1 Kings 14

Jeroboam’s Son Gets Sick & God’s Judgment Hits

1 At that time, Abijah, Jeroboam’s son, got real sick.

2 Jeroboam told his wife, “Listen, disguise yourself so nobody knows you are my wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there, the same dude who told me I was going to be king over these people.”

3 “Take ten loaves of bread with you, some crackers, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what is going to happen to the kid.”

4 So Jeroboam’s wife did just that. She got up, went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah’s crib. Now, Ahijah could not see, because his eyes were messed up from being old.

5 But the Lord had already told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is sick. Tell her such-and-such. When she comes in, she is going to be faking like she someone else.”

6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she walked through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you trying to front like you someone else, I got some bad news for you, straight from the jump.”

7 “Go tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I snatched you up from the block and made you a leader over My people Israel.”’”

8 “’I tore the kingdom away from David’s family and gave it to you. But you have not been like My boy David, who kept My commands and followed Me with his whole heart, doing only what was right in My eyes.’”

9 “’Instead, you went and did even worse than all the dudes before you. You went and made other gods, and ugly metal idols, to tick Me off, and you threw Me behind your back!’”

10 “’So because of that, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I am going to cut off every male in Jeroboam’s family, whether slave or free, in Israel, and I am going to sweep away the house of Jeroboam, just like you sweep away trash until there is nothing left.’”

11 “’Anyone from Jeroboam’s family who dies in the city, the dogs are going to eat them. And anyone who dies in the field, the birds of the sky is going to feast on them.’ Because the Lord Himself has spoken it!”

12 “So you better get up and bounce back to your crib. As soon as your feet hit the city, the kid is going to die.”

13 “And all Israel will mourn him and bury him, because out of Jeroboam’s whole family, he is the only one who is going to get buried. That is because something good about the Lord, the God of Israel, was found in him in the house of Jeroboam.”

14 “And the Lord is going to set up a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam that very day. What, Even right now!”

15 “The Lord is going to strike Israel, like a reed shaking in the water. He is going to pull Israel up by the roots from this good land He gave their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they made these Asherah poles, ticking off the Lord.”

16 “He is going to give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit.”

17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and left, and she came to Tirzah. As soon as she walked through the doorway of the house, the kid passed away.

18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned him, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 As for the rest of Jeroboam’s story, how he waged war and how he ruled, is it not all written in the book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel,

20 Jeroboam reigned for twenty-two years. Then he passed away and joined his ancestors, and his son Nadab took over as king.

Rehoboam’s Reign in Judah

21 Now, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His Name there. His mama’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite.

22 Judah did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. They ticked Him off even more than their ancestors did with all the sins they committed.

23 They also built high places for themselves, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They did all the disgusting things of the nations that the Lord had kicked out from in front of the Israelites.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt rolled up and attacked Jerusalem.

26 He snatched all the treasures from the Lord’s temple and the treasures from the king’s palace. He took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made.

27 So King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and gave them to the commanders of the guards who protected the entrance of the king’s palace.

28 Whenever the king went into the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry them, and then they would bring them back to the guardroom.

29 As for the rest of Rehoboam’s story, and all he did, is it not written in the book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah,

30 There was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

31 Rehoboam passed away and joined his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mama’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite. And his son Abijam took over as king.