1 Kings 14

1 At that time, fell sick, Abijah son of Jeroboam.

At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick.

2 Then said Jeroboam to his wife—Arise, I pray thee, and feign thyself another, that it be not known, that, thou, art the wife of Jeroboam, —and thou shalt go thy way to Shiloh, lo! there, is Ahijah the prophet, who promised I should be king over this people;

Jeroboam said to his wife, “Disguise yourself, in order that no one will recognize that you are my wife. Then go to Shiloh [city], where the prophet Ahijah [lives]. He is the one who predicted/prophesied that I would become the king of Israel.

3 and thou shall take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a bottle of honey, and shalt go unto him, —he, will tell thee what shall befall the young man.

Take with you ten [loaves of] bread and some small flat cakes, and a jar of honey, [and give them] to him. [Tell him about] our son, [and] he will tell you what will happen to him.”

4 And the wife of Jeroboam, did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and entered the house of Ahijah, —now, Ahijah, could not see, for his eyes were fixed, by reason of his old age.

So his wife went to Shiloh, to Ahijah’s house. Ahijah was unable to see, because he was very old and had become blind.

5 But, Yahweh, had said unto Ahijah—Lo! the wife of Jeroboam, coming to enquire something of thee, concerning her son, for he is sick, thus and so, shalt thou speak unto her, —though, when she cometh in, she feign to be a stranger-woman.

But [before she got there, ] Yahweh told Ahijah that Jeroboam’s wife was coming to inquire about their son, who was very sick. And Yahweh told Ahijah what he should tell her. When she came to him, she pretended to be another woman.

6 So it came to pass, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she entered the doorway, that he said—Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, —wherefore, is it that thou art feigning to be a stranger-woman, seeing that, I, am sent unto thee, with something hard to bear?

But when Ahijah heard her footsteps as she entered the doorway, he said to her, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! (Why do you pretend that you are someone else?/It will not help you to pretend that you are someone else.) [RHQ] [Yahweh] has given me bad news to tell you.

7 Go, say to Jeroboam—Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the midst of the people, —and gave thee to be leader over my people Israel;

Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [worship], says to you: ‘I chose you from among the common people and enabled you to become the king of my Israeli people.

8 and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to thee, —and yet thou hast not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me, with all his heart, to do only that which was right in mine eyes;

I took [most of] the kingdom of Israel away from David’s descendants and gave it to you. But you have not been like David, who served me [very well]. He obeyed all my commandments very sincerely, doing only things that I considered to be right.

9 but hast made wicked thy doings beyond any who were before thee, —and hast gone and made thee ether gods, even molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast, me, behind thy back,

But you have done more evil things/deeds than all those [who ruled] before you. You have rejected me, and you have caused me to become very angry by making metal images of other gods so that you [and others] could worship them.

10 therefore, behold me! bringing misfortune against the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off the meanest pertaining to Jeroboam, whether shut up or left at large, in Israel, —and will consume after the house of Jeroboam, as one consumeth dung, till it be all gone:

‘So, I am going to cause terrible things to happen to your family. I will cause all your male descendants to die, young ones and old ones. I will completely get rid of your family [MTY]. I will get rid of your family [MTY] just like a man completely burns dung [to cook his food].

11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat, —For, Yahweh, hath spoken.

[The corpses of] any members of your family who die in cities will be eaten by dogs. And [the corpses of] any members of your family who die in the open fields will be eaten by vultures. [This will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said [that it will happen].’

12 Thou, therefore, arise, go to thine own house, —as thy feet are entering the city, the young man shall die.

So go back home. And as soon as you enter the city, your son will die.

13 Then shall all Israel lament for him, and bury him, for, this one, pertaining to Jeroboam, shall reach a burying-place, —because there hath been found in him something good toward Yahweh, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

All the Israeli people will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam’s family who will be buried [properly], because he is the only one of Jeroboam’s family with whom Yahweh is pleased.

14 Therefore will Yahweh raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam, this day, but why, even now?

Furthermore, Yahweh will appoint for himself a king to rule over Israel who will get rid of Jeroboam’s descendants. And that [will start to happen] today!

