Beginning
Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam
12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone there to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, he heard about this, and he returned from Egypt.[a] 3 So the people sent for him.
Then Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he laid on us, and we will serve you.”
5 Rehoboam said to them, “Leave me for three days and then return to me.” So the people left.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive. He asked, “What answer do you advise me to give to these people?”
7 They said to him, “If today you become a servant to this people—if you serve them and answer them with kind words—then they will be your servants for all time.”[b]
8 But he rejected the advice which the old men offered him. Instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He said to them, “What answer do you advise that we should give to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him said, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father laid a heavy yoke on us. Now lighten our yoke.’ Tell them this: ‘My little finger[c] is thicker than my father’s waist.[d] 11 My father imposed a heavy yoke on you. I will make your yoke heavier. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.’”[e]
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, because the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.”
13 The king answered the people harshly, because he had rejected the advice which the old men had offered. 14 He spoke to them as the young men advised him: “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.”
15 The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events was from the Lord, in order to fulfill his word, which the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah from Shiloh.
16 All Israel saw that the king had not listened to them. So the people answered the king:
What share do we have in David?
No portion in the son of Jesse!
To your tents, Israel!
Now look after your own house, David!
So Israel went to their tents.[f]
17 Rehoboam continued to rule over the people of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah.
18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoram,[g] who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, was able to get in his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David until this day.
Jeroboam Becomes King of Israel
20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No tribe was left which followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone.
(2 Chronicles 11:1-4)
21 When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand specially chosen soldiers, to fight against the house of Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God: 23 “Say the following to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people. 24 This is what the Lord says. Do not attack and do not fight against your brothers, the people of Israel. Go home, every one of you, for this turn of events is from me.”
So they listened to the word of the Lord, and they returned home, just as the Lord said. 25 But Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived there. From there he also went out and fortified Penuel.[h]
The Sin of Jeroboam Son of Nebat
26 But Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingship will go back to the house of David. 27 If this people goes up to offer sacrifices at the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, then the hearts of the people will return to their master, Rehoboam king of Judah. Then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28 After the king sought advice, he made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much trouble for you. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 29 He set up one in Bethel and the other one in Dan.
30 This sin took hold, and the people traveled as far as Dan to worship. 31 Jeroboam also made shrines[i] on the high places,[j] and he appointed priests from all kinds of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 Jeroboam instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival[k] that is held in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He appointed priests in Bethel for the high places he had made. 33 He instituted sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month which he chose on his own. He instituted a festival for the people of Israel. He went up to the altar to send offerings up in smoke.
The Prophet From Judah Testifies Against Jeroboam
13 At that moment, by the word of the Lord, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel while Jeroboam was standing in front of the altar to send offerings up in smoke. 2 He cried out against the altar by the word of Lord, “Altar! Altar! This is what the Lord says. Listen! A son will be born to the house of David. Josiah will be his name. On you he will slaughter the priests of the high places, who are burning offerings on you, and human bones will be burned on you.”
3 On that day he gave them a sign: “This is the sign which the Lord announces: This very altar will be torn apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard this message that the man of God had proclaimed against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him from the altar and cried, “Seize him!” But the hand that the king pointed at the man withered, and he could not pull it back. 5 Then the altar was torn apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar in fulfillment of the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6 Then the king responded to the man of God, “Intercede before the Lord your God and pray on my behalf that my hand may be restored for me.” So the man of God interceded before the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored for him, so that it was like it had been before.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and eat something, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your wealth, I would not go with you, and I would not eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 For this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord: Do not eat bread and do not drink water, and do not return by the way you came.” 10 So he left by a different road. He did not go back the same way he had come to Bethel.
The Prophets’ Sins
11 Another prophet, an old man, was living in Bethel. His sons[l] came and told him everything that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also reported to their father the words he had spoken to the king.
12 Then their father said to them, “Which road did he take?” So his sons showed him the road[m] which the man of God from Judah had taken.
13 He told his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled his donkey, and he got on it. 14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under a terebinth tree.
He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
He answered, “I am.”
