Ahijah Prophesies against the King

14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. ² And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now arise and ^(A)disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to ^(B)Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who ^(C)said regarding me that I would be king over this people. ^3 (D)Take ten loaves with you, some pastries, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

⁴ And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and set out and went to ^(E)Shiloh, and came to the house of ^(F)Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see ^(G)because his eyes were ^[a]glossy from his old age.

⁵ And King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your ^[a]hands; for the king ^(A)can do nothing against you.”

Zedekiah Seeks an Answer from God

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah ^(A)sent word and ^[a]had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ^(B)ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “^(C)If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in ^(D)secret, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this ^[b](E)life for us, I certainly will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to ^(F)these men who are seeking your ^[c]life.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about these words, and you will not die. ²⁵ But if the ^(A)officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^(B)presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the ^[a]conversation had not been overheard.