1 Kings 12
12
Israel Turns Against Rehoboam
1Rehoboam went to Shechem because all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. 2Jeroboam son of Nebat was still in Egypt. He had gone there to escape from Solomon. When Jeroboam heard about Rehoboam being made king, Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3So the people sent for him. Then he and the people went to Rehoboam. They said to Rehoboam, 4“Your father forced us to work very hard. Now, make it easier for us. Don’t make us work as hard as your father did. Then we will serve you.”
5Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days. Then I will answer you.” So the people left.
6Some of the elders had helped Solomon make decisions during his lifetime. So King Rehoboam asked them what he should do. He said, “How do you think I should answer these people?”
7They answered, “You should be like a servant to them today. Serve them, and give them a kind answer. If you do, they will serve you always.”
8But Rehoboam did not listen to this advice. He asked the young men who had grown up with him. They advised him in making decisions. 9Rehoboam said, “The people said, ‘Don’t make us work as hard as your father did.’ How do you think I should answer them? What is your advice?”
10The young men answered, “Those people came to you and said, ‘Your father forced us to work very hard. Now make our work easier.’ So you should tell them, ‘My little finger is bigger than my father’s whole body. 11My father forced you to work hard. But I will make you work even harder! My father beat you with whips. But I will beat you with whips that have sharp points.’”
12Rehoboam had told the people, “Come back to me in three days.” So after three days all the people returned to Rehoboam. 13At that time King Rehoboam spoke cruel words to them. He did not listen to the advice that the elders had given him. 14He did what the young men had told him to do. Rehoboam said, “My father forced you to work hard. So I will give you even more work. My father beat you with whips. But I will beat you with whips that have sharp points.” 15So the king did not do what the people wanted. The Lord caused this to happen. He did this to keep the promise he had made to Jeroboam son of Nebat. He had made this promise through Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh.
16All the people of Israel saw that the new king refused to listen to them. So they said to the king,
“We have no share in David!
We have no part in the son of Jesse!
People of Israel, let’s go to our own homes!
Let David’s son rule his own people!”
So the Israelites went home. 17But Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.
18Adoniram was in charge of the people who were forced to work. King Rehoboam sent him to the people. But they threw stones at him until he died. But King Rehoboam ran to his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. 19Since then, Israel has been against the family of David.
20All the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned. So they called him to a meeting. And they made him king over all Israel. But the tribe of Judah continued to follow the family of David.
21When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This was an army of 180,000 men. Rehoboam wanted to fight against the people of Israel. He wanted to take back his kingdom.
22But God spoke his word to Shemaiah, a man of God. The Lord said, 23“Talk to Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the king of Judah. Talk also to all the people of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people. 24Say to them, ‘The Lord says you must not go to war against your brothers, the Israelites. Every one of you should go home. I made all these things happen!’” So the men in Rehoboam’s army obeyed the Lord’s command. They all went home as the Lord had commanded.
25Then Jeroboam made Shechem a very strong city. It is in the mountains of Ephraim. And Jeroboam lived there. He also went to the city of Peniel and made it stronger.
Jeroboam Builds Golden Calves
26Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom will probably go back to David’s family. 27The people will continue going to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. If they do, they will want to be ruled again by Rehoboam. Then they will kill me and follow Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28King Jeroboam asked his men for advice. So he made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too hard for you to go to Jerusalem to worship. Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.” 29King Jeroboam put one golden calf in the city of Bethel. And he put the other in the city of Dan. 30And this became a very great sin. The people traveled as far as Dan to worship the calf there.
31Jeroboam built temples on the places of worship. He chose priests from all the people. (He did not choose priests only from the tribe of Levi.) 32And he started a new festival. It was the fifteenth day of the eighth month. This was like the festival in Judah. During that time the king offered sacrifices on the altar. He offered sacrifices to the calves in Bethel he had made. He also chose priests in Bethel to serve at the places of worship he had made. 33So Jeroboam chose his own time for a festival for the Israelites. It was the fifteenth day of the eighth month. During that time he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built in Bethel. So he set up a festival for the Israelites. And he offered sacrifices on the altar.
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3 Kings 12
12
1And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither were all Israel come together to make him king.
2But Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was yet in Egypt, a fugitive from the face of king Solomon, hearing of his death, returned out of Egypt.
3And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam came, and all the multitude of Israel; and they spoke to Roboam, saying:
4Thy father laid a grievous yoke upon us. Now therefore do thou take off a little of the grievous service of thy father, and of his most heavy yoke, which he put upon us: and we will serve thee.
5And he said to them: Go till the third day, and come to me again. And when the people was gone,
6King Roboam took counsel with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived. And he said: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people?
7They said to him: If thou wilt yield to this people to-day, and condescend to them, and grant their petition, and wilt speak gentle words to them, they will be thy servants always.
8But he left the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and stood before him.
9And he said to them: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people, who have said to me: Make the yoke which thy father put upon us lighter?
10And the young men that had been brought up with him said: Thus shalt thou speak to this people, who have spoken to thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease us. Thou shalt say to them: My little finger is thicker than the back of my father.
11And now my father put a, heavy yoke upon you: but I will add to your yoke. My father beat you with whips: but I will beat you with scorpions.
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying: Come to me again the third day.
13And the king answered the people roughly, leaving the counsel of the old men, which they had given him.
14And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: My father made your yoke heavy; but I will add to your yoke. My father beat you with whips; but I will beat you with scorpions.
15And the king condescended not to the people: for the Lord was turned away from him, to make good his word, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias the Silonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.
16Then the people, seeing that the king would not hearken to them, answered him, saying: What portion have we in David? Or what inheritance in the son of Isai? Go home to thy dwellings, O Israel. Now David, look to thy own house. So Israel departed to their dwellings.
17But as for all the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda, Roboam reigned over them.
18Then king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tribute: and all Israel stoned him and he died. Wherefore king Roboam made haste to get him up into his chariot, and he fled to Jerusalem.
19And Israel revolted from the house of David, unto this day.
20And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they gathered an assembly, and sent and called him, and made him king over all Israel. And there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Juda only.
21And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered together all the house of Juda, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred fourscore thousand chosen men for war, to fight against the house of Israel and to bring the kingdom again under Roboam the son of Solomon.
22But the word of the Lord came to Semeias, the man of God, saying:
23Speak to Roboam the son of Solomon, the king of Juda, and to all the house of Juda, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying:
24Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from me. They hearkened to the word of the Lord, and returned from their journey, as the Lord had commanded them.
25And Jeroboam built Sichem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt there: and going out from thence he built Phanuel.
26And Jeroboam said in his heart: Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David,
27If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. And the heart of this people will turn to their lord Roboam the king of Juda: and they will kill me, and return to him.
28And finding out a device he made two golden calves, and said to them: Go ye up no more to Jerusalem: Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
29And he set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
30And this thing became an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf as far as Dan.
31And he made temples in the high places, and priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32And he appointed a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, after the manner of the feast that was celebrated in Juda. And going up to the altar, he did in like manner in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves, which he had made. And he placed in Bethel priests of the high places, which he had made.
33And he went up to the altar, which he had built in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had devised of his own heart. And he ordained a feast to the children of Israel: and went upon the altar to burn incense.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.