Ahijah Prophesies against the King

¹At that time Abijah the son [and crown prince, heir] of Jeroboam became sick. ² Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that people will not know that you are Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there, the one who told me that I would be king over this people. ³ Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a bottle of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

⁴ Jeroboam’s wife did so. She got up and went [twenty miles] to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, because his eyes were dim from old age. ⁵ And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the ^[a]wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you about her son, because he is sick. You shall say such and such to her, for when she arrives, she will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶ So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another woman? For I have been sent to you [by God] with a harsh message. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel, ⁸ and 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, to do only what was right in My eyes, ⁹ but have done more evil than all [the ^[b]kings] who were before you; for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back— ¹⁰ therefore behold, I am bringing evil on the house (royal line) of Jeroboam, and I will cut off (destroy) from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free, in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. ¹¹ The dogs will eat [the carcass of] anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat [the carcass of] anyone who dies in the field, for the Lord has spoken it.”’ ¹² Now as for you (Jeroboam’s wife), arise, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child [Abijah] will die. ¹³ All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family ^[c]will come to [be placed in] the grave, because in him there was found something good and pleasing toward the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴ Moreover, the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house (royal line) of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

¹⁵ “The Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their ^[d]Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam which he has committed, and with which he has made Israel sin [by leading them into idolatry].”

¹⁷ So Jeroboam’s wife arose and left and came to Tirzah [the king’s residence]. As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child [Abijah] died. ¹⁸ And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

¹⁹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰ The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years, and he slept with his fathers [in death]; and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Misleads Judah

²¹ Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam 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 in which to put His Name (Presence). His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ²² And [the people of] Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They provoked Him to ^[e]jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with their sins which they had committed. ²³ For they also built for themselves high places [to worship idols] and sacred pillars and Asherim [for the goddess Asherah]. These were on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree. ²⁴ There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed all the repulsive acts of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the Israelites.

²⁵ Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt [Jeroboam’s brother-in-law] came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶ He took away the treasures of the house (temple) of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything, he even took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and handed them over to the captains of the palace guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. ²⁸ And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guards would carry them and bring them back into the guardroom.

²⁹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁰ There was also war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ³¹ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam (Abijah) his son became king in his place.