2 Chronicles 12

CHAPTER 12

Shishak of Egypt Comes Against Judah

^1aNow it happened that when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, ^bhe and all Israel with him forsook the law of Yahweh.

^2aNow it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh, that ^bShishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

³with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: ^athe Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians.

⁴And he captured ^athe fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

⁵Now ^aShemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^bYou have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you ¹to Shishak.’”

⁶So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “^aYahweh is righteous.”

⁷When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, “^aThey have humbled themselves so I will not bring them to ruin, but I will grant them some measure of escape, and ^bMy wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸“But they will become his slaves so ^athat they may know the difference between My slavery and the slavery of the kingdoms of the countries.”

Shishak Takes from Yahweh’s House

^9aSo Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house. He took everything; ^bhe even took the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

¹⁰Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the hand of the commanders of the ¹guard who kept the door of the king’s house.

¹¹Now it happened that as often as the king entered the house of Yahweh, the ¹guards would come and carry them and then bring them back into the ²guards’ room.

¹²And ^awhen he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh turned away from him, so as not to ruin him completely; and also conditions ^bwere good in Judah.

^13aSo King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

¹⁴And he did evil ^abecause he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

^15aNow the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the ¹records of ^bShemaiah the prophet and of ^cIddo the seer, according to genealogical record? Now there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and ^aAbijah his son became king in his place.