1 Kings 14

KJV · Chapter 14/22

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

2And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.

3And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.

4And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.

5And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.

6And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

7Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,

8And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;

9But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:

10Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it.

12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

14Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.

15For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger.

16And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.

17And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;

18And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

20And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

21And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

22And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.

23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

25And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:

26And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

27And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.

28And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.

29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jeroboam's son falls ill, and his disguised wife consults the prophet Ahijah, who prophesies the child's death and the future destruction of Jeroboam's house because of his sins. The chapter also summarizes Rehoboam's reign in Judah, including the invasion of the Egyptian king Shishak.

Explanation

God's severe response through Ahijah shows that, despite everything, there was still limited kindness even toward this son of Jeroboam, who is the only member of his family to receive an honorable burial — a detail that reveals nuances of grace in the midst of judgment. The invasion of Shishak, the Egyptian pharaoh who plunders the temple treasures just five years after Solomon's death, shows how quickly accumulated glory and wealth can be lost once God's protection withdraws because of national unfaithfulness.

Fun facts

  • Shishak's invasion (Sheshonq I) is confirmed by independent Egyptian records, including an inscription at Karnak listing cities conquered in the campaign against Israel and Judah — one of the rare direct archaeological confirmations of biblical events from this period.
  • Rehoboam replaces the stolen gold shields with bronze ones, a visual and sobering symbol of the kingdom's decline in wealth and glory within a single generation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Kings 14:1At this time Jeroboam’s son Abijah falls ill — the crisis that sets off the rest of the chapter.
  2. 1 Kings 14:2Ahijah was already blind with age, but he perceives by the spirit who is coming in before the woman even speaks. The queen’s disguise is useless in front of a prophet who gets his information directly from God.
  3. 1 Kings 14:3Jeroboam sends his wife to bring ten loaves of bread, cakes, and a jar of honey to the prophet Ahijah, so he can tell her what will happen to the sick boy.
  4. 1 Kings 14:4Jeroboam’s wife does this, going to Shiloh, to Ahijah’s house; his eyes were already weak with age, so he could not see.
  5. 1 Kings 14:5But the LORD had already warned Ahijah that she would come in disguise, asking about her sick son, and had already told him what to answer.
  6. 1 Kings 14:6Hearing her footsteps at the door, Ahijah says: come in, wife of Jeroboam, why pretend to be someone else? I have bad news for you.
  7. 1 Kings 14:7The message begins by reminding Jeroboam: the LORD raised you up from among the people and made you leader over Israel.
  8. 1 Kings 14:8I 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 and followed Me with a whole heart, doing only what was right.
  9. 1 Kings 14:9You have done more evil than all who came before you, making other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have turned your back on Me.
  10. 1 Kings 14:10Because of this, I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, cutting off every male, slave or free, in Israel; I will sweep away his descendants as one sweeps away dung, until it’s all gone.
  11. 1 Kings 14:11Whoever of Jeroboam’s family dies in the city, the dogs will eat; whoever dies in the field, the birds will eat — for the LORD has spoken.
  12. 1 Kings 14:12As for you, get up and go home: as soon as your feet enter the city, the boy will die.
  13. 1 Kings 14:13All Israel will mourn for him and bury him; he is the only one of Jeroboam’s family who will get a proper burial, because in him alone was something good found before the LORD.
  14. 1 Kings 14:14The LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam — and this will happen soon, a warning that already points to the coup to come.
  15. 1 Kings 14:15The image of a reed shaken in the water describes an uprooted, unstable people, a poetic forecast of Israel’s exile. Centuries later this is fulfilled by the Assyrian conquest, when the people are in fact torn from their own land.
  16. 1 Kings 14:16God will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam committed and that he made the whole people commit as well.
  17. 1 Kings 14:17Jeroboam’s wife gets up and goes back; the moment she steps onto the threshold of her house in Tirzah, the boy dies — the prophecy fulfilled on the spot.
  18. 1 Kings 14:18They bury the boy and all Israel mourns for him, exactly as the LORD had said through the prophet Ahijah.
  19. 1 Kings 14:19The rest of Jeroboam’s deeds, his wars, and his reign are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, an ancient source cited as a reference.
  20. 1 Kings 14:20Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years; he dies and his son Nadab takes the throne in his place.
  21. 1 Kings 14:21Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon reigns in Judah; he was forty-one years old when he began and reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite.
  22. 1 Kings 14:22Judah also did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, provoking Him to jealousy even more than their ancestors had, with their own sins.
  23. 1 Kings 14:23They built high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree — the same pattern condemned in the northern kingdom.
  24. 1 Kings 14:24The phrase translated as sodomites refers to male cult prostitutes linked to fertility rites practiced at the shrines. It’s one of the Canaanite customs the text repeatedly cites as proof that Judah copied the neighboring nations’ cults.
  25. 1 Kings 14:25This pharaoh is identified by historians with Sheshonq I, whose campaign against Israel and Judah is also recorded in Egyptian inscriptions. It’s one of the few points in the book of Kings where the Bible and outside archaeology line up with real confidence.
  26. 1 Kings 14:26Shishak carries off the treasures of the Temple and the royal palace, taking everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
  27. 1 Kings 14:27In their place, King Rehoboam has bronze shields made and hands them over to the commanders of the guard who watched the palace gate.
  28. 1 Kings 14:28Every time the king entered the Temple, the guards carried those shields, then brought them back and stored them in the guardroom.
  29. 1 Kings 14:29The rest of Rehoboam’s deeds is recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
  30. 1 Kings 14:30There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days — the two rival kingdoms in constant conflict.
  31. 1 Kings 14:31Rehoboam dies and is buried with his ancestors in the City of David; his mother was Naamah the Ammonite; his son Abijam reigns in his place.

Chapters

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.