1 Kings 12:16-24

English Standard Version

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. ^(A)To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over ^(B)the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent ^(C)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 (D)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 ^(E)the tribe of Judah only.

^21 (F)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 ^(G)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 ^(H)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, ^(I)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.