^13:1Just then¹ a prophet² from Judah, sent by the Lord, arrived in Bethel,³ as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. ^13:2With the authority of the Lord⁴ he cried out against the altar, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says, ‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’ ”⁵^13:3That day he also announced⁶ a sign, “This is the sign the Lord has predetermined:⁷ The altar will be split open and the ashes⁸ on it will fall to the ground.”⁹^13:4When the king heard what the prophet¹⁰ cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand¹¹ and ordered,¹² “Seize him!” The hand he had extended shriveled up¹³ and he could not pull it back. ^13:5The altar split open and the ashes¹⁴ fell from the altar to the ground,¹⁵ in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the Lord’s authority.¹⁶^13:6The king pled with¹⁷ the prophet,¹⁸ “Seek the favor of¹⁹ the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored.” So the prophet sought the Lord’s favor²⁰ and the king’s hand was restored to its former condition.²¹^13:7The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I’d like to give a present.” ^13:8But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions,²² I could not go with you and eat and drink²³ in this place. ^13:9For the Lord gave me strict orders,²⁴ ‘Do not eat or drink²⁵ there and do not go home the way you came.’ ” ^13:10So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel.

^13:11Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel.²⁶ When his sons came home, they told their father²⁷ everything the prophet²⁸ had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king.²⁹^13:12Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him³⁰ the road the prophet³¹ from Judah had taken. ^13:13He then told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it ^13:14and took off after the prophet,³² whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the prophet³³ from Judah?” He answered, “Yes, I am.” ^13:15He then said to him, “Come home with me and eat something.” ^13:16But he replied, “I can’t go back with you³⁴ or eat and drink³⁵ with you in this place. ^13:17For the Lord gave me strict orders,³⁶ ‘Do not eat or drink³⁷ there; do not go back the way you came.’ ” ^13:18The old prophet then said,³⁸ “I too am a prophet like you. An angel told me with the Lord’s authority,³⁹ ‘Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat and drink.’ ”⁴⁰ But he was lying to him.⁴¹^13:19So the prophet went back with him and ate and drank in his house.⁴²

^13:20While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke through the old prophet⁴³^13:21and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You⁴⁴ have rebelled against the Lord⁴⁵ and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. ^13:22You went back and ate and drank in this place, even though he said to you, “Do not eat or drink there.”⁴⁶ Therefore⁴⁷ your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.’ ”⁴⁸

^13:23When the prophet from Judah finished his meal,⁴⁹ the old prophet saddled his visitor’s donkey for him.⁵⁰^13:24As the prophet from Judah was traveling, a lion attacked him on the road and killed him.⁵¹ His corpse was lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion just stood there beside it.⁵²^13:25Some men came by⁵³ and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing beside it.⁵⁴ They went and reported what they had seen⁵⁵ in the city where the old prophet lived. ^13:26When the old prophet who had invited him to his house heard the news,⁵⁶ he said, “It is the prophet⁵⁷ who rebelled against the Lord.⁵⁸ The Lord delivered him over to the lion and it ripped him up⁵⁹ and killed him, just as the Lord warned him.”⁶⁰^13:27He told his sons, “Saddle my donkey,” and they did so.⁶¹^13:28He went and found the corpse lying in the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside it;⁶² the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. ^13:29The old prophet⁶³ picked up the corpse of the prophet,⁶⁴ put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him. ^13:30He put the corpse into his own tomb, and they⁶⁵ mourned over him, saying, “Ah, my brother!” ^13:31After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet⁶⁶ is buried; put my bones right beside his bones, ^13:32for the prophecy he announced with the Lord’s authority⁶⁷ against the altar in Bethel⁶⁸ and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north⁶⁹ will certainly be fulfilled.”

A Prophet Announces the End of Jeroboam’s Dynasty

^13:33After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways;⁷⁰ he continued to appoint common people⁷¹ as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest.⁷²^13:34This sin caused Jeroboam’s dynasty⁷³ to come to an end and to be destroyed from the face of the earth.

^14:1¹ At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. ^14:2Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise² yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there.³^14:3Take⁴ ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

^14:4Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah.⁵ Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age.⁶^14:5But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so.⁷ When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” ^14:6When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news.⁸^14:7Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up⁹ from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. ^14:8I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve.¹⁰^14:9You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me.¹¹^14:10So I am ready to bring disaster¹² on the dynasty¹³ of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated.¹⁴ I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed.¹⁵^14:11Dogs will eat the members of your family¹⁶ who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.” ’ Indeed, the Lord has announced it!

