1 Kings 14
New American Standard Bible
Ahijah Prophesies against the King
14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now arise and (A)disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to (B)Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who (C)said regarding me that I would be king over this people. 3 (D)Take ten loaves with you, some pastries, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and set out and went to (E)Shiloh, and came to the house of (F)Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see (G)because his eyes were [a]glossy from his old age. 5 Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to [b]inquire of you about her son, because he is sick. You shall say such and such to her, for it will be when she arrives, that (H)she is going to make herself unrecognizable.”
6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why do you make yourself unrecognizable? Nevertheless, I am sent to you with a harsh message. 7 Go, say to Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “(I)Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel, 8 and (J)tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—(K)yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, (L)to do only that which was right in My sight; 9 you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and (M)you have gone and made for yourself other gods and (N)cast metal images to provoke Me to anger, and have (O)thrown Me behind your back— 10 therefore behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and (P)I will eliminate from Jeroboam [c]every male person, (Q)both [d]bond and free in Israel, and I (R)will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. 11 (S)Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs will eat. And anyone who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat; for the Lord has spoken it.”’ 12 Now you, arise, go to your house. (T)When your feet enter the city the child will die. 13 Then all Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for [e]he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave, because in him (U)something good was found toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, (V)the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam this day [f]and from now on.
15 “For the Lord will strike Israel, just as a reed sways in the water; and (W)He will uproot Israel from (X)this good land which He gave to their fathers, and (Y)will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, (Z)because they have made their [g]Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 He will give up Israel (AA)because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he [h]committed and with which he misled Israel into sin.”
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to (AB)Tirzah. (AC)As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 (AD)Then all Israel buried him and mourned for him, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 Now as for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, (AE)how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he [i]lay down with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.
Rehoboam Misleads Judah
21 (AF)Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, (AG)the city which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22 And the people of (AH)Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they (AI)provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they [j]committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they, too, built for themselves (AJ)high places, (AK)memorial stones, and [k](AL)Asherim on every high hill and (AM)under every luxuriant tree. 24 There were also (AN)male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed [l]all the same abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
25 (AO)Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt marched against Jerusalem. 26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and (AP)he took everything; (AQ)he even took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and (AR)entrusted them to the [m]care of the commanders of the [n]guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 28 And it happened as often as the king entered the house of the Lord, that the [o]guards would carry them and would bring them back into the [p]guards’ room.
29 (AS)Now as for 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 (AT)And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam [q]lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and (AU)his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And his son Abijam became king in his place.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 14:4 Lit set
- 1 Kings 14:5 Lit seek a word from
- 1 Kings 14:10 Lit him who urinates against the wall
- 1 Kings 14:10 Or children and adults in
- 1 Kings 14:13 Lit this one
- 1 Kings 14:14 Lit and what even now?
- 1 Kings 14:15 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- 1 Kings 14:16 Lit sinned
- 1 Kings 14:20 I.e., died
- 1 Kings 14:22 Lit sinned
- 1 Kings 14:23 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- 1 Kings 14:24 Lit according to all
- 1 Kings 14:27 Lit hand
- 1 Kings 14:27 Lit runners
- 1 Kings 14:28 Lit runners
- 1 Kings 14:28 Lit runners
- 1 Kings 14:31 I.e., died
1 Kings 14
The Voice
14 About this same time, Abijah (Jeroboam’s son) became very ill.
Jeroboam (to his wife): 2 Get up quickly, and dress in a disguise so that no one will know you are my wife. Then travel as fast as you can to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah is dwelling. He is the one who prophesied that I would be king of these people. 3 Pack 10 loaves of bread, a few cakes, and a honey jar. Go find him quickly; he should be able to prophesy the boy’s fate.
4 Jeroboam’s wife did this urgent thing. She traveled quickly to Shiloh and found the dwelling place of Ahijah. Ahijah was blind in his old age and could not see a thing. 5 The Eternal One had already told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is on her way to ask you to prophesy the fate of her boy who is ill. This is what you are to say to her. But beware, when she comes to your house, she will pretend to be someone else.”
6 Ahijah heard her footsteps come into his house, and he called out to her.
Ahijah: Come inside. You are Jeroboam’s wife, but why do you wear a disguise? I have an urgent and severe message for you from the Eternal One.
