2 Chronicles 11-12
GOD’S WORD Translation
Israel’s Priests Come to Judah(A)
11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered the people of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 of the best soldiers, to fight against Israel and return the kingdom to Rehoboam.
2 But God spoke his word to Shemaiah, the man of God. He said, 3 “Speak to Judah’s King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin. 4 This is what the Lord says: Don’t wage war against your relatives. Everyone, go home. What has happened is my doing.” So they obeyed the Lord’s word. They turned back from their attack on Jeroboam.
5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah. 6 He rebuilt Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. 11 He strengthened them and put army officers with reserves of food, olive oil, and wine in them. 12 In each city he stored shields and spears. He made the cities very secure. So Rehoboam held on to Judah and Benjamin.
13 The priests and Levites in every region of Israel sided with Rehoboam. 14 The priests abandoned their land and property and went to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his descendants rejected them as the Lord’s priests. 15 Instead, Jeroboam appointed ⌞his own⌟ priests for the illegal worship sites and the goat and calf statues he had made as idols. 16 People from every tribe of Israel who were determined to seek the Lord God of Israel followed the Levitical priests to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors.
17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah by supporting Rehoboam, son of Solomon, for three years. During ⌞those⌟ three years they lived the way David and Solomon had lived.
Rehoboam’s Family
18 Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth. (Jerimoth was the son of David and Abihail. Abihail was the daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse.) 19 Mahalath gave birth to the following sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20 After marrying Mahalath, he married Maacah, Absalom’s granddaughter. She gave birth to Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maacah, Absalom’s granddaughter, more than all his other wives and concubines.[a] (He had 18 wives and 60 concubines. He fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters.)
22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah, son of Maacah, as family head and prince among his brothers. By doing this, Rehoboam could make him king. 23 He wisely placed his sons in every region of Judah and Benjamin, in every fortified city. He gave them allowances and obtained many wives for them.
King Shishak Takes the Temple Treasures(B)
12 When Rehoboam had established his kingdom and made himself strong, he and all Israel abandoned the Lord’s teachings. 2 In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. This happened because all Israel was not loyal to the Lord. 3 Shishak had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horses, and an army of countless Libyans, Sukkites, and Sudanese from Egypt.
4 He captured the fortified cities in Judah and then came to Jerusalem.
5 The prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah said to them, “This is what the Lord says: You have abandoned me, so I will abandon you. I will hand you over to Shishak.” 6 Then the commanders of Israel and the king humbled themselves. “The Lord is right!” they said.
7 When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, he spoke his word to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them. In a little while I will give them an escape. I will not use Shishak to pour my anger on Jerusalem. 8 But they will become his servants so that they can learn the difference between serving me and serving foreign kings.”
9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took the treasures from the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took them all. He took the gold shields Solomon had made. 10 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and put them by the entrance to the royal palace, where the captains of the guards were stationed. 11 Whenever the king went into the Lord’s temple, guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.
12 After Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord was no longer angry with him and didn’t completely destroy him. So things went well in Judah.
13 King Rehoboam strengthened his position in Jerusalem and ruled. He was 41 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel, the city where the Lord put his name. (Rehoboam’s mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.) 14 He did evil things because he was not serious about dedicating himself to serving the Lord.
15 Aren’t the events concerning Rehoboam from first to last written in the records of the prophet Shemaiah and the records of the seer [b] Iddo in the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as they lived. 16 Rehoboam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah succeeded him as king.
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