Beginning

12 And Rehoboam went to Shechem. For all Israel had come to Shechem, to make him king.

² And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard of it (who was still in Egypt, where Jeroboam had fled from King Solomon and dwelt in Egypt),

³ they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the Congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴ “Your father made our yoke grievous. Now, therefore, make the grievous servitude of your father and his severe yoke which he put upon us, lighter. And we will serve you.”

⁵ And he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.

⁶ And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon, his father, while he still lived, and said, “What counsel do you give, so that I may answer this people?”

⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are a servant to this people this day, and serve them, and answer them, and speak kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But he forsook the counsel that the old men had given him, and asked counsel of the young men who had been brought up with him and waited on him.

⁹ And he said to them, “What counsel do you give, so that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke which your father has put upon us lighter’?”

¹⁰ Then the young men who were brought up with him, spoke to him, saying, “Thus shall you say to this people who have spoken to you, and said, ‘Your father has made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter to us.’ Thus shall you say to them, ‘My least part shall be bigger than my father’s loins.

¹¹ ‘Now, whereas my father burdened you with a grievous yoke, I will make your yoke heavier still. My father has chastised you with rods, but I will correct you with scourges.’”

¹² Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, “Come back to me on the third day.”

¹³ And the king answered the people sharply, and left the old men’s counsel that they gave him,

¹⁴ and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke grievous, and I will make your yoke more grievous. My father has chastised you with rods, but I will correct you with scourges.”

¹⁵ And the king did not listen to the people. For it was the Ordinance of the LORD that he might perform his saying which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ So, when all Israel saw that the king did not regard them, the people answered the king thus, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own House, David!” So, Israel departed to their tents.

¹⁷ However, Rehoboam still reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ Now, King Rehoboam sent Adoram, the receiver of the tribute. And all Israel stoned him to death. Then King Rehoboam hurried to get up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ And Israel rebelled against the House of David to this day.

²⁰ And when all Israel had heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one but the tribe of Judah followed the House of David.

²¹ And when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he gathered all the House of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred eighty thousand chosen men (who were good warriors) to fight against the House of Israel, and to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.

²² But the Word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying:

²³ “Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the House of Judah and Benjamin, and the remnant of the people, saying,

²⁴ ‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not go up or fight against your brethren, the children of Israel. Every man return to his house. For this thing is done by Me.”’” Therefore, they obeyed the Word of the LORD and returned and departed, according to the Word of the LORD.

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built Shechem on Mount Ephraim and dwelt in it and went from there and built Penuel.

²⁶ And Jeroboam thought in his heart, “Now shall the kingdom return to the House of David.

²⁷ “If this people goes up and does sacrifice in the House of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the hearts of this people turn back to their lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So shall they kill me and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah.”

²⁸ Upon which the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, O Israel, your gods which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

²⁹ And he set one in Bethel. And the other he set in Dan.

³⁰ And this thing turned to sin. For the people went (because of the one) as far as Dan.

³¹ Also, he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

³² And Jeroboam made a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the Feast that is in Judah, and offered on the altar. So he did in Bethel, and offered to the calves that he had made. And he placed the priests of the high places which he had made in Bethel.

³³ And he offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, (in the month which he had forged of his own heart) and made a solemn feast to the children of Israel. And he went up to the altar, to burn incense.

13 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah (by the Commandment of the LORD) to Bethel. And Jeroboam stood by the altar, to offer incense.

² And he cried against the altar by the Commandment of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a child shall be born to the House of David, Josiah by name. And upon you shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you. And they shall burn men’s bones upon you.’”

³ And he gave a sign at the same time, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar shall tear, and the ashes that are upon it shall fall out.”

⁴ And when the king had heard the saying of the man of God, which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand for the altar, saying, “Lay hold on him!” But his hand which he put forth against him dried up. And he could not pull it back in.

⁵ The altar also split apart. And the ashes fell out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the Commandment of the LORD.

⁶ Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “I implore you, pray to the LORD your God, and make intercession for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God prayed to the LORD. And the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, so that you may dine. And I will give you a reward.”

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

⁹ “For so I was charged by the Word of the LORD, saying: “Eat no bread nor drink water nor turn back by the same way that you came.”

¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.

¹¹ And an old Prophet dwelt in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.

¹² And their father said to them, “What way did he go?” And his sons told him what way the man of God had gone, who came from Judah.

¹³ And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So, they saddled the donkey for him. And he rode on it,

¹⁴ and went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Art you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “Yes.”

¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

¹⁶ But he answered, “I may neither return with you nor go in with you. Nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

¹⁷ “For I was charged by the Word of the LORD: “You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn back to go by the way that you went.”

