1 Kings 12
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
2 Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it while he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam remained in Egypt.
3 They sent for him. Then Jeroboam came with the whole assembly of Israel, and they said to Rehoboam:
4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come back to me.” So the people went away.
6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive. He asked, “What do you advise me to say in reply to these people?”
7 They answered him, “If today you will serve these people and be their servant, and answer them with kind words, they will be your servants always.”
8 But he rejected the advice the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
9 He asked them, “What do you advise? How should we answer these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should say to these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should lighten it for us.’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
11 Now my father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
12 Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said: “Come back to me on the third day.”
13 The king answered the people harshly; he rejected the advice the elders had given him.
14 He spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
15 The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 All Israel saw that the king had not listened to them. So the people answered the king: “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in Jesse’s son. To your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel went back to their tents.
17 But Rehoboam ruled over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.
18 King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.
21 Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and gathered all the people of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin: 180,000 chosen men, fit for battle, to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God:
23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:
24 ‘This is what the LORD says: “Do not go up or fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Let each man return to his home, for this has come from me.”’” They listened to the word of the LORD and turned back, leaving as the LORD had instructed.
25 Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left there and built up Penuel.
26 Jeroboam thought, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, their hearts will turn back to their master, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28 So the king took counsel and made two golden calves. He said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough! Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he placed in Dan.
30 This became a sin, and the people went before one of them as far as Dan.
31 He also made shrines on the high places and appointed priests from among the people, who were not descendants of Levi.
32 Jeroboam established a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival in Judah. He went up to the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made, and appointed in Bethel the priests for the shrines on the high places he had made.
33 He went up to the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he had chosen on his own. He established a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to burn incense.
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