1
In that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became ill.
2
And Jeroboam said to his wife: “Rise up, and change clothing, so that you will not be recognized to be the wife of Jeroboam. And go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah is, who said to me that I should reign over this people.
3
Also, take in your hand ten loaves, and dried bread, and a container of honey, and go to him. For he will reveal to you what will happen to this boy.”
4
The wife of Jeroboam did just as he had said. And rising up, she went away to Shiloh. And she arrived at the house of Ahijah. But he was unable to see, because his eyes had dimmed due to old age.
5
Then the Lord said to Ahijah: “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam enters, so that she may consult you over her son, who is ill. You shall say one thing and another to her.” Therefore, as she was entering, not presenting herself to be who she was,
6
Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, entering through the door. And he said: “Enter, O wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be someone you are not? But I have been sent to you with harsh news.
7
Go, and tell Jeroboam: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Although I exalted you from the midst of the people, and I granted to you to be the leader over my people Israel,
8
and I tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and I gave it to you, yet you have not been like David, my servant, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with his whole heart, doing what was pleasing in my sight.
9
Instead, you have worked evil beyond all those who were before you. And you have made for yourself strange gods and molten images, so that you provoke me to anger. And you have cast me behind your back.
10
For this reason, behold, I will lead evils over the house of Jeroboam, and I will strike down from Jeroboam that which urinates against a wall, and that which is lame, and that which is last in Israel. And I will cleanse that which remains of the house of Jeroboam, just as dung is usually cleaned away, until there is purity.
11
Those who will have died of Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will devour them. And those who will have died in the field, the birds of the heavens will devour them. For the Lord has spoken.’
12
Therefore, you must rise up, and go to your house. And in the city, at the very entrance of your feet, the boy will die.
13
And all of Israel will mourn him, and will bury him. For he alone of Jeroboam shall be brought into a sepulcher. For concerning him, there has been found a good word from the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14
But the Lord has appointed for himself a king over Israel, who will strike down the house of Jeroboam, in this day and in this time.
15
And the Lord God shall strike Israel, just as a reed is usually shaken in the water. And he will uproot Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers. And he will winnow them beyond the river. For they have made for themselves sacred groves, so that they have provoked the Lord.
16
And the Lord will hand over Israel, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who has sinned and caused Israel to sin.”
17
And so, the wife of Jeroboam rose up, and she went away. And she arrived at Tirzah. And as she was entering the threshold of the house, the boy died.
18
And they buried him, and all of Israel mourned for him, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Ahijah, the prophet.
Nadab Succeeds Jeroboam
19
Now the rest of the words of Jeroboam, the manner in which he fought, and the manner in which he reigned, behold, these were written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel.(a)
20
And the days during which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers. And Nadab, his son, reigned in his place.
Rehoboam Reigns in Judah
(2 Chronicles 12:13–14)
21
Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he had begun to reign. And he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose, out of all the tribes of Israel, so that he might place his name there. And the name of his mother was Naamah, an Ammonite.
22
And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him beyond all that their fathers had done, by their sins that they committed.
23
For they, too, built for themselves altars, and statues, and sacred groves, upon every high hill and under every leafy tree.
24
Moreover, the effeminate were in the land, and they committed all the abominations of the peoples that the Lord had destroyed before the face of the sons of Israel.(b)
Shishak Raids Jerusalem
(2 Chronicles 12:1–12)
25
Then, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, Shishak, the king of Egypt, ascended against Jerusalem.
26
And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the royal treasures, and he plundered everything, including the shields of gold that Solomon had made.
27
In place of these, king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and he delivered them into the hand of the commanders of the shield bearers, and of those who were keeping the night watch before the gate of the king’s house.
28
And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, these were carried by those who held the office to go before him. And afterward, they carried them back to the armory of the shield bearers.
29
Now the rest of the words of Rehoboam, and all that he did, behold, these were written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah.
30
And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, during all the days.
31
And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.
Footnotes