Holman Christian Standard Bible (107 page)

“I am,” he said.

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

16
 But he answered, “I cannot go back with you, eat bread, or drink water with you in this place,
17
 for a message came to me by the word of the
Lord
: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or go back by the way you came.' ”

18
 He said to him, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the
Lord
: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' ” The old prophet deceived him, 
19
 and the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20
 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the
Lord
came to the prophet who had brought him back,
21
 and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the
Lord
says: ‘Because you rebelled against the command of the
Lord
and did not keep the command that the
Lord
your God commanded you —
22
 but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place that He said to you, “Do not eat bread and do not drink water” — your corpse will never reach the grave of your fathers.' ” 

23
 So after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back.
24
 When he left, a lion attacked him along the way and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too.

25
 There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26
 When the prophet who had brought him back from his way heard about it, he said, “He is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the
Lord
. The
Lord
has given him to the lion, and it has mauled and killed him, according to the word of the
Lord
that He spoke to him.”

27
 Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled it, 
28
 and he went and found the corpse of the man of God thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse or mauled the donkey.
29
 So the prophet lifted the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came into the city to mourn and bury him.
30
 Then he laid the corpse in his own grave, and they mourned over him: “Oh, my brother! ” 

31
 After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, you must bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones,
32
 for the word that he cried out by a revelation from the
Lord
against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria is certain to happen.” 

33
 After all this Jeroboam did not repent of his evil way but again set up priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained whoever so desired it, and they became priests of the high places. 
34
 This was the sin that caused the house of Jeroboam to be wiped out and annihilated from the face of the earth. 

1 Kings

Disaster on the House of Jeroboam

14
At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became sick. 
2
 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go disguise yourself, so they won't know that you're Jeroboam's wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who told about me becoming king over this people. 
3
 Take with you 10 loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

4
 Jeroboam's wife did that: she went to Shiloh and arrived at Ahijah's house. Ahijah could not see; his gaze was fixed due to his age. 
5
 But the
Lord
had said to Ahijah, “Jeroboam's wife is coming soon to ask you about her son, for he is sick. You are to say such and such to her. When she arrives, she will be disguised.” 

6
 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised? I have bad news for you.
7
 Go tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the
Lord
God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over My people Israel,
8
 tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. But you were not like My servant David, who kept My commands and followed Me with all of his heart, doing only what is right in My eyes.
9
 You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you. In order to provoke Me, you have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and cast images, but you have flung Me behind your back. 
10
 Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam:

12
 “As for you, get up and go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy will die. 
13
 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He alone out of Jeroboam's house will be put in the family tomb, because out of the house of Jeroboam the
Lord
God of Israel found something good only in him. 
14
 The
Lord
will raise up for Himself a king over Israel, who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam. This is the day, yes, even today!
15
 For the
Lord
will strike Israel and the people will shake as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that He gave to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates because they made their
•Asherah
poles, provoking the
Lord
. 
16
 He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam's sins that he committed and caused Israel to commit.” 

17
 Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As she was crossing the threshold of the house, the boy died.
18
 He was buried, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the
Lord
He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the prophet. 

19
 As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam's reign, how he waged war and how he reigned, note that they are written in the Historical Record of Israel's Kings.
20
 The length of Jeroboam's reign was 22 years. He rested with his fathers, and his son Nadab became king in his place. 

Judah's King Rehoboam

21
 Now Rehoboam, Solomon's son, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king; he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city where
•Yahweh
had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name. Rehoboam's mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. 

22
 Judah did what was evil in the
Lord
's eyes. They provoked Him to jealous anger more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed.
23
 They also built for themselves
•high
places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;
24
 there were even male cult prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the
Lord
had dispossessed before the Israelites. 

25
 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem. 
26
 He seized the treasuries of the
Lord
's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made. 
27
 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them into the care of the captains of the royal escorts who guarded the entrance to the king's palace.
28
 Whenever the king entered the
Lord
's temple, the royal escorts would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the royal escorts' armory. 

29
 The rest of the events of Rehoboam's reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.
30
 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns. 
31
 Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam became king in his place.

1 Kings

Judah's King Abijam

15
In the eighteenth year of Israel's King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah
2
 and reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

3
 Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed, and he was not completely devoted to the
Lord
his God as his ancestor David had been. 
4
 But because of David, the
Lord
his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem. 
5
 For David did what was right in the
Lord
's eyes, and he did not turn aside from anything He had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

6
 There had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam's life. 
7
 The rest of the events of Abijam's reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings. There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 
8
 Abijam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. 

Judah's King Asa

9
 In the twentieth year of Israel's King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah
10
 and reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

11
 Asa did what was right in the
Lord
's eyes, as his ancestor David had done. 
12
 He banished the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all of the idols that his fathers had made. 
13
 He also removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of
•Asherah
. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 
14
 The
•high
places were not taken away; but Asa's heart was completely devoted to the
Lord
his entire life. 
15
 He brought his father's consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the
Lord
's temple: silver, gold, and utensils. 

16
 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. 
17
 Israel's King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to deny anyone access to Judah's King Asa.
18
 So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the
Lord
's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace and put it into the hands of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, saying,
19
 “There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.”

20
 Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinnereth, and the whole land of Naphtali. 
21
 When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. 
22
 Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah with them.

23
 The rest of all the events of Asa's reign, along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings. But in his old age he developed a disease in his feet. 
24
 Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoshaphat became king in his place.

Israel's King Nadab

25
 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Judah's King Asa; he reigned over Israel two years.
26
 Nadab did what was evil in the
Lord
's sight and followed the example of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit. 

27
 Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.
28
 In the third year of Judah's King Asa, Baasha killed Nadab and reigned in his place.