Day 125 of 365

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

²It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt,

³and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴"Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you."

⁵He said to them, "Depart for three days, then come back to me." The people departed.

⁶King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?"

⁷They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

⁹He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'"

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

¹¹Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day."

¹³The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him,

¹⁴and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of the Lord, that he might establish his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David." So Israel departed to their tents.

¹⁷But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

²⁰It happened, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

²¹When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

²²But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

²³"Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,

²⁴'Thus says the Lord, "You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is of me."'" So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way, according to the word of the Lord.

²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and he went out from there, and built Penuel.

²⁶Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

²⁷If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

²⁸Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"

²⁹He set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.

³⁰This thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan.

³¹He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

³²Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; he did so in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

³³He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.

¹Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Beth El: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

²He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, "Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men's bones on you.'"

³He gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."

⁴It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.

⁵The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

⁶The king answered the man of God, "Now entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again." The man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

⁷The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."

⁸The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;

⁹for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came.'"

¹⁰So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

¹¹Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.

¹²Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah.

¹³He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.

¹⁴He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."

¹⁵Then he said to him, "Come home with me, and eat bread."

¹⁶He said, "I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.

¹⁷For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, 'You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.'"

¹⁸He said to him, "I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" He lied to him.

¹⁹So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

²⁰It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back;

²¹and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,

²²but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, "Eat no bread, and drink no water"; your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'"

²³It happened, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

²⁴When he had gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.

²⁵Behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him."

²⁷He spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." They saddled it.

²⁸He went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey.

²⁹The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him.

³⁰He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹It happened, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

³²For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen."

³³After this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.

³⁴This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.

¹At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

²Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please get up and disguise yourself, that you won't be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Go to Shiloh. Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, who spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people.

³Take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child."

⁴Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.

⁵The Lord said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall tell her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman."

⁶It was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, "Come in, you wife of Jeroboam! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news.

⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: "Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel,

⁸and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes,

⁹but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back:

¹⁰therefore, behold, I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, until it is all gone.

¹¹He who dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and he who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat: for the Lord has spoken it."'

¹²Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

¹³All Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

¹⁴Moreover the Lord will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is day! What? Even now.

¹⁵For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.

¹⁶He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin."

¹⁷Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

¹⁸All Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

¹⁹The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

²⁰The days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

²¹Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

²²Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done.

²³For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;

²⁴and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.

²⁵It happened in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;

²⁶and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

²⁷King Rehoboam made in their place shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.

²⁸It was so, that as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

³⁰There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

³¹Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.

¹Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat began Abijam to reign over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

³He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.

⁴Nevertheless for David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem;

⁵because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

⁷The rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

⁸Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his place.

⁹In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Asa to reign over Judah.

¹⁰He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.

¹²He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

¹³Also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

¹⁴But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days.

¹⁵He brought into the house of the Lord the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁶There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

¹⁷Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,

¹⁹"There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me."

²⁰Ben Hadad listened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel Beth Maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

²¹It happened, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and lived in Tirzah.

²²Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Judah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built; and king Asa built therewith Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

²³Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

²⁴Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

²⁵Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years.

²⁶He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁷Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

²⁸Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha killed him, and reigned in his place.

²⁹It happened that, as soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Jeroboam: he did not leave to Jeroboam any who breathed, until he had destroyed him; according to the saying of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite;

³⁰for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger.

³¹Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

³²There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

³³In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years.

³⁴He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.