1 Kings 14:1-7

14:1 ¹ At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. 14:2 Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise ²  yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there. ³  14:3 Take ⁴  ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

14:4 Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. ⁵  Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age. ⁶  14:5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so. ⁷  When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” 14:6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news. ⁸  14:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up ⁹  from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

[14:1]  ¹ tc Some mss of the Old Greek lack vv. 1-20.

[14:2]  ² tn Heb “Get up, change yourself.”

[14:2]  ³ tn Heb “look, Ahijah the prophet is there, he told me [I would be] king over this nation.”

[14:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “take in your hand.”

[14:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the wife of Jeroboam did so; she arose and went to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah.”

[14:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “his eyes were set because of his old age.”

[14:5]  ⁷ sn Tell her so-and-so. Certainly the Lord gave Ahijah a specific message to give to Jeroboam’s wife (see vv. 6-16), but the author of Kings here condenses the Lord’s message with the words “so-and-so.” For dramatic effect he prefers to have us hear the message from Ahijah’s lips as he speaks to the king’s wife.

[14:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “I am sent to you [with] a hard [message].”

[14:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 7-11 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 7-9) and the main clause announcing the punishment (vv. 10-11). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.