²⁸ Now the man Jeroboam was a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man was a diligent worker,^[a] so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph. ²⁹ It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them were alone in the field, ³⁰ Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes, ³² but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; ³³ because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites.^[b] They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father. ³⁴ But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances.