16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share(A) do we have in David,
    what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!(B)
    Look after your own house, David!”

So the Israelites went home.(C) 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah,(D) Rehoboam still ruled over them.

18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,[a](E) who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death.(F) King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David(G) to this day.

20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.(H)

21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war(I) against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 12:18 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 4:6 and 5:14); Hebrew Adoram

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