7
Tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I picked you out of the people and made you a leader over my people Israel.
8
I tore the kingdom away from David's heirs and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands and faithfully followed me by doing only what I considered right.
9
You have done more evil things than everyone before you. You made other gods, metal idols, for yourself. You made me furious and turned your back to me.
10
"'That is why I will bring disaster on Jeroboam's house. I will destroy every male in his house, whether slave or freeman in Israel. I will burn down Jeroboam's house. It will burn like manure until it is gone.
11
If anyone from Jeroboam's house dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.' The LORD has said this!
12
"Get up, and go home. The moment you set foot in the city the child will die.
13
All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam's family who will be [properly] buried. He was the only one in Jeroboam's house in whom the LORD God of Israel found anything good.
14
The LORD will appoint a king over Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam's house. This will happen today. It will happen right now.
15
"The LORD will strike Israel like cattails which shake in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they dedicated poles to the goddess Asherah and made the LORD furious.
16
So the LORD will desert Israel because of Jeroboam's sins, the sins which he led Israel to commit."
17
Jeroboam's wife got up, left, and went to Tirzah. When she walked across the threshold of her home, the boy died.