1 Kings 14-15

Common English Bible

Abijah’s illness

14 At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. ² Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please go with a disguise so no one will recognize you as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh where the prophet Ahijah is. He told me I would be king of this people. ³ Take ten loaves of bread, cakes, and a bottle of honey with you. Go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” ⁴ Jeroboam’s wife did precisely this. She left and went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah had become blind in his old age.

⁵ The Lord said to Ahijah, “Look! Jeroboam’s wife has come seeking a word from you about her son. He is sick. Say this and that to her. When she comes, she will be disguised.”

⁶ When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming through the doorway, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why have you disguised yourself? I have hard news for you. ⁷ Tell Jeroboam: This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: When I lifted you up from among the people, I appointed you as a leader over my people Israel. ⁸ I tore the kingdom from David’s house and gave it to you. But you haven’t been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart by doing only what is right in my eyes. ⁹ Instead, you have done more evil than any who were before you. You have made other gods and metal images to anger me. You have turned your back on me. ¹⁰ Therefore, I’m going to bring disaster on Jeroboam’s house! Because of Jeroboam, I will eliminate everyone who urinates on a wall, whether slave or free. Then I will set fire to the house of Jeroboam, as one burns dung until it is gone. ¹¹ Dogs will eat any of Jeroboam’s family who die in town. Birds will eat those who die in the field. The Lord has spoken!

¹² “As for you, get up and go back home. When your feet enter the town, the boy will die. ¹³ All Israel will mourn for him and will bury him. Out of the whole line of Jeroboam, he alone will have a tomb, because only in him did Israel’s God, the Lord, find something good. ¹⁴ For this reason the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam. This begins today. What’s that? Even now!^{[a] 15} The Lord will strike Israel so that it shakes like a reed in water. He will uproot Israel from this fertile land that he gave to their ancestors and their offspring, and he will scatter them across the Euphrates River, because they made the Lord angry by making their sacred poles.^{[b] 16} Because of the sins Jeroboam committed, and because he made Israel sin too, God will give Israel up.”

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife left and went to Tirzah. When she stepped across the threshold of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸ All Israel buried him and mourned him in agreement with the Lord’s word spoken through his servant the prophet Ahijah. ¹⁹ The rest of Jeroboam’s deeds—how he fought and how he ruled—are written in the official records of Israel’s kings. ²⁰ Jeroboam ruled twenty-two years and he lay down with his ancestors. His son Nadab succeeded him as king.

Rehoboam rules Judah

²¹ Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, ruled over Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from among all the tribes of Israel to set his name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah from Ammon. ²² Judah did evil in the Lord’s eyes. The sins they committed made the Lord angrier than anything their ancestors had done. ²³ They also built shrines, standing stones, and sacred poles^[c] on top of every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ Moreover, the consecrated workers^[d] in the land did detestable things, just like those nations that the Lord had removed among the Israelites.

²⁵ During King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He seized the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took everything, even all the gold shields that Solomon had made. ²⁷ King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and assigned them to the officers of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields and then return them to the guardroom. ²⁹ The rest of Rehoboam’s deeds and all that he accomplished, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? ³⁰ There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ³¹ When Rehoboam died, he was buried with his ancestors in David’s City. His mother’s name was Naamah from Ammon. His son Abijam^[e] succeeded him as king.

Abijam rules Judah

15 Abijam^[f] became king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, and she was Abishalom’s daughter. ³ Abijam followed all the sinful ways of his father before him. He didn’t follow the Lord his God with all his heart like his ancestor David. ⁴ Even so, on account of David, the Lord his God gave Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem by supporting his son who succeeded him and by preserving Jerusalem. ⁵ This was because David did the right thing in the Lord’s eyes. David didn’t deviate from anything the Lord commanded him throughout his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ⁶ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as Abijam lived. ⁷ The rest of Abijam’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijam lay down with his ancestors; he was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

Asa rules Judah

⁹ In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah. ¹⁰ He ruled in Jerusalem for forty-one years. His grandmother’s^[g] name was Maacah; she was Abishalom’s daughter. ¹¹ Asa did the right things in the Lord’s eyes, just like his father David. ¹² He removed the consecrated workers^[h] from the land, and he did away with all the worthless idols that his predecessors had made. ¹³ He even removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she had made an image of Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁴ Though the shrines weren’t eliminated, nevertheless Asa remained committed with all his heart to the Lord throughout his life. ¹⁵ He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver and gold equipment that he and his father had dedicated. ¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Israel’s King Baasha throughout their lifetimes. ¹⁷ Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area.

¹⁸ Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, and he gave them to his officials. Then King Asa sent them with the following message to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, Tabrimmon’s son and Hezion’s grandson, who ruled from Damascus: ¹⁹ “Let’s make a covenant similar to the one between our fathers. Since I have already sent you a gift of silver and gold, break your covenant with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will leave me alone.” ²⁰ Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel, attacking Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, along with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ As soon as Baasha learned this, he stopped building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. ²² King Asa issued an order to every Judean without exception: all the people carried away the stone and timber that Baasha was using to build Ramah, and King Asa used it to build Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. ²³ The rest of Asa’s deeds, his strength, and all that he did, as well as the towns that he built, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? When he was old, Asa developed a severe foot disease. ²⁴ He died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City.^[i] His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

Nadab rules Israel

²⁵ Jeroboam’s son Nadab became king of Israel in the second year of Judah’s King Asa. He ruled over Israel for two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the Lord’s eyes by walking in the way of his father Jeroboam and the sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. ²⁷ Baasha, Ahijah’s son from the house of Issachar, plotted against him and attacked him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Nadab and all Israel were laying siege against Gibbethon. ²⁸ Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Judah’s King Asa and ruled in Nadab’s place.

²⁹ When he became king, Baasha attacked the entire house of Jeroboam. He didn’t allow any living person to survive in Jeroboam’s family; he wiped them out according to the Lord’s word spoken by the Lord’s servant Ahijah of Shiloh. ³⁰ This happened because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit, and because he angered the Lord, Israel’s God. ³¹ The rest of Nadab’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings? ³² There was war between Asa and Israel’s King Baasha throughout their lifetimes.

Baasha rules Israel

³³ In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha, Ahijah’s son, became king over all Israel. He ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the Lord’s eyes by walking in Jeroboam’s ways and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.