2 Chronicles 12
Amplified Bible
Shishak of Egypt Invades Judah
12 When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord. 2 And it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, that [a]Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. The people who came with him from Egypt were beyond counting—the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the [b]Ethiopians. 4 Shishak took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have abandoned (turned away from) Me, so I have abandoned you into the hands of Shishak.’” 6 Then the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”
7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of a remnant [that escapes]; and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless they will become his slaves, so that they may know [the difference between] My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”
Plunder Impoverishes Judah
9 So Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem; he took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house (palace). He took everything. He even took the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10 In their place King Rehoboam made shields of bronze and entrusted them to the care of the officers of the guard who guarded the door of the king’s house. 11 And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried the shields and then brought them back into the guards’ room. 12 When Rehoboam humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and also conditions were good in Judah.
13 So King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His Name. And his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek and worship and honor the Lord.
15 Now the acts of Rehoboam, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, according to genealogical enrollment? There were wars between Rehoboam [of Judah] and Jeroboam [of Israel] continually. 16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried in the City of David; and Abijah his son became king in his place.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 12:2 Shishak established the 22nd dynasty and ruled Egypt from 945-924 b.c. His invasion of the kingdom of Judah is recorded at the temple complex of Karnak (Thebes), near Luxor, Egypt. Shishak was the pharaoh who had given refuge to Jeroboam during the final years of Solomon’s reign.
- 2 Chronicles 12:3 Ancient Ethiopia was south of Egypt and included portions of modern Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
2 Chronicles 12
Contemporary English Version
King Shishak of Egypt Invades Judah
(1 Kings 14.25-28)
12 Soon after Rehoboam had control of his kingdom, he and everyone in Judah stopped obeying the Lord. 2 So in the fifth year of Rehoboam's rule, the Lord punished them for their unfaithfulness and allowed King Shishak of Egypt to invade Judah. 3 Shishak attacked with his army of 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry troops, as well as countless Egyptian soldiers from Libya, Sukkoth, and Ethiopia.[a] 4 He captured every one of the fortified cities in Judah and then marched to Jerusalem.
5 Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah had gone to Jerusalem to escape Shishak's invasion. And while they were there, Shemaiah the prophet told them, “The Lord says that because you have disobeyed him, he has now abandoned you. The Lord will not help you against Shishak!”
6 Rehoboam and the leaders were sorry for what they had done and admitted, “The Lord is right. We have deserted him.”
7 When the Lord heard this, he told Shemaiah:
The people of Judah are truly sorry for their sins, and so I won't let Shishak completely destroy them. But because I am still angry, 8 he will conquer and rule them.
Then my people will know what it's like to serve a foreign king instead of serving me.
9 (A) Shishak attacked Jerusalem and took all the valuable things from the temple and from the palace, including Solomon's gold shields.
10 Rehoboam had bronze shields made to replace the gold ones, and he ordered the guards at the city gates to keep them safe. 11 Whenever Rehoboam went to the Lord's temple, the guards carried the shields. But they always took them back to the guardroom as soon as he had finished worshiping.
12 Rehoboam turned back to the Lord, and so the Lord did not let Judah be completely destroyed, and Judah was prosperous again.
Rehoboam's Rule in Judah
(1 Kings 14.21,29-31)
13 Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he ruled 17 years from Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen to be worshiped. His mother Naamah was from Ammon. Rehoboam was a powerful king, 14 but he still did wrong and refused to obey the Lord.
15 Everything else Rehoboam did while he was king, including a history of his family, is written in the records of the two prophets, Shemaiah and Iddo. During Rehoboam's rule, he and King Jeroboam of Israel were constantly at war. 16 When Rehoboam died, he was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Abijah became king.
Footnotes
- 12.3 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
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