and came into Tirzah; and when she entered into the threshold of the house, the child was dead (the child died).

¹⁸ And they buried him; and all Israel bewailed him, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of his servant, Ahijah the prophet (which he spoke by his servant, the prophet Ahijah).

¹⁹ Forsooth, lo! the residue of the words of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, be written in the book of [the] words of the days of [the] kings of Israel.

²⁰ Forsooth the days, in which Jeroboam reigned, be two and twenty years; and Jeroboam slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned for him.

²¹ Forsooth Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah; Rehoboam was of one and forty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose of all the lineages of Israel (the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel), that he should set his name there. And the name of his mother was Naamah (the) Ammonite.

²² And Judah did evil before the Lord, and they stirred him to ire on all things, which their fathers did in their sins, by which they sinned. (And the people of Judah did evil before the Lord, and they stirred him to anger with their sins which they sinned, more than all the things that their forefathers had done.)

²³ For also they builded to themselves altars, and images, and woods (For they also built altars for themselves, and poles, and sacred groves), on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs.

²⁴ But also men of women’s conditions/womanish men were in the land, and they did all the abominations of heathen men, which the Lord all-brake before the face of the sons of Israel. (And also male and female whores were in the land, serving at the hill shrines, and they did all the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the Israelites.)

²⁵ Forsooth in the fifth year of the realm of Rehoboam (Now in the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign), Shishak, the king of Egypt, went up into Jerusalem;

²⁶ and he took the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the king’s treasures, and he ravished all things; also he ravished the golden shields which Solomon made. (and he took away the treasures of the House of the Lord, and the king’s treasures, and he took everything that he could get his hands on; and he also took away the gold shields which Solomon had made.)

²⁷ For which king Rehoboam made brazen shields, and gave those in(to) the hands of [the] dukes of (the) shield-makers, and of them that watched before the door of the house of the king. (And King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields, and gave them to the officers who guarded the door of the house of the king.)

²⁸ And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, they that had office to go before (they who had the duty to go before him), bare those, and (then) they bare those again to the place of armour of [the] shield-makers.

²⁹ Forsooth, lo! the residue of the words of Rehoboam, and all things which he did, be written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of [the] kings of Judah.

³⁰ And battle was betwixt Rehoboam and Jeroboam, in all (their) days.

³¹ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David. And the name of his mother was Naamah (the) Ammonite; and Abijam, his son, reigned for him.