Suddenly a man of God from Judah came to Bethel, by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer incense. Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, "O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.’"

He gave a sign on that day, saying, "This is the sign that Yahweh has predetermined: Look, this altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."

It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself. Then the altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar poured out according to the sign which the man of God had announced by the word of Yahweh. Then the king responded and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me that my hand may return to me." So the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, as it was in the beginning. Then the king spoke to the man of God, "Come with me to the house and refresh yourself, that I may give you a gift." Then the man of God said to the king, "Even if you give to me half of your house I will not come with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place, for the word of Yahweh has commanded me, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water, and you shall not return on the way that you came.’" So he went another way, and he did not return by the way on which he had come to Bethel.

Now a certain older prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all of the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and the words he had spoken to the king, and they told them to their father. Then their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" His sons had seen the way which the man of God who had come from Judah had taken. Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under the oak and said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am." Then he said to him, "Come with me to the house and eat some food." Then he said, "I am not able to return with you or to go with you. I will not eat food nor will I drink water with you in this place. For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall not eat food, nor shall you drink water there. You shall not return to go by the way that you came.’"

Then he said, "I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.’" He lied to him. So he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.

Now it happened that they were sitting at the table, and the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back. He proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command which Yahweh your God commanded you, but you have returned and have eaten food and drank water in the place which he ordered you not to eat food nor to drink water, then your dead body shall not return to the tomb of your ancestors.’"

It happened after he ate food and drank water that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. When he left, a lion found him on the road and killed him, and his dead body was thrown on the road with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion was standing by the dead body. As men were passing by and they saw the dead body thrown in the road and the lion standing beside the dead body, they came and told it in the city where the old prophet was living. When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, he said, "It is the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh, and Yahweh has given him to the lion. He tore him in pieces and killed him according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to him." Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled it. He went and found his dead body thrown in the road and a donkey with the lion standing beside it, but the lion had not eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. So the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and put it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn him and to bury him. He put his corpse in his tomb, and they mourned over him, "Alas, my brother!" It happened after he buried him that he said to his sons, "When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones. For surely, the thing which he proclaimed by the word of Yahweh against the altar which is in Bethel will happen, as it will against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria."

After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he returned and again made priests for the high places of people from all walks of life. He filled his hand with all his desire and became one of the priests of the high places himself. This matter became sin in the house of Jeroboam, to make it disappear and to destroy it from the surface of the earth.

At that time, Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill. Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please get up and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Look, Ahijah the prophet is there, and he spoke concerning me before I became king over this people. You must take ten loaves of bread in your hand and cakes and a jar of honey, and you must go to him. He shall tell you what will happen to the boy." The wife of Jeroboam did so. She got up, went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was not able to see, for his eyes were fixed because of his old age. Then Yahweh said to Ahijah, "Look, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he is ill. Thus and so you shall say to her. When she comes, she will be disguising herself." It happened at the moment Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the doorway, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you making yourself unrecognizable? I have been sent a hard message for you: Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: "Because I raised you from the midst of the people and I made you leader over my people Israel, I tore the kingdom from the house of David and I gave it to you. But you were not like my servant David who kept my commandments, and who went after me with all his heart, to do only what is right in my eyes. But you did more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten idols to provoke me, but me you have completely disregarded. Therefore, look, I am about to bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off males from Jeroboam, bond or free, in Israel. I will burn after the house of Jeroboam as one burns after the manure, until it is finished. He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken it."’ As for you, get up. Go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die. All of Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. This one alone will come to a tomb for Jeroboam, because a good thing has been found in him by Yahweh the God of Israel in the house of Israel. Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will even now cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. Yahweh will strike Israel as one shakes the reed plant in the water, and he will root Israel up from this good land that he gave to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the River because they have made their sacred poles which are provoking Yahweh. He will give up Israel because of the sin of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin."

Then the wife of Jeroboam got up, went, and came to Tirzah. As she was coming to the threshold of the house, the boy died. They buried him and all of Israel mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. The remainder of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel. The days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years, and he slept with his ancestors. Then Nadab his son became king in place of him.

Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which, from all of the tribes of Israel, Yahweh chose to place his name. And the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. But Judah did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they annoyed him more than their fathers did with their sins that they had committed. They also built for themselves high places and stone pillars and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree. There were also male shrine prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites.

It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and he took all the treasures of the king’s house. He took the small gold shields that Solomon had made, so King Rehoboam made small copper shields in place of them and entrusted them to the commanders of the royal guard who keep the doorway of the king’s house. Whenever the king came to the house of Yahweh, the royal guard carried them and brought them back to the alcove room of the royal guard. The remainder of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? There was always war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Then Rehoboam slept with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. The name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son became king in his place.

And when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and when he was strengthened, he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him. And it happened that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam (for they had acted unfaithfully against Yahweh), Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And there was no number to the people who came up with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and he came up to Jerusalem.

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem from before Shishak. And he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh: ‘You yourselves have abandoned me, and I myself have surely abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.’" Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "Yahweh is righteous." And when Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy. I will give to them some way of escape, that my anger not be poured out against Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. However, they shall be his servants, that they might know my service and the service of the kingdoms of other countries."

Then Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures out of the house of Yahweh and the treasures out of the king’s house. He took everything. He also took the small shields of gold that Solomon had made. And King Rehoboam made small shields of bronze in their place and committed them into the hand of the commanders of the guards who were keeping the entrance of the house of the king. And whenever the king went into the house of Yahweh, the guards came and carried them, and then they returned them to the alcove of the guards. And when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh was turned away from him, so that he did not destroy the city completely. Moreover, matters were well in Judah.

So King Rehoboam was strengthened in Jerusalem, and he reigned there. Now, Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where Yahweh had chosen to put his name out of all the tribes of Israel. And the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

Now the words of Rehoboam from the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer as a record? And there were battles between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. And Rehoboam slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.

But you, speak the things which are fitting for sound instruction. Older men are to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderous, not enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, in order that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, busy at home, good, being subject to their own husbands, in order that the word of God may not be slandered. Likewise, exhort the young men to be self-controlled, concerning everything showing yourself to be an example of good deeds, in your teaching demonstrating soundness, dignity, a sound message beyond reproach, in order that an opponent may be put to shame, because he has nothing bad to say concerning us.

Slaves must be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not to talk back, not stealing, but demonstrating all good faith, in order that they may do credit to the teaching of God our Savior in everything. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, training us in order that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we may live self-controlled and righteously and godly in the present age, looking forward to the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, in order that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. Speak these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.