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Person Old Testament

Zeruah

Zeruah was the mother of Jeroboam, who became the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Mentioned once in Scripture, at 1 Kings 11:26.

Why it matters. Mother of Jeroboam, first king of Israel

Primary passages
Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Zeruah

Zeruah was the mother of Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel after the division of the united monarchy. She is mentioned in the account of Jeroboam's rise to power in 1Kings 11. Zeruah was a widow, and her son Jeroboam was an official in Solomon's administration. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon and fled to Egypt. After Solomon's death, Jeroboam returned and was made king over the ten northern tribes, fulfilling a prophecy given to him by Ahijah the Shilonite. Zeruah's mention in this context highlights Jeroboam's background and family situation.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

No reviewed connections yet.

Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Spouse
Nebat
Children
Jeroboam

Appears in Scripture

Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.