1 Kings 13–22

¹And lo, a man of God hath come from Judah, by the word of Jehovah, unto Beth-El, and Jeroboam is standing by the altar—to make perfume; ²and he calleth against the altar, by the word of Jehovah, and saith, ‘Altar! altar! thus said Jehovah, Lo, a son is born to the house of David—Josiah his name—and he hath sacrificed on thee the priests of the high places who are making perfume on thee, and bones of man are burnt on thee.’ ³And he hath given on that day a sign, saying, ‘This is the sign that Jehovah hath spoken, Lo, the altar is rent, and the ashes poured forth that are on it.’ ⁴And it cometh to pass, at the king’s hearing the word of the man of God that he calleth against the altar in Beth-El, that Jeroboam putteth forth his hand from off the altar, saying, ‘Catch him;’ and his hand is dried up that he hath put forth against him, and he is not able to bring it back unto him, ⁵and the altar is rent, and the ashes poured forth from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah. ⁶And the king answereth and saith unto the man of God, ‘Appease, I pray thee, the face of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me, and my hand doth come back unto me;’ and the man of God appeaseth the face of Jehovah, and the hand of the king cometh back unto him, and it is as at the beginning. ⁷And the king speaketh unto the man of God, ‘Come in with me to the house, and refresh thyself, and I give to thee a gift.’ ⁸And the man of God saith unto the king, ‘If thou dost give to me the half of thine house, I do not go in with thee, nor do I eat bread, nor do I drink water, in this place; ⁹for so He commanded me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Thou dost not eat bread nor drink water, nor turn back in the way that thou hast come.’ ¹⁰And he goeth on in another way, and hath not turned back in the way in which he came in unto Beth-El.

¹¹And a certain aged prophet is dwelling in Beth-El, and his son cometh and recounteth to him all the deed that the man of God hath done to-day in Beth-El, the words that he hath spoken unto the king,—yea, they recount them to their father. ¹²And their father saith unto them, ‘Where is this—the way he hath gone?’ and his sons see the way that the man of God hath gone who came from Judah. ¹³And he saith unto his sons, ‘Saddle for me the ass,’ and they saddle for him the ass, and he rideth on it, ¹⁴and goeth after the man of God, and findeth him sitting under the oak, and saith unto him, ‘Art thou the man of God who hast come from Judah?’ and he saith, ‘I am.’ ¹⁵And he saith unto him, ‘Come with me to the house, and eat bread.’ ¹⁶And he saith, ‘I am not able to turn back with thee, and to go in with thee, nor do I eat bread or drink with thee water in this place, ¹⁷for a word is unto me by the word of Jehovah, Thou dost not eat bread nor drink there water, thou dost not turn back to go in the way in which thou camest.’ ¹⁸And he saith to him, ‘I also am a prophet like thee, and a messenger spake unto me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with thee unto thy house, and he doth eat bread and drink water;’—he hath lied to him. ¹⁹And he turneth back with him, and eateth bread in his house, and drinketh water. ²⁰And it cometh to pass—they are sitting at the table—and a word of Jehovah is unto the prophet who brought him back, ²¹and he calleth unto the man of God who came from Judah, saying, ‘Thus said Jehovah, Because that thou hast provoked the mouth of Jehovah, and hast not kept the command that Jehovah thy God charged thee, ²²and turnest back and dost eat bread and drink water in the place of which He said unto thee, Thou dost not eat bread nor drink water—thy carcase cometh not in unto the burying-place of thy fathers.’

