1 Kings 12:1–19

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam

12:1–24pp—2Ch 10:1–11:4

12Rehoboam went to Shechem,^o for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled^p from King Solomon), he returned from^a Egypt. ³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: ⁴“Your father put a heavy yoke^q on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

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

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders^r who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer,^s they will always be your servants.”

⁸But Rehoboam rejected^t the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged^u you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord,^v to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah^w the Shilonite.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share^x do we have in David,

what part in Jesse’s son?

To your tents, Israel!^y

Look after your own house, David!”

So the Israelites went home.^{z 17}But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah,^a Rehoboam still ruled over them.

¹⁸King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,^bb who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death.^c King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David^d to this day.