Judah’s King Rehoboam

²¹ Now Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah.^(A) Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king; he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city where Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name.^(B) Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.^(C)

²² Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes.^(D) They provoked Him to jealous anger^(E) more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed. ²³ They also built for themselves high places,^(F) sacred pillars,^(G) and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; ²⁴ there were even male cult prostitutes in the land.^(H) They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^(I)

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt^(J) went to war against Jerusalem.^{(K) 26} He seized the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made.^{(L) 27} King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them into the care of the captains of the royal escorts^[a](M) who guarded the entrance to the king’s palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the royal escorts would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the royal escorts’ armory.^(N)

²⁹ The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign,^(O) along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ³⁰ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.^{(P) 31} Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.^(Q) His son Abijam^[b](R) became king in his place.