The kingdom divides · Chronicles: Rehoboam

1 Kings 14 WEB

¹At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. ²Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people. ³Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.” ⁴Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age. ⁵The LORD said to Ahijah, “Behold, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.” ⁶So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, ⁸and tore the kingdom away from David’s house, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes, ⁹but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, ¹⁰therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung until it is all gone. ¹¹The dogs will eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam who dies in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the field, for the LORD has spoken it.”’ ¹²Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die. ¹³All Israel will mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴Moreover the LORD will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Even now. ¹⁵For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger. ¹⁶He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.” ¹⁷Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰The days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty two years; then he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place. ²¹Rehoboam 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 the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ²²Judah did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. ²³For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD drove out before the children of Israel. ²⁵In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; ²⁶and he took away the treasures of the LORD’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. ²⁷King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the door of the king’s house. ²⁸It was so, that as often as the king went into the LORD’s house, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room. ²⁹Now 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? ³⁰There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ³¹Rehoboam 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.

2 Chronicles 10–11 WEB

^10:1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. ³They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴“Your father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.” ⁵He said to them, “Come again to me after three days.” So the people departed. ⁶King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me about how to answer these people?” ⁷They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹He said to them, “What counsel do you give, that we may give an answer to these people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter’?” ¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter on us;’ thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’” ¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³The king answered them roughly; and King Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴and spoke to them after 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.” ¹⁵So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was brought about by God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and the children of Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam hurried to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel rebelled against David’s house to this day.

^11:1When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. ²But the LORD’s word came 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‘The LORD says, “You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers! Every man return to his house; for this thing is of me.”’” So they listened to the LORD’s words, and returned from going against Jeroboam. ⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹He fortified the strongholds and put captains in them with stores of food, oil and wine. ¹²He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceedingly strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. ¹³The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him out of all their territory. ¹⁴For the Levites left their pasture lands and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office to the LORD. ¹⁵He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goat and calf idols which he had made. ¹⁶After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, those who set their hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon. ¹⁸Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰After her, he took Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. ²³He dealt wisely, and dispersed some of his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city. He gave them food in abundance; and he sought many wives for them.