1 Kings 14

At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill. Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that no one will recognize you as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there; he told me I would be king over this people. Take ten loaves, some cakes, and a flask of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” Jeroboam’s wife did so. She went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Ahijah could no longer see, for his eyes had grown dim with age. The LORD had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to consult you about her son, for he is ill. You are to tell her such and such. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.” When Ahijah heard her footsteps as she came through the doorway, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been sent to you with a hard message. Go and tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my sight. You have done more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made yourself other gods and cast images to provoke me to anger, and you have thrown me behind your back. Therefore I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off every male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, whether slave or free. I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam as dung is swept away until it is all gone. Dogs will eat anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat anyone who dies in the countryside, for the LORD has spoken.’ Now get up and go home. When your feet enter the city, the child will die. All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He alone of Jeroboam’s house will receive burial, because in him, in the house of Jeroboam, something good toward the LORD, the God of Israel, has been found. The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this very day—indeed, even now! The LORD will strike Israel, shaking it like a reed in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land he gave their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger. He will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit.” Jeroboam’s wife got up and left. She came to Tirzah, and as she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. They buried him, and all Israel mourned him, according to the word the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the prophet. The rest of Jeroboam’s acts, how he fought and how he reigned, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. Jeroboam reigned for twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and his son Nadab reigned in his place. Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD. By the sins they committed, they provoked him to jealousy more than all their ancestors had done. They too built high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles for themselves on every high hill and under every flourishing tree. There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They practiced all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and entrusted them to the commanders of the guards who watched the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the house of the LORD, the guards carried the shields, then returned them to the guardroom. The rest of Rehoboam’s acts and all he did—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam reigned in his place.

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