1 Kings 12
12
How Rehoboam lost the kingdom
1Rehoboam went to Shechem where all Israel had come to make him king. 2When Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, heard the news, he returned from Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon. 3The people sent and called for Jeroboam, who along with the entire Israelite assembly went and said to Rehoboam, 4“Your father made our workload#12.4 Or our yoke; also in the verses that follow very hard for us. If you will lessen the demands your father made of us and lighten the heavy workload he demanded from us, then we will serve you.”
5He answered them, “Come back in three days.” So the people left.
6King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. “What do you advise?” Rehoboam asked. “How should I respond to these people?”
7“If you will be a servant to this people by answering them and speaking good words today,” they replied, “then they will be your servants forever.”
8But Rehoboam ignored the advice the elders gave him and instead sought the counsel of the young advisors who had grown up with him and now served him. 9“What do you advise?” he asked them. “How should we respond to these people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the workload your father demanded of us’?”
10The young people who had grown up with him said to him, “This people said to you, ‘Your father made our workload heavy; lighten it for us!’ Now this is what you should say to them: ‘My baby finger#12.10 Or pinky finger, perhaps a euphemism is thicker than my father’s entire waist! 11So if my father made your workload heavy, I’ll make it even heavier! If my father disciplined you with whips, I’ll do it with scorpions!’”
12Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had specified when he said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13The king then answered the people harshly. He ignored the elders’ advice 14and instead followed the young people’s advice. He said, “My father made your workload heavy, but I’ll make it even heavier! My father disciplined you with whips, but I’ll do it with scorpions!”
15The king didn’t listen to the people because this turn of events came from the LORD so that he might keep the promise he delivered through Ahijah from Shiloh concerning Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. 16When all Israel saw that the king wouldn’t listen to them, the people answered the king:
“Why should we care about David?
We have no stake in Jesse’s son!
Go back to your homes, Israel!
You better look after your own house now, David!”
Then the Israelites went back to their homes, 17and Rehoboam ruled over only the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.
18When King Rehoboam sent Adoram to them (he was the leader of the work gang), all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly got into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him. They called him to the assembly and crowned him king of all Israel.
Nothing was left to the house of David except the tribe of Judah. 21When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—one hundred eighty thousand select warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom for Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. 22But God’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God, 23“Tell Judah’s King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, 24‘This is what the LORD says: Don’t make war against your relatives the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, because this is my plan.’” When they heard the LORD’s words, they went back home, just as the LORD had said.
Jeroboam I and the shrines
25Jeroboam fortified Shechem at Mount Ephraim and lived there. From there he also fortified Penuel. 26Jeroboam thought to himself, The kingdom is in danger of reverting to the house of David. 27If these people continue to sacrifice at the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem, they will again become loyal to their master Rehoboam, Judah’s king, and they will kill me so they can return to Judah’s King Rehoboam. 28So the king asked for advice and then made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It’s too far for you to go all the way up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel! Here are your gods who brought you out from the land of Egypt.” 29He put one calf in Bethel, and the other he placed in Dan. 30This act was sinful. The people went to worship before the one calf at Bethel and before the other one as far as Dan.#12.30 Cf LXX; MT lacks before the one at Bethel. 31Jeroboam made shrines on the high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, but none were Levites. 32Jeroboam set a date for a celebration on the fifteenth day of the eighth month.#12.32 October–November It was just like the celebration in Judah. He sacrificed on the altar. At Bethel he sacrificed to the calves he had made. There also he installed the priests for the shrines he had made. 33On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the time he alone had decided—Jeroboam went up#12.33 Or offered sacrifices to the altar he had built in Bethel. He made a celebration for the Israelites and offered sacrifices on the altar by burning them up.#12.33 Or went up on the altar to burn incense
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1 Kings 12: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
I Kings 12
12
The Revolt Against Rehoboam
1And #2 Chr. 10:1Rehoboam went to #Judg. 9:6Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2So it happened, when #1 Kin. 11:26Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in #1 Kin. 11:40Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt ), 3that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4“Your father made our #1 Sam. 8:11–18; 1 Kin. 4:7; 5:13–15yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.
6Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
7And they spoke to him, saying, #2 Chr. 10:7; (Prov. 15:1)“If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
8But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”
10Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! 11And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’ ”
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” 13Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; 14and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” 15So the king did not listen to the people; for #Deut. 2:30; Judg. 14:4; 1 Kin. 12:24; 2 Chr. 10:15the turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had #1 Kin. 11:11, 29, 31spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:
#2 Sam. 20:1“What share have we in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
To your tents, O Israel!
Now, see to your own house, O David!”
So Israel departed to their tents. 17But Rehoboam reigned over #1 Kin. 11:13, 36; 2 Chr. 11:14–17the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.
18Then King Rehoboam #1 Kin. 4:6; 5:14sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19So #2 Kin. 17:21Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all #2 Kin. 17:21Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah #1 Kin. 11:13, 32, 36only.
21And when #2 Chr. 11:1–4Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of #2 Sam. 19:17Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22But #2 Chr. 11:2; 12:5–7the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23“Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, #1 Kin. 12:15for this thing is from Me.” ’ ” Therefore they obeyed the word of the Lord, and turned back, according to the word of the Lord.
Jeroboam’s Gold Calves
25Then Jeroboam #Gen. 12:6; Judg. 9:45–49; 1 Kin. 12:1built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built #Gen. 32:30, 31; Judg. 8:8, 17Penuel. 26And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27If these people #(Deut. 12:5–7, 14)go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28Therefore the king asked advice, #2 Kin. 10:29; 17:16; (Hos. 8:4–7)made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. #Ex. 32:4, 8Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 29And he set up one in #Gen. 28:19Bethel, and the other he put in #Judg. 18:26–31Dan. 30Now this thing became #1 Kin. 13:34; 2 Kin. 17:21a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31He made shrines on the high places, #(Num. 3:10; 17:1–11); Judg. 17:5; 1 Kin. 13:33; 2 Kin. 17:32; 2 Chr. 11:14, 15and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like #Lev. 23:33, 34; Num. 29:12; 1 Kin. 8:2, 5the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. #Amos 7:10–13And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. 33So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had #Num. 15:39devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and #1 Kin. 13:1burned incense.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.