15 Therefore will Yahweh smite Israel, as a reed shaketh in water, and will root out Israel, from off this goodly soil, which he gave unto their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River (Euphrates), —because they have made their Sacred Stems, provoking Yahweh to anger:

Yahweh will punish the people of Israel; he will shake them like [the wind] shakes the reeds [that grow in] a stream. He will expel the Israeli people from this good land that he gave to our ancestors. He will scatter them into countries east of [the Euphrates] River, because they have caused him to become very angry by [worshiping statues of] the goddess Asherah.

16 That he may deliver up Israel, —on account of the sin of Jeroboam, which he committed, and which he caused, Israel, to commit.

Yahweh will abandon the Israeli people because of the sins that Jeroboam committed, sins which led the Israeli people to commit them.”

17 Then arose the wife of Jeroboam, and went her way and entered Tirzah, —as, she, was coming into the entrance hall, the young man died.

Jeroboam’s wife returned home to Tirzah [city, the new capital of Israel]. And just as she entered her house, her son died.

18 And, when they buried him, all Israel lamented him, —according to the word of Yahweh, which he spake through his servant Ahijah the prophet.

All the Israeli people mourned for him and buried him, which is what Yahweh had told his servant, the prophet Ahijah, would happen.

19 Now, the rest of the story of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold them! written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Everything else that Jeroboam did, and the record of wars that his [army] fought, and how he ruled, is written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.

20 And, the days which Jeroboam reigned, were twenty-two years, —and he slept with his fathers, and, Nadab his son, reigned, in his stead.

Jeroboam ruled for 22 years; then he died [EUP] and his son Nadab became king.

21 And, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Judah, —forty-one years old, was Rehoboam when he began to reign, and seventeen years, reigned he in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen to put his Name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and, his mother’s name, was Naamah, the Ammonitess.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam ruled Judah. He was 41 years old when he started to rule, and he ruled for 17 years. He ruled in Jerusalem, which is the city that Yahweh chose out of all the tribes of Israel to be the place where he should be worshiped [MTY]. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah; she was from the Ammon people-group.

22 And Judah did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, —and provoked him to jealousy, above all that their fathers had done, with their sins which they committed.

The people of Judah did things that Yahweh considered to be evil. They caused him to become angry because they committed more sins than their ancestors had committed: They worshiped many other gods instead of worshiping only Yahweh.

23 And, they also, built for themselves high places and pillars, and Sacred Stems, —upon every high hill, and under every green tree.

They built places to worship those gods; on high hills, and under big trees they set up [stone] pillars to worship the goddess Asherah.

24 Moreover also, there were, male devotees, in the land, —they did according to all the abominable practices of the nations, which Yahweh dispossessed from before the sons of Israel.

Also, there were male prostitutes at these places of worship. The Israeli people did the same disgraceful things that had been done by the people whom Yahweh had expelled while the Israelis were advancing through the land.

25 And it came to pass, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem;

When Rehoboam had been ruling for almost five years, King Shishak of Egypt came [with his army] to attack Jerusalem.

26 and took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the house of the king, yea, the whole, took he away, —and took away all the bucklers of gold, which, Solomon, had made.

They took away all the valuable things in the temple and in the king’s palace, including the gold shields that Solomon’s [workers] had made.

27 So King Rehoboam made, in their stead, bucklers of bronze, —and committed them unto the hand of the captains of the runners, who kept guard at the entrance of the house of the king.

King Rehoboam’s [workers] made bronze shields to replace them and entrusted them to officers who guarded the entrance to the king’s palace.

28 And so it was, whensoever the king went into the house of Yahweh, the runners bare them, and then brought them back into the chamber of the runners.

Every time that the king went into the temple, those guards carried those shields; and [when he left the temple] they returned the shields to the storeroom.

29 Now, the rest of the story of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are, they, not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Everything else that Rehoboam did is written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

30 And there was, war, between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, continually.

There were wars continually between [the armies of] Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

31 So then Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and, the name of his mother, was Naamah the Ammonitess, —and, Abijah his son, reigned, in his stead.

Then Rehoboam died [EUP], and he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’, where his ancestors were buried. Then his son Abijah became the king.