²⁶ Nebat's son Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officers. He came from Zeredah in Ephraim.^[a] His mother was a widow. Her name was Zeruah. Jeroboam turned against King Solomon. ²⁷ This is what happened: Solomon had built the Millo. He had also mended the walls of the City of David his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a strong young man. Solomon saw that he did his work very well. So he made Jeroboam the leader of the workers who belonged to Joseph's tribe.

²⁹ During that time, Jeroboam travelled out from Jerusalem. A prophet, Ahijah, met him on the road. They were alone in the country. Ahijah came from Shiloh. He was wearing a new coat. ³⁰ Ahijah took off his new coat. He tore it into 12 pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself. This is what the Lord, Israel's God, is saying to you: “I will take Solomon's kingdom away from him! I will give you ten tribes to rule over. ³² But Solomon will continue to rule over one tribe. That is because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city. I did not choose a city in any of the other tribes of Israel.

³³ I will take the kingdom away from Solomon because he and his people have turned away from me. They have started to worship Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. They also worship Chemosh, the god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the god of the Ammonite people. They have not lived in a way that pleases me. They have not done the things that I say are right. They have not obeyed my rules and my laws. They have not lived in a good way, as Solomon's father David did.

³⁴ But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon. I will let him continue to rule as king while he still lives. I will do that because of my servant David that I chose to be king. David obeyed my commands and my rules. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom away from his son and I will give ten tribes for you to rule. ³⁶ But I will leave one tribe for Solomon's son to rule. Then my servant David will continue to have a descendant who serves me as king in Jerusalem. That is the city where I have chosen for people to worship me.

³⁷ But I will make you, Jeroboam, king of Israel. You will rule over all the land that you want for yourself. ³⁸ But you must do everything that I command you to do. You must live in a way that pleases me. You must do the things that I say are right. You must obey my rules and my commands, as my servant David did. If you do that, I will always be with you. I will cause your descendants to continue to rule Israel. What I have done for David's family, I will also do for your family. The nation of Israel will belong to you.^{[b] 39} Because of Solomon's sins I will punish David's descendants. But I will not punish them for ever.” ’

⁴⁰ Solomon then tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt. Shishak, the king of Egypt, kept Jeroboam safe. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

King Jeroboam

²⁵ Jeroboam made Shechem into a strong city. He lived there, in the hill country of Ephraim. He also went to make Penuel a strong city.

²⁶ Jeroboam thought, ‘I do not want the people of my kingdom to accept David's descendants as king again. ²⁷ The people that I rule will go to the Lord's temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices there. Then they may decide to serve Rehoboam, king of Judah, who was their master before. They might kill me and then go back to serve King Rehoboam.’

²⁸ So King Jeroboam talked to his advisors. He used gold to make images of two young cows. He said to the people, ‘It is too difficult for you to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, as you have done before. So I have made these gold cows for you instead. Look at them, Israelite people! These are your gods that rescued you and brought you out from Egypt.’

²⁹ Jeroboam put one gold cow in Bethel. He put the other gold cow in Dan.^{[a] 30} But that caused the Israelite people to do a very bad thing. They went to Bethel and to Dan to worship the gold cows.

³¹ Jeroboam also built places on hills for people to worship. He chose men who were not from Levi's tribe to be priests. ³² He decided to have a festival on the 15th day of the eighth month each year. He wanted it to be like the festival that they had in Judah.^[b] He offered sacrifices on the altar in Bethel to the gold cows that he had made. He also chose priests to serve at the places that he built for people to worship.

³³ On the 15th day of the eighth month, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar that he had made at Bethel. That was the special day that he himself had decided to choose as a festival for the Israelites. On that day, he burned incense on the altar.

