1 Kings 12:16-33

New American Standard Bible

The Kingdom Divided; Jeroboam Rules Israel

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people replied to the king, saying,

So Israel went away to their tents. ¹⁷ But ^(B)as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent ^(C)Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him ^[a]to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ^19 (D)So Israel has broken with the house of David to this day.

²⁰ And it came about, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent word and called him to the assembly, and made him king over all Israel. ^(E)None except the tribe of Judah alone followed the house of David.

^21 (F)Now when Rehoboam had come 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 ^(G)Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ²³ “Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the ^(H)rest of the people, saying, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: “You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return, every man to his house, ^(I)for this thing has come from Me.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned to go their way in accordance with the word of the Lord.

Jeroboam’s Idolatry

²⁵ Then ^(J)Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived ^[b]there. And he went out from there and built ^(K)Penuel. ²⁶ And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. ^27 (L)If this people go up to ^[c]offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king ^[d]consulted, and he ^(M)made two golden ^(N)calves; and he said to ^[e]the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; ^(O)behold your gods, Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ And he set up ^(P)one in ^(Q)Bethel, and the other he put in ^(R)Dan. ³⁰ Now ^(S)this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. ³¹ And ^(T)he made houses on high places, and ^[f](U)appointed priests from ^[g]all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. ³² Jeroboam also ^[h]instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, ^(V)like the feast that is in Judah, and he ^[i]went up to the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel ^(W)the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³ Then he ^[j]went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, the month that he had ^[k](X)devised ^[l]in his own heart; and he ^[m]instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and ^[n]went up to the altar ^(Y)to burn ^[o]incense.