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Ahijah Prophesies against the King

¹ At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.² And Jeroboam said to his wife, "Now arise and ^(C1)disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to ^(C2)Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who ^(C3)said regarding me that I would be king over this people.³ "^(C1)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 ^(C1)Shiloh, and came to the house of ^(C2)Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see ^(C3)because his eyes were ^(F1)glossy from his old age.⁵ Now the LORD had said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ^(F1)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 ^(C1)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: "^(C1)Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel,⁸ and ^(C1)tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—^(C2)yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, ^(C3)to do only that which was right in My sight;⁹ you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and ^(C1)you have gone and made for yourself other gods and ^(C2)cast metal images to provoke Me to anger, and have ^(C3)thrown Me behind your back—¹⁰ therefore behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and ^(C1)I will eliminate from Jeroboam ^(F1)every male person, ^(C2)both ^(F2)bond and free in Israel, and I ^(C3)will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.¹¹ "^(C1)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. ^(C1)When your feet enter the city the child will die.¹³ "Then all Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for ^(F1)he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave, because in him ^(C1)something good was found toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.¹⁴ "Moreover, ^(C1)the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam this day ^(F1)and from now on.

¹⁵ "For the LORD will strike Israel, just as a reed sways in the water; and ^(C1)He will uproot Israel from ^(C2)this good land which He gave to their fathers, and ^(C3)will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, ^(C4)because they have made their ^(F1)Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.¹⁶ "He will give up Israel ^(C1)because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he ^(F1)committed and with which he misled Israel into sin."

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed, and came to ^(C1)Tirzah. ^(C2)As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died.^18 (C1)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, ^(C1)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 ^(F1)lay down with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Misleads Judah

^21 (C1)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, ^(C2)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 ^(C1)Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they ^(C2)provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they ^(F1)committed, more than all that their fathers had done.²³ For they, too, built for themselves ^(C1)high places, ^(C2)memorial stones, and ^(F1)(C3)Asherim on every high hill and ^(C4)under every luxuriant tree.²⁴ There were also ^(C1)male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed ^(F1)all the same abominations of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

^25 (C1)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 ^(C1)he took everything; ^(C2)he even took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.²⁷ So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and ^(C1)entrusted them to the ^(F1)care of the commanders of the ^(F2)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 ^(F1)guards would carry them and would bring them back into the ^(F1)guards' room.

^29 (C1)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 (C1)And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.³¹ And Rehoboam ^(F1)lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and ^(C1)his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And his son Abijam became king in his place.