1 At that time Abijah {Aviyah: Yah Is My Father}, the son of Jeroboam {Yarov’am: Northern Kingdom’s Founder}, became ill.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife {eshet: marital partner}, “Arise, please, and disguise yourself {hish-tanit: change appearance}, so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam. And go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there—he spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people.”
3 And you shall take in your hand ten loaves of bread, and cakes {niqqudim: small flat cakes}, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will happen to the boy {na'ar: young male}.
4 Jeroboam’s wife did so, and she arose and went to Shiloh {Shiloh: sanctuary site}, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes had grown dim because of his old age {miseivo: advanced years}.
5 The LORD {YHWH, Foreseeing Sovereign} said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you about her son, for he is ill; thus and thus you shall say to her. And it shall be, when she comes in, that she will disguise {mitnakkerah: mask identity} herself.”
6 And it happened, when Ahijah heard the sound {kol: audible signal} of her feet coming at the entrance {bapetach: access point}, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you disguising yourself? I have been sent to you with a harsh message.”
7 Go, say to Jeroboam, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Speaker}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, Covenant Keeper}: ‘Because I raised you up from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel.’”
8 And I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments {mitsvotai: divine instructions} and who walked after Me with all his heart, doing only what was right in My eyes {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
9 But you have done evil above all who were before you, and you went and made for yourself other gods {elohim: false deities} and molten images to provoke Me {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, and you have cast Me behind your back.
10 Therefore, behold, I {YHWH, Just Judge} will bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off from Jeroboam every one who urinates against a wall {mashtin be-kir: idiom for adult males}—both the restrained and the left free—in Israel, and I will burn away what remains of the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is finished.
11 The one who dies of Jeroboam in the city will be eaten by the dogs {kelev: scavenging animal in ancient contexts}; and the one who dies in the field will be eaten by the bird of the heavens—for the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} has spoken.
12 And as for you, arise {kumi: urgent summons} and go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the boy {hayaled: young child} will die.
13 And all Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for this one alone of Jeroboam’s will come to the grave {kever: burial place}, because in him was found something good {tov: praiseworthy} before the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisra’ĕl, Covenant Protector}.
14 And the LORD {YHWH, King-Maker} will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house {bayit: dynastic household} of Jeroboam. This is the day—what more, even now!
15 And the LORD {YHWH, Disciplining Judge} will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. And He will uproot Israel from this good land {hattowah hazot: fertile inheritance} that He gave to their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the river, because they made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.
16 And He {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam {Yarov‘am: royal usurper}, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin.
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife {eshet: spouse, partner} arose and went to Tirzah {Tirtsah: royal center}. As she approached the threshold of the house, the boy died.
18 And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him according to the word of the LORD {YHWH, Promise Fulfiller} which He spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet {navi: one who proclaims}.
19 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam {Yarov'am: northern kingdom founder}, how he fought and how he reigned, are written in the book {sefer: recorded scroll} of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20 The days that Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years; then he lay down {vayishkav: funerary idiom} with his fathers, and his son Nadab {nadav: successor of Jeroboam} reigned in his place.
21 And Rehoboam {Rechavam: Judah’s King}, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Forty-one years old was Rehoboam when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD {YHWH, Name-Establishing King} chose from all the tribes of Israel to set His Name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
22 And Judah did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, by their sins with which they sinned {chatah: missed the mark}.
23 And they also built for themselves high places, pillars {matzevot: standing stones}, and Asherim {asherim: sacred wooden poles} on every high hill and under every green tree.
24 And also there were male cult prostitutes {kadesh: temple sex minister} in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD {YHWH, Sanctity Upholder} had driven out before the sons of Israel.
25 And it happened{vayhi: narrative shift} in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem{yerushalayim: royal capital}.
26 And he took the treasures of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Sacred Dwelling}, and the treasures of the house of the king; he took everything, and he took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made {asah: constructed}.
27 And King Rehoboam {Rechav'am: Davidic successor} made bronze shields in their place and appointed them under the authority of the officers of the runners, the guards at the entrance of the king’s house {beit ha-melekh: royal palace}.
28 And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Sovereign}, the guards carried them and returned them to the guards’ {haratzim: ceremonial guards} chamber.
29 Now the remainder of the acts {divrei: Official Records} of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles {hayamim: Royal Annals} of the kings of Judah?
30 And there was war {milkhamah: armed conflict} between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days {hayamim: entire duration}.
31 Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. The name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess {ha’ammonit: Ammonite woman}. Abijam his son reigned after him {takhtav: in his stead}.