Yahweh Raises Up Jeroboam

²⁶ Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother was Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon rebelled against the king.^{[a] 27} This is the reason that he rebelled against the king: when Solomon built the Millo, he closed the gap of the city of David his father. ²⁸ Now the man Jeroboam was a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man was a diligent worker,^[b] so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph. ²⁹ It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them were alone in the field, ³⁰ Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes, ³² but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; ³³ because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites.^[c] They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father. ³⁴ But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances. ³⁵ But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you. ³⁶ To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name. ³⁷ You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will punish the offspring of David on account of this; however, not always.’” ⁴⁰ Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.