1 Kings 12–13

The Revolt Against Rehoboam

12And ^aRehoboam went to ^bShechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ²So it happened, when ^cJeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in ^dEgypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt), ³that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴“Your father made our ^eyoke ¹heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷And they spoke to him, saying, ^f“If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

⁸But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ²scourges!’ ”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” ¹³Then the king answered the people ³roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; ¹⁴and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ⁴scourges!” ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; for ^gthe turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had ^hspoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

ⁱ“What share have we in David?

We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

To your tents, O Israel!

Now, see to your own house, O David!”

So Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷But Rehoboam reigned over ^jthe children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam ^ksent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So ^lIsrael has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all ^mIsrael. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah ⁿonly.

²¹And when ^oRehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of ^pBenjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²²But ^qthe word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ²³“Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, ²⁴‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, ^rfor this thing is from Me.” ’ ” Therefore they obeyed the word of the Lord, and turned back, according to the word of the Lord.

Jeroboam’s Gold Calves

²⁵Then Jeroboam ^sbuilt ⁵Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built ^tPenuel. ²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: ²⁷If these people ^ugo up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

²⁸Therefore the king asked advice, ^vmade two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. ^wHere are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” ²⁹And he set up one in ^xBethel, and the other he put in ^yDan. ³⁰Now this thing became ^za sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. ³¹He made ⁶shrines on the high places, ^aand made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

³²Jeroboam ⁷ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like ^bthe feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. ^cAnd at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had ^ddevised in his own heart. And he ⁸ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and ^eburned incense.

The Message of the Man of God

13And behold, ^aa man of God went from Judah to Bethel ¹by the word of the Lord, ^band Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. ²Then he cried out against the altar ²by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, ^cJosiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be ^dburned on you.’ ” ³And he gave ^ea sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

⁴So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. ⁵The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. ⁶Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please ^fentreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. ⁷Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and ^gI will give you a reward.”

⁸But the man of God said to the king, ^h“If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. ⁹For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ⁱ‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’ ” ¹⁰So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

Death of the Man of God

¹¹Now an ^jold prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his ³sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. ¹²And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons ⁴had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. ¹³Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, ¹⁴and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

And he said, “I am.”

¹⁵Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

¹⁶And he said, ^k“I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷For ⁵I have been told ^lby the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’ ”

¹⁸He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (He was lying to him.)

¹⁹So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

²⁰Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, ²²but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the ^mplace of which the Lord said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ”

²³So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴When he was gone, ⁿa lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. ²⁵And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

²⁶Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.” ²⁷And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. ²⁸Then he went and found his corpse thrown on…