1 Kings 14–15

DISASTER ON THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM

14At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became sick.^{s 2}Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go disguise yourself,^t so they won’t know that you’re Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh.^u The prophet Ahijah is there; it was he who told about me becoming king over this people.^{v 3}Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey,^w and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

⁴Jeroboam’s wife did that: she went to Shiloh and arrived at Ahijah’s house. Ahijah could not see; he was blind due to his age.^{x 5}But the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming soon to ask you about her son, for he is sick. You are to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will be disguised.”^y

⁶When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised?^z I have bad news for you. ⁷Go tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over my people Israel, ⁸tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you.^aa But you were not like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what is right in my sight. ⁹You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you.^ab In order to anger me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images,^ac but you have flung me behind your back.^{ad 10}Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam:

I will wipe out all of Jeroboam’s males,^B

both slave and free,^C in Israel;

I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam

as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!^a

¹¹Anyone who belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city,

the dogs will eat,

and anyone who dies in the field,

the birds^D will eat,^b

for the Lord has spoken!’

¹²“As for you, get up and go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy will die.^{c 13}All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He alone out of Jeroboam’s house will be given a proper burial because out of the house of Jeroboam something favorable to the Lord God of Israel was found in him.^{d 14}The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will wipe out the house of Jeroboam.^e This is the day, yes,^E even today! ¹⁵For the Lord will strike Israel so that they will^F shake as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that he gave to their ancestors.^f He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates^g because they made their Asherah poles, angering the Lord.^{h 16}He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and caused Israel to commit.”ⁱ

¹⁷Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and went to Tirzah.^j As she was crossing the threshold of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸He was buried, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through his servant the prophet Ahijah.^k

¹⁹As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, how he waged war^l and how he reigned, note that they are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. ²⁰The length of Jeroboam’s reign was twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and his son Nadab became king in his place.^m

JUDAH’S KING REHOBOAM

²¹Now Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah.ⁿ Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name.^o Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.^p

²²Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.^q They provoked him to jealous anger^r more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed. ²³They also built for themselves high places,^s sacred pillars,^t and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; ²⁴there were even male cult prostitutes in the land.^u They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^v

²⁵In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt^w went to war against Jerusalem.^{x 26}He seized the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.^{y 27}King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and committed them into the care of the captains of the guards^Az who protected the entrance to the king’s palace. ²⁸Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the armory.^Baa

²⁹The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign,^ab along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ³⁰There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.^{ac 31}Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.^ad His son Abijam^ae became king in his place.

JUDAH’S KING ABIJAM

15In the eighteenth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah, ²and he reigned three years in Jerusalem.^af His mother’s name was Maacah^ag daughter of Abishalom.

³Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed,^ah and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been.^{ai 4}But for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp^E in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him and by preserving Jerusalem.^{aj 5}For David did what was right in the Lord’s sight, and he did not turn aside from anything he had commanded him all the days of his life,^a except in the matter of Uriah^b the Hethite.

⁶There had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam’s life.^{c 7}The rest of the events of Abijam’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^d There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam.^{e 8}Abijam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.^f His son Asa became king in his place.^g

JUDAH’S KING ASA

⁹In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam,^h Asa became king of Judah, ¹⁰and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s^A name was Maacahⁱ daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹Asa did what was right in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done.^{j 12}He banished the male cult prostitutes^k from the land and removed all of the idols that his ancestors had made.^{l 13}He also^m removed his grandmother^B Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned itⁿ in the Kidron Valley.^{o 14}The high places were not taken away,^p but Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his entire life.^{q 15}He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.^r

¹⁶There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns.^{s 17}Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah.^t He built Ramah^u in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. ¹⁸So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple^v and the treasuries of the royal palace and gave it to his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad^w son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus,^x saying, ¹⁹“There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father.^y Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel^z so that he will withdraw from me.”

²⁰Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon,^aa Dan,^ab Abel-beth-maacah,^ac all Chinnereth,^ad and the whole land of Naphtali.^{ae 21}When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.^{af 22}Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba^ag of Benjamin and Mizpah^ah with them.

²³The rest of all the events of Asa’s reign,^ai along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^aj But in his old age he developed a disease in his feet.^{ak 24}Then Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his ancestor David.^al His son Jehoshaphat^am became king in his place.

ISRAEL’S KING NADAB

²⁵Nadab son of Jeroboam^an became king over Israel in the second year of Judah’s King Asa; he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶Nadab did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.^ao

²⁷Then Baasha^ap son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon^aq of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon. ²⁸In the third year of Judah’s King Asa,^ar Baasha killed Nadab^as and reigned in his place.

²⁹When Baasha became king, he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam.^at He did not leave Jeroboam any survivors but^A destroyed his family according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.^{au 30}This was because Jeroboam had angered^B the Lord God of Israel by the sins he had committed and had caused Israel to commit.^av

³¹The rest of the events of Nadab’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.^{aw 32}There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns.^ax

ISRAEL’S KING BAASHA

³³In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah^ay twenty-four years. ³⁴He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.^a