^12:1After Rehoboam’s rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord. ^12:2Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ^12:3He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. ^12:4He captured the fortified cities of Judah and marched against Jerusalem.

^12:5Shemaiah the prophet visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.’ ”¹^12:6The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”²^12:7When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah:³ “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon.⁴ My anger will not be unleashed against⁵ Jerusalem through⁶ Shishak. ^12:8Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.”⁷

^12:9King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. ^12:10King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard⁸ who protected the entrance to the royal palace. ^12:11Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.⁹

^12:12So when Rehoboam¹⁰ humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him;¹¹ Judah experienced some good things.¹²^12:13King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem;¹³ he¹⁴ was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.¹⁵ Rehoboam’s¹⁶ mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. ^12:14He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord.¹⁷

^12:15The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded¹⁸ in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records. ^12:16Then Rehoboam passed away¹⁹ and was buried in the City of David.²⁰ His son Abijah replaced him as king.

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Footnotes

1 Heb “also I have rejected you into the hand of Shishak.”
2 Or “fair,” meaning the Lord’s punishment of them was just or fair.
3 Heb “the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying.”
4 Heb “and I will give to them soon deliverance.”
5 Or “gush forth upon.”
6 Heb “by the hand of.”
7 Heb “so they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.”
8 Heb “runners” (also in v. 11).
9 Heb “to the chamber of the runners.”
10 Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 Heb “the anger of the Lord turned from him and did not destroy completely.”
12 Heb “and also in Judah there were good things.”
13 Heb “and the king, Rehoboam, strengthened himself in Jerusalem and ruled.”
14 Heb “Rehoboam.” The recurrence of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.
15 Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”
16 Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 Heb “because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.”
18 Heb “As for the events of Rehoboam, the former and the latter, are they not written?”
19 Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
20 The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.