A servant of God visits Jeroboam^[c]

13 King Jeroboam was standing in front of the altar at Bethel. He was ready to make an offering. At that time, the Lord told one of his servants to go from Judah to Bethel. ² When he arrived at Bethel, he shouted the message that the Lord had given to him. He said, ‘Altar! Altar! This is what the Lord says to you: “Listen! One day, a son will be born in David's family. His name will be Josiah. On this altar, he will burn as sacrifices the priests who offer sacrifices on the hills. He will burn the bones of dead people on you!” ’

³ The same day, God's servant spoke another message to warn Jeroboam. He said, ‘This is the sign to show that the Lord has decided to do this: You will see the altar break into two pieces. The ashes of the sacrifices that are on it will fall to the ground.’

⁴ King Jeroboam heard the message that God's servant shouted against the altar at Bethel. As he stood there at the altar, the king pointed his hand at God's servant. He said, ‘Take hold of that man!’ But when he pointed with his hand, it suddenly became useless and he could not pull it back. ⁵ Then the altar broke into two pieces and the ashes fell to the ground. That is what God's servant had said would happen, to show that he spoke with the Lord's authority.

⁶ The king said to God's servant, ‘Please pray to the Lord your God that he will be kind to me. Pray that my hand will become strong again.’ So God's servant prayed to the Lord. And the king's hand became strong again, as it was before.

⁷ Then the king said to God's servant, ‘Come home with me. Have some food to eat. I would also like to give you a gift.’ ⁸ But God's servant said to the king, ‘I could never go with you, even if you gave me half of your riches. I could not eat or drink anything while I am here. ⁹ The Lord commanded me, “You must not eat or drink anything there. You must not return home on the same road that you came on.” ’ ¹⁰ So God's servant started to travel home on a different road. He did not go on the same road that he came to Bethel.

An old prophet in Bethel

¹¹ An old prophet lived in Bethel. His sons came home. They told him about everything that God's servant had done in Bethel that day. They told their father what God's servant had said to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, ‘Which road did he go home on?’ So his sons showed him the road that God's servant from Judah was on.

¹³ Then the old prophet said to his sons, ‘Prepare my donkey for me to ride.’ When they had prepared the donkey, the old prophet got onto it. ¹⁴ Then he rode along the road to find God's servant. He found him as he was sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, ‘Are you the servant of God from Judah?’ He answered, ‘I am.’ ¹⁵ The old prophet said to him, ‘Come to my home with me and eat some food.’ ¹⁶ God's servant said, ‘I cannot go back with you. I cannot eat or drink anything with you in this place. ¹⁷ The Lord commanded me, “You must not eat or drink anything there. You must not return home on the same road that you came on.” ’ ¹⁸ The old prophet then said, ‘I am also a prophet, as you are. An angel gave me a message from the Lord. He said, “Bring the man back with you to your house. There, he can eat some food and drink some water.” ’ But what the old prophet said was a lie. ¹⁹ So God's servant went back with him and he ate and drank in his house.

²⁰ While they were sitting together to eat, the Lord gave a message to the old prophet. ²¹ He spoke this message to the servant of God who had come from Judah:

‘This is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed the Lord. You have not done what the Lord your God commanded you to do. ²² He had told you, “You must not eat or drink anything in that place.” But you came back here to eat and to drink. As a result, they will not bury your body in the same place as your ancestors' grave.’

²³ God's servant from Judah finished his meal. Then the old prophet prepared his donkey for him to ride. ²⁴ But as God's servant from Judah was travelling along the road, a lion attacked him. The lion killed him and it left his body on the road. The donkey and the lion stood beside the dead body. ²⁵ When some people came along the road, they saw the dead body as it lay there. The lion was standing beside the body. The people went back to Bethel, the city where the old prophet lived. They reported what they had seen on the road.

²⁶ The old prophet who had brought God's servant back to his house heard the news. He said, ‘That dead man is God's servant who did not obey the Lord. So the Lord has given him to the lion, to tear him to pieces and to kill him. The Lord had warned him that this would happen.’

