2 Chronicles 10–11

Chapter 10

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you.” ⁵He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷And they said to him, “If you will be kind to this people and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.” ⁸But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. ⁹And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us’?” ¹⁰And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but do you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’ ”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³And the king answered them harshly, and forsaking the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” ¹⁵So the king did not hearken to the people; for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfil his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, the people answered the king,

“What portion have we in David?

We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

Each of you to your tents, O Israel!

Look now to your own house, David.”

So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Chapter 11

¹When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah, and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ²But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God: ³“Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your brethren. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’ ” So they hearkened to the word of the Lord, and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.

⁵Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities which are in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹He made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹²And he put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him from all places where they lived. ¹⁴For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, ¹⁵and he appointed his own priests for the high places, and for the satyrs, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹and she bore him sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters); ²²and Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. ²³And he dealt wisely, and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; and he gave them abundant provisions, and procured wives for them.^u