3 Kingdoms 14

¹ ^[1]At that time Abia the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ² And Jeroboam said to his wife, ^[2]Arise, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Selom: behold, there is Achia the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. ³ And take with thee ^[3]loaves for the man of God, and a cake for his children, and raisins, and a pot of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. ⁴ And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Selom, and came to the house of Achia. ^[4]And the man was too old to see; and his eyes were dim by reason of his age. ⁵ And the Lord said to Achia, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say to ^[5]her. And it came to pass, when she came in, that she feigned herself to be another woman. ⁶ And it was so, when Achia heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? and I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, ⁸ and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do ^[6]that which was right in mine eyes; ⁹ but hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee ^[7]other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me ^[8]behind thy body: ¹⁰ ^[9]therefore I will bring evil ^[10]upon thee, upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and ^[11]will gather them out of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is gathered, till it be all gone. ¹¹ ^[12]The dead of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the birds of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it. ¹² And arise thou, get thee to thine own house: and when ^[13]thy foot entereth into the city, the child shall die. ¹³ And all 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 God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴ Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who ^[14]shall smite the house of Jeroboam this day: but what? even now. ¹⁵ The Lord shall smite Israel, as ^[15]the wind is moved in the water, and he shall ^[16]make an end of Israel from off this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶ And ^[17]the Lord shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. ¹⁷ And Jeroboam’s wife arose, ^[18]and went to the land of Sarira: ^[19]and it came to pass, as she entered into the porch of the house, that the child died; ¹⁸ and they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Achia the prophet. ¹⁹ And the 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. ²⁰ And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nabat his son reigned in his stead.

²¹ And Roboam son of Solomon ruled over Judah. Roboam ^[20]was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in the city Jerusalem, which the Lord chose to put his name there out of all the tribes of Israel: and his mother’s name was Naama the Ammonitess. ²² And Roboam did evil in the sight of the Lord; and he provoked him in all the things which their fathers did in their sins which they sinned. ²³ And they built for themselves high places, and pillars, and planted groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree. ²⁴ And there was a conspiracy in the land, and they did ^[21]according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord removed ^[22]from before the children of Israel.

²⁵ And it came to pass in the fifth year ^[23]of the reign of Roboam, Susakim king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; ²⁶ and took all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and the golden spears which David took out of the hand of the sons of Adrazaar king of Suba, and brought them into Jerusalem, even all that he took, and ^[24]the golden ^[25]shields which Solomon had made. ²⁷ And King Roboam made brazen shields instead of them; and the chiefs of the ^[26]body guard, who kept the gate of the house of the king, were placed in charge over them. ²⁸ And it came to pass when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the body guard took them up, and fixed them in the ^[27]chamber of the body guard.

²⁹ And the rest of the ^[28]history of Roboam, and all that he did, behold, are they not written in the book of the chronicles ^[29]of the kings of Judah? ³⁰ And there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam continually. ³¹ And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Abiu his son reigned in his stead.

Notes

14:1 Alex. has verses 1–20; Vat. omits. English supplied from the KJV, adapted to Alex. in Brenton’s idiom. The Vatican parallel after 12:24 is omitted with Alex. ↩
14:2 Arise: Heb. adds I pray thee ↩
14:3 loaves for the man of God, and a cake for his children, and raisins, and a pot of honey: Heb. ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey ↩
14:4 And the man was too old to see; and his eyes were dim by reason of his age: Heb. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age ↩
14:5 her. And it came to pass, when she came in, that she feigned herself to be another woman: Heb. her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman ↩
14:8 that: Heb. adds only. The Greek has each in the nominative without a clear referent; the King James construction is retained, with this irregular word recorded here rather than rendered as everything. The Greek also inserts with before the kingdom, without a construction. ↩
14:9 other gods, molten images: Heb. other gods, and molten images ↩
14:9 behind thy body: Heb. behind thy back ↩
14:10 therefore: Heb. adds behold ↩
14:10 upon thee: Heb. omits ↩
14:10 will gather them out of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is gathered: Heb. will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung. The Greek spells the passive is gathered with a final epsilon in place of alpha-iota; the comparison is with dung gathered away. ↩
14:11 The dead of Jeroboam: Heb. Him that dieth of Jeroboam ↩
14:12 thy foot entereth: Heb. thy feet enter ↩
14:14 shall smite the house of Jeroboam: Heb. shall cut off the house of Jeroboam ↩
14:15 the wind is moved: Heb. a reed is shaken ↩
14:15 make an end of Israel: Heb. root up Israel ↩
14:16 the Lord: Heb. he ↩
14:17 and went to the land of Sarira: Heb. and departed, and came to Tirzah ↩
14:17 and it came to pass, as she entered into the porch of the house, that the child died: KJV and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died ↩
14:21 was forty and one years old when he began to reign: Gr. a son of 41 years in his reigning ↩
14:24 according to: Gr. of ↩
14:24 from before: Gr. from the face of ↩
14:25 of the reign of Roboam: Gr. of Roboam reigning ↩
14:26 the golden shields which Solomon had made: Heb. agrees. Vat. the golden shields which Solomon had made, and carried them away into Egypt ↩
14:26 shields: Gr. arms ↩
14:27 body guard: Gr. runners by the side of ↩
14:28 chamber: The Heb. תא is retained in the Gr. ↩
14:29 history: Gr. words ↩
14:29 of the kings: Gr. to the kings or for the kings ↩