The Revolt Against Rehoboam

10 ^(A)Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, ^(B)where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ^4 (C)“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men,^[a] who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ And they said to him, ^(D)“If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. ¹¹ And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴ King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, ^(E)which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. ^(F)Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent ^(G)Hadoram,^[b] who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam Secures His Kingdom

11 ^(H)When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the word of the Lord came to ^(I)Shemaiah the man of God: ³ “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against ^(J)your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built ^(K)cities for defense in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, ^(L)Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And he put shields and spears in all the cities and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

Priests and Levites Come to Jerusalem

¹³ And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. ¹⁴ For the Levites left ^(M)their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, ^(N)because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, ¹⁵ and he appointed his own ^(O)priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for ^(P)the calves that he had made. ^16 (Q)And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. ^17 (R)They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

Rehoboam's Family

¹⁸ Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of ^(S)Eliab the son of Jesse, ¹⁹ and she bore him sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he took ^(T)Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore him ^(U)Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). ^22 (V)And Rehoboam appointed ^(W)Abijah the son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. ²³ And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities, and he gave them abundant provisions and procured wives for them.^[c]

Egypt Plunders Jerusalem

12 ^(X)When the rule of Rehoboam was established ^(Y)and he was strong, ^(Z)he abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. ^2 (AA)In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, ^(AB)Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—^(AC)Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. ⁴ And he took ^(AD)the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then ^(AE)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, ^(AF)‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” ⁶ Then the princes of ^(AG)Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, ^(AH)“The Lord is righteous.” ⁷ When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: ^(AI)“They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, ^(AJ)and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, ^(AK)that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

^9 (AL)So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away ^(AM)the shields of gold that Solomon had made, ¹⁰ and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. ¹¹ And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. ¹² And when ^(AN)he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, ^(AO)conditions were good^[d] in Judah.

^13 (AP)So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. ¹⁴ And he did evil, ^(AQ)for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

^15 (AR)Now the acts of Rehoboam, ^(AS)from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of ^(AT)Shemaiah the prophet and of ^(AU)Iddo ^(AV)the seer?^[e] There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and ^(AW)Abijah^[f] his son reigned in his place.

God's Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you have ^(A)no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For ^(B)in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on ^(C)the riches of his kindness and ^(D)forbearance and ^(E)patience, ^(F)not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are ^(G)storing up ^(H)wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

^6 (I)He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷ to those who ^(J)by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸ but for those who are self-seeking^[a] and ^(K)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress ^(L)for every human being who does evil, the Jew ^(M)first and also the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and ^(N)peace for everyone who does good, ^(O)the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(P)God shows no partiality.

God's Judgment and the Law

¹² For all who have sinned ^(Q)without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For ^(R)it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, ^(S)by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is ^(T)written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ^16 (U)on that day when, ^(V)according to my gospel, God judges ^(W)the secrets of men ^(X)by Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and ^(Y)rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are ^(Z)a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law ^(AA)the embodiment of ^(AB)knowledge and truth— ^21 (AC)you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(AD)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(AE)boast in the law ^(AF)dishonor God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, ^(AG)as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^(AH)among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(AI)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(AJ)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(AK)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[b] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically^[c] uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(AL)will condemn you who have ^(AM)the written code^[d] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(AN)no one is a Jew ^(AO)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(AP)inwardly, and ^(AQ)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(AR)His praise is not from man but from God.