Rehoboam Rules in Judah

²¹ Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel as the place to honor his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.

²² During Rehoboam’s reign, the people of Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, provoking his anger with their sin, for it was even worse than that of their ancestors. ²³ For they also built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He ransacked the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷ King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom.

²⁹ The rest of the events in Rehoboam’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. ³⁰ There was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ³¹ When Rehoboam died, he was buried among his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. Then his son Abijam^[a] became the next king.

Abijam Rules in Judah

15 Abijam^[b] began to rule over Judah in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. ² He reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom.^[c]

³ He committed the same sins as his father before him, and he was not faithful to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been. ⁴ But for David’s sake, the Lord his God allowed his descendants to continue ruling, shining like a lamp, and he gave Abijam a son to rule after him in Jerusalem. ⁵ For David had done what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and had obeyed the Lord’s commands throughout his life, except in the affair concerning Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam^[d] throughout Abijam’s reign. ⁷ The rest of the events in Abijam’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. There was constant war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ When Abijam died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Asa became the next king.