²⁷ Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and ^[a]committed them to the hands of the captains of the ^[b]guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house.

¹⁷ Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king ^(A)would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord.

¹¹ And he said, ^(A)“This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your ^(B)sons and appoint them for his own ^(C)chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.

The Degradation of Zion

⁴⁶ Then the ^(A)hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he ^(B)girded^[a] up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

⁵ Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Here is the wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

Judgment on the House of Jeroboam

14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.

Absalom’s Treason

15 After this ^(A)it happened that Absalom ^(B)provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.