Ahijah’s Prophecy Against Jeroboam

14 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, ² and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah^(A) the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. ³ Take ten loaves of bread^(B) with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” ⁴ So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh.

Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age.

⁵ “He is in your hands,”^(A) King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing^(B) to oppose you.”

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah sent^(A) for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide^(B) anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly^(C) to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath,^(D) I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”^(E)

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know^(A) about this conversation, or you may die. ²⁵ If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ ²⁶ then tell^(B) them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house^(C) to die there.’”

²⁷ All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.