Jeroboam's Son Dies
1 About the same time, Abijah son of Jeroboam got sick. 2-3 Jeroboam told his wife:
Disguise yourself so no one will know you're my wife, then go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives. Take him ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and honey, and ask him what will happen to our son. He can tell you, because he's the one who told me I would become king.
4 She got ready and left for Ahijah's house in Shiloh.
Ahijah was now old and blind, 5 but the Lord told him, “Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask about her son. I will tell you what to say to her.”
Jeroboam's wife came to Ahijah's house, pretending to be someone else. 6 But when Ahijah heard her walking up to the door, he said:
Come in! I know you're Jeroboam's wife—why are you pretending to be someone else? I have some bad news for you. 7 Give your husband this message from the Lord God of Israel: “Jeroboam, you know that I, the Lord, chose you over anyone else to be the leader of my people Israel. 8 I even took David's kingdom away from his family and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David. He always obeyed me and did what was right.
9 “You have made me very angry by rejecting me and making idols out of gold. Jeroboam, you have done more evil things than any king before you.
10 “Because of this, I will destroy your family by killing every man and boy in it, whether slave or free. I will wipe out your family, just as fire burns up trash. 11 Dogs will eat the bodies of your relatives who die in town, and vultures will eat the bodies of those who die in the country. I, the Lord, have spoken and will not change my mind!”
12 That's the Lord's message to your husband. As for you, go back home, and right after you get there, your son will die. 13 Everyone in Israel will mourn at his funeral. But he will be the last one from Jeroboam's family to receive a proper burial, because he's the only one the Lord God of Israel is pleased with.
14 The Lord will soon choose a new king of Israel, who will destroy Jeroboam's family. And I mean very soon. 15 The people of Israel have made the Lord angry by setting up sacred poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah. So the Lord will punish them until they shake like grass in a stream. He will take them out of the land he gave to their ancestors, then scatter them as far away as the Euphrates River. 16 Jeroboam sinned and caused the Israelites to sin. Now the Lord will desert Israel.
17 Jeroboam's wife left and went back home to the town of Tirzah. As soon as she set foot in her house, her son died. 18 Everyone in Israel came and mourned at his funeral, just as the Lord's servant Ahijah had said.
Jeroboam Dies
19 Everything else Jeroboam did while he was king, including the battles he won, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. 20 He was king of Israel for 22 years, then he died, and his son Nadab became king.
King Rehoboam of Judah
(2 Chronicles 11.5—12.16)21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was 41 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled 17 years from Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen to be worshiped. His mother Naamah was from Ammon.
22 The people of Judah disobeyed the Lord and made him even angrier than their ancestors had. 23 They also built their own local shrines and stone images of foreign gods, and they set up sacred poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah on every hill and in the shade of large trees. 24 Even worse, they allowed prostitutes at the shrines, and followed the disgusting customs of the foreign nations that the Lord had forced out of Canaan.
25 After Rehoboam had been king for four years, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took everything of value from the temple and the palace, including Solomon's gold shields.
27 Rehoboam had bronze shields made to replace the gold ones, and he ordered the guards at the city gates to keep them safe. 28 Whenever Rehoboam went to the Lord's temple, the guards carried the shields. But they always took them back to the guardroom as soon as he was finished.
29 Everything else Rehoboam did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. 30 He and Jeroboam were constantly at war. 31 Rehoboam's mother Naamah was from Ammon, but when Rehoboam died, he was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem. His son Abijam then became king.
