2 Chronicles 12

1 And it cometh to pass, at the establishing of the kingdom of Rehoboam, and at his strengthening himself, he hath forsaken the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.

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

2 And it cometh to pass, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, come up hath Shishak king of Egypt against Jerusalem — because they trespassed against Jehovah —

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 with a thousand and two hundred chariots, and with sixty thousand horsemen, and there is no number to the people who have come with him out of Egypt — Lubim, Sukkiim, and Cushim —

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 and he captureth the cities of the bulwarks that [are] to Judah, and cometh in unto Jerusalem.

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

5 And Shemaiah the prophet hath come in unto Rehoboam and the heads of Judah who have been gathered unto Jerusalem from the presence of Shishak, and saith to them, 'Thus said Jehovah, Ye have forsaken Me, and also, I have left you in the hand of 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 and the heads of Israel are humbled, and the king, and they say, 'Righteous [is] Jehovah.'

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

7 And when Jehovah seeth that they have been humbled, a word of Jehovah hath been unto Shemaiah, saying, 'They have been humbled; I do not destroy them, and I have given to them as a little thing for an escape, and I pour not out My fury in Jerusalem by the hand of 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 but they become servants to him, and they know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.'

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 And Shishak king of Egypt cometh up against Jerusalem, and taketh the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the house of the king — the whole he hath taken — and he taketh the shields of gold 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 and king Rehoboam maketh in their stead shields of brass, and hath given [them] a charge on the hand of the heads of the runners who are keeping the opening of the house of the king;

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 and it cometh to pass, from the time of the going in of the king to the house of Jehovah, the runners have come in and lifted them up, and brought them back unto the chamber of the runners.

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 And in his being humbled, turned back from him hath the wrath of Jehovah, so as not to destroy to completion; and also, in Judah there have been good things.

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 And king Rehoboam strengtheneth himself in Jerusalem, and reigneth; for a son of forty and two years [is] Rehoboam in his reigning, and seventeen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah hath chosen to put His name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and the name of his mother [is] Naamah the Ammonitess,

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 and he doth the evil thing, for he hath not prepared his heart to seek Jehovah.

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 And the matters of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are they not written among the matters of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, concerning genealogy? And the wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam [are] all the days;

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 and Rehoboam lieth with his fathers, and is buried in the city of David, and reign doth Abijah his son in his stead.

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