⁴Thy father oppressed with a most grievous yoke, do thou govern us with a lighter hand than thy father, who laid upon us a heavy servitude, and ease some thing of the burden, that we may serve thee.

⁵And he said to them: Come to me again after three days. And when the people were gone,

⁶He took counsel with the ancients, who had stood before his father Solomon, while he yet lived, saying: What counsel give you to me, that I may answer the people?

⁷And they said to him: If thou please this people, and soothe them with kind words, they will be thy servants for ever.

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the ancients, and began to treat with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and were in his train.

⁹And he said to them: What seemeth good to you? or what shall I answer this people, who have said to me: Ease the yoke which thy father laid upon us?

¹⁰But they answered as young men, and brought up with him in pleasures, and said: Thus shalt thou speak to the people, that said to thee: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease it: thus shalt thou answer them: My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father.

¹¹My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, and I will add more weight to it: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.

¹²So Jeroboam, and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as he commanded them.

¹³And the king answered roughly, leaving the counsel of the ancients.

¹⁴And he spoke according to the advice of the young men: My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, which I will make heavier: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.

¹⁵And he condescended not to the people’s requests: for it was the will of God, that his word might be fulfilled which he had spoken by the hand of Ahias the Silonite to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.

¹⁶And all the people upon the king’s speaking roughly, said thus unto him: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to thy dwellings, O Israel, and do thou, O David feed thy own house. And Israel went away to their dwellings.

¹⁷But Roboam reigned over the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda.

¹⁸And king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tributes, and the children of Israel stoned him, and he died: and king Roboam made haste to get up into his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem.

¹⁹And Israel revolted from the house of David unto this day.

Chapter 11

And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and called together all the house of Juda and of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men and warriors, to fight against Israel, and to bring back his kingdom to him.

²And the word of the Lord came to Semeias the man of God, saying:

³Speak to Roboam the son of Solomon the king of Juda, and to all Israel, in Juda and Benjamin:

⁴Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: let every man return to his own house, for by my will this thing has been done. And when they heard the word of the Lord, they returned, and did not go against Jeroboam,

⁵And Roboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built walled cities in Juda.

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

⁷And Bethsur, and Socho, and Odollam,

⁸And Geth, and Maresa, and Ziph,

⁹And Aduram, and Lachis, and Azecha,

¹⁰Saraa also, and Aialon, and Hebron, which are in Juda and Benjamin, well fenced cities.

¹¹And when he had enclosed them with walls, he put in them governors and storehouses of provisions, that is, of oil and of wine.

¹²Moreover in every city he made an armoury of shields and spears, and he fortified them with great diligence, and he reigned over Juda, and Benjamin,

¹³And the priests and Levites, that were in all Israel, came to him out of all their seats,

¹⁴Leaving their suburbs, and their possessions, and passing over to Juda, and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off, from executing the priestly office to the Lord.

¹⁵And he made to himself priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.

¹⁶Moreover out of all the tribes of Israel, whosoever gave their heart to seek the Lord the God of Israel, came into Jerusalem to sacrifice their victims before the Lord the God of their fathers.

¹⁷And they strengthened the kingdom of Juda, and established Roboam the son of Solomon for three years: for they walked in the ways of David and of Solomon, only three years.

¹⁸And Roboam took to wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David: and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Isai.

¹⁹And they bore him sons Jehus, and Somorias, and Zoom.

²⁰And after her he married Maacha the daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abia, and Ethai, and Ziza, and Salomith.

²¹And Roboam loved Maacha the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines: for he had married eighteen wives, and threescore concubines: and he begot eight and twenty sons, and threescore daughters.

²²But he put at the head of them Abia the son of Maacha to be the chief ruler over all his brethren: for he meant to make him king,

²³Because he was wiser and mightier than all his sons, and in all the countries of Juda, and of Benjamin, and in all the walled cities: and he gave them provisions in abundance, and he sought many wives.

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