1 Kings 12-13

GOD’S WORD Translation

King Rehoboam Foolishly Rejects Israel’s Request^(A)

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. When he heard ⌞about Rehoboam⌟, he returned from Egypt.^{[a] 3} ⌞Israel⌟ sent for Jeroboam and invited him back. Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel went to speak to Rehoboam. They said, ⁴ “Your father made us carry a heavy burden. Reduce the hard work and lighten the heavy burden he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ He said to them, “Leave and come back the day after tomorrow.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam sought advice from the older leaders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He asked, “What do you advise? How should I respond to these people?”

⁷ They told him, “If you will serve these people today, humble yourself, and speak gently, then they will always be your servants.”

⁸ But he ignored the advice the older leaders gave him. He sought advice from the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹ He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we respond to these people who are asking me to lighten the burden my father put on them?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is heavier than my father’s whole body. ¹¹ If my father put a heavy burden on you, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.’ ”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam two days later, as the king had instructed them. ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. He ignored the advice the older leaders gave him. ¹⁴ He spoke to them as the young men advised. He said, “If my father made your burden heavy, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ The king refused to listen to the people because the Lord was directing these events to carry out the promise he had made to Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) through Ahijah from Shiloh.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king,

So Israel went home to their own tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam ruled the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram to Israel. He was in charge of forced labor, but they stoned him to death. So King Rehoboam got on his chariot as fast as he could and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel has rebelled against David’s dynasty to this day.

King Jeroboam Establishes Idolatry in Israel^(B)

²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent men to invite him to the assembly. They made him king of all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to David’s dynasty.

²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered all the people of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 of the best soldiers, to fight against the people of Israel and return the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.

²² But God spoke his word to Shemaiah, the man of God. He said, ²³ “Speak to Judah’s King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people. ²⁴ This is what the Lord says: Don’t wage war against your relatives from Israel. Everyone, go home. What has happened is my doing.” So they obeyed the Lord’s word. They returned ⌞home⌟, as the Lord told them.

²⁵ Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left that place and built Penuel. ²⁶ He said to himself, “The kingdom will probably return to David’s dynasty now. ²⁷ King Rehoboam of Judah, the former master of these people, will regain popularity if they go to sacrifice in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. Then they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”

²⁸ After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said, “You’ve been worshiping in Jerusalem long enough. Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.” ²⁹ He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰ Worshiping them became ⌞Israel’s⌟ sin. The people went as far as Dan to worship the one calf. ³¹ Jeroboam built worship sites on hilltops. He appointed men who were not descended from Levi to be priests.

³² Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just like the festival in Judah. He went to the altar in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He appointed priests from the illegal worship sites ⌞to serve⌟ in Bethel. ³³ He went to his altar in Bethel to burn an offering on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, ⌞the festival⌟ he had invented for the Israelites.

A Prophet Announces God’s Judgment

13 A man of God from Judah had come to Bethel. When he arrived, Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer a sacrifice. ² By a command of the Lord, this man condemned the altar. “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: There will be a son born in David’s family line. His name will be Josiah. Here on you Josiah will sacrifice the priests from the illegal worship sites who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.”

³ That day the man of God ⌞also⌟ gave ⌞them⌟ a miraculous sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord will give you: You will see the altar torn apart. The ashes on it will be poured ⌞on the ground⌟.”

⁴ When King Jeroboam heard the man of God condemning the altar in Bethel, he pointed to the man across the altar. “Arrest him,” he said. But the arm that he used to point to the man of God was paralyzed so that he couldn’t pull it back. ⁵ The altar was torn apart, and the ashes from the altar were poured ⌞on the ground⌟. This was the miraculous sign the man of God performed at the Lord’s command.

⁶ Then the king asked the man of God, “Please make an appeal to the Lord your God, and pray for me so that I can use my arm again.” So the man of God made an appeal to the Lord, and the king was able to use his arm again, as he had earlier.

⁷ The king told the man of God, “Come home with me; have something to eat and drink, and I will give you a gift.”

⁸ The man of God told the king, “Even if you gave me half of your palace, I would never go with you to eat or drink there. ⁹ When the Lord spoke to me, he commanded me not to eat or drink or go back on the same road I took.” ¹⁰ So the man of God left on another road and didn’t go back on the road he had taken to Bethel.

A Prophet Disobeys God

¹¹ An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons told him everything the man of God did in Bethel that day and the exact words he had spoken to the king. When they told their father, ¹² he said to them, “Which road did he take?” (His sons had seen which road the man of God from Judah had taken.) ¹³ The old prophet told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” After they had saddled the donkey for him, he got on it.

¹⁴ He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“Yes,” he answered.

¹⁵ “Come home with me, and eat a meal,” the old prophet replied.

¹⁶ The man of God said, “I’m not allowed to go back with you. I’m not allowed to eat or drink with you. ¹⁷ When the Lord spoke to me, he told me not to eat or drink there or go back on the road I took to get there.”

¹⁸ The old prophet said, “I’m also a prophet, like you. An angel spoke the Lord’s word to me. He said, ‘Bring him home with you so that he may have something to eat and drink.’ ” (But the old prophet was lying.)

¹⁹ The man of God went back with him and ate and drank in his home. ²⁰ When they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet who had brought back the man of God. ²¹ The Lord also called to the man of God. He said, “This is what the Lord says: You rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth and didn’t obey the command that the Lord your God gave you. ²² You came back, ate, and drank at this place about which he told you, ‘Don’t eat or drink there.’ That is why your dead body will not be allowed to be placed in the tomb of your ancestors.”

²³ After the old prophet had something to eat and drink, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ The man of God left. A lion found him ⌞as he traveled⌟ on the road and killed him. His dead body was thrown on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing by the body. ²⁵ People who passed by saw the body lying on the road and the lion standing by the body. They talked about it in the city where the old prophet was living.

²⁶ When the old prophet who had brought the man of God back from the road heard about it, he said, “It’s the man of God who rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth! The Lord gave him to the lion. It tore him to pieces and killed him as the Lord’s word had told him.”

²⁷ Then the old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey for him. So they did.

²⁸ He found the body of the man thrown on the road. He also found the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body, nor had it torn the donkey to pieces. ²⁹ The old prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to his own city to mourn for him and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid the body of the man of God in his own tomb and mourned over the man, saying, “Oh no, my brother, my brother!” ³¹ After he had buried the man of God, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God was buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. ³² The things that he announced by a command of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and all the illegal worship sites in the cities of Samaria will happen.”

³³ Even after this, Jeroboam didn’t change his evil ways, but he once again made some men priests for the illegal worship sites. He took all who were willing and appointed them to be priests at the worship sites. ³⁴ Appointing illegal priests became the sin of Jeroboam’s family so that it had to be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth.