Chapter 12

Shishak of Egypt Invades Judah

1 aWhen the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, bhe and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord.

2 aAnd it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, that bShishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: athe Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians.

4 He captured athe fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

5 Then aShemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, ‘bYou have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you 1to Shishak.’ ”

6 So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The aLord is righteous.”

7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “aThey have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and bMy wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.

8 “But they will become his slaves so athat they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

Plunder Impoverishes Judah

9 aSo Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s palace. He took everything; bhe even took the golden shields which Solomon had made.

10 Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the 1care of the commanders of the 2guard who guarded the door of the king’s house.

11 As often as the king entered the house of the Lord, the 1guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the 1guards’ room.

12 And awhen he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and also conditions bwere good in Judah.

13 aSo King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

14 He did evil abecause he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

15 aNow the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the 1records of bShemaiah the prophet and of cIddo the seer, according to genealogical enrollment? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and his son aAbijah became king in his place.