²⁷ The old prophet said to his sons, ‘Prepare my donkey for me to ride.’ So they did that. ²⁸ Then the old prophet went along the road and he found the body. It was lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body. It had not attacked the donkey. ²⁹ So the old prophet picked up the body of God's servant. He put it on the donkey. He brought it back to Bethel. He showed that he was very sad that the man had died and then he buried him. ³⁰ He put the body in the grave that he had prepared for himself. He and his sons were very upset, and they said, ‘Oh! My brother!’

³¹ When they had buried the man, the old prophet said to his sons, ‘When I die, bury me in the same grave where we buried the servant of God. Put my bones there, beside his bones. ³² The Lord's message that he spoke will certainly become true. He spoke against the altar in Bethel and against all the altars on the hills of Samaria's towns.’^[d]

³³ Even after this happened, Jeroboam did not stop doing evil things. He chose ordinary people to be priests for the altars on the hills. If somebody wanted to become a priest, Jeroboam agreed to make him a priest.^{[e] 34} This sin caused Jeroboam's family to disappear from the earth. He would no longer have descendants to rule the kingdom.

The prophet Ahijah and King Jeroboam

14 At that time, Jeroboam's son Abijah became ill. ² So Jeroboam said to his wife, ‘Change what you look like so that people will not recognize you as my wife. Then go to Shiloh. The prophet Ahijah lives there.^[f] He told me that I would rule the nation of Israel. ³ Take ten loaves of bread with you. Also take some cakes and a pot of honey. When you visit Ahijah, he will tell you what will happen to our son.’

⁴ Jeroboam's wife did what he told her to do. She went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh. Ahijah could not see because he was very old. ⁵ But the Lord had said to Ahijah, ‘Jeroboam's wife will come to visit you. Her son is ill and she will ask you what will happen to him. I will tell you what to say to her. When she comes, she will pretend that she is not the king's wife.’

⁶ Then Ahijah heard her as she walked through the door of his house. He said, ‘Come in, Jeroboam's wife! I know who you are, so do not pretend to be somebody else. The Lord has given me bad news to tell you. ⁷ Go and say to Jeroboam, “This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says to you: I chose you from among my people, the Israelites, and I made you their ruler. ⁸ I took Israel's kingdom away from David's family and I gave it to you. But you have not served me faithfully as my servant David did. He obeyed my commands. He was faithful to me and he always did the things that I say are right. ⁹ But you have done more evil things than any of the kings who lived before you. You have made me very angry. You have used metal to make images of other gods that you could worship. You have turned away from me. ¹⁰ Because of this, I will bring great trouble to Jeroboam's family. I will kill every male among his descendants in Israel, whoever they are. I will completely destroy Jeroboam's family, like someone burns a heap of rubbish! ¹¹ If they die in the city, dogs will eat their bodies. If they die in the country, vultures will eat them. This is what the Lord has said will happen!”

¹² But you, Jeroboam's wife, should go back home now. As soon as you arrive back in the city, the boy will die. ¹³ All Israel will cry because of his death and they will bury him. He is the only person from Jeroboam's family that they will bury properly. He is the only one among Jeroboam's descendants who has pleased the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁴ The Lord himself will choose another king to rule Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam's family. This will happen very soon, even today! ¹⁵ The Lord will attack the nation of Israel. He will shake it, as the wind shakes a reed that is growing in a stream. The Lord will remove the Israelites from this good land that he gave to their ancestors. He will take them to places beyond the Euphrates river. They made Asherah poles to worship, so the Lord became very angry with them. ¹⁶ He will put Israel under the power of its enemies because of Jeroboam's sins. Jeroboam also caused Israel's people to do bad things.’

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam's wife left Ahijah's house. She went back to Tirzah. When she walked through the door of her house, the boy died. ¹⁸ They buried him and all the Israelites cried because of his death. The Lord had told his servant the prophet Ahijah what would happen. And that is what happened.

King Jeroboam dies

¹⁹ The other things that happened while Jeroboam was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the battles that Jeroboam fought and how he ruled as king. ²⁰ Jeroboam ruled as king for 22 years. Then he died and they buried him beside his ancestors. His son Nadab became king after him.