Old/New Testament

The Revolt against Rehoboam

10 Rehobo′am went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And when Jerobo′am the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from King Solomon), then Jerobo′am returned from Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him; and Jerobo′am and all Israel came and said to Rehobo′am, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehobo′am took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ And they said to him, “If you will be kind to this people and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.” ⁸ But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us’?” ¹⁰ And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but do you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jerobo′am and all the people came to Rehobo′am the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered them harshly, and forsaking the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴ King Rehobo′am spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not hearken to the people; for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfil his word, which he spoke by Ahi′jah the Shi′lonite to Jerobo′am the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ And when all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, the people answered the king,

So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehobo′am reigned over the people of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehobo′am sent Hador′am, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehobo′am made haste to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Judah and Benjamin Fortified

11 When Rehobo′am came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah, and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehobo′am. ² But the word of the Lord came to Shemai′ah the man of God: ³ “Say to Rehobo′am the son of Solomon king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your brethren. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they hearkened to the word of the Lord, and returned and did not go against Jerobo′am.

⁵ Rehobo′am dwelt in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Teko′a, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mare′shah, Ziph, ⁹ Adora′im, Lachish, Aze′kah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Ai′jalon, and Hebron, fortified cities which are in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And he put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

Priests and Levites Support Rehoboam

¹³ And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him from all places where they lived. ¹⁴ For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jerobo′am and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, ¹⁵ and he appointed his own priests for the high places, and for the satyrs, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶ And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷ They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehobo′am the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

Rehoboam’s Marriages

¹⁸ Rehobo′am took as wife Ma′halath the daughter of Jer′imoth the son of David, and of Ab′ihail the daughter of Eli′ab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹ and she bore him sons, Je′ush, Shemari′ah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he took Ma′acah the daughter of Ab′salom, who bore him Abi′jah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelo′mith. ²¹ Rehobo′am loved Ma′acah the daughter of Ab′salom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters); ²² and Rehobo′am appointed Abi′jah the son of Ma′acah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. ²³ And he dealt wisely, and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; and he gave them abundant provisions, and procured wives for them.^[a]

Egypt Attacks Judah

12 When the rule of Rehobo′am was established and was strong, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. ² In the fifth year of King Rehobo′am, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ³ with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Suk′ki-im, and Ethiopians. ⁴ And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then Shemai′ah the prophet came to Rehobo′am and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” ⁶ Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.” ⁷ When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemai′ah: “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ Nevertheless they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made; ¹⁰ and King Rehobo′am made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. ¹¹ And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and bore them, and brought them back to the guardroom. ¹² And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction; moreover, conditions were good in Judah.

Death of Rehoboam

¹³ So King Rehobo′am established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehobo′am was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Na′amah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵ Now the acts of Rehobo′am, from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemai′ah the prophet and of Iddo the seer?^[b] There were continual wars between Rehobo′am and Jerobo′am. ¹⁶ And Rehobo′am slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David; and Abi′jah his son reigned in his stead.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; ³⁴ and he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. ⁴² I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Laz′arus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him; ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place^[a] and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Ca′iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; ⁵⁰ you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called E′phraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. ⁵⁶ They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?” ⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if any one knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.