a 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 lust.

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 shields of gold which
Solomon had made:

14:27. And Roboam made shields of brass instead of them, and delivered
them into the hand of the captains of the shieldbearers, 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 shieldbearers.

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 God, as was
the heart of David, his father.

15:4. But for David's sake the Lord his God 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