1 Kings 12

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel was coming to Shechem to make him king.

All [HYP] the people of [northern] Israel went to Shechem [city] in order to appoint Rehoboam to be their king. So Rehoboam also went there.

2 It happened that Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of this (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), for Jeroboam had settled down in Egypt.

When Jeroboam, who was still in Egypt, heard about that, he returned from Egypt [to Israel].

3 So they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,

The [leaders of the northern tribes] summoned him, and they went together [to talk] to Rehoboam. They said to him,

4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now make lighter the hard work of your father and make lighter the heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will serve you.”

“Your father [Solomon] forced us to work very hard [MET] for him. If you (lighten these loads/do not force us to work that hard), and if you charge us less taxes than we were paying to him, we will serve you [faithfully].”

5 Rehoboam said to them, “Go away for three days, then come back to me.” So the people went away.

He replied, “Go away, and come back three days from now [and I will give you my answer].” So those leaders and Jeroboam left.

6 King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he was alive, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”

Then King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had advised his father Solomon while he was still living. He asked them, “What shall I say to answer those men?”

7 They spoke to him and said, “If you will be a servant today to these people and serve them, and answer them by saying good words to them, then they will always be your servants.”

They replied, “If you want to serve your people well, speak kindly to those men when you reply to them. If you do that, your people will always serve you faithfully.”

8 But Rehoboam ignored the advice that the old men had given him and he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

But he ignored what the older men advised him to do. Instead, he consulted the younger men who had grown up with him, who were now (his advisors/the ones who told him what would be good to do).

9 He said to them, “What advice do you give me that we may answer the people who spoke to me and said, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?”

He said to them, “What should I say to the men who are asking me to reduce the [work and taxes] that my father required from them?”

10 The young men who had grown up with Rehoboam spoke to him, saying, “Speak to these people who told you that your father Solomon made their yoke heavy but that you must make it lighter. You should say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

They replied, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.

11 So now, although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.'”

What I mean is that my father required you [to work hard and pay high taxes]. But I will make those loads heavier. [It was as though] my father whipped you, but [it will be as though] I will whip you with whips that have pieces of metal in them.’”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had instructed when he said, “Come back to me on the third day.”

So three days later, Jeroboam and all the leaders came to Rehoboam again, as he had told them to do.

13 The king answered the people roughly and ignored the advice of the old men that they had given him.

The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the Israeli leaders.

14 He spoke to them following the advice of the young men; he said, “My father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.”

[He told them what the younger men had advised.] He said, “My father put heavy burdens [of work and taxes] on you, but I will put heavier burdens on you. [It was as though] he beat you with whips, but I will beat you with whips that have pieces of metal in them!”

15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events brought about by Yahweh, that he might carry out his word that he had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

So the king did not pay any attention to the Israeli leaders. But this happened in order that what Yahweh wanted would occur, what he had told the prophet Ahijah about Jeroboam [becoming king of the ten tribes].

16 When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered him and said, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse! Go to your tents, Israel. Now see to your own house, David.” So Israel went back to their tents.

When the Israeli leaders realized that the king did not pay any attention to what they said, they shouted, “We do not [RHQ] want anything to do with this descendant of King David! We will not pay attention to what this grandson of Jesse says! You people of Israel, let’s go home! As for this descendant of David [MTY], he can rule his own kingdom [MTY]!” So the Israeli leaders returned to their homes.

17 But as for the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam became king over them.

And [after that, ] the [only Israeli] people whom Rehoboam ruled over were those who lived in the territory of [the tribe of] Judah.

18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was over the forced laborers, but all Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam fled quickly in his chariot to Jerusalem.

Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram [to talk to the Israeli people]. Adoniram was the man who supervised [all the men who were] forced to work [for Rehoboam]. But the Israeli people killed him by throwing stones at him. When that happened, King Rehoboam quickly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Ever since that time, the people of [the northern tribes of] Israel have been rebelling against the descendants [MTY] of [King] David.

20 It happened that when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to their assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was no one who followed the family of David, except only the tribe of Judah.

When the Israeli people heard that Jeroboam had returned [from Egypt], they invited him to come to a meeting, and there they appointed him to be the king of Israel. Only the people of the tribes of Judah [and Benjamin] continued to be loyal to [the kings descended from King] [MTY] David.

21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin; there were 180,000 chosen men who were soldiers, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes [MTY] of Judah and Benjamin. He wanted them to fight against the northern tribes of [MTY] Israel [and defeat them], in order that he could [rule all the tribes of] his kingdom again.

22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God; it said,

But God spoke to the prophet Shemaiah and said this to him:

23 “Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people; say,

“Go and tell this to [Solomon’s son] Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and to all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the people from the northern tribe who live in Judah:

24 'Yahweh says this: You must not attack or fight against your brothers the people of Israel. Each man must return to his home, for this thing has been made to happen by me.'” So they listened to the word of Yahweh and turned back and went their way, and they obeyed his word.

‘Yahweh says that you must not go to fight against your own relatives, the people of Israel. All of you must go home. What has happened is what Yahweh wanted to happen.’” [So Shemaiah went and told that to them, ] and they all paid attention to what Yahweh had commanded them to do, and they went home.

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. He went out from there and built Peniel.

Then Jeroboam’s workers built [walls around] Shechem [city] in the hilly area [where the descendants] of Ephraim [lived], and he ruled from there for a while. He and his workers then left there and went to Peniel [town], and they built walls around that town.

26 Jeroboam thought in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

Then Jeroboam said to himself, “If my people [continue to] go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to Yahweh at the temple there, soon they will again become loyal to Rehoboam, the king of Judah [DOU], and they will kill me.”

27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then the heart of these people will turn again to their master, to Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

28 So King Jeroboam sought advice and made two calves of gold; he said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

So he consulted [his advisors, and then he did what they suggested]. He [told his workers to] make gold [statues of] two calves. Then he said to the people, “You have been going to Jerusalem [to worship] for a long time. It is a big trouble for you to continue going there. You people of Israel, look! These statues are the gods that brought our [ancestors] up from Egypt! [So you can worship these, here!]”

29 He set up one in Bethel and the other in Dan.

He [told his workers to] place one of the statues in Bethel [city in the south] and one in Dan [city in the north].

30 So this act became a sin. The people went to one or the other, all the way to Dan.

So [what Jeroboam did caused] the people [to] sin. Some of them went and worshiped the calf at Bethel, and others went and worshiped the other calf at Dan.

31 Jeroboam made houses on high places and he also made priests from among all the people, who were not among the sons of Levi.

[Moses had declared that only men from the tribe of Levi would be priests, but] Jeroboam also told his workers to build shrines on hilltops, and then he appointed men who were not from the tribe of Levi to be priests.

32 Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did so at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made.

He also appointed Adonijah and two priests, Elishama and Jehoram. They had a celebration at the end of October, like the celebration [of Living in Temporary Shelters] that occurred in Judah [each year]. On the altar [that they built] in Bethel, he offered sacrifices to the gold statues of calves that they had made, and he stationed the priests there at the shrines that his workers had built.

33 Jeroboam went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month he had planned in his own mind; he ordained a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

Jeroboam went up to that altar on that day in October which he himself had chosen. There on that altar he burned incense [to be a sacrifice]. And he declared that the people should celebrate that festival [on that same day every year].