Judah’s King Rehoboam

²¹ Now Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah.^(A) Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord 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 sight.^(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, King Shishak 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 to replace them and committed them into the care of the captains of the guards^[a](M) who protected the entrance to the king’s palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the armory.^[b](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 ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.^(Q) His son Abijam^[c](R) became king in his place.