1 Kings 12–13

Israel Refuses to Follow Rehoboam

12Rehoboam went to Shechem. All of the people of Israel had gone there to make him king. ²Jeroboam heard about it. He was the son of Nebat. Jeroboam was still in Egypt at that time. He had gone there for safety. He wanted to get away from King Solomon. But now he returned from Egypt.

³So the people sent for Jeroboam. He and the whole community of Israel went to Rehoboam. They said to him, ⁴“Your father put a heavy load on our shoulders. But now make our hard work easier. Make the heavy load on us lighter. Then we’ll serve you.”

⁵Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days. Then come back to me.” So the people went away.

⁶King Rehoboam asked the elders for advice. They had served his father Solomon while he was still living. Rehoboam asked them, “What advice can you give me? How should I answer these people?”

⁷They replied, “Serve them today. Give them what they are asking for. Then they’ll always serve you.”

⁸But Rehoboam didn’t accept the advice the elders gave him. Instead, he asked for advice from the young men who had grown up with him and were now serving him. ⁹He asked them, “What’s your advice? How should I answer these people? They say to me, ‘Make the load your father put on our shoulders lighter.’ ”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him gave their answer. They replied, “These people say to you, ‘Your father put a heavy load on our shoulders. Make it lighter.’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is stronger than my father’s legs. ¹¹My father put a heavy load on your shoulders. But I’ll make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips. But I’ll beat you with bigger whips.’ ”

¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all of the people returned to Rehoboam. That’s because the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.”

¹³The king answered the people in a mean way. He didn’t accept the advice the elders had given him. ¹⁴Instead, he followed the advice of the young men. He said, “My father put a heavy load on your shoulders. But I’ll make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips. But I’ll beat you with bigger whips.”

¹⁵So the king didn’t listen to the people. That’s because the Lord had planned it that way. What he had said through Ahijah came true. Ahijah had spoken the Lord’s message to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Ahijah was from Shiloh.

¹⁶All of the people of Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them. So they answered the king. They said,

“We don’t have any share in David’s royal family.

We don’t have any share in Jesse’s son.

People of Israel, let’s go back to our homes.

David’s royal family, take care of your own kingdom!”

So the people of Israel went home.

¹⁷But Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah.

¹⁸Adoniram was in charge of those who were forced to work hard for King Rehoboam. The king sent him out among all of the Israelites. But they killed him by throwing stones at him. King Rehoboam was able to get away in his chariot. He escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹Israel has refused to follow the royal family of David to this very day.

²⁰All of the people of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned. They sent for him. They wanted him to meet with the whole community. Then they made him king over the entire nation of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained true to David’s royal family.

²¹Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem. He brought together 180,000 fighting men from the royal house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. He had decided to make war against the royal house of Israel. Solomon’s son Rehoboam wanted his fighting men to get the kingdom of Israel back for him.

²²But a message from God came to Shemaiah. He was a man of God. God said to him, ²³“Speak to Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the king of Judah. Speak to the royal house of Judah and Benjamin. Also speak to the rest of the people. Tell all of them, ²⁴‘The Lord says, “Do not go up to fight against the Israelites. They are your relatives. I want every one of you to go back home. Things have happened exactly the way I planned them.” ’ ” So the fighting men obeyed the Lord’s message. They went home again, just as he had ordered.

Jeroboam Sets Up Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan

²⁵Jeroboam built up the walls of Shechem. It was in the hill country of Ephraim. Jeroboam made Shechem his home. From there he went out and built up Peniel.

²⁶Jeroboam thought, “My kingdom still isn’t secure. It could very easily go back to the royal family of David. ²⁷Suppose the people of Israel go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Lord’s temple. If they do, they will again decide to follow Rehoboam as their master. Then they’ll kill me. They’ll return to King Rehoboam. He is king of Judah.”

²⁸So King Jeroboam asked for advice. Then he made two golden statues that looked like calves. He said to the people, “It’s too hard for you to go up to Jerusalem. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up out of Egypt.” ²⁹He set up one statue in Bethel. He set up the other one in Dan.

³⁰What Jeroboam did was sinful. And it caused Israel to sin. The people even went all the way to Dan to worship the statue that was there.

³¹Jeroboam built temples for worshiping gods on high places. He appointed all kinds of people as priests. They didn’t even have to be Levites. ³²He established a feast. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. He wanted to make it like the Feast of Booths that was held in Judah.

Jeroboam built an altar at Bethel. He offered sacrifices on it. He sacrificed to the calves he had made. He also put priests in Bethel. He did it at the high places he had made. ³³He offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. That’s the month he had chosen for it. So he established the feast for the people of Israel. And he went up to the altar to sacrifice offerings.

A Man of God Goes to Bethel

13A man of God went from Judah to Bethel. He had received a message from the Lord. He arrived in Bethel just as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice. ²The man cried out. He shouted a message from the Lord against the altar. He said, “Altar! Altar! The Lord says, ‘A son named Josiah will be born into the royal family of David. Altar, listen to me! Josiah will sacrifice the priests of the high places on you. They will be the children of the priests who are offering sacrifices here now. So human bones will be burned on you.’ ”

³That same day the man of God spoke about a miraculous sign. He said, “Here is the sign the Lord has announced. This altar will be broken to pieces. The ashes on it will be spilled out.”

⁴The man of God announced that message against the altar at Bethel. When King Jeroboam heard it, he reached out his hand from the altar. He said, “Grab him!” But as he reached out his hand toward the man, it dried up. He couldn’t even pull it back.

⁵Also, the altar broke into pieces. Its ashes spilled out. That happened in keeping with the miraculous sign the man of God had announced. He had received a message from the Lord.

⁶King Jeroboam spoke to the man of God. He said, “Pray to the Lord your God for me. Pray that my hand will be as good as new again.”

So the man of God prayed to the Lord for the king. And the king’s hand became as good as new. It was just as healthy as it had been before.

⁷The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me. Have something to eat. I’ll give you a gift.”

⁸But the man of God replied to the king. He said, “What if you were to give me half of what you own? Even then I wouldn’t go with you. I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water here. ⁹The Lord gave me a command. He said, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ” ¹⁰So he took another road. He didn’t go back on the same road he had taken when he came to Bethel.

¹¹An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and spoke to him. They told him everything the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king.

¹²Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?”

His sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken.

¹³So he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on the donkey for me.”

When they had done it, he got on the donkey. ¹⁴He traveled on the same road the man of God had taken. He found the man sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he replied.

¹⁵So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me. I’ll give you something to eat.”

¹⁶The man of God said, “I can’t go back to Bethel with you. I can’t eat bread or drink water with you there. ¹⁷I’ve received a message from the Lord. He told me, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ”

¹⁸The old prophet answered, “I’m also a prophet, just like you. An angel gave me a message from the Lord. The message said, ‘Bring the man of God back with you to your house. Then he can eat bread and drink water with you.’ ” But the old prophet was telling him a lie.

¹⁹The man of God returned with him. He ate and drank in his house.

²⁰They were sitting at the table. The Lord gave a message to the old prophet who had brought the man of God back. ²¹He cried out to the man who had come from Judah. He told him, “The Lord says, ‘You have not done what I told you to do. You have not obeyed the command I gave you. I am the Lord your God. ²²You came back here and ate bread and drank water. You did it in the place where I told you not to. So your body will not be buried in your family tomb.’ ”

²³The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet who had brought him back put a saddle on the man’s donkey for him. ²⁴And the man went on his way. A lion attacked him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it.

²⁵Some people passed by. They saw the body lying on the road. They saw the lion standing beside the body. Then they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶The…