The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 208

14:6. Ahias heard the sound of her feet, coming in at the door, and said: Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam: why dost thou feign thyself to be another? But I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

14:7. Go, and tell Jeroboam: Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel: For as much as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel;

14:8. And rent the kingdom away from thc house of David, and gave it to thee, and thou hast not been as my servant, David, who kept my commandments, and followed me with all his heart, doing that which was well pleasing in my sight:

14:9. But hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast made thee strange G.o.ds, and molten G.o.ds, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:

14:10. Therefore, behold I will bring evils upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that p.i.s.seth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and the last in Israel: and I will sweep away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is swept away till all be clean.

14:11. Them that shall die of Jeroboam in the city, the dogs shall eat: and them that shall die in the field, the birds of the air shall devour: for the Lord hath spoken it.

14:12. Arise thou, therefore, and go to thy house: and when thy feet shall be entering into the city, the child shall die,

14:13. And all Israel shall mourn for him, and shall bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall be laid in a sepulchre, because in his regard there is found a good word from the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

14:14. And the Lord hath appointed himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam in this day, and in this time:

14:15. And the Lord G.o.d shall strike 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 to themselves groves, to provoke the Lord.

14:16. And the Lord shall give up Israel for the sins of Jeroboam, who hath sinned, and made Israel to sin.

14:17. And the wife of Jeroboam arose, and departed, and came to Thersa: and when she was coming in to the threshold of the house, the child died,

14:18. And they buried him. And all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Ahias, the prophet.

14:19. And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, behold they are written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel.

The book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel... This book, which is often mentioned in the Book of Kings, is long since lost. For as to the books of Paralipomenon, or Chronicles, (which the Hebrews call the words of the days,) they were certainly written after the Book of Kings, since they frequently refer to them.

14:20. And the days that Jeroboam reigned, were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers: and Nadab, his son, reigned in his stead.

14:21. And Roboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Juda: Roboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naama, an Ammonitess.

14:22. And Juda did evil in the sight of the Lord, and provoked him above all that their fathers had done, in their sins which they committed.

14:23. For they also built them altars, and statues, and groves, upon every high hill, and under every green tree:

14:24. There were also the effeminate in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the people, whom the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel.

The effeminate... Catamites, or men addicted to unnatural l.u.s.t.

14:25. And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem.

14:26. And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the king's treasures, and carried all off: as also the s.h.i.+elds of gold which Solomon had made:

14:27. And Roboam made s.h.i.+elds of bra.s.s instead of them, and delivered them into the hand of the captains of the s.h.i.+eldbearers, and of them that kept watch before the gate of the king's house.

14:28. And when the king went into the house of the Lord, they whose office it was to go before him, carried them: and afterwards they brought them back to the armoury of the s.h.i.+eldbearers.

14:29. Now the rest of the acts of Roboam, and all that he did, behold they are written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda.

14:30. And there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam always.

14:31. And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with them, in the city of David: and his mother's name was Naama, an Ammonitess: and Abiam, his son, reigned in his stead.

3 Kings Chapter 15

The acts of Abiam and of Asa kings of Juda. And of Nadab and Baasa kings of Israel.

15:1. Now in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, Abiam reigned over Juda.

15:2. He reigned three years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Maacha, the daughter of Abessalom.

Maacha, etc... She is called elsewhere Michaia, daughter of Uriel; but it was common in those days for the same person to have two names.

15:3. And 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 G.o.d, as was the heart of David, his father.

15:4. But for David's sake the Lord his G.o.d gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:

15:5. Because David had done that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life, except the matter of Urias, the Hethite.

15:6. But there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam all the time of his life.

15:7. And the rest of the words of Abiam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

And there was war between Abiam and Jeroboam.

15:8. And Abiam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa, his son, reigned in his stead.

15:9. So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Asa, king of Juda,

15:10. And he reigned one and forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacha, the daughter of Abessalom.

His mother, etc... That is, his grandmother; unless we suppose, which is not improbable, that the Maacha here named is different from the Maacha mentioned, ver. 2.

15:11. And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David, his father:

15:12. And he took away the effeminate out of the land, and removed all the filth of the idols, which his fathers had made.

15:13. Moreover, he also removed his mother, Maacha, from being the princess in the sacrifices of Priapus, and in the grove which she had consecrated to him: and he destroyed her den, and broke in pieces the filthy idol, and burnt it by the torrent Cedron:

15:14. But the high places he did not take away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days:

The high places... There were excelsa or high places of two different kinds. Some were set up, and dedicated to the wors.h.i.+p of idols, or strange G.o.ds; and these Asa removed, 2 Par. 14.2; others were only altars of the true G.o.d, but were erected contrary to the law, which allowed of no sacrifices but in the temple; and these were not removed by Asa.-Ibid. Perfect with the Lord... Asa had his faults; but never forsook the wors.h.i.+p of the Lord.

15:15. And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and he had vowed, into the house of the Lord, silver and gold, and vessels.

15:16. And there was war between Asa, and Baasa, king of Israel, all their days.

15:17. And Baasa, king of Israel, went up against Juda, and built Rama, that no man might go out or come in of the side of Asa, king of Juda.