Jeroboam's son dies

1About the same time, Abijah son of Jeroboam got sick. 2-3Jeroboam 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.

4She got ready and left for Ahijah's house in Shiloh.

Ahijah was now old and blind, 5but 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. 6But 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. 7Give 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. 8I 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 rubbish.14.10: 1 K 15.29. 11Dogs 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!”

12That's the LORD's message to your husband. As for you, go back home, and straight after you get there, your son will die. 13Everyone 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.

14The LORD will soon choose a new king of Israel, who will destroy Jeroboam's family. And I mean very soon.14.14 And I mean very soon: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. 15The people of Israel have made the LORD angry by setting up sacred poles14.15 sacred poles: Or “trees”, used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility. for worshipping 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 River Euphrates. 16Jeroboam sinned and caused the Israelites to sin. Now the LORD will desert Israel.

17Jeroboam's wife left and went back home to the town of Tirzah. As soon as she set foot in her house, her son died. 18Everyone in Israel came and mourned at his funeral, just as the LORD's servant Ahijah had said.

Jeroboam dies

19Everything else Jeroboam did while he was king, including the battles he won, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. 20He was king of Israel for twenty-two years, then he died, and his son Nadab became king.

Kings of Judah and Israel

King Rehoboam of Judah

(2 Chronicles 11.5—12.16)

21Rehoboam son of Solomon was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled seventeen years from Jerusalem, the city where the LORD had chosen to be worshipped. His mother Naamah was from Ammon.

22The people of Judah disobeyed the LORD and made him even angrier than their ancestors had. 23They also built their own local shrines14.23 local shrines: See the note at 3.2. and stone images of foreign gods, and they set up sacred poles14.23 sacred poles: See the note at 14.15. for worshipping the goddess Asherah on every hill and in the shade of large trees.14.23: 2 K 17.9,10. 24Even worse, they allowed prostitutes14.24 prostitutes: Men and women sometimes served at the local shrines as prostitutes in the worship of Canaanite gods, but the LORD had forbidden the people of Israel to worship in this way (see Deuteronomy 23.17,18). at the shrines, and followed the disgusting customs of the foreign nations that the LORD had forced out of Canaan.14.24: Dt 23.17.

25After Rehoboam had been king for four years, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.14.25: 2 Ch 12.2-8. 26He took everything of value from the temple and the palace, including Solomon's gold shields.14.26: 1 K 10.16,17; 2 Ch 9.15,16.

27Rehoboam had bronze shields made to replace the gold ones, and he ordered the guards at the city gates to keep them safe. 28Whenever 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 had finished.

29Everything else Rehoboam did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. 30He and Jeroboam were constantly at war. 31Rehoboam's mother Naamah was from Ammon, but when Rehoboam died, he was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem.14.31 Jerusalem: See the note at 2.10,11. His son Abijam then became king.