1At that time, Jeroboam's son Abijah became sick.
2Jeroboam told his wife, "Please disguise yourself so no one recognizes you as Jeroboam's wife, and go to Shiloh. Look, the prophet Ahijah is there, the one who told me I would be king over this people."
3Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the child.
4Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She got up, went to Shiloh, and arrived at Ahijah’s house. Ahijah could not see because his eyes were fixed due to old age.
5Yahweh had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is sick. Tell her exactly what I tell you, because when she comes in, she will pretend to be someone else.”
6So when Ahijah heard her footsteps as she came in the door, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been sent to you with bad news.”
7“Go, tell Jeroboam that Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I lifted you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel.
8I took the kingdom away from David’s family 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, doing only what I considered right.
9Instead, you have done more evil than all those who were before you. You have gone and made other gods for yourself, idols made of metal, to make me angry, and you have turned your back on me.
10Therefore, listen! I will bring disaster on Jeroboam’s family. I will completely destroy every male in Jeroboam’s household, whether slave or free in Israel. I will sweep away Jeroboam’s family completely, just as someone sweeps away dung until it is all gone.
11Dogs will eat any of Jeroboam’s family who die in the city, and birds of the sky will eat any who die in the field. Yahweh has declared this.’
12Now get up and go home. As soon as your feet enter the city, the child will die.
13All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one from Jeroboam’s family who will be buried, because out of Jeroboam’s household, only in him was there found something good in the eyes of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
14Furthermore, Yahweh will appoint a king for himself over Israel who will destroy Jeroboam’s family. This will happen today! What? Even now!
15For Yahweh will strike Israel like a reed shaking in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking Yahweh to anger.
16He will abandon Israel because of the sins Jeroboam committed and the sins he caused Israel to commit.”
17Jeroboam’s wife got up and left, and she arrived at Tirzah. As she stepped over the threshold of the house, the child died.
18All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as Yahweh had said through his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19The rest of Jeroboam’s actions, including how he fought and how he reigned, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20Jeroboam reigned for twenty-two years. Then he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his son Nadab became king in his place.
21Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to establish his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.
22Judah did what was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and they made him jealous with the sins they committed, even more than their ancestors had done.
23For they also built for themselves high places, sacred stone pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
24There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They practiced all the detestable things done by the nations that Yahweh had driven out before the people of Israel.
25In the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem.
26He took away the treasures from Yahweh’s temple and from the king’s palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.
27King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and gave them to the commanders of the guard, who protected the entrance of the king’s palace.
28Whenever the king went into Yahweh’s temple, the guards would carry the shields and then return them to the guardroom.
29The rest of Reheboam’s actions and everything he did are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah, aren't they?
30Rehoboam and Jeroboam were always at war with each other.
31Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah, the Ammonitess. His son Abijam became king after him.