The Revolt Against Rehoboam^(A)

10 And ^(B)Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, ^(C)where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ So he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” And the people departed.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

^8 (D)But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[a]scourges!’ ”

¹² So ^(E)Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, ^[b]“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[c]scourges!” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people; ^(F)for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill His ^(G)word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. ^19 (H)So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam’s Reign in Judah

11 Now ^(I)when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

² But the word of the Lord came ^(J)to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.” ’ ” Therefore they obeyed the words of the Lord, and turned back from attacking Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Fortifies the Cities

⁵ So Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶ And he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth Zur, Sochoh, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and Benjamin, fortified cities. ¹¹ And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹² Also in every city he put shields and spears, and made them very strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his side.

Priests and Levites Move to Judah^(K)

¹³ And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him. ¹⁴ For the Levites left ^(L)their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for ^(M)Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the Lord. ^15 (N)Then he appointed for himself priests for the ^[d]high places, for ^(O)the demons, and ^(P)the calf idols which he had made. ^16 (Q)And ^[e]after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, ^(R)came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ So they ^(S)strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

The Family of Rehoboam

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of ^(T)Eliah the son of Jesse. ¹⁹ And she bore him children: Jeush, Shamariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he took ^(U)Maachah the ^[f]granddaughter of ^(V)Absalom; and she bore him ^(W)Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Now Rehoboam loved Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his ^(X)wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² And Rehoboam ^(Y)appointed ^(Z)Abijah the son of Maachah as chief, to be leader among his brothers; for he intended to make him king. ²³ He dealt wisely, and ^[g]dispersed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to every ^(AA)fortified city; and he gave them provisions in abundance. He also sought many wives for them.

Egypt Attacks Judah^(AB)

12 Now ^(AC)it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that ^(AD)he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him. ^2 (AE)And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, ³ with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt—^(AF)the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. ⁴ And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ Then ^(AG)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’ ”

⁶ So the leaders of Israel and the king ^(AH)humbled themselves; and they said, ^(AI)“The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, ^(AJ)the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ Nevertheless ^(AK)they will be his servants, that they may distinguish ^(AL)My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.”

^9 (AM)So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had ^(AN)made. ¹⁰ Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them ^(AO)to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. ¹¹ And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. ¹² When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam’s Reign^(AP)

¹³ Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now ^(AQ)Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, ^(AR)the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an ^(AS)Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵ The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, ^(AT)and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? ^(AU)And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ So Rehoboam ^[h]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. Then ^(AV)Abijah^[i] his son reigned in his place.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but ^[a]was in the place where Martha met Him. ^31 (A)Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, ^[b]saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

³² Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she ^(B)fell down at His feet, saying to Him, ^(C)“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. ³⁴ And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

^35 (D)Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

³⁷ And some of them said, “Could not this Man, ^(E)who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

Lazarus Raised from the Dead

³⁸ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a ^(F)stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would ^(G)see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ Then they took away the stone ^[c]from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² And I know that You always hear Me, but ^(H)because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” ⁴⁴ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with ^(I)graveclothes, and ^(J)his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus^(K)

⁴⁵ Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, ^(L)and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went away to the Pharisees and ^(M)told them the things Jesus did. ^47 (N)Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ^(O)“What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

⁴⁹ And one of them, ^(P)Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ^50 (Q)nor do you consider that it is expedient for ^[d]us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(R)not for that nation only, but ^(S)also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

⁵³ Then, from that day on, they plotted to ^(T)put Him to death. ^54 (U)Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called ^(V)Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.

^55 (W)And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to ^(X)purify themselves. ^56 (Y)Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that He will not come to the feast?” ⁵⁷ Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might ^(Z)seize Him.