(1) At that time, Abijah, a son of Jeroboam, fell sick. (2) Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go and disguise yourself, so that you will not be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. The prophet Ahijah lives there, the one who predicted that I would be king over this people. (3) Take with you ten loaves, some wafers, and a jug of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
ולא ידעו כי את אשת ירבעם כי חשש שיאמרו שהוא מאמין בנביאי ה' לא בנביאי העגלים
He was concerned that people would say he was inquiring of the prophets of God, rather than the prophets of his golden calves.
והשתנית. לפי שידע כי אחיה היה שונא אותו לפי שסר מאחרי ה' אמר בלבו אם ידע אחיה שהיא אשתי לא יתנבא לי כי אם רע
He (Jeroboam) knew that Ahijah hated him, for he had turned away from following God's ways. He said to himself: If Ahijah knows it is my wife, he will prophecy nothing but bad tidings.
(7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths. (8) They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (9) The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
(4) Jeroboam’s wife did so; she left and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes had become sightless with age; (5) but the LORD had said to Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, who is sick. Speak to her thus and thus. When she arrives, she will be in disguise.” (6) Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came through the door, and he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you disguised? I have a harsh message for you.
(14) So they went up to the town; and as they were entering the town, Samuel came out toward them, on his way up to the shrine. (15) Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed the following to Samuel: (16) “At this time tomorrow, I will send a man to you from the territory of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him ruler of My people Israel. He will deliver My people from the hands of the Philistines; for I have taken note of My people, their outcry has come to Me.”
(5) When Saul saw the Philistine force, his heart trembled with fear. (6) And Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. (7) Then Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me a woman who consults ghosts, so that I can go to her and inquire through her.” And his courtiers told him that there was a woman in En-dor who consulted ghosts. (8) Saul disguised himself; he put on different clothes and set out with two men. They came to the woman by night, and he said, “Please divine for me by a ghost. Bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” (9) But the woman answered him, “You know what Saul has done, how he has banned [the use of] ghosts and familiar spirits in the land. So why are you laying a trap for me, to get me killed?” (10) Saul swore to her by the LORD: “As the LORD lives, you won’t get into trouble over this.” (11) At that, the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He answered, “Bring up Samuel for me.” (12) Then the woman recognized Samuel, and she shrieked loudly, and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” (13) The king answered her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up from the earth.” (14) “What does he look like?” he asked her. “It is an old man coming up,” she said, “and he is wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel; and he bowed low in homage with his face to the ground. (15) Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me and brought me up?” And Saul answered, “I am in great trouble. The Philistines are attacking me and God has turned away from me; He no longer answers me, either by prophets or in dreams. So I have called you to tell me what I am to do.”
(7) Go tell Jeroboam: Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I raised you up from among the people and made you a ruler over My people Israel; (8) I tore away the kingdom 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, doing only what was right in My sight. (9) You have acted worse than all those who preceded you; you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to vex Me; and Me you have cast behind your back. (10) Therefore I will bring disaster upon the House of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, bond and free, in Israel. I will sweep away the House of Jeroboam utterly, as dung is swept away. (11) Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the town shall be devoured by dogs; and anyone who dies in the open country shall be eaten by the birds of the air; for the LORD has spoken.
(35) To be My vengeance and recompense, At the time that their foot falters. Yea, their day of disaster is near, And destiny rushes upon them. (36) For the LORD will vindicate His people And take revenge for His servants, When He sees that their might is gone, And neither bond nor free is left. (37) He will say: Where are their gods, The rock in whom they sought refuge, (38) Who ate the fat of their offerings And drank their libation wine? Let them rise up to your help, And let them be a shield unto you! (39) See, then, that I, I am He; There is no god beside Me. I deal death and give life; I wounded and I will heal: None can deliver from My hand.
(17) The LORD has done for Himself as He foretold through me: The LORD has torn the kingship out of your hands and has given it to your fellow, to David, (18) because you did not obey the LORD and did not execute His wrath upon the Amalekites. That is why the LORD has done this to you today. (19) Further, the LORD will deliver the Israelites who are with you into the hands of the Philistines. Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me; and the LORD will also deliver the Israelite forces into the hands of the Philistines.”
(12) As for you, go back home; as soon as you set foot in the town, the child will die. (13) And all Israel shall lament over him and bury him; he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall be brought to burial, for in him alone of the House of Jeroboam has some devotion been found to the LORD, the God of Israel. (14) Moreover, the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the House of Jeroboam, this day and even now.
