2 Chronicles 12

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

And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of Yahweh, —and all Israel with him.

2 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.

And so it came to pass, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, —because they had dealt treacherously against Yahweh; —

3 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.

with twelve hundred chariots, and with sixty thousand horsemen, -and, without number, the people who came with him out of Egypt—Lybians, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.

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

And he captured the cities of defence which belonged to Judah, —and came, as far as Jerusalem.

5 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.’”

And, Shemaiah the prophet, came unto Rehoboam, and the rulers of Judah, who had gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem because of Shishak, —and said unto them, Thus, saith Yahweh, Ye, have left, me, Therefore, I also, have left, you, in the hands of Shishak.

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

Then the rulers of Israel and the king humbled themselves, —and said, Righteous, is Yahweh!

7 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,

And, when Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came unto Shemaiah, saying—They have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them, —but will grant them, in a little while, to escape, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem, by the hand of Shishak.

8 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.”

Nevertheless they shall become his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

9 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.

So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the house of the king, the whole, he took, —and he took the bucklers of gold, which Solomon had made.

10 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.

And King Rehoboam made, instead of them, bucklers of bronze, —and committed them unto the hand of the captains of the runners, who kept guard at the entrance of the house of the king.

11 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.

And so it was, whensoever the king came into the house of Yahweh, the runners came and bare them, and then returned them into the chamber of the runners.

12 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.

But, when he humbled himself, then turned from him the anger of Yahweh, that he would not destroy, to make an end, —moreover also, in Judah, there were some good things.

13 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.

So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned, —because, forty-one years old, was Rehoboam when he began to reign, and, seventeen years, reigned he in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen, to set his Name there—from among all the tribes of Israel, and, the name of his mother, was Naamah, the Ammonitess.

14 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.

But he did evil, —in that he did not fix his heart to seek Yahweh.

15 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.

Now, the story of Rehoboam, first and last, is it not written in the story of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, for enrolling, -also the wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, all the days?

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

And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David, —and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.