1 Kings
Chapter 12
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem because all Israel had gathered there to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, was still in Egypt, he heard about it. He had run away from King Solomon and was living in Egypt.
3 They sent for him and called him. Jeroboam and all the people of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4 Your father made our work very hard. Now please make the hard work and the heavy load he put on us lighter, and we will serve you.
5 He told them, “Go away for three days, then come back to me.” So the people left.
6 King Rehoboam asked the elders who had served his father Solomon for advice, saying, “What is your advice on how I should respond to these people?”
7 They said to him, “If you agree to serve these people today, help them, listen to them, and say kind things to them, then they will be your servants always.”
8 He ignored the advice of the older men that they had given him and asked the young men who had grown up with him and who served him for their opinion.
9 He asked them, “What advice do you suggest we give to the people who said to me, ‘Make the heavy burden your father put on us lighter’?”
10 The young men who grew up with him said to him, “This is how you should talk to the people who told you, ‘Your father made our work hard, but you should make it easier for us’: You should say to them, ‘My little finger is stronger than my father’s waist.’
11 My father made your workload heavy, but I will make it even heavier. He disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.
12 So Jeroboam and all the people went to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had told them, “Come back to me on the third day.”
13 The king spoke harshly to the people and ignored the advice the elders had given him.
14 He spoke to them, following the young men’s advice, saying, “My father made your workload heavy, and I will make it even heavier. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
15 So the king did not listen to the people, because this was God’s plan, to fulfill what God had said through Ahijah from Shiloh to Jeroboam, Nebat’s son.
16 When all Israel realized that the king did not listen to them, the people told the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no part in Jesse’s son: Go to your homes, Israel. Take care of your own family, David.” So Israel went back to their homes.
17 The children of Israel who lived in the towns of Judah were ruled by Rehoboam.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of taxes, but all the people of Israel stoned him to death. So King Rehoboam hurried to his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem.
19 Israel turned against David’s family and has done so to this day.
20 When all of Israel learned that Jeroboam had returned, they called him to their assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah stayed loyal to David’s family.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered the people of Judah and the Benjamin tribe, 180,000 selected soldiers, to battle the people of Israel and return the kingdom to Rehoboam, Solomon’s son.
22 God’s message came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying,
23 Tell Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and king of Judah, and all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and the others who are left, this message:
24 God says, “Do not attack or fight your brothers, the Israelites. Go back to your homes because this is my will.” So they listened to God’s command and went back home as God had said.
25 Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left and built Penuel.
26 Jeroboam thought, “Now the kingdom will go back to David’s family.”
27 If these people go to make sacrifices in God’s house at Jerusalem, then their loyalty will return to their king, Rehoboam of Judah, and they will kill me and follow Rehoboam king of Judah again.
28 The king got advice, then made two gold calves and told the people, “It’s too hard for you to go to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.”
29 He placed one idol in Bethel and the other in Dan.
30 This action became a sin because the people went to worship the statue, all the way to Dan.
31 He built a temple on high places and appointed as priests people of low status who were not from the Levi tribe.
32 Jeroboam set up a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day, similar to the one in Judah, and he made sacrifices on the altar. He did this in Bethel, offering to the calves he created, and he appointed priests for the shrines he made in Bethel.
33 He made sacrifices on the altar he built in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a date he chose himself; he set up a celebration for the Israelite people and he made offerings on the altar and burned incense.