1 At that time Abiiah the sonne of Ieroboam fell sicke. 2 And Ieroboam saide vnto his wife, Vp, I pray thee, and disguise thy selfe, that they know not that thou art the wife of Ieroboam, and goe to Shiloh: for there is Ahiiah the Prophet, which tolde mee that I shoulde bee King ouer this people, 3 And take with thee tenne loaues and craknels, and a bottell of honie, and go to him: hee shall tell thee what shall become of the yong man. 4 And Ieroboams wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahiiah: but Ahiiah could not see, for his sight was decayed for his age. 5 Then the Lord saide vnto Ahiiah, Beholde, the wife of Ieroboam commeth to aske a thing of thee for her sonne, for he is sicke: thus and thus shalt thou say vnto her: for when shee commeth in, shee shall feine her selfe to be another. 6 Therefore when Ahiiah heard the sounde of her feete as shee came in at the doore, hee saide, Come in, thou wife of Ieroboam: why feinest thou thus thy selfe to bee an other? I am sent to thee with heauie tidings. 7 Goe, tel Ieroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I haue exalted thee from among the people, and haue made thee prince ouer my people Israel, 8 And haue rent the kingdome away from the house of Dauid, and haue giuen it thee, and thou hast not bene as my seruant Dauid, which kept my commandements, and followed mee with all his heart, and did onely that which was right in mine eyes, 9 But hast done euil aboue al that were before thee (for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to prouoke me, and hast cast me behinde thy backe) 10 Therefore beholde, I will bring euill vpon the house of Ieroboam, and will cut off from Ieroboam him that pisseth against the wall, aswell him that is shut vp, as him that is left in Israel, and will sweepe away the remnant of the house of Ieroboam, as a man sweepeth away doung, till it be all gone. 11 The dogges shall eate him of Ieroboams stocke that dyeth in the citie, and the foules of the aire shall eate him that dyeth in the fielde: for the Lord hath said it. 12 Vp therefore and get thee to thine house: for when thy feete enter into the citie, the childe shall die. 13 And al Israel shall mourne for him, and burie him: for he onely of Ieroboam shall come to the graue, because in him there is found some goodnes towarde the Lord God of Israel in the house of Ieroboam. 14 Moreouer, the Lord shall stirre him vp a King ouer Israel, which shall destroy the house of Ieroboam in that day: what? yea, euen nowe. 15 For the Lord shall smite Israel, as when a reede is shaken in the water, and hee shall weede Israel out of his good lad, which he gaue to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the Riuer, because they haue made them groues, prouoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he shall giue Israel vp, because of the sinnes of Ieroboam, who did sinne, and made Israel to sinne. 17 And Ieroboams wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah, and when shee came to the threshold of the house, the yong man dyed, 18 And they buried him, and all Israel lamented him; according to the word of the Lord, which hee spake by the hand of his seruant Ahiiah the Prophet. 19 And the rest of Ieroboams actes, how hee warred, and howe hee reigned, beholde, they are written in the booke of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the dayes which Ieroboam reigned, were two and twentie yeere: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his sonne reigned in his steade. 21 Also Rehoboam the sonne of Salomon reigned in Iudah. Rehoboam was one and fourtie yere olde, when he began to reigne, and reigned seuenteene yere in Ierusalem, the citie which the Lord did chuse out of al the tribes of Israel, to put his Name there: and his mothers name was Naamah an Ammonite. 22 And Iudah wrought wickednesse in the sight of the Lord: and they prouoked him more with their sinnes, which they had committed, then all that which their fathers had done. 23 For they also made them hie places, and images, and groues on euery hie hill, and vnder euery greene tree. 24 There were also Sodomites in the lande, they did according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 25 And in the fift yere of King Rehoboam, Shishak King of Egypt came vp against Ierusale, 26 And tooke the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the Kings house, and tooke away all: also he caried away all the shields of golde which Salomon had made. 27 And King Rehoboam made for them brasen shieldes, and committed them vnto ye hands of the chiefe of the garde, which wayted at the doore of the Kings house. 28 And when the King went into the house of the Lord, the garde bare them, and brought them againe into the gard chamber. 29 And the rest of the actes of Rehoboam, and all that hee did, are they not written in the booke of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah? 30 And there was warre betweene Rehoboam and Ieroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the citie of Dauid: his mothers name was Naamah an Ammonite. And Abiiam his sonne reigned in his stead.