Category: 1 Kings

[13:33] King Jeroboam of Israel still did not turn from his evil ways but continued to choose priests from ordinary families to serve at the altars he had built. He ordained as priest anyone who wanted to be one.

[13:34] This sin on his part brought about the ruin and total destruction of his dynasty.

[14:1] At that time King Jeroboam's son Abijah got sick.

[14:2] Jeroboam said to his wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you, and go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives, the one who said I would be king of Israel.

[14:3] Take him ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Ask him what is going to happen to our son, and he will tell you.”

[14:4] So she went to Ahijah's home in Shiloh. Old age had made Ahijah blind.

[14:5] The Lord had told him that Jeroboam's wife was coming to ask him about her son, who was sick. And the Lord told Ahijah what to say. When Jeroboam's wife arrived, she pretended to be someone else.

[14:6] But when Ahijah heard her coming in the door, he said, “Come in. I know you are Jeroboam's wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have bad news for you.

[14:7] Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to him: ‘I chose you from among the people and made you the ruler of my people Israel.

[14:8] I took the kingdom away from David's descendants and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who was completely loyal to me, obeyed my commands, and did only what I approve of.

[14:9] You have committed far greater sins than those who ruled before you. You have rejected me and have aroused my anger by making idols and metal images to worship.

[14:10] Because of this I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will kill all your male descendants, young and old alike. I will get rid of your family; they will be swept away like dung.

[14:11] Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

[14:12] And Ahijah went on to say to Jeroboam's wife, “Now go back home. As soon as you enter the town, your son will die.

[14:13] All the people of Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He will be the only member of Jeroboam's family who will be properly buried, because he is the only one with whom the Lord, the God of Israel, is pleased.

[14:14] The Lord is going to place a king over Israel who will put an end to Jeroboam's dynasty.

[14:15] The Lord will punish Israel, and she will shake like a reed shaking in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land which he gave to their ancestors, and he will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have aroused his anger by making idols of the goddess Asherah.

[14:16] The Lord will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and led the people of Israel into sin.”

[14:17] Jeroboam's wife went back to Tirzah. Just as she entered her home, the child died.

[14:18] The people of Israel mourned for him and buried him, as the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

[14:19] Everything else that King Jeroboam did, the wars he fought and how he ruled, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[14:20] Jeroboam ruled as king for twenty-two years. He died and was buried, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.

[14:21] Solomon's son Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the territory of Israel as the place where he was to be worshiped. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon.

[14:22] The people of Judah sinned against the Lord and did more to arouse his anger against them than all their ancestors had done.

[14:23] They built places of worship for false gods and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees.

[14:24] Worst of all, there were men and women who served as prostitutes at those pagan places of worship. The people of Judah practiced all the shameful things done by the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced into the country.

[14:25] In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

[14:26] He took away all the treasures in the Temple and in the palace, including the gold shields Solomon had made.

[14:27] To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields and entrusted them to the officers responsible for guarding the palace gates.

[14:28] Every time the king went to the Temple, the guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.

[14:29] Everything else that King Rehoboam did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

[14:30] During all this time Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly at war with each other.

[14:31] Rehoboam died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City and his son Abijah succeeded him as king.

[15:1] In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah,

[15:2] and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.

[15:3] He committed the same sins as his father and was not completely loyal to the Lord his God, as his great-grandfather David had been.

[15:4] But for David's sake the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem and to keep Jerusalem secure.

[15:5] The Lord did this because David had done what pleased him and had never disobeyed any of his commands, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

[15:6] The war which had begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout Abijah's lifetime.

[15:7] And everything else that Abijah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

[15:8] Abijah died and was buried in David's City, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

[15:9] In the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,

[15:10] and he ruled forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.

[15:11] Asa did what pleased the Lord, as his ancestor David had done.

[15:12] He expelled from the country all the male and female prostitutes serving at the pagan places of worship, and he removed all the idols his predecessors had made.

[15:13] He removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol and burned it in Kidron Valley.

[15:14] Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship, he remained faithful to the Lord all his life.

[15:15] He placed in the Temple all the objects his father had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.

[15:16] King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

[15:17] Baasha invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.

[15:18] So King Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the Temple and the palace, and sent it by some of his officials to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, with this message:

[15:19] “Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory.”

[15:20] King Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the area near Lake Galilee, and the whole territory of Naphtali.

[15:21] When King Baasha heard what had happened, he stopped fortifying Ramah and went to Tirzah.

[15:22] Then King Asa sent out an order throughout all of Judah requiring everyone, without exception, to help carry away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had been using to fortify it. With this material Asa fortified Mizpah and Geba, a city in the territory of Benjamin.

[15:23] Everything else that King Asa did, his brave deeds and the towns he fortified, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. But in his old age he was crippled by a foot disease.

[15:24] Asa died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

[15:25] In the second year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Jeroboam's son Nadab became king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.

[15:26] Like his father before him, he sinned against the Lord and led Israel into sin.

[15:27] Baasha son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and killed him as Nadab and his army were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia.

[15:28] This happened during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. And so Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel.

[15:29] At once he began killing all the members of Jeroboam's family. In accordance with what the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh, all of Jeroboam's family were killed; not one survived.

[15:30] This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by the sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.

[15:31] Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[15:32] King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

[16:8] In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for two years.

[16:9] Zimri, one of his officers who was in charge of half of the king's chariots, plotted against him. One day in Tirzah, Elah was getting drunk in the home of Arza, who was in charge of the palace.

[16:10] Zimri entered the house, assassinated Elah, and succeeded him as king. This happened in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.

[16:11] As soon as Zimri became king he killed off all the members of Baasha's family. Every male relative and friend was put to death.

[16:12] And so, in accordance with what the Lord had said against Baasha through the prophet Jehu, Zimri killed all the family of Baasha.

[16:13] Because of their idolatry and because they led Israel into sin, Baasha and his son Elah had aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel.

[16:14] Everything else that Elah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[16:15] In the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Zimri ruled in Tirzah over Israel for seven days. The Israelite troops were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia,

[16:16] and when they heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and assassinated him, then and there they all proclaimed their commander Omri king of Israel.

[16:17] Omri and his troops left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah.

[16:18] When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the palace's inner fortress, set the palace on fire, and died in the flames.

[16:19] This happened because of his sins against the Lord. Like his predecessor Jeroboam, he displeased the Lord by his own sins and by leading Israel into sin.

[16:20] Everything else that Zimri did, including the account of his conspiracy, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.