11When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors,^a to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ²But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, ³“Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴‘Thus says Yahweh: “Do not go up, and do not fight against your brothers. Return, each man to his house, for this matter has come from me.” ’ ” So they obeyed the words of Yahweh and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

⁵And Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities as strongholds in Judah. ⁶He built Bethlehem, Etah, Tekoa, ⁷Beth-Zur, Socoh, Adullam, ⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹And he strengthened the fortifications and put commanders in them, along with stores of food, olive oil, and wine. ¹²And in all the cities he put shields and spears, and he greatly strengthened them. So he had Judah and Benjamin.

The Priests and Levites Come to Jerusalem

¹³Now the priests and the Levites who were throughout all Israel took their stand with him^b from all their territories. ¹⁴For the Levites left their pasturelands and their property and came to Judah and to Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to Yahweh. ¹⁵And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the bull calves that he had made. ¹⁶Then after them, from all the tribes of Israel, those who set their heart to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to offer to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.^c ¹⁷And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, secure for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Harem and Family

¹⁸Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter^d of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹And she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). ²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and crown prince over his brothers, in order to make him king. ²³And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, through all the fortified cities, and gave abundant provisions to them and obtained many wives for them.

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Footnotes

aLiterally “chosen makers of war”
bThat is, Rehoboam
cOr “fathers”
dThis follows the reading tradition (Qere); the Kethib reading has “son”