1 Kings 12

1 And King Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel was coming to Shechem to make him king. [a] 3 And the people spoke to King Rehoboam, saying, [b] 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now give us relief from your father’s hard service and from his heavy yoke, which he laid on us, and we will serve you.” [c]

5 And he said to them, “Go away for three days, and then come back to me.” And they went away.

6 And the king put it before the elders, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was still alive, and said, “How do you counsel me to give this people an answer?” 7 And they spoke to him and said, “If today you will be a servant to this people, and serve them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all the days.”

8 But he left aside the counsel of the elders, who had counseled him, and he took counsel with the young men who had been brought up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What do you counsel, and what shall I answer this people who spoke to me and said, ‘Give us relief from the yoke that your father laid on us’?”

10 And the young men who had been brought up with him, who stood before him, spoke to him and said, “This is what you are to say to this people who spoke to you and said, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, and you, give us relief from it’ — this is what you are to say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 And now: my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.’” [d]

12 And all Israel came to King Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had said to them, “Come back to me on the third day.” 13 And the king answered the people harshly, and Rehoboam left aside the counsel of the elders, who had counseled him, 14 and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.”

15 And the king did not listen to the people, for the turn of things came from the Lord, so that he might make his word stand, which he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. [e]

16 And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people answered the king and said, “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Off to your tents, Israel! Now feed your own house, David.” And Israel went off to their tents. [f]

18 And the king sent out Adoniram, who was over the tribute, and all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam hurried to get up and flee to Jerusalem. [g] 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back out of Egypt, they sent and called him to the gathering, and they made him king over Israel. And no one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah and Benjamin alone.

21 And Rehoboam came into Jerusalem and called together the gathering of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin — a hundred and twenty thousand young men fit for war — to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22 And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to what is left of the people, saying, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: You shall not go up, and you shall not fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Let each man go back to his own house, for this thing has come from me.’” And they listened to the word of the Lord, and they stopped and did not go up, according to the word of the Lord. [h]

And King Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place in Jerusalem. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twelve years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Naanan, daughter of Hanan son of Nahash king of the Ammonites. And he did what was evil before the Lord, and did not walk in the way of David his father.

And there was a man from the hill country of Ephraim, a slave of Solomon, and his name was Jeroboam; and his mother’s name was Sarira, a prostitute. And Solomon made him a leader with the staff, over the labor levies of the house of Joseph. And he built Zeredah in the hill country of Ephraim for Solomon, and he had three hundred chariots of horses. He built the citadel with the labor levies of the house of Ephraim; he closed up the city of David; and he began to lift himself up toward the kingdom. And Solomon sought to put him to death; and he was afraid, and ran away to Shishak king of Egypt, and he was with him until Solomon died.

And Jeroboam heard in Egypt that Solomon was dead, and he spoke in the ears of Shishak king of Egypt, saying, “Send me away, and I will go to my own land.” And Shishak said to him, “Ask a request, and I will give it to you.” And Shishak gave Jeroboam Ano, the elder sister of Thekemina his own wife, to be his wife. She was great among the daughters of the king, and she bore Jeroboam his son Abijah. And Jeroboam said to Shishak, “Send me away in earnest, and I will go.” And Jeroboam went out of Egypt and came into the land of Zeredah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim; and the whole tribe of Ephraim gathered there, and Jeroboam built a rampart there.

And his little boy fell sick, a very hard sickness, and Jeroboam went to ask about the boy. And he said to Ano his wife, “Get up and go, ask God about the boy, whether he will live through his sickness.” Now there was a man in Shiloh, and his name was Ahijah, and he was a man of sixty years, and the word of the Lord was with him. And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Get up and take in your hand loaves for the man of God, and cakes for his children, and grapes, and a jar of honey.” And the woman got up and took in her hand loaves and two cakes and grapes and a jar of honey for Ahijah. And the man was old, and his eyes were too dim to see.

And she got up from Zeredah and went. And when she came into the city, to Ahijah the Shilonite, Ahijah said to his servant, “Go out now to meet Ano the wife of Jeroboam, and say to her: Come in, and do not stand still — for this is what the Lord says: I am sending hard things upon you.” And Ano came in to the man of God, and Ahijah said to her, “Why have you brought me loaves and grapes and cakes and a jar of honey? This is what the Lord says: See, you will go away from me, and when you come through the gate into Zeredah, your girls will come out to meet you and will say to you, ‘The boy is dead.’ For this is what the Lord says: See, I will destroy every male of Jeroboam. Those of Jeroboam who die in the city the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of the sky will eat. And they will beat their breasts for the boy and say, ‘Woe, Lord!’ — for in him something good toward the Lord was found.” And the woman went away when she heard it. And as she came into Zeredah, the boy died, and the wailing came out to meet her.

And Jeroboam went to Shechem, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and gathered the tribes of Israel there, and Rehoboam son of Solomon went up there. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the Elamite, saying, “Take for yourself a new garment that has not gone into water, and tear it into twelve pieces. And you shall give them to Jeroboam and say to him: This is what the Lord says — take for yourself ten pieces to cover yourself.” And Jeroboam took them. And Shemaiah said, “This is what the Lord says concerning the ten tribes of Israel.”

And the people said to Rehoboam son of Solomon, “Your father made his yoke heavy upon us, and made the food of his table heavy. Now if you will lighten it upon us, we will serve you.” And Rehoboam said to the people, “Three days more, and I will give you an answer.” And Rehoboam said, “Bring the elders in to me, and I will take counsel with them what answer I am to give the people on the third day.” And Rehoboam spoke in their ears, just as the people had sent word to him, and the elders of the people said, “This is how the people have spoken to you.”

And Rehoboam threw their counsel aside, and it did not please him; and he sent and brought in the men he had been brought up with, and said the same things to them: “And this is what the people have sent to me and said.” And the men he had been brought up with said, “This is what you are to say to the people: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father whipped you with whips, but I will rule you with scorpions.’” And the word pleased Rehoboam, and he answered the people as his companions, the young men, had counseled him.

And all the people spoke as one man, each to his neighbor, and they all cried out together and said, “We have no share in David, and no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel, every one of you — for this man is not for a ruler or for a leader over us.” And all the people scattered from Shechem, and each went off to his tent. And Rehoboam gathered his strength, and went away, and mounted his chariot, and came into Jerusalem; and the whole tribe of Judah and the whole tribe of Benjamin went after him.

And at the turn of the year, Rehoboam gathered every man of Judah and Benjamin and went up to fight against Jeroboam at Shechem. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, “Speak to Rehoboam king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to what is left of the people, saying: This is what the Lord says — you shall not go up, and you shall not fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Let each man go back to his own house, for this thing has come from me.” And they listened to the word of the Lord, and held back from going up, according to the word of the Lord.

25 And Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived in it; and he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will go back to the house of David. 27 If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of the people will turn back to the Lord and to their master, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me.”

28 And the king took counsel, and went, and made two golden heifers, and said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” [l] 29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; and the people went before the one as far as Dan. [m]

31 And he made houses on the high places, and made priests out of any part of the people, men who were not from the sons of Levi. 32 And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast in the land of Judah; and he went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel, to sacrifice to the heifers that he had made, and he installed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. [n] 33 And he went up to the altar that he had made, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, at the feast that he had shaped out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to offer sacrifice.