1 Kings 12
1 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.
Rehoboam went to Shechem because that is where the whole of Israel had gone to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam, who was still in Egypt, heard about that, he returned from Egypt [to Israel].
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 The [leaders of the northern tribes] summoned him, and they went together [to talk] to Rehoboam. They said to him,
The Israelite leaders sent for him. Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israelites went to talk with Rehoboam.
4 “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].”
“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 He replied, “Go away, and come back three days from now [and I will give you my answer].” So those leaders and Jeroboam left.
Rehoboam answered, “Go away and come back in three days time.” So the people left.
6 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?”
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 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.”
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 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).
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 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?”
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 They replied, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
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 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.’”
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 So three days later, Jeroboam and all the leaders came to Rehoboam again, as he had told them to do.
Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, because the king had told them, “Come back in three days time.”
13 The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the Israeli leaders.
The king answered the people sharply. Dismissing the advice of the elders,
14 [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!”
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 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].
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 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.
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 And [after that, ] the [only Israeli] people whom Rehoboam ruled over were those who lived in the territory of [the tribe of] Judah.
However, Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in Judah.
18 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.
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 Ever since that time, the people of [the northern tribes of] Israel have been rebelling against the descendants [MTY] of [King] David.
As a result, Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 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.
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 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.
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 But God spoke to the prophet Shemaiah and said this to him:
But a message from the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God that said,
23 “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:
“Tell Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, to Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:
24 ‘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.
‘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 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.
Jeroboam strengthened the town of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went and built Penuel.
26 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.”
Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom could easily return to the house of David.
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 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!]”
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 He [told his workers to] place one of the statues in Bethel [city in the south] and one in Dan [city in the north].
He placed one in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
30 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.
This action brought about sin, because the people went as far north as Dan to worship the idol there.
31 [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.
In addition Jeroboam had shrines built on high places and appointed as priests all kinds of people who were not Levites.
32 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.
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 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].
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.
