Bible Strands
1 Kings 14:21
Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the transition of power in Judah immediately after closing the account of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. The passage marks the beginning of Rehoboam’s rule in the southern kingdom.
The words — מָלַךְ (ma.Lakh) means “he reigned,” and בִּֽ/יהוּדָה (bi./hu.Dah) translates “in Judah.” These terms denote royal authority and the specific territorial jurisdiction of the Davidic line.
The thread — The chronological data matches 2 Chronicles 12:13, while the designation of Jerusalem as the chosen city recalls 1 Kings 11:36. The identification of his mother as Naamah the Ammonite reappears in 1 Kings 14:31.
Why it lands — The text states Rehoboam’s age, seventeen-year reign, and maternal lineage without commentary. It requires the reader to note the factual parameters of Judah’s monarchy before the subsequent judgment in 1 Kings 14:22.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 12:13 Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
- 1 Kings 11:36 I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.
- 1 Kings 14:31 And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.
- Exodus 20:24 You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
- Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Deuteronomy 12:21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.
- Deuteronomy 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
- 1 Kings 8:16 ‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’
- 1 Kings 8:44 When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,
- 1 Kings 11:32 But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.