Add parallel Print Page Options

Rehoboam’s Reign over Judah

21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He[a] was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.[b] His mother was an Ammonite woman[c] named Naamah.

22 Judah did evil in the sight of[d] the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done.[e] 23 They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 24 There were also male cultic prostitutes[f] in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations[g] that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

25 In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard[h] who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[i] 30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 31 Rehoboam passed away[j] and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah[k] replaced him as king.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 14:21 tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  2. 1 Kings 14:21 tn Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”
  3. 1 Kings 14:21 tn Heb “an Ammonite”; the word “woman” is implied by the gender of the word.
  4. 1 Kings 14:22 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
  5. 1 Kings 14:22 tn Heb “and they made him jealous more than all which their fathers had done by their sins which they sinned.”
  6. 1 Kings 14:24 tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”
  7. 1 Kings 14:24 tn Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”
  8. 1 Kings 14:27 tn Heb “runners.”
  9. 1 Kings 14:29 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Rehoboam, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
  10. 1 Kings 14:31 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
  11. 1 Kings 14:31 tn In the Hebrew text the name is spelled “Abijam” here and in 1 Kgs 15:1-8.

21 Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22 Judah did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 24 There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel. 25 In the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, 26 and he took away the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house. He even took away all of it, including all the gold shields which Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 28 It was so, that as often as the king went into Yahweh’s house, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.

Read full chapter