HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 686
1 KIN G S 1 5
6 So when Ahijah heard her footsteps at the
door, he called out, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone
else?” Then he told her, “I have bad news for
you. 7 Give your husband, Jeroboam, this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I promoted you from the ranks of the common
people and made you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I ripped the kingdom away from the family of David and gave it to you. But you have not
been like my servant David, who obeyed my
commands and followed me with all his heart
and always did whatever I wanted. 9 You have
done more evil than all who lived before you.
You have made other gods for yourself and
have made me furious with your gold calves.
And since you have turned your back on me,
10 I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will
destroy every one of your male descendants,
slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel. I will
burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up
trash until it is all gone. 11 The members of Jeroboam’s family who die in the city will be eaten
by dogs, and those who die in the field will be
eaten by vultures. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
12 Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam’s wife, “Go
on home, and when you enter the city, the child
will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury
him. He is the only member of your family who
will have a proper burial, for this child is the
only good thing that the Lord, the God of Israel,
sees in the entire family of Jeroboam.
14 “In addition, the Lord will raise up a king
over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! 15 Then
the Lord will shake Israel like a reed whipped
about in a stream. He will uproot the people
of Israel from this good land that he gave their
ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River,* for they have angered the Lord
with the Asherah poles they have set up for worship. 16 He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam
sinned and made Israel sin along with him.”
17 So Jeroboam’s wife returned to Tirzah, and
the child died just as she walked through the
door of her home. 18 And all Israel buried him
and mourned for him, as the Lord had promised through the prophet Ahijah.
19 The rest of the events in Jeroboam’s reign,
including all his wars and how he ruled, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of
Israel. 20 Jeroboam reigned in Israel twenty-two
years. When Jeroboam died, his son Nadab became the next king.
Rehoboam Rules in Judah
21 Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was
king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when
he became king, and he reigned seventeen
years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel as the
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place to honor his name. Rehoboam’s mother
was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.
22 During Rehoboam’s reign, the people of Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, provoking his anger with their sin, for it was even
worse than that of their ancestors. 23 For they also
built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill
and under every green tree. 24 There were even
male and female shrine prostitutes throughout
the land. The people imitated the detestable
practices of the pagan nations the Lord had
driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign,
King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked
Jerusalem. 26 He ransacked the treasuries of
the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he
stole everything, including all the gold shields
Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes,
and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king
went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards
would also take the shields and then return
them to the guardroom.
29 The rest of the events in Rehoboam’s reign
and everything he did are recorded in The Book
of the History of the Kings of Judah. 30 There was
constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 When Rehoboam died, he was buried
among his ancestors in the City of David. His
mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.
Then his son Abijam* became the next king.
Abijam Rules in Judah
Abijam* began to rule over Judah in the
eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign in
Israel. 2 He reigned in Jerusalem three years.
His mother was Maacah, the granddaughter of
Absalom.*
3 He committed the same sins as his father
before him, and he was not faithful to the Lord
his God, as his ancestor David had been. 4 But
for David’s sake, the Lord his God allowed his
descendants to continue ruling, shining like a
lamp, and he gave Abijam a son to rule after him
in Jerusalem. 5 For David had done what was
pleasing in the Lord’s sight and had obeyed the
Lord’s commands throughout his life, except in
the affair concerning Uriah the Hittite.
6 There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam* throughout Abijam’s reign. 7 The rest of
the events in Abijam’s reign and everything he
did are recorded in The Book of the History of the
Kings of Judah. There was constant war between
Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 When Abijam died, he
15
14:15 Hebrew the river. 14:31 Also known as Abijah.
15:1 Also known as Abijah. 15:2 Hebrew Abishalom (also
in 15:10), a variant spelling of Absalom; compare 2 Chr 11:20.
15:6 As in a few Hebrew and Greek manuscripts; most Hebrew
manuscripts read between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.