1 Kings 14-17

English Standard Version

Prophecy Against Jeroboam

14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to ^(A)Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, ^(B)who said of me that I should be king over this people. ³^(C)Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”

⁴Jeroboam's wife did so. She arose and went to ^(D)Shiloh and came to the house of ^(E)Ahijah. Now ^(F)Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. ⁵And the Lord said to ^(G)Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.”

When she came, she pretended to be another woman. ⁶But when ^(H)Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(I)“Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel ⁸and ^(J)tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been ^(K)like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, ⁹but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and ^(L)made for yourself other gods and ^(M)metal images, provoking me to anger, and ^(N)have cast me behind your back, ¹⁰therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and ^(O)will cut off from Jeroboam every male, ^(P)both bond and free in Israel, and ^(Q)will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone. ¹¹^(R)Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.”’ ¹²Arise therefore, go to your house. ^(S)When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him ^(T)there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴^(U)Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, ¹⁵the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and ^(V)root up Israel out of ^(W)this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them ^(X)beyond the Euphrates,^[a] because they have made their ^(Y)Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”

¹⁷Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to ^(Z)Tirzah. And ^(AA)as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, ^(AB)according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

The Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, ^(AC)how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah

²¹^(AD)Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, ^(AE)the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. ^(AF)His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. ²²^(AG)And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they ^(AH)provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. ²³For they also built for themselves ^(AI)high places ^(AJ)and pillars and ^(AK)Asherim on every high hill and ^(AL)under every green tree, ²⁴and there were also ^(AM)male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

²⁵^(AN)In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. ^(AO)He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold ^(AP)that Solomon had made, ²⁷and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. ²⁸And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

²⁹^(AQ)Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁰^(AR)And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ³¹And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. ^(AS)His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. And ^(AT)Abijam his son reigned in his place.

Abijam Reigns in Judah

15 ^(AU)Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ³And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and ^(AV)his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. ⁴Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him ^(AW)a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, ⁵because ^(AX)David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, ^(AY)except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ⁶^(AZ)Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. ⁷^(BA)The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^(BB)And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸^(BC)And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa Reigns in Judah

⁹In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, ¹⁰and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹^(BD)And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. ¹²He put away the ^(BE)male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed ^(BF)all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³^(BG)He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and ^(BH)burned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁴^(BI)But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, ^(BJ)the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵And ^(BK)he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁶^(BL)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷^(BM)Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and ^(BN)built Ramah, ^(BO)that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and the gold ^(BP)that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house and gave them into the hands of his servants. ^(BQ)And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ^(BR)who lived in Damascus, saying, ¹⁹“Let there be ^(BS)a covenant^[b] between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ²⁰And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered ^(BT)Ijon, ^(BU)Dan, ^(BV)Abel-beth-maacah, and all ^(BW)Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹And when Baasha heard of it, ^(BX)he stopped building Ramah, and he lived in ^(BY)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 been building, and with them King Asa built ^(BZ)Geba of Benjamin and ^(CA)Mizpah. ²³^(CB)Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and ^(CC)Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Nadab Reigns in Israel

²⁵^(CD)Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord ^(CE)and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin ^(CF)which he made Israel to sin.

²⁷^(CG)Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha struck him down at ^(CH)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. ²⁸So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. ²⁹And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, ^(CI)according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. ³⁰It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and ^(CJ)that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.

³¹Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ³²^(CK)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

Baasha Reigns in Israel

³³In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord ^(CL)and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

16 And the word of the Lord came to ^(CM)Jehu the son of ^(CN)Hanani against Baasha, saying, ²“Since I ^(CO)exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and ^(CP)you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, ³behold, I will utterly ^(CQ)sweep away ^(CR)Baasha and his house, and I will make your house ^(CS)like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴^(CT)Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat.”

⁵Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁶And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried at ^(CU)Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place. ⁷Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the prophet ^(CV)Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because ^(CW)he destroyed it.

Elah Reigns in Israel

⁸In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. ⁹But his servant ^(CX)Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, ^(CY)who was over the household in Tirzah, ¹⁰Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

¹¹When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down ^(CZ)all the house of Baasha. He ^(DA)did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends. ¹²Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, ^(DB)according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by ^(DC)Jehu the prophet, ¹³for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, ^(DD)provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. ¹⁴Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Zimri Reigns in Israel

¹⁵In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against ^(DE)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, ¹⁶and the troops who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired, and he has killed the king.” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷So Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire and died, ¹⁹because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(DF)walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin. ²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy that he made, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Omri Reigns in Israel

²¹Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. ²²But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king. ²³In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. ²⁴He bought the hill of ^(DG)Samaria from Shemer for two talents^[c] of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built ^(DH)Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

²⁵^(DI)Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil ^(DJ)than all who were before him. ²⁶For ^(DK)he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, ^(DL)provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols. ²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri that he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁸And Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his place.

Ahab Reigns in Israel

²⁹In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(DM)more than all who were before him. ³¹And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(DN)he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the ^(DO)Sidonians, ^(DP)and went and served Baal and worshiped him. ³²He erected an altar for Baal in ^(DQ)the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. ³³And Ahab made an ^(DR)Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger ^(DS)than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ³⁴^(DT)In his days Hiel of Bethel built ^(DU)Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Elijah Predicts a Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of ^(DV)Tishbe^[d] in Gilead, said to Ahab, ^(DW)“As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ^(DX)before whom I stand, ^(DY)there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” ²And the word of the Lord came to him: ³“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. ⁴You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” ⁵So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. ⁶And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. ⁷And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

The Widow of Zarephath

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him, ⁹“Arise, go to ^(DZ)Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” ¹⁰So he arose and went to ^(EA)Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there ^(EB)gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” ¹¹And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” ¹²And she said, ^(EC)“As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” ¹³And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” ¹⁵And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

¹⁷After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸And she said to Elijah, ^(ED)“What have you against me, O ^(EE)man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” ¹⁹And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” ²¹^(EF)Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life^[e] come into him again.” ²²And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and ^(EG)he revived. ²³And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” ²⁴And the woman said to Elijah, ^(EH)“Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”