1 Kings 14

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

At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam was 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 Jeroboam says to his wife, “Now rise and change yourself, and they do not know that you [are the] wife of Jeroboam, and you have gone to Shiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet [is] there; he spoke to me of [being] 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 you have taken in your hand ten loaves, and crumbs, and a bottle of honey, and have gone to him; he declares to you what becomes of the youth.”

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 the wife of Jeroboam does so, and rises, and goes to Shiloh, and enters the house of Ahijah, and Ahijah is not able to see, for his eyes have stood because of his 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 YHWH said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from you concerning her son, for he is sick; thus and thus you speak to her, and it comes to pass at her coming in, that she is making herself strange.”

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 comes to pass, at Ahijah’s hearing the sound of her feet [as] she came to the opening, that he says, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why is this [that] you are making yourself strange? And I am sent to you [with] a sharp thing.

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 Jeroboam, Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Because that I have made you high out of the midst of the people, and appoint you leader 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 tear the kingdom from the house of David, and give it to you—and you have not been as My servant David who kept My commands, and who walked after Me with all his heart, to only do that which [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 you do evil above all who have been before you, and go, and make other gods and molten images for yourself to provoke Me to anger, and you have cast Me behind your 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, I am bringing calamity to the house of Jeroboam, and have cut off to Jeroboam those sitting on the wall—shut up and left—in Israel, and have put away the posterity of the house of Jeroboam, as one puts away the dung until its consumption;

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].’

the dogs eat him who dies of Jeroboam in a city, and birds of the heavens eat him who dies in a field, for YHWH has spoken.

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

And you, rise, go to your house; in the going in of your feet to the city, the boy has died;

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 has mourned for him, and buried him, for this one—by himself—of Jeroboam comes to a grave, because there has been found in him a good thing toward YHWH, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

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 YHWH has raised up for Himself a king over Israel who cuts off the house of Jeroboam this day—and what? Even now!

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 YHWH has struck Israel as the reed is moved by the waters, and has plucked Israel from off this good ground that He gave to their fathers, and scattered them beyond the River, because that they made their Asherim, provoking YHWH 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 gives up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned, and that he caused 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 the wife of Jeroboam rises, and goes, and comes to Tirzah; she has come to the threshold of the house, and the youth dies;

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 bury him, and all Israel mourns for him, according to the word of YHWH that he spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah 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 matters of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, behold, they are written on the scroll 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 that Jeroboam reigned [are] twenty-two years, and he lies with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigns 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 Rehoboam son of Solomon has reigned in Judah; Rehoboam [is] a son of forty-one years in his reigning, and he has reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that YHWH chose to set His Name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and the name of his mother [is] Naamah 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 does evil in the eyes of YHWH, and they make Him zealous above all that their fathers did by their sins that they have sinned.

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 build—they also—for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and Asherim, on every high height, 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 a whoremonger has also been in the land; they have done according to all the abominations of the nations that YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons 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 comes to pass, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt has gone 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 takes the treasures of the house of YHWH, and the treasures of the house of the king, indeed, he has taken the whole; and he takes all the shields of gold that Solomon 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 Rehoboam makes shields of bronze in their stead, and has made [them] a charge on the hand of the heads of the runners, those keeping the opening of the house of the king,

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 comes to pass, from the going in of the king to the house of YHWH, the runners carry them, and have brought them back to the chamber 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 matters of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

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

And there has been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam [for] 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 Rehoboam lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the City of David, and the name of his mother [is] Naamah the Ammonitess, and his son Abijam reigns in his stead.