1 Kings 14:1–20

Judgment on the House of Jeroboam

14At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that ^aI would be king over this people. ^3bAlso take ¹with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.” ⁴And Jeroboam’s wife did so; she arose ^cand went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were ²glazed by reason of his age.

⁵Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Here is the wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have been sent to you with bad news. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^d“Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, ⁸and ^etore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, ^fwho kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes; ⁹but you have done more evil than all who were before you, ^gfor you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and ^hhave cast Me behind your back—¹⁰therefore behold! ⁱI will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and ^jwill cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, ^kbond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. ¹¹The dogs shall eat ^lwhoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” ’ ¹²Arise therefore, go to your own house. ^mWhen your feet enter the city, the child shall die. ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall ³come to the grave, because in him ⁿthere is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

^14o“Moreover the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; ⁴this is the day. What? Even now! ¹⁵For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will ^puproot Israel from this ^qgood land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them ^rbeyond ⁵the River, ^sbecause they have made their ⁶wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, ^twho sinned and who made Israel sin.”

¹⁷Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to ^uTirzah. ^vWhen she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, ^waccording to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he ^xmade war and how he reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰The period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers. Then ^yNadab his son reigned in his place.