The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became ill.
1
At that time King Jeroboam's son Abijah got sick.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Now come, put on different clothing so that you may not seem to be the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; see, Ahijah is there, the prophet who said I would be king over this people.
2
Jeroboam said to his wife, "Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you, and go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives, the one who said I would be king of Israel.
3 And take with you ten cakes of bread and dry cakes and a pot of honey, and go to him: he will give you word of what is to become of the child.
3
Take him ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Ask him what is going to happen to our son, and he will tell you."
4 So Jeroboam's wife did so, and got up and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was unable to see, because he was very old.
4
So she went to Ahijah's home in Shiloh. Old age had made Ahijah blind.
5 And the Lord had said to Ahijah, The wife of Jeroboam is coming to get news from you about her son, who is ill; give her such and such an answer; for she will make herself seem to be another woman.
5
The Lord had told him that Jeroboam's wife was coming to ask him about her son, who was sick. And the Lord told Ahijah what to say. When Jeroboam's wife arrived, she pretended to be someone else.
6 Then Ahijah, hearing the sound of her footsteps coming in at the door, said, Come in, O wife of Jeroboam; why do you make yourself seem like another? for I am sent to you with bitter news.
6
But when Ahijah heard her coming in the door, he said, "Come in. I know you are Jeroboam's wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have bad news for you.
7 Go, say to Jeroboam, These are the words of the Lord, the God of Israel: Though I took you from among the people, lifting you up to be a ruler over my people Israel,
7
Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to him: "I chose you from among the people and made you the ruler of my people Israel.
8 And took the kingdom away by force from the seed of David and gave it to you, you have not been like my servant David, who kept my orders, and was true to me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.
8
I took the kingdom away from David's descendants and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who was completely loyal to me, obeyed my commands, and did only what I approve of.
9 But you have done evil more than any before you, and have made for yourself other gods, and images of metal, moving me to wrath, and turning your back on me.
9
You have committed far greater sins than those who ruled before you. You have rejected me and have aroused my anger by making idols and metal images to worship.
10 So I will send evil on the line of Jeroboam, cutting off from his family every male child, those who are shut up and those who go free in Israel; the family of Jeroboam will be brushed away like a man brushing away waste till it is all gone.
10
Because of this I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will kill all your male descendants, young and old alike. I will get rid of your family; they will be swept away like dung.
11 Those of the family of Jeroboam who come to death in the town, will become food for the dogs; and those on whom death comes in the open country, will be food for the birds of the air; for the Lord has said it.
11
Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures. I, the Lord, have spoken.' "
12 Up, then! go back to your house; and in the hour when your feet go into the town, the death of the child will take place.
12
And Ahijah went on to say to Jeroboam's wife, "Now go back home. As soon as you enter the town, your son will die.
13 And all Israel will put his body to rest, weeping over him, because he only of the family of Jeroboam will be put into his resting-place in the earth; for of all the family of Jeroboam, in him only has the Lord, the God of Israel, seen some good.
13
All the people of Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He will be the only member of Jeroboam's family who will be properly buried, because he is the only one with whom the Lord, the God of Israel, is pleased.
14 And the Lord will put up a king over Israel who will send destruction on the family of Jeroboam in that day;
14
The Lord is going to place a king over Israel who will put an end to Jeroboam's dynasty.
15 And even now the hand of the Lord has come down on Israel, shaking it like a river-grass in the water; and, uprooting Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, he will send them this way and that on the other side of the River; because they have made for themselves images, moving the Lord to wrath.
15
The Lord will punish Israel, and she will shake like a reed shaking in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land which he gave to their ancestors, and he will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have aroused his anger by making idols of the goddess Asherah.
16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins which Jeroboam has done and made Israel do.
16
The Lord will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and led the people of Israel into sin."
17 Then Jeroboam's wife got up and went away and came to Tirzah; and when she came to the doorway of the house, death came to the child.
17
Jeroboam's wife went back to Tirzah. Just as she entered her home, the child died.
18 And all Israel put his body to rest, weeping over him, as the Lord had said by his servant Ahijah the prophet.
18
The people of Israel mourned for him and buried him, as the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.
19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he became king, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.
19
Everything else that King Jeroboam did, the wars he fought and how he ruled, are all recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]
20 And Jeroboam was king for twenty-two years, and was put to rest with his fathers, and Nadab his son became king in his place.
20
Jeroboam ruled as king for twenty-two years. He died and was buried, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.
21 And Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he was king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the town which the Lord had made his out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there; his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.
21
Solomon's son Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the territory of Israel as the place where he was to be worshiped. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon.
22 And Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and made him more angry than their fathers had done by their sins.
22
The people of Judah sinned against the Lord and did more to arouse his anger against them than all their ancestors had done.
23 For they made high places and upright stones and wood pillars on every high hill and under every green tree;
23
They built places of worship for false gods and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees.
24 And more than this, there were those in the land who were used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods, doing the same disgusting crimes as the nations which the Lord had sent out before the children of Israel.
24
Worst of all, there were men and women who served as prostitutes at those pagan places of worship. The people of Judah practiced all the shameful things done by the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced into the country.
25 Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem;
25
In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.
26 And took away all the stored wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the king's house, and all the gold body-covers which Solomon had made.
26
He took away all the treasures in the Temple and in the palace, including the gold shields Solomon had made.
27 So in their place King Rehoboam had other body-covers made of brass, and gave them into the care of the captains of the armed men who were stationed at the door of the king's house.
27
To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields and entrusted them to the officers responsible for guarding the palace gates.
28 And whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, the armed men went with him taking the body-covers, and then took them back to their room.
28
Every time the king went to the Temple, the guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
29
Everything else that King Rehoboam did is recorded in [The History of the Kings of Judah.]
30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
30
During all this time Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly at war with each other.
31 And Rehoboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. And Abijam his son became king in his place.
31
Rehoboam died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City and his son Abijah succeeded him as king.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.