1 Kings 14

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

At that time Abiyah the son of Jerobo'am fell sick.

2 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.

And Jerobo'am said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that people may not know that thou art the wife of Jerobo'am; and go to Shiloh: behold, there is Achiyahu the prophet, who spoke of me that [I should become] king over this people.

3 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.”

And take with thee ten loaves of bread and spice-cakes, and a cruise of honey, and go to him: he will tell thee what is to become of the lad.

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

And Jerobo'am's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Achiyahu. But Achiyahu was not able to see; for his eyes were set by reason of his high age.

5 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.

And the Lord had said unto Achiyahu, Behold the wife of Jerobo'am is coming to inquire a word of thee about her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou speak unto her; for it will be, when she cometh in, that she will feign to be another.

6 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.

And it happened, when Achiyahu heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jerobo'am; why is this, that thou feignest to be another? but I am sent to thee with a hard message.

7 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.

Go, say to Jerobo'am, Thus hath said the Lord the God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from the midst of the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,

8 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.

And I rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it unto thee; whereas thou hast not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed after me with all his heart, to do only what is right in my eyes;

9 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.

And thou hast done more evil than all that were before thee; and thou art gone and hast made unto thyself other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and me hast thou cast behind thy back:

10 ‘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].

Therefore, behold, will I bring evil upon the house of Jerobo'am, and will cut off from Jerobo'am every male, [also] the guarded and fortified in Israel; and I will sweep out after the house of Jerobo'am as one sweepeth away the dung till there be nothing left of it.

11 [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].’

Him that dieth of Jerobo'am in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the heavens eat; for the Lord hath spoken it.

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

But thou, arise now, go to thy own house: when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

13 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.

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for this one alone shall come of Jerobo'am's [family] to the grave; because there hath been found in him some good thing toward the Lord the God of Israel in the house of Jerobo'am.

14 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!

And the Lord will raise up unto himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jerobo'am what is here this day, and what will be after this.

15 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.

And the Lord will smite Israel, as the reed is shaken in the water, and he will pull up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them on the other side of the river; because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger.

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

And he will give Israel up for the sake of the sins of Jerobo'am, who did sin, and who induced Israel to sin.

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

And Jerobo'am's wife arose, and departed, and came to Thirzah; [and] as she came to the threshold of the door, the lad died:

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

And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Achiyahu the prophet.

19 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’.

And the rest of the acts of Jerobo'am, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

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

And the days which Jerobo'am reigned were two and twenty years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son became king in his stead.

21 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.

And Rehobo'am the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehobo'am was forty and one years old when he became king, and seventeen years did he reign in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Na'amah the 'Ammonitess.

22 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.

And Judah did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, and they moved him to wrath more than all that their fathers had done, with their sins which they committed.

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

And they also built themselves high-places, and standing images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

24 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.

And sodomites also were in the land: they acted in accordance with all the abominable deeds of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the children of Israel.

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

And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehobo'am, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:

26 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.

And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; yea, every thing did he take away; and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

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

And king Rehobo'am made in their stead shields of copper, and committed them for keeping into the hand of the chiefs of the runners, who kept guard at the door of the king's house.

28 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.

And it happened whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, that the runners used to bear them, and carried them then back into the apartment of the runners.

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

And the rest of the acts of Rehobo'am, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

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

And there was war between Rehobo'am and Jerobo'am all the days.

31 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.

And Rehobo'am slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Na'amah the 'Ammonitess. And Abiyam his son became king in his stead.