1 Kings 14:1-20

Ahijah Prophesies against the King

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

2 Jeroboam said to his wife, "Arise now, and ¹disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to ²Shiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who ³spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people.

3 "⁴Take ten loaves with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

4 Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose and went to ⁵Shiloh, and came to the house of ⁶Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, ⁷for his eyes were dim because of his age.

5 Now the LORD had said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be when she arrives that ⁸she will pretend to be another woman."

6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message.

7 "Go, say to Jeroboam, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "⁹Because * I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel,

8 and ¹⁰tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you-¹¹yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed * Me with all his heart, ¹²to do only that which was right in My sight;

9 you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and ¹³have gone and made for yourself other gods and ¹⁴molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have ¹⁵cast Me behind your back -

10 therefore behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam, and ¹⁶will cut off from Jeroboam every male * person, ¹⁷both bond and free in Israel, and I ¹⁸will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.

11 "¹⁹Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat; for the LORD has spoken it."'

12 "Now you, arise, go to your house. ²⁰When your feet enter the city the child will die.

13 "All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave, because in him ²¹something good was found toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

14 "Moreover, ²²the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

15 "For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and ²³He will uproot Israel from ²⁴this good land which He gave to their fathers, and ²⁵will scatter them beyond * the Euphrates River, ²⁶because * they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.

16 "He will give up Israel ²⁷on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin."

17 Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to ²⁸Tirzah. ²⁹As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died.

18 ³⁰All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, ³¹how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles * of the Kings of Israel.

20 The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two * years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

1 Kings 14:1-20 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.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 28:8; 2 Samuel 14:2; 2 Chronicles 18:29
• 2. Joshua 18:1
• 3. 1 Kings 11:29-31
• 4. 1 Samuel 9:7, 8; 1 Kings 13:7; 2 Kings 4:42
• 5. 1 Kings 14:2
• 6. 1 Kings 11:29
• 7. 1 Samuel 3:2; 1 Samuel 4:15
• 8. 2 Samuel 14:2
• 9. 2 Samuel 12:7; 1 Kings 11:28-31; 1 Kings 16:2
• 10. 1 Kings 11:31
• 11. 1 Kings 11:33, 38
• 12. 1 Kings 15:5
• 13. 1 Kings 12:28; 2 Chronicles 11:15
• 14. Exodus 34:17
• 15. Nehemiah 9:26; Psalms 50:17; Ezekiel 23:35
• 16. 1 Kings 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8
• 17. Deuteronomy 32:36; 2 Kings 14:26
• 18. 1 Kings 15:29
• 19. 1 Kings 16:4; 1 Kings 21:24
• 20. 1 Kings 14:17
• 21. 2 Chronicles 19:3
• 22. 1 Kings 15:27-29
• 23. Deuteronomy 29:28; 2 Kings 17:6; Psalms 52:5
• 24. Joshua 23:15, 16
• 25. 2 Kings 15:29
• 26. Exodus 34:13, 14; Deuteronomy 12:3, 4
• 27. 1 Kings 12:30; 1 Kings 13:34; 1 Kings 15:30, 34; 1 Kings 16:2
• 28. 1 Kings 15:21, 33; 1 Kings 16:6-9, 15, 23; Song of Songs 6:4
• 29. 1 Kings 14:12
• 30. 1 Kings 14:13
• 31. 1 Kings 14:30; 2 Chronicles 13:2-20

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "set"
• [b]. Lit "seek a word from"
• [c]. Lit "him who urinates against the wall"
• [d]. Lit "the one"
• [e]. Lit "and what even now?"
• [f]. I.e. wooden symbols of a female deity
• [g]. Lit "sinned"