15 The old prophet said to him, “Come with me to my house and have something to eat.”
16 But he said, “No, I cannot return with you, or go with you, or eat bread and drink water with you in this place. 17 For I was told by the word of the Lord, ‘Do not eat bread and do not drink water there, and do not return by the same road you came on.’”
18 But the old prophet said to him, “I also am a prophet, just like you, and an angel told me by the word of the Lord, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he was lying to him. 19 Then the man of God returned with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought the man of God back. 21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, “This is what the Lord says. Because you have rebelled against the mouth of the Lord and have not obeyed the command which the Lord your God gave you, 22 but instead you came back and ate bread and drank water in the place about which he had told you, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there,’ your corpse will not enter the tomb of your fathers.”
23 Then after he ate and drank, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 As the man of God went on his way, a lion attacked him and killed him. His corpse was left lying on the road, and his donkey remained standing next to it. The lion was also standing next to the corpse. 25 Then some men who were passing by saw the corpse lying on the road, and the lion was standing next to the corpse. They came and told the story in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought the man of God back from his journey heard this, he said, “This is the man of God who rebelled against the mouth of the Lord. Now the Lord has given him to the lion. It mauled him and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him.”
27 He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled it. 28 Then he went and found the corpse of the man of God lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor had it mauled the donkey.
29 The old prophet picked up the corpse of the man of God, placed it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn and to bury it. 30 He laid the corpse in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, “Oh, my brother!”
31 After he had buried him, the old prophet said to his sons, “When I die and you bury me, lay my bones to rest beside the bones of the man of God, in the same tomb where he is buried. 32 For the message which he proclaimed by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria will certainly come true.”
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he continued to appoint all kinds of people as priests for the high places. He ordained anyone who wanted to be a priest for the high places. 34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, which erased and exterminated it from the face of the earth.
God’s Judgment on Jeroboam
14 At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick. 2 So Jeroboam told his wife, “Go and disguise yourself so that you will not be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh. That is where the prophet Ahijah is. He is the one who told me that I would become king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some baked goods, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
4 So Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah was no longer able to see due to old age. His eyes stared straight ahead.[n]
5 The Lord had told Ahijah, “Be ready! Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire from you about her son because he is seriously ill. When she comes, you will say this and this to her. But when she comes, she will be disguised.”
6 When Ahijah heard her footsteps as she came to the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you disguised? I am a messenger with bad news for you. 7 Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.”
The Lord’s Message for Jeroboam
I raised you up from among the people, and I appointed you leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom from the house of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart by doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all those who came before you, and you have made for yourself other gods and images of cast metal, provoking me to anger. You threw me behind your back.
10 Therefore, listen to this! I myself will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will exterminate everyone in Israel connected to Jeroboam, all those who urinate against the wall,[o] both bound and free.[p] I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as completely as manure is burned. 11 The dogs will eat those who belong to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will eat those who die in the country, because the Lord has spoken.
12 As for you, go home. As soon as your feet enter the city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. Indeed, from those who belong to Jeroboam he alone will be buried in a tomb, because in the house of Jeroboam some good is found in him before the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 Then the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day. Indeed, it begins right now.[q]
15 The Lord will strike Israel until it sways like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and he will scatter them beyond the River,[r] because they made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 Yes, he will give Israel up because of the sins which Jeroboam himself committed and which he caused Israel to commit.
17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up, set out, and traveled to Tirzah. When she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.
19 As for the rest of Jeroboam’s acts, the wars he fought and the way he ruled, you can find them written in the annals[s] of the kings of Israel. 20 Jeroboam was king for twenty-two years. He rested with his fathers. Then his son Nadab became king in his place.
Rehoboam’s Reign
21 Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his Name there. The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Na’amah the Ammonite.
22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and they provoked him to anger more than all their fathers had done with the sins that they committed. 23 They built for themselves high places, sacred memorial stones, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every leafy tree. 24 There were even male cult prostitutes in the land. They practiced all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them, and he entrusted them to the captains of the guard who were keeping watch at the entrance of the king’s palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the House of the Lord, the guards would carry the shields. Then the guards would return them to the armory.
29 As for the rest of Rehoboam’s acts and everything he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 31 Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the City of David. The name of his mother was Na’amah the Ammonite. Then his son Abijam became king in his place.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.