Text -- 1 Kings 14:15-31 (NET)

14:15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles. 14:16 He will hand Israel over to their enemies because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.” 14:17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. 14:18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as the Lord had predicted through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

Jeroboam’s Reign Ends

14:19 The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including the details of his battles and rule, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 14:20 Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years; then he passed away. His son Nadab replaced him as king.

Rehoboam’s Reign over Judah

14:21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah. 14:22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done. 14:23 They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 14:24 There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites. 14:25 In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 14:26 He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. 14:27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 14:28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 14:29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 14:30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 14:31 Rehoboam passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah replaced him as king.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:15

¹ tn The elliptical Hebrew text reads literally “and the Lord will strike Israel as a reed sways in the water.”

² tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 31).

³ tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew this is a typical reference to the Euphrates River. The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “because they made their Asherah poles that anger the Lord”; or “their images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “they set up idols to worship Asherah.”

sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:16

¹ tn Heb “and he will give [up] Israel.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:17

¹ tn Heb “went and entered.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:18

¹ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:19

¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he ruled, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:20

¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:21

¹ tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

³ tn Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”

⁴ tn Heb “an Ammonite”; the word “woman” is implied.

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:22

¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

² tn Heb “and they made him jealous more than all which their fathers had done by their sins which they sinned.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:24

¹ tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”

² tn Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:27

¹ tn Heb “runners.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:29

¹ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Rehoboam, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”

NET Notes: 1Ki 14:31

¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

² tn In the Hebrew text the name is spelled “Abijam” here and in 1 Kgs 15:1-8.