列王紀上 12
1 [分裂近因]勒哈貝罕去了舍根，因為全以色列集合在舍根，要立他為王。
Rehoboam went to Shechem because that is where the whole of Israel had gone to make him king.
2 乃巴特的兒子雅洛貝罕，為躲避撒羅滿王，曾逃往埃及，現在聽說撒羅滿已死，便從挨家埃及回來了。
Jeroboam, son of Nebat, was still in Egypt when he heard about this. (He had run away to Egypt to escape from King Solomon and was living there.)
3 有人派人請了他回來，他便和以色列全會眾前來，對勒哈貝罕說：「
The Israelite leaders sent for him. Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israelites went to talk with Rehoboam.
4 你的父親使我們的負擔繁重，現在，你得減輕你父親加給我們的苦役和重軛，我們纔肯服事你。」
“Your father placed a heavy burden on us,” they told him. “But now if you lighten the load when we served your father and the heavy demands he put on us, we will serve you.”
5 他回答他們說：「你們暫時回去，三天以後再來見我。」人民就都走了。
Rehoboam answered, “Go away and come back in three days time.” So the people left.
6 勒哈貝罕便同那些在他父親撒羅滿生時，作臣僕的老年人商議說：「依你們的意見，我該怎樣答覆這些民眾﹖」
King Rehoboam asked for advice from the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. “How do you advise me to reply to these people about this?” he asked.
7 他們回答說：「如果你今天願意作這民眾的僕人，服事他們，答應他們，對他們說好話，他們必會常常服事你。」
They replied, “If you are a servant to these people today, if you serve them and answer them, by speaking kindly to them, they will always serve you.”
8 但是，君王竟拒絕了老年人給他出的主意，反去同那些與他一起長大，侍立在他面前的少年商議，
But Rehoboam dismissed the advice of the elders. He instead asked advice from the young men who he had grown up with, and who were close to him.
9 問他們說：「這些人民對我說：請你將你父親加於我們的重軛減輕些。依你們的意見我該怎樣答覆他們﹖」
He asked them, “What response do you advise that we send back to these people who have told me, ‘Lighten the burden your father put on us’?”
10 這些與他一起長大的少年人答說：「這些人民對你說：你父親使我們負擔繁重，請你給我們減輕些! 你要回答他們，對他們這樣說：我的小指比我父親的腰還粗!
The young men who he had grown up with told him, “This is what you have to tell these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our burden heavy, but you should make it lighter.’ This is what you should answer them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!
11 我父親曾加重了你們的重擔，我更要加重你們的重擔；我父親用皮鞭責打你們，我卻要用鐵刺鞭責打你們! 」
My father placed a heavy burden on you, and I will make it even heavier. My father punished you with whips; I will punish you with scorpions.’”
12 雅洛貝罕和全體人民照君王所說：「你們第三天再來見我」的話，第三天就來見勒哈貝罕。
Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, because the king had told them, “Come back in three days time.”
13 君王嚴厲答覆了人民，拋棄了老年人給他出的主意，
The king answered the people sharply. Dismissing the advice of the elders,
14 卻依照少年人的主張，對民眾說：「我的父親加重了你們的重擔，我更要加重，我父親用皮鞭責打你們，我反要用鐵刺鞭責打你們。」
he replied using the advice of the young men. He said, “My father placed a heavy burden on you, and I will make it even heavier. My father punished you with whips; I will punish you with scorpions.”
15 君王始終不肯聽從民眾。這一轉變原是出於上主，為實現他自己的話，就是上主藉史羅人阿希雅對乃巴特的兒子雅洛貝罕所說的話。政治分裂
The king did not listen to what the people said, for this change in circumstances was from the Lord, to fulfill what the Lord had told Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 全以色列人見君王不肯依他們，便回覆君王說﹕「我們與達味有什麼分子﹖我們與葉瑟的兒子毫無關係! 以色列! 回到你的帳幕去啊! 達味啊! 現在你只顧你的本家罷! 」以色列人於是都回了自己的帳幕，
When all the Israelites saw that the king wasn't listening to them, they told the king: “What share do we have in David, and what part do we have in the son of Jesse? Go home, Israel! You're on your own, house of David!” So all the Israelites went home.