^14:12“As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. ^14:13All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family¹⁷ who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. ^14:14The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty.¹⁸ It is ready to happen!¹⁹^14:15The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water.²⁰ He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors²¹ and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River,²² because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles.²³^14:16He will hand Israel over to their enemies²⁴ because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.”

^14:17So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to²⁵ Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. ^14:18All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as the Lord had predicted²⁶ through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

Jeroboam’s Reign Ends

^14:19The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including the details of his battles and rule, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.²⁷^14:20Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years; then he passed away.²⁸ His son Nadab replaced him as king.

Rehoboam’s Reign over Judah

^14:21Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He²⁹ was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem,³⁰ the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.³¹ His mother was an Ammonite woman³² named Naamah.

^14:22Judah did evil in the sight of³³ the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done.³⁴^14:23They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ^14:24There were also male cultic prostitutes³⁵ in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations³⁶ that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

^14:25In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ^14:26He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. ^14:27King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard³⁷ who protected the entrance to the royal palace. ^14:28Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

^14:29The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the

Kings of Judah.³⁸^14:30Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. ^14:31Rehoboam passed away³⁹ and was buried with his ancestors…

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Footnotes

1 Heb “Look.” The Hebrew particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) is a rhetorical device by which the author invites the reader to visualize the scene for dramatic effect.
2 Heb “the man of God.”
3 Heb “came by the word of the Lord to Bethel.”
4 Heb “by the word of the Lord.”
5 ‘Look … you.’ For the fulfillment of this prophecy see 2 Kgs 23:15–20.
6 Heb “gave.”
7 Heb “spoken.”
8 Heb “the fat.” Reference is made to burnt wood mixed with fat. See דשׁן.
9 Heb “will be poured out.”
10 Heb “the man of God.”
11 Heb “Jeroboam extended his hand from the altar.”
12 Heb “saying.”
13 Heb “dried up” or “withered.” and interpret this as “became paralyzed.”
14 Heb “the fat.” Reference is made to burnt wood mixed with fat. See דשׁן.
15 Heb “were poured out from the altar.”
16 Heb “according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.”
17 Heb “The king answered and said to.”
18 Heb “the man of God” (a second time later in this verse, and once in v. 7 and v. 8).
19 Heb “appease the face of.”
20 Heb “appeased the face of the Lord.”
21 Heb “and it was as in the beginning.”
22 Heb “house.”
23 Heb “eat food and drink water.”
24 Heb “for this he commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying.”
25 Heb “eat food and drink water.”
26 For location see ; ; ; ; .
27 Heb “and his son came and told him.” The has the singular here, but several other textual witnesses have the plural, which is more consistent with the second half of the verse and with vv. 12–13.
28 Heb “the man of God.”
29 Heb “all the actions which the man of God performed that day in Bethel, the words which he spoke to the king, and they told them to their father.”
30 The Hebrew text has “and his sons saw” (וַיִּרְאוּ [vayyir’u], Qal from רָאָה [ra’ah]). In this case the verbal construction (vav consecutive + prefixed verbal form) would have to be understood as pluperfect, “his sons had seen.” Such uses of this construction are rare at best. Consequently many, following the lead of the ancient versions, prefer to emend the verbal form to a Hiphil with pronominal suffix (וַיַּרְאֻהוּ [vayyar’uhu], “and they showed him”).
31 Heb “the man of God.”
32 Heb “the man of God.”
33 Heb “the man of God.”
34 Heb “I am unable to return with you or to go with you.”
35 Heb “eat food and drink water.”
36 Heb “for a word to me by the word of the Lord.”
37 Heb “eat food and drink water.”
38 Heb “and he said to him.”
39 Heb “by the word of the Lord.”
40 Heb “eat food and drink water.”
41 Or “deceiving him.” He was lying to him. The motives and actions of the old prophet are difficult to understand. The old man’s response to the prophet’s death (see vv. 26–32) suggests he did not trick him with malicious intent. The old prophet probably wanted the honor of entertaining such a celebrity, or perhaps simply desired some social interaction with a fellow prophet.
42 Heb “and he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.”
43 Heb “and the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back.”
44 The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 21–22 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 21–22a) and the main clause announcing the punishment (v. 22b). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.
45 Heb “the mouth [i.e., command] of the Lord.”
46 Heb “and you returned and ate food and drank water in the place about which he said to you, ‘do not eat food and do not drink water.’ ”
47 “Therefore” is added for stylistic reasons. See the note at pertaining to the grammatical structure of vv. 21–22.
48 Heb “will not go to the tomb of your fathers.”
49 Heb “and after he had eaten food and after he had drunk.”
