And this fellow Jeroboam was an active man. And when Solomon saw the young man, that he wrought so lustily in the work, he made him ruler over all the charges of the house of Joseph.

Then he told Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon's hand and I will give ten tribes to you.

I'm doing this because they have abandoned me and worshipped that Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven't lived my way by doing what I consider to be right and observing my statutes and my ordinances, like his father David did.

Thus will I humiliate the seed of David, because of this; yet not for ever.

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who used to stand before Solomon his father, while he yet lived, saying, - How do, ye, advise, that I answer this people?

And they spake unto him, saying - If, to-day, thou wilt be servant unto this people, and wilt serve them, - and answer them kindly, and speak unto them good words, then will they be, thy, servants, always.

and said unto them - What counsel do, ye, give as to how we shall answer this people who have spoken unto me, saying - Make a lightening of the yoke which thy father put upon us?

Then spake unto him the young men who had grown up with him, saying, Thus, shalt thou say to this people that have spoken unto thee, saying - Thy father, made our yoke heavy, thou, therefore lighten it upon us, Thus, shalt thou speak unto them, My little finger, is thicker than my father's loins;

And when Jeroboam and all the people were come to Rehoboam the third day - as the king appointed them, saying, "Come to me again this day three days" -

The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

So Israel rebelled against the house of David, - unto this day.

"Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah, and to all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the rest of the people,

Thus, saith Yahweh - Ye shall not go up, neither shall ye fight with your brethren the sons of Israel, - return ye every man to his own house, for, from me, hath this thing been brought about. So they hearkened unto the word of Yahweh, and turned back to depart, according to the word of Yahweh.

If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh, in Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people return unto their lord, unto Rehoboam, king of Judah, - and they will slay me, and return unto Rehoboam, king of Judah.

And this thing became a sin, - and the people went before the one, as far as Dan.

Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.

With the authority of the Lord he cried out against the altar, "O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says, 'Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.'"

and he shall give, on that day, a sign, saying, This, is the sign of which Yahweh hath spoken, - Lo! the altar, is to be rent, and the ashes that are upon thee shall be, poured out!

And the altar was broken and the burned waste on it overturned; this was the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

But the man of God said unto the king - If thou wouldst give me the half of thy house, I would not go in with thee, - neither would I eat bread or drink water, in this place;

for this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or go back the way you came.’”

And their father saith unto them, 'Where is this -- the way he hath gone?' and his sons see the way that the man of God hath gone who came from Judah.

And he said - I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee, - neither will I eat bread or drink water with thee, in this place;

because I've been given a command in the form of this message from the LORD: "You are to eat no food, drink no water, and do not return to Judah by traveling the way by which you go there.'"

"I'm a prophet like you," the old man replied, "and an angel spoke to me and delivered this message from the LORD: "Bring him back with you to your house and give him food and water.'" But he was lying,

and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, "This is what the Lord says, 'You have rebelled against the Lord and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you.

You went back and ate and drank in this place, even though he said to you, "Do not eat or drink there." Therefore your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.'"

And when he had put it to rest, he said to his sons, When I am dead, then you are to put my body into the earth with the body of this man of God, and put me by his bones so that my bones may be kept safe with his bones.

After this thing, Jeroboam turned not from his wicked way, - but again made, from the whole compass of the people, priests of high places, whomsoever he would, he installed, and he became priest of high places.

And so this thing became the sin of the house of Jeroboam, - that it should be both taken away and destroyed, from off the face of the ground.

Then said Jeroboam to his wife - Arise, I pray thee, and feign thyself another, that it be not known, that, thou, art the wife of Jeroboam, - and thou shalt go thy way to Shiloh, lo! there, is Ahijah the prophet, who promised I should be king over this people;

And Jehovah said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam coming to seek word from thee for her son, for he was sick: according this and according to this shalt thou speak to her: and it will be as she comes, and she dissembles.

And it will be when Ahijah heard the voice of her feet coming into the door, and he will say, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; wherefore this thou dissemblest? and I send to thee hard things.

Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the Lord God of Israel says: "I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam:

I will eliminate all of Jeroboam’s males,
both slave and free, in Israel;
I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam
as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!

Then shall all Israel lament for him, and bury him, for, this one, pertaining to Jeroboam, shall reach a burying-place, - because there hath been found in him something good toward Yahweh, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

Therefore will Yahweh raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam, this day, but why, even now?

Therefore will Yahweh smite Israel, as a reed shaketh in water, and will root out Israel, from off this goodly soil, which he gave unto their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River (Euphrates), - because they have made their Sacred Stems, provoking Yahweh to anger:

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.

He did this because David had done what he approved and had not disregarded any of his commandments his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite.

Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and of the royal palace and handed it to his servants. He then told them to deliver it to Ben Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

When Baasha learned of this, he stopped fortifying Ramah and remained in Tirzah,

Baasha son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar, conspired against Nadab and assassinated him in Gibbethon, which was in Philistine territory. This happened while Nadab and all the Israelite army were besieging Gibbethon.

This happened because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit. These sins angered the Lord God of Israel.

Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord this message predicting Baasha's downfall:

Zimri came in and struck him dead. (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's reign over Judah.) Zimri replaced Elah as king.

