The Second Book of Chronicles, starting at chapter 10
{10:1} Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel were come to
Shechem to make him king. {10:2} It happened, when Jeroboam the son of
Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the
presence of king Solomon), that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. {10:3}
They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they
spoke to Rehoboam, saying, {10:4} Your father made our yoke grievous:
now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his
heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you. {10:5}
He said to them, Come again to me after three days. The people
departed. {10:6} King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had
stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What
counsel give you me to return answer to this people? {10:7} They spoke
to him, saying, If you are kind to this people, and please them, and
speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.
{10:8} But he forsook 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. {10:9} He said to them, What counsel give you,
that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me,
saying, Make the yoke that your father did put on us lighter? {10:10}
The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus
shall you tell the people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made
our yoke heavy, but make you it lighter to us; thus shall you say to
them, My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. {10:11} Now
whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your
yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you]
with scorpions. {10:12} So Jeroboam and all the people came to
Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the
third day. {10:13} The king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam
forsook the counsel of the old men, {10:14} and spoke to them after
the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy,
but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I
[will chastise you] with scorpions. {10:15} So the king didn't listen
to the people; for it was brought about of God, that Yahweh might
establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam
the son of Nebat. {10:16} When all Israel saw that the king didn't
listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion
have we in David? neither have we 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. {10:17} But as for the children of
Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
{10:18} Then 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 made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee
to Jerusalem. {10:19} So Israel rebelled against the house of David to
this day.
{11:1} When Rehoboam was 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. {11:2} But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah the man of
God, saying, {11:3} Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of
Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, {11:4} Thus
says Yahweh, You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers:
return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they
listened to the words of Yahweh, and returned from going against
Jeroboam. {11:5} Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and built cities for
defense in Judah. {11:6} He built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,
{11:7} Beth Zur, and Soco, and Adullam, {11:8} and Gath, and Mareshah,
and Ziph, {11:9} and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah, {11:10} and
Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin,
fortified cities. {11:11} He fortified the strongholds, and put
captains in them, and stores of food, and oil and wine. {11:12} In
every city [he put] shields and spears, and made them exceeding
strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. {11:13} The priests and
the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their
border. {11:14} For the Levites left their suburbs and their
possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons
cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office to
Yahweh; {11:15} and he appointed him priests for the high places, and
for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made. {11:16}
After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts
to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to
Yahweh, the God of their fathers. {11:17} So they strengthened the
kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three
years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
{11:18} Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth
the son of David, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of
Jesse; {11:19} and she bore him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.
{11:20} After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore
him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. {11:21} Rehoboam loved
Maacah the daughter 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.) {11:22} Rehoboam
appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, [even] the prince
among his brothers; for [he was minded] to make him king. {11:23} He
dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands
of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city: and he gave them food
in abundance. He sought [for them] many wives.
{12:1} It happened, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established,
and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel
with him. {12:2} It happened in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that
Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had
trespassed against Yahweh, {12:3} with twelve hundred chariots, and
sixty thousand horsemen. The people were without number who came with
him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. {12:4}
He took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah, and came to
Jerusalem. {12:5} Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to
the princes of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because
of Shishak, and said to them, Thus says Yahweh, You have forsaken me,
therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. {12:6} Then the
princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said,
Yahweh is righteous. {12:7} When Yahweh saw that they humbled
themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, They have
humbled themselves: I will not destroy them; but I will grant them
some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by
the hand of Shishak. {12:8} Nevertheless they shall be his servants,
that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the
countries. {12:9} So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,
and took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures
of the king's house: he took all away: he took away also the shields
of gold which Solomon had made. {12:10} King Rehoboam made in their
place shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the
captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. {12:11}
It was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of Yahweh,
the guard came and bore them, and brought them back into the guard
chamber. {12:12} When he humbled himself, the wrath of Yahweh turned
from him, so as not to destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah
there were good things [found]. {12:13} So king Rehoboam strengthened
himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty-one years
old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in
Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of
Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the
Ammonitess. {12:14} He did that which was evil, because he didn't set
his heart to seek Yahweh. {12:15} Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and
last, aren't they written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and
of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? There were wars
between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. {12:16} Rehoboam slept with
his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son
reigned in his place.
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