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.

Thankfulness for Spiritual Attainments

1 ^(A)Paul, ^(B)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^[a](C)by the will of God, and ^(D)Timothy ^[b]our brother,

² To the ^[c](E)saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: ^(F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

^3 (G)We ^[d]give thanks to God, ^(H)the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ^4 (I)since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the ^(J)love which you have ^[e]for ^(K)all the ^[f]saints; ⁵ because of the ^(L)hope ^(M)reserved for you in ^[g]heaven, of which you previously ^(N)heard in the word of truth, ^[h]the gospel ⁶ which has come to you, just as ^[i](O)in all the world also it is bearing ^(P)fruit and ^[j]increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you ^(Q)heard it and ^[k]understood the grace of God in truth; ⁷ just as you learned it from ^(R)Epaphras, our ^(S)beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and he also informed us of your ^(T)love in the Spirit.

⁹ For this reason we also, ^(U)since the day we heard about it, ^(V)have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the ^[l](W)knowledge of His will in all spiritual ^(X)wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so that you will ^(Y)walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, ^[m](Z)to please Him in all respects, ^(AA)bearing fruit in every good work and ^[n]increasing in the ^[o]knowledge of God; ^11 (AB)strengthened with all power, according to ^[p]His glorious might, ^[q]for the attaining of all perseverance and ^[r]patience; ^(AC)joyously ¹² giving thanks to ^(AD)the Father, who has qualified us ^[s]to share in ^(AE)the inheritance of the ^[t]saints in ^(AF)light.

The Incomparable Christ

^13 [u]For He rescued us from the ^[v](AG)domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of ^[w](AH)His beloved Son, ^14 (AI)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

^15 [x]He is the ^(AJ)image of the ^(AK)invisible God, the ^(AL)firstborn of all creation: ¹⁶ for ^[y](AM)by Him all things were created, ^(AN)both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(AO)thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—^(AP)all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He ^[z](AQ)is before all things, and in Him all things ^[aa]hold together. ¹⁸ He is also the ^(AR)head of ^(AS)the body, the church; and He is ^(AT)the beginning, ^(AU)the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹ For ^[ab]it was ^(AV)the Father’s good pleasure for all ^(AW)the ^[ac]fullness to dwell in Him, ²⁰ and through Him to ^(AX)reconcile all things to Himself, ^(AY)whether things on earth or things in ^[ad]heaven, having made ^(AZ)peace through ^(BA)the blood of His cross.

²¹ And although you were ^(BB)previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds, ²² yet He has now ^(BC)reconciled you in His ^(BD)body of flesh through death, in order to ^(BE)present you before Him ^(BF)holy and blameless and beyond reproach— ²³ if indeed you continue in ^[ae]the faith firmly ^(BG)established and steadfast, and not shifting from the ^(BH)hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed ^(BI)in all creation under heaven, ^(BJ)and of which I, Paul, ^[af]was made a ^[ag](BK)minister.

^24 (BL)Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh ^(BM)I am supplementing what is lacking ^[ah]in Christ’s afflictions in behalf of ^(BN)His body, which is the church. ^25 (BO)I ^[ai]was made a minister of this church according to the ^(BP)commission from God granted to me for your benefit, so that I might ^[aj]fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, ²⁶ that is, ^(BQ)the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His ^[ak]saints, ²⁷ to whom ^(BR)God willed to make known what ^(BS)the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is ^(BT)Christ in you, the ^(BU)hope of glory. ²⁸ We proclaim Him, ^(BV)admonishing every person and teaching every person ^[al]with all ^(BW)wisdom, so that we may ^(BX)present every person ^[am](BY)complete in Christ. ²⁹ For this purpose I also ^(BZ)labor, ^(CA)striving ^(CB)according to His ^[an]power which ^[ao]works mightily within me.