This happened because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and which they made Israel commit. They angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols.

While deployed there, the army received this report: "Zimri has conspired against the king and assassinated him." So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp.

This happened because of the sins he committed. He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed in Jeroboam's footsteps and encouraged Israel to continue sinning.

And this Omri wrought wickedness in the eyes of the LORD worse than all that were before him,

Later, this message came to him from the LORD:

"Go from this place and turn to the east; you must hide yourself in the Wadi Kerith {which faces the Jordan}.

Then this message came to him from the LORD:

For this is what the Lord God of Israel says, 'The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the Lord makes it rain on the surface of the ground.'"

After this the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe.

Then he called out to the Lord, "O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?"

And he stretched himself out upon the boy, three times, and cried unto Yahweh, and said, - O Yahweh, my God! Let the life of this boy, I pray thee, come again within him.

And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

Quite some time later three years later! this message from the LORD came to Elijah: "Go visit Ahab, and I'll send some rain to the surface of the ground."

Ahab called for Obadiah, his household supervisor. This man, who feared the LORD very much,

Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?”

And Elijah will say to him, Jehovah of armies lives whom I stand before him that this day, I will be seen to him.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?”

Then you will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God." All the people responded, "This will be a fair test."

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.

Answer me, O Yahweh! answer me, That this people may know, that, thou - Yahweh, art GOD, - so shalt, thou thyself, have turned their heart back again.

When all the people saw this, they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, "The Lord is the true God! The Lord is the true God!"

After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm."

Then sent Jezebel a messenger unto Elijah, saying, - So, let the gods do, and, so, let them add, if, by this time to-morrow, I make not thy life as the life of one of them.

He lay down and fell asleep under a certain broom tree, and suddenly this angel [was] touching him and said to him, "Get up, eat!"

Elijah arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the LORD: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, “This is what Ben-hadad says:

He said to him, "This is what Ben Hadad says, 'Your silver and your gold are mine, as well as the best of your wives and sons.'"

The messengers came again and said, "This is what Ben Hadad says, 'I sent this message to you, "You must give me your silver, gold, wives, and sons."

but to-morrow about this time I will send my servants to thee, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thy sight, they shall put in their hand and take away.

And the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.

And he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

Beh-hadad sent this message back: "May the gods do so to me, and more than that also, if the dust that remains of Samaria is enough to fill up a few handfuls for all of the armies at my disposal."

The king of Israel answered, “Say this: ‘Don’t let the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’”

And it came to pass when he heard this word, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the tents, that he said to his servants, Set yourselves. And they set themselves against the city.

And behold, a prophet drew near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, Thus saith Jehovah: Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thy hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.

Ahab asked, "By whom will this be accomplished?" He answered, "This is what the Lord says, 'By the servants of the district governors.'" Ahab asked, "Who will launch the attack?" He answered, "You will."

The prophet approached the king of Israel and told him, "Go replenish your forces and prepare for the future, because early this next year the king of Aram will attack you again."

And, the servants of the king of Syria, said unto him, - Gods of the mountains, are their gods, for this cause, prevailed they against us, - but, only let us fight with them in the plain, and verily we shall prevail against them.

And do this: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put governors in their stead;

And the man of God drew near, and spoke to the king of Israel and said, Thus saith Jehovah: Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is a god of the mountains, but he is not a god of the valleys, I will give all this great multitude into thy hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

His servants said to him, “Consider this: we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. So let’s put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and let’s go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

So they put on some sackcloth, tied their hair back with ropes, and approached the king of Israel. "Your servant Ben-hadad says this," they said. "Please let me live." "Is he still alive?" Ahab asked. "He's my brother."

The men took this as a good omen and quickly accepted his offer, saying, "Ben Hadad is your brother." Ahab then said, "Go, get him." So Ben Hadad came out to him, and Ahab pulled him up into his chariot.

And Ben-Hadad said to him, The cities that my father took from thy father I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thyself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. And I said Ahab will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

And so it was, when, the king, was passing, he, cried out unto the king, - and said - Thy servant, went out in the midst of the battle, and lo! a man, turned aside and brought unto me a man, and said - Keep this man, if he be, missing, then shall, thy life, go for, his life, or, a talent of silver, shalt thou weigh out.

Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared." The king of Israel said to him, "Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony."

The prophet then said to him, "This is what the Lord says, 'Because you released a man I had determined should die, you will pay with your life and your people will suffer instead of his people.'"

After hearing this, the king of Israel rode back to his palace in Samaria, frustrated and in a foul mood.

After this the following episode took place. Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel adjacent to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.

Ahab, therefore, spake unto Naboth, saying - Come! give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, for, the same, is near by my house, and let me give thee, instead thereof, a vineyard better than it, - if it be good in thine eyes, I will give thee silver to the value of this.

And Jezebel his wife will come to him, and she will speak to him, What this thy spirit rebellious, and thou not eating bread?

This is what she wrote: "Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people.

That's when this message from the LORD came to Elijah the foreigner:

Say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: "Haven't you committed murder and taken possession of the property of the deceased?"' Then say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: "In the spot where dogs licked up Naboth's blood they will also lick up your blood -- yes, yours!"'"