2 Chronicles 10

New International Version

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam^(A)

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ²When Jeroboam^(B) son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled^(C) from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. ³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel^(D) went to Rehoboam and said to him: ⁴“Your father put a heavy yoke on us,^(E) but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders^(F) who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer,^(G) they will always be your servants.”

⁸But Rehoboam rejected^(H) the advice the elders^(I) gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, ¹⁴he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God,^(J) to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.^(K)

¹⁶When all Israel^(L) saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share do we have in David,^(M)
what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
Look after your own house, David!”

So all the Israelites went home. ¹⁷But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

¹⁸King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,^[a]^(N) who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 10:18 Hebrew Hadoram, a variant of Adoniram

Zephaniah 2

New International Version

Judah and Jerusalem Judged Along With the Nations

Judah Summoned to Repent

2 Gather together,^(A) gather yourselves together,
    you shameful^(B) nation,
²before the decree takes effect
    and that day passes like windblown chaff,^(C)
before the Lord’s fierce anger^(D)
    comes upon you,
before the day of the Lord’s wrath^(E)
    comes upon you.
³Seek^(F) the Lord, all you humble of the land,
    you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness,^(G) seek humility;^(H)
    perhaps you will be sheltered^(I)
    on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Philistia

⁴Gaza^(J) will be abandoned
    and Ashkelon^(K) left in ruins.
At midday Ashdod will be emptied
    and Ekron uprooted.
⁵Woe to you who live by the sea,
    you Kerethite^(L) people;
the word of the Lord is against you,^(M)
    Canaan, land of the Philistines.
He says, “I will destroy you,
    and none will be left.”^(N)
⁶The land by the sea will become pastures
    having wells for shepherds
    and pens for flocks.^(O)
⁷That land will belong
    to the remnant^(P) of the people of Judah;
    there they will find pasture.
In the evening they will lie down
    in the houses of Ashkelon.
The Lord their God will care for them;
    he will restore their fortunes.^[a]^(Q)

Moab and Ammon

⁸“I have heard the insults^(R) of Moab^(S)
    and the taunts of the Ammonites,^(T)
who insulted^(U) my people
    and made threats against their land.^(V)
⁹Therefore, as surely as I live,”
    declares the Lord Almighty,
    the God of Israel,
“surely Moab^(W) will become like Sodom,^(X)
    the Ammonites^(Y) like Gomorrah—
a place of weeds and salt pits,
    a wasteland forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder^(Z) them;
    the survivors^(AA) of my nation will inherit their land.^(AB)”

¹⁰This is what they will get in return for their pride,^(AC)
    for insulting^(AD) and mocking
    the people of the Lord Almighty.^(AE)
¹¹The Lord will be awesome^(AF) to them
    when he destroys all the gods^(AG) of the earth.^(AH)
Distant nations will bow down to him,^(AI)
    all of them in their own lands.

Cush

¹²“You Cushites,^[b]^(AJ) too,
will be slain by my sword.^(AK)”

Assyria

¹³He will stretch out his hand against the north
    and destroy Assyria,^(AL)
leaving Nineveh^(AM) utterly desolate
    and dry as the desert.^(AN)
¹⁴Flocks and herds^(AO) will lie down there,
    creatures of every kind.
The desert owl^(AP) and the screech owl^(AQ)
    will roost on her columns.
Their hooting will echo through the windows,
    rubble will fill the doorways,
    the beams of cedar will be exposed.
¹⁵This is the city of revelry^(AR)
    that lived in safety.^(AS)
She said to herself,
    “I am the one! And there is none besides me.”^(AT)
What a ruin she has become,
    a lair for wild beasts!^(AU)
All who pass by her scoff^(AV)
    and shake their fists.^(AW)