1 KingsChapter 12

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¹Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone there to make him king. ²Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this. He was still in Egypt. He had run away there from King Solomon and had lived there ever since. ³So they sent for Jeroboam. Then he and the whole gathering of Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ⁴"Your father put a heavy yoke on us. Now make the hard work your father gave us lighter. Make the heavy yoke he put on us lighter. Then we will serve you." ⁵Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days. Then come back to me." So the people left. ⁶Then King Rehoboam asked the elders for advice. They had served his father Solomon while he was alive. "How do you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. ⁷They said, "If you will be a servant to these people today and serve them, and if you answer them with kind words, then they will be your servants forever." ⁸But Rehoboam turned down the elders' advice. Instead, he asked the young men for advice. They had grown up with him and now served him. ⁹He asked them, "What answer should we send back to these people? They told me, 'Make the yoke your father put on us lighter.' What do you advise?" ¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him answered, "These people said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter.' Here is how you should answer them. Tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist! ¹¹My father put a heavy yoke on you, but I will make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.'"a ¹²After three days, Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam. The king had told them, "Come back to me on the third day." ¹³The king answered the people harshly. He turned down the advice the elders had given him. ¹⁴He spoke to them the way the young men had advised. He said, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions." ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people. This turn of events came from the LORD. It made the word come true that he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat. He had spoken it through Ahijah from Shiloh. ¹⁶All Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them. So they answered the king, "What share do we have in David? What do we get from the son of Jesse? Go to your tents, Israel! Look after your own house now, David!" So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷But Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah. ¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent out Adoram. He was in charge of the forced labor. But all Israel threw stones at him until he died. King Rehoboam hurried to get into his chariot. He escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel has rebelled against the family of David to this day. ²⁰All Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back. So they called him to their gathering. They made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah stayed loyal to the family of David. ²¹Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem. He called together all the people of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. They had 180,000 chosen soldiers. They planned to fight against the people of Israel. They wanted to win back the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon. ²²But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God. God said, ²³"Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, the king of Judah. Speak to all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people. ²⁴Tell them this is what the LORD says: 'Do not go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must go home. I am the one who made this happen.'" So they listened to the word of the LORD. They turned back and went home, just as the LORD had said. ²⁵Then Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Penuel. ²⁶Jeroboam thought to himself, "Now the kingdom might go back to the family of David. ²⁷If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the LORD's temple in Jerusalem, their hearts will turn back to their master, Rehoboam king of Judah. Then they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah." ²⁸So the king asked for advice. Then he made two gold calves. He said to the people, "It's too hard for you to go up to Jerusalem. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up out of Egypt." ²⁹He set up one calf in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰This became a sin. The people walked all the way to Dan to worship in front of one of the calves. ³¹Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places. He chose priests from all kinds of people. These priests were not Levites. ³²Jeroboam set up a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. It was like the feast held in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He also put priests in Bethel to serve at the high places he had set up. ³³Jeroboam chose a month on his own. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built in Bethel. So he set up a feast for the Israelites. He offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.