^26 (A)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(B)an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also ^(C)lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷ And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. ^(D)Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. ²⁸ The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹ And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet ^(E)Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. ³⁰ Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, ^(F)and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^(G)I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes ³² (but ^(H)he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(I)the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³ because they have^[a] forsaken me ^(J)and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. ³⁴ Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. ^35 (K)But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. ³⁶ Yet to his son ^(L)I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have ^(M)a lamp before me in Jerusalem, ^(N)the city where I have chosen to put my name. ³⁷ And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, ^(O)I will be with you and ^(P)will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’” ⁴⁰ Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to ^(Q)Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

^41 (R)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴² And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³ And Solomon ^(S)slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And ^(T)Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam's Folly

12 ^(U)Rehoboam went to ^(V)Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And as soon as ^(W)Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^(X)he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from^[b] Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ^4 (Y)“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, ^(Z)“Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, 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, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer 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 this 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 ^(AA)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, ^(AB)“Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, ¹⁴ he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, ^(AC)“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for ^(AD)it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which ^(AE)the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The Kingdom Divided

¹⁶ And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. ^(AF)To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over ^(AG)the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent ^(AH)Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ^19 (AI)So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. ²⁰ And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but ^(AJ)the tribe of Judah only.

^21 (AK)When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²² But the word of God came to ^(AL)Shemaiah the man of God: ²³ “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the ^(AM)rest of the people, ²⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, ^(AN)for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again, according to the word of the Lord.

Jeroboam's Golden Calves

²⁵ Then Jeroboam ^(AO)built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and ^(AP)built Penuel. ²⁶ And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. ²⁷ If this people ^(AQ)go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king took counsel and ^(AR)made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. ^(AS)Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰ Then ^(AT)this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.^{[c] 31} He also made ^(AU)temples on high places and ^(AV)appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. ³² And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like ^(AW)the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel ^(AX)the priests of the high places that he had made. ³³ He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar ^(AY)to make offerings.

A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

13 And behold, ^(AZ)a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar ^(BA)to make offerings. ^2 (BB)And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, ^(BC)Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” ³ And he gave ^(BD)a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” ⁴ And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. ⁶ And the king said to the man of God, ^(BE)“Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before. ⁷ And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and ^(BF)I will give you a reward.” ⁸ And the man of God said to the king, ^(BG)“If you give me half your house, ^(BH)I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, ⁹ for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet's Disobedience

¹¹ Now ^(BI)an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons^[d] came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. ¹² And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. ¹⁴ And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” ¹⁶ And he said, ^(BJ)“I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, ¹⁷ for it was said to me ^(BK)by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, ²² but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” ²³ And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ And as he went away ^(BL)a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. ²⁵ And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where ^(BM)the old prophet lived.

²⁶ And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” ²⁷ And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. ²⁸ And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. ²⁹ And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city^[e] to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, ^(BN)“Alas, my brother!” ³¹ And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; ^(BO)lay my bones beside his bones. ^32 (BP)For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against ^(BQ)all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of ^(BR)Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

³³ After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. ^34 (BS)And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, ^(BT)so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.