¹⁸ And he said to him, “I am also a Prophet, as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the Word of the LORD, saying, “Bring him back with you into your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.” But he lied to him.

¹⁹ So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ And as they sat at the table, the Word of the LORD came to the Prophet who had brought him back.

²¹ And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have disobeyed the Mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the Commandment which the LORD your God Commanded you,

²² ‘(but came back again and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “You shall eat no bread nor drink any water)”, your carcass shall not come to the sepulcher of your fathers.’”

²³ And when he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled his donkey for him (for the Prophet whom he had brought back).

²⁴ And when he had gone, a lion met him by the road and killed him. And his body was cast in the road. And the donkey stood nearby. The lion also stood by the corpse.

²⁵ And behold, men who passed by saw the carcass cast in the road, and the Lion standing by the corpse. And they came and told it in the town where the old Prophet dwelt.

²⁶ And when the Prophet who had brought him back again from the road heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who has been disobedient to the Commandment of the LORD. Therefore, the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke to him.”

²⁷ And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled him.

²⁸ And he went and found his body cast in the road. And the donkey and the lion stood by the corpse. And the lion had neither eaten the body nor torn the donkey.

²⁹ And the Prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it upon the donkey and brought it back. And the old Prophet came to the city to lament and bury him.

³⁰ And he laid his body in his own grave. And they lamented over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

³¹ And when he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, bury me also in the sepulcher in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

³² “For that thing which he cried by the Word of the LORD against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”

³³ After this, Jeroboam did not convert from his wicked way, but turned back and made priests of the high places from the lowest of the people. Whoever wished, could consecrate himself and be one of the priests of the high places.

³⁴ And this thing turned to sin to the House of Jeroboam, even to root it out and destroy it from the face of the Earth.

14 At that time, Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick.

² And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Up, please, and disguise yourself, so that they do not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam. And go to Shiloh. For Ahijah the Prophet is there, who told me that I would be king over this people.

³ “And take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a bottle of honey, and go to him. He shall tell you what shall become of the young man.”

⁴ And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his sight was decayed because of his age.

⁵ Then the LORD said to Ahijah: “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to ask something of you for her son, for he is sick. (Thus and thus) shall you say to her when she comes in. She shall pretend to be another.”

⁶ Therefore, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? I am sent to you with heavy tidings.

⁷ “Go tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Because I have exalted you among the people, and have made you prince over My people Israel,

⁸ “and have torn the kingdom away from the House of David and have given it to you. And you have not been as My servant David, who kept My Commandments and followed Me with all his heart and did only that which was right in My Eyes,

⁹ “but have done evil above all who were before you (for you have gone and made yourself other gods and molten images, to provoke Me, and have cast Me behind your back),

¹⁰ “therefore behold, I will bring evil upon the House of Jeroboam, and will cut off every male from Jeroboam, as well him who is shut up, as him who is left in Israel, and will sweep away the remnant of the House of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung until it is all gone.

¹¹ “The dogs shall eat him of Jeroboam who dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat him who dies in the field. For the LORD has said it.”’

¹² “Up, therefore, and get to your house! For when your feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

¹³ “And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him. For only he of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some goodness toward the LORD God of Israel in the House of Jeroboam.

¹⁴ “Moreover, the LORD shall stir himself up a king over Israel, who shall destroy the House of Jeroboam on that day. What? Yea, even now!

¹⁵ “For the LORD shall strike Israel, as when a reed is shaken in the water. And He shall weed Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made themselves groves, provoking the LORD to anger.

¹⁶ “And He shall give Israel up, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and made Israel sin.”

¹⁷ And Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. And when she came to the threshold of the house, the young man died.

¹⁸ And they buried him. And all Israel lamented him, according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke by the hand of his servant, Ahijah the Prophet.

¹⁹ And the rest of Jeroboam’s acts, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

²⁰ And the days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers. And Nadab, his son, reigned in his place.

²¹ Also Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His Name. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite.

²² And Judah worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD. And they provoked Him more with their sins which they had committed than all that which their fathers had done.

²³ For they also made themselves high places, and images, and groves, 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 the LORD has cast out before the children of Israel.

²⁵ And in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem

²⁶ and took the treasures from the House of the LORD, and the treasures from the king’s house, and took it all away. So, he carried away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

²⁷ And King Rehoboam made bronze shields for them and committed them into the hands of the chief of the guard, who waited at the door of the king’s house.

²⁸ And when the king went into the House of the LORD, the guard bore them and brought them back into the guard chamber.

²⁹ And the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

³⁰ And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

³¹ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite. And Abijam, his son, reigned in his place.