17 只有那些住在猶大城市的以色列子民，仍屬勒哈貝罕統治。
However, Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in Judah.
18 勒哈貝罕王派遣監管勞役的阿多蘭，去見以色列，以色列人卻用石頭將它砸死，勒哈貝罕急忙上車，逃回了耶路撒冷。
Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly jumped into his chariot and raced back to Jerusalem.
19 這樣，以色列便與達味家分離了，直到現在。
As a result, Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 那時，全以色列人聽說雅洛貝罕已經回來，便派人邀請它前來赴會，立他為王，統治全以色列；從此跟隨達味家的，只有猷大支派。
When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him, summoning him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah was left to the house of David.
21 勒哈貝罕一回到耶路撒冷，即刻召集猶大全家和本雅明支派所有十八萬善戰的精兵，要去攻打以色列家，想把王國奪回，再歸屬撒羅滿的兒子勒哈貝罕；
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered the men from the households of Judah and Benjamin— 180,000 chosen warriors—to go and fight against Israel to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.
22 但是，天主有話傳於天主的人舍瑪雅說﹕「
But a message from the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God that said,
23 你去告訴撒羅滿的兒子，猶大王勒哈貝罕，猶大全家和本雅明以及其餘的人民說﹕
“Tell Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, to Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:
24 上主這樣說﹕你們不要前去，攻打你們的兄弟以色列人，你們各自回家去罷! 因為這事原出於我。」他們便聽從了上主的話，依照上主的話回去了。宗教分裂
‘This is what the Lord says. Don't fight against your Israelite relatives. Every one of you, go home! For it was me that made this happen.’” So they obeyed what the Lord told them and went home, as the Lord had said.
25 雅洛貝罕在厄弗辣因山地修築了舍根，住在那裏；又從那裏出來，修築了培奴耳。
Jeroboam strengthened the town of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went and built Penuel.
26 雅洛貝罕心中思量﹕「這王國遲早要歸於達味王室；
Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom could easily return to the house of David.
27 如果這人民上耶路撒冷，在上主殿內獻祭，他們的心難免不歸向他們的主上猶大勒哈貝罕，把我打死，再歸屬於猶大王勒哈貝罕。」
When people from here go to offer sacrifices at the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem, they will transfer their loyalty back to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Then they will kill me and go back to King Rehoboam.”
28 因此，雅洛貝罕王拿定了主意，製造了兩隻金牛犢，對人民說﹕，「你們不需要再上耶路撒冷去了；以色列! 看，這就是領你們由埃及地上來的天主! 」
So after taking advice, the king had two golden calves made, and he told the people, “Don't bother going to Jerusalem any more. Look, Israel, here are your gods who led you out of the land of Egypt.”
29 他將一隻供在貝特耳，一隻供在丹。
He placed one in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
30 這使以色列陷於罪惡，因為民眾竟遠至丹去敬拜另一隻。
This action brought about sin, because the people went as far north as Dan to worship the idol there.
31 雅貝洛罕又在高丘建立了神殿，將不屬於肋末子孫的平民立為司祭；
In addition Jeroboam had shrines built on high places and appointed as priests all kinds of people who were not Levites.
32 規定八月十五日舉行慶節，像在猶大所舉行的慶節一樣，親自上壇獻祭。他也如此在貝特耳向他所製造的牛犢獻了祭，並在貝特耳為他建造的高丘神壇，委派了司祭。
Jeroboam initiated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just like the festival held in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. He made this offering in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made, and appointed priests in Bethel for the high places he had built.
33 在他隨意選定的八月十五日，他親自上了他在貝特耳所築的祭壇，為以色列子民舉行慶節，上壇焚香獻祭。
So on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month he had chosen himself, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. In this way he instituted a festival for the Israelites, offering sacrifices on the altar and burning incense.
