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¹Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word (command) of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar [which he had built] to burn incense.

²The man cried out against the [idolatrous] altar by the word of the LORD, "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you shall he sacrifice [the bodies of] the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'"

³And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.'"

⁴When the king heard the words which the man of God cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" And his hand which he had put out against him withered, so that he was unable to pull it back to himself.

⁵The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar in accordance with the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

⁶The king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat [the favor of] the LORD your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

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

⁸But the man of God said to the king, "Even if you were to give me half your house (wealth), I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

⁹For I was commanded by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat bread or drink water, nor shall you return by the way you came.'"

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

¹¹Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him everything 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 asked them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

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

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

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

¹⁶He said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

¹⁷For I was told by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor shall you return by going the way that you came.'"

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

¹⁹So the man of God went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰Now it happened as they were sitting at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.

²¹And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,

²²but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the LORD said to you, "You shall not eat bread nor drink water"; your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers (ancestors).'"

²³After the prophet of the house had eaten bread and after he had drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

²⁴Now when he had gone, a lion met him by the road and killed him, and his body was thrown in the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion was also standing beside the body.

²⁵And there were men passing by, and they saw the body thrown in the road, and the lion standing beside the body. So they came and told about it in the city [of Bethel] where the old prophet lived.

²⁶When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard about it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke to him."

²⁷And he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.

²⁸And he went and found the body thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion [miraculously] had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey.

²⁹Then the prophet picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came into the city (Bethel) of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.

³⁰And he laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹Then after he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I am dead, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

³²For the words which he cried out 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 shall certainly come to pass."

³³After this event, Jeroboam [still] did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests for the high places from among all the people. He ordained anyone who was willing, so that there would be priests for the high places.

³⁴And this thing (idol worship) became the sin of the house of Jeroboam to blot it out and eliminate it from the face of the earth.

¹At that time Abijah the son [and crown prince, heir] of Jeroboam became sick.

²Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please get up and disguise yourself, so that people will not know that you are Jeroboam's wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there, the one who told me that I would be king over this people.

³Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a bottle of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

⁴Jeroboam's wife did so. She got up and went [twenty miles] to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, because his eyes were dim from old age.

⁵And the LORD said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you about her son, because he is sick. You shall say such and such to her, for when she arrives, she will pretend to be another woman."

⁶So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the doorway, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another woman? For I have been sent to you [by God] with a harsh message.

⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: "Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel,

⁸and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—but you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes,

⁹but have done more evil than all [the kings] who were before you; for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back—

¹⁰therefore behold, I am bringing evil on the house (royal line) of Jeroboam, and I will cut off (destroy) from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free, in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.

¹¹The dogs will eat [the carcass of] anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat [the carcass of] anyone who dies in the field, for the LORD has spoken it."'

¹²Now as for you (Jeroboam's wife), arise, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child [Abijah] will die.

¹³All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to [be placed in] the grave, because in him there was found something good and pleasing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

¹⁴Moreover, the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house (royal line) of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

¹⁵"The LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.

¹⁶He will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam which he has committed, and with which he has made Israel sin [by leading them into idolatry]."

¹⁷So Jeroboam's wife arose and left and came to Tirzah [the king's residence]. As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child [Abijah] died.

¹⁸And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

¹⁹Now as for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

²⁰The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years, and he slept with his fathers [in death]; and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

²¹Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name (Presence). His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

²²And [the people of] Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD. They provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with their sins which they had committed.

²³For they also built for themselves high places [to worship idols] and sacred pillars and Asherim [for the goddess Asherah]. These were on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree.

²⁴There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed all the repulsive acts of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the Israelites.

²⁵Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt [Jeroboam's brother-in-law] came up against Jerusalem.

²⁶He took away the treasures of the house (temple) of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took away everything, he even took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

²⁷So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and handed them over to the captains of the palace guard who guarded the doorway of the king's house.

²⁸And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guards would carry them and bring them back into the guardroom.

²⁹Now as for the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

³⁰There was also war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

³¹And Rehoboam slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam (Abijah) his son became king in his place.

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah [grand]daughter of Abishalom ( Absalom).

³He walked in all the sins [of idol worship] that his father [Rehoboam] committed before him; and his heart was not entirely devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father (forefather) David.

⁴Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp (descendant on the throne) in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem,

⁵because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of [the betrayal of] Uriah the Hittite.

⁶There was war between Rehoboam [Abijam's father] and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam's life.

⁷Now as for the rest of the acts of Abijam and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

⁸Abijam slept with his fathers [in death] and they buried him in the City of David. Asa his son became king in his place.

⁹So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king over Judah.

¹⁰He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His [great-grand]mother was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom (Absalom).

¹¹Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father (forefather) David.

¹²He expelled the male cult prostitutes (sodomites) from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers [Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam] had made.

¹³He also deposed his [great-grand]mother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid (obscene, vulgar) image for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa cut down her horrid image, and burned it by the Brook Kidron.

¹⁴But the high places [of idol worship] were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was entirely devoted to the LORD all his days.

¹⁵He brought the things which his father had dedicated and the things which he had dedicated into the house of the LORD—silver, gold, and utensils and accessories.

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

¹⁷Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah [north of Jerusalem], in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and gold left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the palace of the king and handed them over to his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram (Syria), who lived in Damascus, saying,

¹⁹"Let there be a treaty between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me."

²⁰So Ben-hadad listened to king Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth [the region of the Sea of Galilee], along with all the land of Naphtali.

²¹When Baasha heard about it, he stopped fortifying Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.

²²Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah—none was exempt—and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had built [the fortifications]. And King Asa built with them [border fortresses at] Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

²³Now as for the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, everything that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But during the time of his old age he had a foot disease.

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

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

²⁶He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father [Jeroboam] and in his sin [of idolatry], with which he made Israel sin.

²⁷Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house (tribe) of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

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

²⁹As soon as he was king, Baasha struck down all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave for Jeroboam anyone alive, but he destroyed them in accordance with the word of the LORD which He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the Shilonite—

³⁰because of the sins committed by Jeroboam and which he made Israel commit, and because he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

³¹Now as for the rest of Nadab's acts and everything that he did, are they not 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 became king over all Israel in Tirzah [the capital city], and reigned twenty-four years.

³⁴He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin [of idolatry] with which he made Israel sin.