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Jeroboam's Son Dies

¹ At that time Jeroboam's son Abijah became very sick. ² So Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go to Shiloh to see the prophet Ahijah. He is the one who said I would become king of Israel. But dress yourself so people won't know you are my wife. ³ Take the prophet ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Then ask him what will happen to our son, and he will tell you." ⁴ So the king's wife did as he said and went to Ahijah's home in Shiloh.

Now Ahijah was very old and blind. ⁵ The Lord said to him, "Jeroboam's son is sick, and Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about him. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else." Then the Lord told Ahijah what to say.

⁶ When Ahijah heard her walking to the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have bad news for you. ⁷ Go back and tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jeroboam, I chose you from among all the people and made you the leader of my people Israel. ⁸ I tore the kingdom away from David's family, and I gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who always obeyed my commands and followed me with all his heart. He did only what I said was right. ⁹ But you have done more evil than anyone who ruled before you. You have quit following me and have made other gods and idols of metal. This has made me very angry, ¹⁰ so I will soon bring disaster to your family. I will kill all the men in your family, both slaves and free men. I will destroy your family as completely as fire burns up manure. ¹¹ Anyone from your family who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the fields will be eaten by the birds. The Lord has spoken.'"

¹² Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam's wife, "Go home now. As soon as you enter your city, your son will die, ¹³ and all Israel will be sad for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam's family who will be buried, because he is the only one in the king's family who pleased the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁴ "The Lord will put a new king over Israel, who will destroy Jeroboam's family, and this will happen soon. ¹⁵ Then the Lord will punish Israel, which will be like reeds swaying in the water. The Lord will pull up Israel from this good land, the land he gave their ancestors. He will scatter Israel beyond the Euphrates River, because he is angry with the people. They made the Lord angry when they set up idols to worship Asherah. ¹⁶ Jeroboam sinned, and then he made the people of Israel sin. So the Lord will let the people of Israel be defeated."

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam's wife left and returned to Tirzah. As soon as she entered her home, the boy died. ¹⁸ After they buried him, all Israel had a time of sadness for him, just as the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

¹⁹ Everything else Jeroboam did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. He fought wars and continued to rule the people, ²⁰ serving as king for twenty-two years. Then he died, and his son Nadab became king in his place.

The Death of Rehoboam

²¹ Solomon's son Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah. His mother was Naamah from Ammon. Rehoboam ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years. (The Lord had chosen that city from all the land of Israel as the place where he would be worshiped.)

²² The people of Judah did what the Lord said was wrong. Their sins made the Lord very angry, even more angry than he had been at their ancestors. ²³ The people built stone pillars and places to worship gods and Asherah idols on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ There were even male prostitutes in the land. They acted like the people who had lived in the land before the Israelites. They had done many evil things, and God had taken the land away from them.

²⁵ During the fifth year Rehoboam was king, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He took the treasures from the Temple of the Lord and the king's palace. He took everything, even the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to put in their place and gave them to the commanders of the guards for the palace gates. ²⁸ Whenever the king went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards carried the shields. Later, they would put them back in the guardroom.

²⁹ Everything else King Rehoboam did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ³⁰ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time. ³¹ Rehoboam, son of Naamah from Ammon, died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Abijam^[a] became king in his place.