1 Kings 14:5-18

5 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."
6 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:
7 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,
8 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.
9 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}.
10 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.
11 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]." '
12 As for you, get up. Go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die.
13 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.
14 Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will even now cut off the house of Jeroboam this day.
15 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.
16 He will give up Israel because of the sin of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin."
17 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.
18 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.

1 Kings 14:5-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 14

This chapter relates the sickness of Jeroboam's son, the application of his wife, at his instance, to the prophet Ahijah, in the child's favour, 1Ki 14:1-6, the prophecy of the prophet concerning the ruin of Jeroboam's house, and the death of the child, which came to pass, 1Ki 14:7-18, an account of the years of Jeroboam's reign, and also of Rehoboam's, 1Ki 14:19-21, and of the evil things done and suffered by the latter in his kingdom, and the calamities that came upon him for it, 1Ki 14:22-28 and the conclusion of his reign, 1Ki 14:29-31.

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Literally "As this and as this"
  • [b]. Literally "hurled behind your back"
  • [c]. Literally "those who urinate against a wall"
  • [d]. Or "fathers"
  • [e]. That is, the Euphrates
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.