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Today's Bible Reading :: 1 Kings 12 - 14 (ESV)

1 Kings 12Listen to the passage

1 Kings 13Listen to the passage

1 Kings 14Listen to the passage

1 Kings 12

Rehoboam’s Folly

(2Ch 10:1–19; 11:1–4 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:1 - Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:2 - And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from[fn] Egypt.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:3 - And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:4 - “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:5 - He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:6 - Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:7 - And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:8 - But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:9 - And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:10 - And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:11 - And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:12 - So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:13 - And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:14 - he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:15 - So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The Kingdom Divided

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:16 - And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:17 - But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:18 - Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:19 - So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:20 - And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:21 - When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:22 - But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:23 - “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:24 - ‘Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.

Jeroboam’s Golden Calves

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:25 - Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:26 - And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:27 - If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:28 - So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:29 - And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:30 - Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:31 - He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:32 - And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 12:33 - He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.
ESV Footnotes
Septuagint, Vulgate (compare 2 Chronicles 10:2); Hebrew lived in
Septuagint went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan

1 Kings 13

A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:1 - And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:2 - And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:3 - And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:4 - And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:5 - The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:6 - And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:7 - And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:8 - And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:9 - for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:10 - So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet’s Disobedience

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:11 - Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons[fn] came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:12 - And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:13 - And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:14 - And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:15 - Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:16 - And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:17 - for it was said to me by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:18 - And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:19 - So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:20 - And as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:21 - And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the command that the LORD your God commanded you,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:22 - but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:23 - And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:24 - And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:25 - And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:26 - And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:27 - And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:28 - And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:29 - And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city[fn] to mourn and to bury him.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:30 - And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:31 - And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:32 - For the saying that he called out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:33 - After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 13:34 - And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
ESV Footnotes
Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew son
Septuagint; Hebrew he came to the city of the old prophet

1 Kings 14

Prophecy Against Jeroboam

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:1 - At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:2 - And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:3 - Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:4 - Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:5 - And the LORD said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.” When she came, she pretended to be another woman.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:6 - But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:7 - Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:8 - and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:9 - but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:10 - therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:11 - Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the LORD has spoken it.”’
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:12 - Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:13 - And 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 something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:14 - Moreover, the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:15 - the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates,[fn] because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:16 - And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:17 - Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:18 - And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

The Death of Jeroboam

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:19 - Now 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.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:20 - And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah

(2Ch 11:5—12:16 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:21 - Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:22 - And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:23 - For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:24 - and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:25 - In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:26 - He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:27 - and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:28 - And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:29 - Now 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?
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:30 - And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 14:31 - And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew the River
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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