12 Rechav‘am went to Sh’khem, where all Isra’el had come to proclaim him king. ² When Yarov‘am the son of N’vat heard of it — for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from Shlomo; so Yarov‘am was living in Egypt; ³ but they sent and summoned him — Yarov‘am and the whole community of Isra’el came and said to Rechav‘am, ⁴ “Your father laid a harsh yoke on us. But if you will lighten the harsh service we had to render your father and ease his heavy yoke that he put on us, we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, “Leave me alone for three days, then come back to me.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rechav‘am consulted the older men who had been in attendance on Shlomo his father during his lifetime and asked, “What advice would you give me as to how to answer these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “If you will start today being a servant to these people — if you will serve them, be responsive to them and give them favorable consideration, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he didn’t take the advice the older men gave him; instead he consulted the young men he had grown up with, who were now his attendants. ⁹ He asked them, “What advice would you give me, so that we can give an answer to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men he had grown up with said to him, “These people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; but you, make it lighter for us’ — here’s the answer you should give them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Yes, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will make it heavier! My father controlled you with whips, but I will control you with scorpions!’”

¹² So Yarov‘am and all the people came to Rechav‘am the third day, as the king had requested by saying, “Come to me again the third day”; ¹³ and the king answered the people harshly. Abandoning the advice the older men had given him, ¹⁴ he addressed them according to the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke! My father controlled you with whips, but I will control you with scorpions!” ¹⁵ So the king didn’t listen to the people; and that was something Adonai brought about, so that he could fulfill his word, which Adonai had spoken through Achiyah from Shiloh to Yarov‘am the son of N’vat.

¹⁶ When all Isra’el saw that the king wasn’t listening to them, the people answered the king,

So Isra’el left for their tents.

¹⁷ But as for the people of Isra’el living in the cities of Y’hudah, Rechav‘am ruled over them. ¹⁸ King Rechav‘am then sent Adoram, who was in charge of forced labor; but all Isra’el stoned him to death. King Rechav‘am managed to mount his chariot and flee to Yerushalayim. ¹⁹ Isra’el has been in rebellion against the dynasty of David to this day.

²⁰ On hearing that Yarov‘am had returned, all Isra’el summoned him to the assembly and proclaimed him king over all Isra’el. No one followed the dynasty of David except the tribe of Y’hudah.

²¹ When Rechav‘am arrived in Yerushalayim, he assembled all the house of Y’hudah and the tribe of Binyamin, 180,000 select soldiers, to fight the house of Isra’el and bring the rulership back to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo. ²² But this word from God came to Sh’ma‘yah the man of God: ²³ “Speak to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo, king of Y’hudah, to all the house of Y’hudah and Binyamin and to the rest of the people; tell them ²⁴ that this is what Adonai says: ‘You are not to go up and fight your brothers the people of Isra’el! Every man is to go back home, because this is my doing.’” They paid attention to the word of Adonai and turned back, as Adonai had told them to do.

²⁵ Then Yarov‘am built up Sh’khem in the hills of Efrayim and lived there. After that, he left and built up P’nu’el. ²⁶ Nevertheless Yarov‘am said to himself, “Now the rulership will return to the house of David. ²⁷ For if these people continue going up to offer sacrifices in the house of Adonai in Yerushalayim, their hearts will turn back to their lord, Rechav‘am king of Y’hudah. Then they will kill me and return to Rechav‘am king of Y’hudah.” ²⁸ After seeking advice, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people, “You have been going up to Yerushalayim long enough! Here are your gods, Isra’el, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ He placed one in Beit-El and the other in Dan, ³⁰ and the affair became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Beit-El and] all the way to Dan [to worship the other]. ³¹ He also set up temples on the high places and made cohanim from among all the people, even though they were not descended from Levi.

³² Yarov‘am instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, similar to the festival held in Y’hudah; he went up to the altar in Beit-El to sacrifice to the calves he had made; and he placed in Beit-El the cohanim he had appointed for the high places. ³³ He went up to the altar which he had set up in Beit-El on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had chosen on his own, and instituted a festival for the people of Isra’el; he went up to the altar to burn incense.

13 Just then, as Yarov‘am was standing by the altar to burn incense, a man of God came out of Y’hudah, directed to Beit-El by a word from Adonai. ² And by the word from Adonai he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar, here is what Adonai says: ‘A son will be born to the house of David; his name will be Yoshiyahu; and on you he will sacrifice the cohanim of the high places who burn incense on you! They will burn human bones on you!’” ³ That same day he also gave a sign: “Here is the sign which Adonai has decreed:

⁴ When the king heard what the man of God said, how he denounced the altar in Beit-El, Yarov‘am took his hand away from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But his hand, the one he had stretched out against him, shriveled up; so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ Also the altar was split apart, and the ashes scattered from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Adonai. ⁶ The king then responded to the man of God. “Ask now the favor of Adonai your God,” he said, “and pray for me, that my hand will be restored to me.” The man of God prayed to Adonai, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been before. ⁷ The king then said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. ⁸ But the man of God replied to the king, “Even if you give me half your household, I will not accept your hospitality; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place. ⁹ For this is the order I received through the word of Adonai: ‘Don’t eat food or drink water, and don’t return by the road you took when you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the road by which he had come to Beit-El.

¹¹ Now there lived an old prophet in Beit-El; and one of his sons came and told him all the things the man of God had done that day in Beit-El; also they told their father what he had said to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen what road the man of God from Y’hudah had taken. ¹³ He then said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and, riding on it, ¹⁴ he went after the man of God. He found him sitting under a pistachio tree and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Y’hudah?” He answered, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.” ¹⁶ He replied, “I cannot return with you or partake of your hospitality, nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place; ¹⁷ because it was said to me by the word of Adonai, ‘You are not to eat food or drink water there, and you are not to go back by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ The other said to him, “I too am a prophet, just like you; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Adonai and said, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he can eat food and drink water.’” But he was lying to him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him and did eat food and drink water in his house. ²⁰ As they were sitting at the table, the word of Adonai came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹ and he cried to the man of God who had come from Y’hudah, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Since you rebelled against the word of Adonai and didn’t obey the mitzvah Adonai your God gave you, ²² but came back and ate food and drank water in the place where he warned you not to eat food or drink water, your corpse will not arrive at the tomb of your ancestors.” ²³ After he had eaten food and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ But after he had gone, a lion encountered the man of God on the road and killed him. His corpse lay there in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to it. ²⁵ In time, people passed by and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing next to it; and they came and told about it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who rebelled against the word of Adonai; this is why Adonai handed him over to the lion to tear him to pieces and kill him, in keeping with the word Adonai spoke to him.” ²⁷ To his sons he said, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. ²⁸ He went and found his corpse lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to the corpse; the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ The prophet picked up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city where he lived, to mourn and bury him. ³⁰ He laid the corpse in his own burial cave, and they mourned him — “Oh! My brother!” ³¹ After burying him he said to his sons, “When I die, put me in the burial cave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones next to his bones. ³² For the thing he cried by the word of Adonai against the altar in Beit-El and against all the temples on the high places near the cities of Shomron will surely happen.”

³³ After this, Yarov‘am did not turn back from his evil way but continued appointing cohanim for the high places from among all the people; he consecrated anyone who wanted to be a cohen of the high places. ³⁴ This brought sin to the house of Yarov‘am that would eventually cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.