2 Chronicles 12

1 Once Rehoboam was secure on the throne and was sure of his power, he together with all the Israelites abandoned the law of the Lord.

After Rehoboam was in complete control of his kingdom, he and all [the other people in] Judah stopped obeying the laws of Yahweh.

2 In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak, king of Egypt, came and attacked Jerusalem because they had been unfaithful to God.

As a result, after Rehoboam had been king for almost five years, Yahweh sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, [with his army] to attack Jerusalem.

3 He came from Egypt with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an army that couldn't be counted Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

Along with his army he brought 1,200 chariots and 60,000 soldiers riding horses and a very large number of troops from two regions in Libya, and from Ethiopia.

4 He conquered the fortified towns of Judah and then approached Jerusalem.

They captured many of the cities in Judah that had walls around them, and they came as far as Jerusalem.

5 Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had run for safety Jerusalem because of Shishak. He told them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to Shishak.’”

Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and the other leaders of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem because they were afraid of [the army of] Shishak. Shemaiah said to them, “Yahweh says this: ‘You have abandoned me; so now I am abandoning you, to [allow you to be captured by the army of] Shishak.’”

6 The leaders of Israel and the king admitted they were wrong and said, “The Lord is right.”

Then the king and the other Israeli leaders humbled themselves and said, “What Yahweh is doing to us is fair.”

7 When the Lord saw that they had repented, he sent a message to Shemaiah, saying, “They have repented. I won't destroy them, and I will soon save them. My anger won't be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

When Yahweh realized that they had humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: “Because they have humbled themselves, I will not allow them to be destroyed. Instead, I will soon rescue them. I will not use Shishak’s army to completely destroy the people of Jerusalem,

8 Even so they will become his subjects, so that they can learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of earth.”

but they will conquer Jerusalem and force the people there to do what Shishak wants them to do. As a result, the people of Jerusalem will learn [that it is better] to serve me than to serve the kings of other countries.”

9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took the treasures of the Lord's Temple and the treasures of the royal palace. He took away everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

When Shishak’s [army] attacked Jerusalem, they took/carried away the valuable things that were in the temple of Yahweh and the valuable things that were in the king’s palace. They took everything [that was valuable], including the gold shields that Solomon’s [workers] had made.

10 Later Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and gave them to be looked after by the commanders of the guard stationed at the entrance to the royal palace.

So King Rehoboam’s workers made bronze shields to be used instead of the gold ones and gave the bronze shields to the commanders of the men who guarded the entrance to his palace.

11 Whenever the king would enter the Temple of the Lord the guards would go with him, carrying the shields, and then take them back to the guardroom.

After that, whenever the king went to the temple, the guards went with him, carrying those bronze shields. Then [when the king left, ] they would return the shields to the guards’ room.

12 Because Rehoboam repented, the anger of the Lord did not fall on him, and the Lord did not destroy him completely. Things went well in Judah.

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, Yahweh stopped being angry with him and did not get rid of him. Instead, he caused good things to happen in Judah.

13 King Rehoboam became powerful in Jerusalem. He was forty-one when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel where he would be honored. The name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonite.

King Rehoboam again was in complete control in Jerusalem and continued to be the king [of Judah]. He was 41 years old when he became the king. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, which is the city that Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes in Israel to be the place in which people were to worship him.

14 But Rehoboam did what was evil because he did not commit himself to following the Lord.

Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah. She was from the Ammon people-group. Rehoboam did evil things because he did not try to find out what Yahweh wanted him to do.

15 What Rehoboam did, from beginning to end, is written down in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer dealing with genealogies. However, Rehoboam and Jeroboam were always at war with each other.

An account of all the things that Rehoboam did while he was the king, and lists of the members of his family, are in the scrolls written by the prophets Shemaiah and Iddo. The armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly fighting each other.

16 Rehoboam died and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah took over as king.

When Rehoboam died, he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then his son Abijah became the king.