²³And it cometh to pass, after his eating bread, and after his drinking, that he saddleth for him the ass, for the prophet whom he had brought back, ²⁴and he goeth, and a lion findeth him in the way, and putteth him to death, and his carcase is cast in the way, and the ass is standing near it, and the lion is standing near the carcase. ²⁵And lo, men are passing by, and see the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing near the carcase, and they come and speak of it in the city in which the old prophet is dwelling. ²⁶And the prophet who brought him back out of the way heareth and saith, ‘It is the man of God who provoked the mouth of Jehovah, and Jehovah giveth him to the lion, and it destroyeth him, and putteth him to death, according to the word of Jehovah that he spake to him.’ ²⁷And he speaketh unto his sons saying, ‘Saddle for me the ass,’ and they saddle it. ²⁸And he goeth and findeth his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion are standing near the carcase—the lion hath not eaten the carcase nor destroyed the ass. ²⁹And the prophet taketh up the carcase of the man of God, and placeth it on the ass, and bringeth it back, and the old prophet cometh in unto the city to mourn and to bury him, ³⁰and he placeth his carcase in his own grave, and they mourn for him, ‘Oh, my brother!’ ³¹And it cometh to pass, after his burying him, that he speaketh unto his sons, saying, ‘At my death—ye have buried me in the burying-place in which the man of God is buried; near his bones place my bones; ³²for the word certainly cometh to pass that he called by the word of Jehovah concerning the altar which is Beth-El, and concerning all the houses of the high places that are in cities of Samaria.’ ³³After this thing Jeroboam hath not turned from his evil way, and turneth back, and maketh of the extremities of the people priests of high places; he who is desirous he consecrateth his hand, and he is of the priests of the high places. ³⁴And in this thing is the sin of the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the ground.

Chapter 14

¹At that time was Abijah son of Jeroboam sick, ²and Jeroboam saith to his wife, ‘Rise, I pray thee, and change thyself, and they know not that thou art wife of Jeroboam, and thou hast gone to Shiloh; lo, there is Ahijah the prophet; he spake unto me of being king over this people; ³and thou hast taken in thy hand ten loaves, and crumbs, and a bottle of honey, and hast gone in unto him; he doth declare to thee what becometh of the youth.’ ⁴And the wife of Jeroboam doth so, and riseth, and goeth to Shiloh, and entereth the house of Ahijah, and Ahijah is not able to see, for his eyes have stood because of his age. ⁵And Jehovah said unto Ahijah, ‘Lo, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from thee concerning her son, for he is sick; thus and thus thou dost speak unto her, and it cometh to pass at her coming in, that she is making herself strange.’ ⁶And it cometh to pass, at Ahijah’s hearing the sound of her feet as she came in to the opening, that he saith, ‘Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why is this—thou art making thyself strange? and I am sent unto thee with a sharp thing:

⁷Go, say to Jeroboam, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Because that I have made thee high out of the midst of the people, and appoint thee leader over my people Israel, ⁸and rend the kingdom from the house of David, and give it to thee,—and thou hast not been as My servant David who kept My commands, and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only that which is right in Mine eyes, ⁹and thou dost evil above all who have been before thee, and goest, and makest to thee other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and Me thou hast cast behind thy back: ¹⁰‘Therefore, lo, I am bringing in evil unto the house of Jeroboam, and have cut off to Jeroboam those sitting on the wall—shut up and left—in Israel, and have put away the posterity of the house of Jeroboam, as one putteth away the dung till its consumption; ¹¹him who dieth of Jeroboam in a city do the dogs eat, and him who dieth in a field do fowl of the heavens eat, for Jehovah hath spoken.

¹²‘And thou, rise, go to thy house; in the going in of thy feet to the city—hath the lad died; ¹³and all Israel have mourned for him, and buried him, for this one—by himself—cometh of Jeroboam unto a grave, because there hath been found in him a good thing towards Jehovah, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

¹⁴‘And Jehovah hath raised up for Him a king over Israel who cutteth off the house of Jeroboam this day—and what?—even now! ¹⁵And Jehovah hath smitten Israel as the reed is moved by the waters, and hath plucked Israel from off this good ground that He gave to their fathers, and scattered them beyond the River, because that they made their shrines, provoking Jehovah to anger; ¹⁶and He giveth up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned, and that he caused Israel to sin.’ ¹⁷And the wife of Jeroboam riseth, and goeth, and cometh to Tirzah; she hath come in to the threshold of the house, and the youth dieth; ¹⁸and they bury him, and mourn for him do all Israel, according to the word of Jehovah, that he spake by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹And the rest of the matters of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰And the days that Jeroboam reigned are twenty and two years, and he lieth with his fathers, and reign doth Nadab his son in his stead.

²¹And Rehoboam son of Solomon hath reigned in Judah; a son of forty and one years is Rehoboam in his reigning, and seventeen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah chose to set His name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and the name of his mother is Naamah the Ammonitess. ²²And Judah doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and they make Him zealous above all that their fathers did by their sins that they have sinned. ²³And they build—also they—for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and shrines, on every high height, and under every green tree; ²⁴and also a whoremonger hath been in the land; they have done according to all the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the…