I Kings 14-18

I Kings 14

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 spake concerning 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. Now 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 inquire of thee concerning 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, the 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, and 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 every man child, him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepeth 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 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, the 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. n

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 Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.

¹⁶And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin.

¹⁷And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

¹⁸And all Israel buried him, and 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 had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

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

²³For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;

²⁴and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD drave 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 shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.

²⁸And it was so, that as oft as the king went into the house of the LORD, 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 continually.

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

I Kings 15

¹Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat began Abijam to reign over Judah.

²Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

³And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

⁴Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:

⁵because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

⁷And the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

⁸And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

⁹And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Asa to reign over Judah.

¹⁰And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.

¹²And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

¹³And also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

¹⁴But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the LORD all his days.

¹⁵And he brought into the house of the LORD the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁶And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

¹⁷And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

¹⁹There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

²⁰And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

²¹And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.

²²Then king Asa made a proclamation unto all Judah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built therewith Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

²³Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

²⁴And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.

²⁵And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

²⁶And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

²⁷And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

²⁸Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.

²⁹And it came to pass that, as soon as he was king, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him; according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

³⁰for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and wherewith he made Israel to sin; because of his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.

³¹Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the hook of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

³²And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

³³In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, and reigned twenty and four years.

³⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

I Kings 16

¹And the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

²Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;

³behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

⁴Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

⁵Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

⁶And Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his stead.

⁷And moreover by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he smote him.

⁸In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and reigned two years.

⁹And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him: now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, which was over the household in Tirzah:

¹⁰and Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

¹¹And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he smote all the house of Baasha: he left him not a single man child, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

¹²Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

¹³for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and wherewith they made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.

¹⁴Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

¹⁵In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

¹⁶And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also smitten the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp.

¹⁷And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.

¹⁸And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the castle of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and died,

¹⁹for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin.

²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²¹Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri.

²²But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

²³In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, and reigned twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah.

²⁴And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria.

²⁵And Omri did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and dealt wickedly above all that were before him.

²⁶For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.

²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he shewed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²⁸So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

²⁹And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.

³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.

³¹And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

³²And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

³³And Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

³⁴In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub; according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.

I Kings 17

¹And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

²And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

³Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

⁴And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

⁵So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

⁶And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

⁷And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

⁹Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow woman was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

¹¹And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

¹²And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

¹³And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it forth unto me, and afterward make for thee and for thy son.

¹⁴For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

¹⁵And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

¹⁶The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

¹⁷And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

¹⁸And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? thou art come unto me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son!

¹⁹And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

²⁰And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

²¹And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.

²²And the LORD hearkened unto the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

²³And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.

²⁴And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

I Kings 18

¹And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

²And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And the famine was sore in Samaria.

³And Ahab called Obadiah, which was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly:

⁴for it was so, when Jezebel cut off prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

⁵And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go through the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all the brooks: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.

⁶So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it thou, my lord Elijah?

⁸And he answered him, It is I: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

⁹And he said, Wherein have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?

¹⁰As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not here, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.

¹¹And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

¹²And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.

¹³Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread an water?

¹⁴And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah: is here: and he shall slay me.

¹⁵And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him today.

¹⁶So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?

¹⁸And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed the Baalim.

¹⁹Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.

²⁰So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.

²¹And Elijah came near unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

²²Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

²³Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under.

²⁴And call ye on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

²⁵And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under.

²⁶And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made.

²⁷And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

²⁸And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them.

²⁹And it was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening oblation; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

³⁰And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me; and all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was thrown down.

³¹And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.

³²And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

³³And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.

³⁴And he said, Do it the second time; and they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time; and they did it the third time.

³⁵And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

³⁶And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, O LORD, the God of Abraham, of 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.

³⁷Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou, LORD, art God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

³⁸Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.

⁴⁰and Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

⁴¹And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.

⁴³And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

⁴⁴And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Make ready thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

⁴⁵And it came to pass in a little while, that the heaven grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

⁴⁶and the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.