10 And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

² And it came to pass when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (now he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

³ And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying,

⁴ Thy father made our yoke grievous; and now lighten the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee.

⁵ And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed.

⁶ And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, How do ye advise to return answer to this people?

⁷ And they spoke to him saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.

⁸ But he forsook the advice of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, who had grown up with him, that stood before him.

⁹ And he said to them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me saying, Lighten the yoke which thy father put upon us?

¹⁰ And the young men that had grown up with him spoke to him saying, Thus shalt thou say to the people who have spoken to thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, and lighten thou it for us,—thus shalt thou say to them: My little [finger] is thicker than my father's loins;

¹¹ and whereas my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, *I* will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.

¹² And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed saying, Come again to me on the third day.

¹³ And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the advice of the old men,

¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but *I* will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.

¹⁵ So the king hearkened not to the people; for it was brought about by God, that Jehovah might give effect to his word, which he spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ And all Israel saw that the king hearkened not to them; and the people answered the king saying, What portion have we in David? and [we have] no inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel. Now see to thine own house, David! And all Israel went to their tents.

¹⁷ But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸ And king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam hastened to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ And Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.

11 And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem; and he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men apt for war, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.

² But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

³ Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

⁴ Thus saith Jehovah: Go not up, nor fight with your brethren; return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. And they hearkened to the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵ And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.

⁶ And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

⁷ and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,

⁸ and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,

⁹ and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,

¹⁰ and Zorah, and Ajalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities.

¹¹ And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals, and of oil and wine;

¹² and in every several city, targets and spears, and made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his.

¹³ And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their districts;

¹⁴ for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exercising the priesthood to Jehovah;

¹⁵ and he ordained for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats and for the calves that he had made.

¹⁶ —And after them, those out of all the tribes of Israel that set their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their fathers.

¹⁷ And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years; for during three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸ And Rehoboam took Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David as wife, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.

¹⁹ And she bore him children: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰ And after her he took Maachah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²² And Rehoboam established Abijah the son of Maachah at the head, to be ruler among his brethren; for [he thought] to make him king.

²³ And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them food in abundance. And he desired [for them] a multitude of wives.

12 And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and when he had become strong, [that] he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.

² And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, because they had transgressed against Jehovah, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,

³ with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.

⁴ And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and [to] the princes of Judah that had gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus saith Jehovah: Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.

⁶ And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous.

⁷ And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a little deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸ Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

⁹ And Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all; and he took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made.

¹⁰ And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the couriers who kept the entrance of the king's house.

¹¹ And it was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the couriers came and fetched them, and brought them again into the chamber of the couriers.

¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, that he would not destroy him altogether; and also in Judah there were good things.

¹³ And king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

¹⁴ And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah.

¹⁵ And the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogical registers? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.