50 Heb “and he saddled for him the donkey, for the prophet whom he had brought back.”
51 Heb “and he went and a lion met him in the road and killed him.”
52 Heb “and his corpse fell on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was standing beside the corpse.”
53 Heb “Look, men were passing by.”
54 Heb “the corpse.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
55 The words “what they had seen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
56 Heb “and the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard.”
57 Heb “the man of God.”
58 Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”
59 Heb “broke him,” or “crushed him.”
60 Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to him.”
61 Heb “and they saddled [it].”
62 Heb “the corpse.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
63 Heb “the prophet.” The word “old” has been supplied in the translation to distinguish this individual from the other prophet.
64 Heb “the man of God.”
65 “They” is the reading of the Hebrew text here; perhaps this is meant to include not only the old prophet but his sons (cf. v. 31).
66 Heb “the man of God.”
67 Heb “for the word which he cried out by the word of the Lord”
68 For location see ; ; ; ; .
69 Heb “Samaria.” The name of Israel’s capital city here stands for the northern kingdom as a whole. Actually Samaria was not built and named until several years after this (see 1 Kgs 16:24), so it is likely that the author of Kings, writing at a later time, is here adapting the old prophet’s original statement.
70 Heb “did not turn from his evil way.”
71 The expression common people refers to people who were not Levites. See 1 Kgs 12:31.
72 Heb “and one who had the desire he was filling his hand so that he became [one of] the priests of the high places.”
73 Heb “house.”
1 Some of the Old Greek lack vv. 1–20.
2 Heb “Get up, change yourself.”
3 Heb “look, Ahijah the prophet is there, he told me [I would be] king over this nation.”
4 Heb “take in your hand.”
5 Heb “and the wife of Jeroboam did so; she arose and went to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah.”
6 Heb “his eyes were set because of his old age.”
7 Tell her so-and-so. Certainly the Lord gave Ahijah a specific message to give to Jeroboam’s wife (see vv. 6–16), but the author of Kings here condenses the Lord’s message with the words “so-and-so.” For dramatic effect he prefers to have us hear the message from Ahijah’s lips as he speaks to the king’s wife.
8 Heb “I am sent to you [with] a hard [message].”
9 The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 7–11 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 7–9) and the main clause announcing the punishment (vv. 10–11). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.
10 Heb “what was right in my eyes.”
11 Heb “you went and you made for yourself other gods, metal [ones], angering me, and you threw me behind your back.”
12 Disaster. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word translated “disaster” (רָעָה, ra’ah) is from the same root as the expression “you have sinned” in v. 9 (וַתָּרַע [vattara’], from רָעַע, [ra’a’]). Jeroboam’s sins would receive an appropriate punishment.
13 Heb “house.”
14 Heb “and I will cut off from Jeroboam those who urinate against a wall (including both those who are) restrained and let free (or “abandoned”) in Israel.” The precise meaning of the idiomatic phrase עָצוּר וְעָזוּב (’atsur vé’azuv) is uncertain. For various options see עצר 6 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), . The two terms are usually taken as polar opposites (“slaves and freemen” or “minors and adults”), but Cogan and Tadmor, on the basis of contextual considerations (note the usage with אֶפֶס [’efes], “nothing but”) in Deut 32:36 and 2 Kgs 14:26, argue convincingly that the terms are synonyms, meaning “restrained and abandoned,” and refer to incapable or incapacitated individuals.
15 The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” Manure was sometimes used as fuel (see Ezek 4:12, 15). However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר as a homonym meaning “sweep away” ( II בער). In this case one might translate, “I will sweep away the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away manure it is gone” (cf. , , ). Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.
16 The Hebrew text has “belonging to Jeroboam” here.
17 Heb “house.”
18 Heb “house.”
19 Heb “This is the day. What also now?” The precise meaning of the second half of the statement is uncertain.
20 The elliptical Hebrew text reads literally “and the Lord will strike Israel as a reed sways in the water.”
21 Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 31).
22 Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew this is a typical reference to the Euphrates River. The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
23 Heb “because they made their Asherah poles that anger the Lord”; or “their images of Asherah”; , “their Asherim”; “they set up idols to worship Asherah.” Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
24 Heb “and he will give [up] Israel.”
25 Heb “went and entered.”
26 Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.”
27 Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he ruled, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”
28 Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
29 Heb “Rehoboam.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
30 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
31 Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”
32 Heb “an Ammonite”; the word “woman” is implied.
33 Heb “in the eyes of.”
34 Heb “and they made him jealous more than all which their fathers had done by their sins which they sinned.”
35 The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”
36 Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”
37 Heb “runners.”
38 Heb “As for the rest of the events of Rehoboam, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
39 Heb “lay down with his fathers.”