(15) “The LORD will strike Israel until it sways like a reed in water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have provoked the LORD by the sacred posts that they have made for themselves. (16) He will forsake Israel because of the sins that Jeroboam committed and led Israel to commit.” (17) Jeroboam’s wife got up and left, and she went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of her house, the child died.
(18) They buried him and all Israel lamented over him, in accordance with the word that the LORD had spoken through His servant the prophet Ahijah. (19) The other events of Jeroboam’s reign, how he fought and how he ruled, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel. (20) Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years; then he slept with his fathers, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.
(21) Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon had become king 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 out of all the tribes of Israel to establish His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. (22) Judah did what was displeasing to the LORD, and angered Him more than their fathers had done by the sins that they committed. (23) They too built for themselves shrines, pillars, and sacred posts on every high hill and under every leafy tree; (24) there were also male prostitutes in the land. [Judah] imitated all the abhorrent practices of the nations that the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites.
(4) No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of the LORD; none of their descendants, even in the tenth generation, shall ever be admitted into the congregation of the LORD,
(1) These are the laws and rules that you must carefully observe in the land that the LORD, God of your fathers, is giving you to possess, as long as you live on earth. (2) You must destroy all the sites at which the nations you are to dispossess worshiped their gods, whether on lofty mountains and on hills or under any luxuriant tree. (3) Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, put their sacred posts to the fire, and cut down the images of their gods, obliterating their name from that site. (4) Do not worship the LORD your God in like manner, (5) but look only to the site that the LORD your God will choose amidst all your tribes as His habitation, to establish His name there. There you are to go,
(כה) וַיְהִ֛י בַּשָּׁנָ֥ה הַחֲמִישִׁ֖ית לַמֶּ֣לֶךְ רְחַבְעָ֑ם עָלָ֛ה שושק [שִׁישַׁ֥ק] מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרַ֖יִם עַל־יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ (כו) וַיִּקַּ֞ח אֶת־אֹצְר֣וֹת בֵּית־ה' וְאֶת־אֽוֹצְרוֹת֙ בֵּ֣ית הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וְאֶת־הַכֹּ֖ל לָקָ֑ח וַיִּקַּח֙ אֶת־כָּל־מָגִנֵּ֣י הַזָּהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָׂ֖ה שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃ (כז) וַיַּ֨עַשׂ הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ רְחַבְעָם֙ תַּחְתָּ֔ם מָגִנֵּ֖י נְחֹ֑שֶׁת וְהִפְקִ֗יד עַל־יַד֙ שָׂרֵ֣י הָרָצִ֔ים הַשֹּׁ֣מְרִ֔ים פֶּ֖תַח בֵּ֥ית הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ (כח) וַיְהִ֛י מִדֵּי־בֹ֥א הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ בֵּ֣ית ה' יִשָּׂאוּם֙ הָֽרָצִ֔ים וֶהֱשִׁיב֖וּם אֶל־תָּ֥א הָרָצִֽים׃ (כט) וְיֶ֛תֶר דִּבְרֵ֥י רְחַבְעָ֖ם וְכָל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה הֲלֹא־הֵ֣מָּה כְתוּבִ֗ים עַל־סֵ֛פֶר דִּבְרֵ֥י הַיָּמִ֖ים לְמַלְכֵ֥י יְהוּדָֽה׃ (ל) וּמִלְחָמָ֨ה הָיְתָ֧ה בֵין־רְחַבְעָ֛ם וּבֵ֥ין יָרָבְעָ֖ם כָּל־הַיָּמִֽים׃ (לא) וַיִּשְׁכַּ֨ב רְחַבְעָ֜ם עִם־אֲבֹתָ֗יו וַיִּקָּבֵ֤ר עִם־אֲבֹתָיו֙ בְּעִ֣יר דָּוִ֔ד וְשֵׁ֣ם אִמּ֔וֹ נַעֲמָ֖ה הָעַמֹּנִ֑ית וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ אֲבִיָּ֥ם בְּנ֖וֹ תַּחְתָּֽיו׃ (פ)
(25) In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt marched against Jerusalem (26) and carried off the treasures of the House of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He carried off everything; he even carried off all the golden shields that Solomon had made. (27) King Rehoboam had bronze shields made instead, and he entrusted them to the officers of the guard who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. (28) Whenever the king went into the House of the LORD, the guards would carry them and then bring them back to the armory of the guards. (29) The other events of Rehoboam’s reign, and all his actions, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. (30) There was continual war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. (31) Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. His son Abijam succeeded him as king.