1 Kings 12

¹Rehoboʹam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²And when Jeroboʹam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, whither he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboʹam returned from Egypt. ³And they sent and called him; and Jeroboʹam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboʹam, 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, “Depart for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboʹam 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 a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer 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 this 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 Jeroboʹam and all the people came to Rehoboʹam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel which the old men had given him, ¹⁴he spoke to them according to the counsel 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 scorpions.” ¹⁵So the king did not hearken to the people; for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfil his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahiʹjah the Shiʹlonite to Jeroboʹam 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.

To your tents, O Israel!

Look now to your own house, David.”

So Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷But Rehoboʹam reigned over the people of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸Then King Rehoboʹam sent Adoʹram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboʹam made haste to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. ²⁰And when all Israel heard that Jeroboʹam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

²¹When Rehoboʹam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboʹam the son of Solomon. ²²But the word of God came to Shemaiʹah the man of God: ²³“Say to Rehoboʹam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ²⁴‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your kinsmen the people of Israel. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’ ” So they hearkened to the word of the Lord, and went home again, according to the word of the Lord.

²⁵Then Jeroboʹam built Shechem in the hill country of Eʹphraim, and dwelt there; and he went out from there and built Penuʹel. ²⁶And Jeroboʹam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David; ²⁷if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboʹam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboʹam king of Judah.” ²⁸So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰And this thing became a sin, for the people went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan. ³¹He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. ³²And Jeroboʹam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. ³³He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the people of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.