7 Go back to Jeroboam right now, and tell him this is the message of the Eternal One, the God of Israel: “I appointed you from the community and granted you leadership over My people Israel. 8-9 I stripped the kingdom out from under the house of David, and I handed it over to you. But you have committed evil which exceeds those before you; and you have not been an honorable servant like David, for he honored My laws and gave his entire heart to Me. Unlike you, he sought to do My will. You have made yourself other gods and cast false idols in their honor. You have aroused My wrath by putting Me behind you. 10 Therefore, beware.
“I will bring destruction to Jeroboam’s house; and I will keep every Israelite man—both free and slave—away from him. I will wipe out Jeroboam’s house, just as one burns the dung from animals, so his house will be burned up and wiped out. There will be nothing left of his house. 11 All who remain devoted to Jeroboam, if they die in the city, will be devoured by dogs. If they die in the fields, they will be devoured by birds of the heavens.” The Eternal One has already said that is what will happen.
12 Get up quickly, and go back to your home. As soon as you set foot in the city, your son will die. 13 All of Israel will grieve for him and bury him. He is the only member of Jeroboam’s family who will have a proper burial, for he was the only one within Jeroboam’s house in whom the Eternal God of Israel found something good.
14 The Eternal will appoint for Himself a new king over Israel, and this new king will separate the kingdom from Jeroboam’s house from this day and beyond. 15 The Eternal One will strike Israel, and Israel will be rattled just as water rattles a reed. The Eternal One will tear out Israel from this promised land given to their ancestors, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River. He will do this because they have crafted their sacred poles and aroused the fiery wrath of the Eternal One. 16 He will abandon Israel because of Jeroboam’s wickedness, which caused all of Israel to be wicked as well.
17 Jeroboam’s wife then got up and traveled to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped into the house, her son died. 18 All Israel buried him and grieved for him, just as the Eternal One said they would in the message He gave through the prophet Ahijah.
19 Is not the rest of Jeroboam’s story—how he caused war, as well as the general history of his actions and reign—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings?
20 Jeroboam ruled over Israel for 22 years, then he left this world to sleep with his fathers. Jeroboam’s son, Nadab, then inherited the throne.
21 Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, ruled over Judah. He was granted kingship when he was 41 years old, and he ruled 17 years. He lived out his reign in Jerusalem, the city which the Eternal chose from all of Israel’s tribes as the dwelling place for His name. His mother was Naamah the Ammonitess, one of Solomon’s foreign wives.
22 Judah was also wicked in the Eternal’s eyes. Their wickedness aroused His jealousy more than the wickedness of all their ancestors combined. 23 They constructed high places and crafted holy pillars. They infected the pure earth with their sacred poles on every mountain and beneath every beautiful tree. 24 There were also temple prostitutes who worked throughout the land. They followed the examples of the nations and were wicked just as the nations were before the arrival of the Israelites.
25 During the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak, Egypt’s king, waged war against Jerusalem. 26 He stole all the treasures from the Eternal’s temple and from the palace. He stole everything, even the golden shields Solomon had crafted.
Paying tribute to the powerful Egyptian pharaoh, who is also known as Shoshenq I, may have saved Judah from destruction, but Jeroboam and Israel are not so safe. This record describes what happens to Israel, but Shishak records another perspective in a relief at the temple at Karnak. In the relief, Shishak’s god is shown pulling a rope with 120 slaves attached to it. Each slave carries the name of a town Shishak claims to have conquered. Even if the information in the relief is embellished, history does agree that Shishak has control of Judah and Israel in the eighth century.
27 King Rehoboam crafted bronze shields to replace the golden shields. He put the shields in the hands of the leaders of the guard who stood guard at the entrance of the palace. 28 On ceremonial occasions, such as when the king entered the Eternal’s temple, the guards carried the shields. They would then return the shields to their room.
29 Is not the rest of Rehoboam’s story documented in the book of the chronicles of Judah’s kings? 30 There were always wars taking place between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 Rehoboam left this world to sleep with his fathers and was laid to rest with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother was called Naamah the Ammonitess. Then his son, Abijam, inherited the throne.
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