Rebellion against Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 10:1–15)
1 UDB All the people of northern Israel went to the city of Shechem in order to appoint Rehoboam to be their king. So Rehoboam also went there. BSB BSB: Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
2 UDB When Jeroboam, who was still in Egypt, heard about that, he returned from Egypt to Israel. BSB BSB: When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since.
3 UDB The leaders of the northern tribes summoned him, and they went together to talk to Rehoboam. They said to him, BSB BSB: So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel came to Rehoboam and said,
4 UDB "Your father Solomon forced us to work very hard, and if you allow us to work less, we will serve you faithfully." BSB BSB: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you must lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5 UDB He replied, "Go away, and come back three days from now and I will give you my answer." So those leaders and Jeroboam left. BSB BSB: Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So the people departed.
6 UDB Then King Rehoboam consulted his older men who had advised his father Solomon while he was still living. He asked them, "What should I say to answer these men?" BSB BSB: Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.
7 UDB They replied, "If you want to serve these people well, speak kindly to them when you reply to them. If you do that, they will always serve you faithfully." BSB BSB: They replied, “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
8 UDB But he ignored what the older men advised him to do. Instead, he consulted the younger men who had grown up with him, who were now his advisors. BSB BSB: But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
9 UDB He said to them, "What do you say that I should answer the men who are asking me to reduce the work that my father required from them?" BSB BSB: He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 UDB They replied, "This is what you should tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. BSB BSB: The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!
11 UDB What I mean is that my father required you to work hard. But I will make those loads heavier. It was as though my father whipped you, but I will whip you with scorpions.'" BSB BSB: Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
12 UDB So three days later, Jeroboam and all the leaders came to Rehoboam again, which is what he had told them to do. BSB BSB: After three days, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, since the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.”
13 UDB The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the Israelite leaders. BSB BSB: And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders
14 UDB He told them what the younger men had advised. He said, "My father put heavy burdens of work on you, but I will put heavier burdens on you. It was as though he beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!" BSB BSB: and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”
15 UDB So the king did not pay any attention to the Israelite leaders. Now all this happened so that what Yahweh wanted would occur—what he had told the prophet Ahijah about Jeroboam becoming king of the ten tribes. BSB BSB: So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
The Kingdom Divided (2 Chronicles 10:16–19)
16 UDB When the Israelite leaders realized that the king did not pay any attention to what they said, they shouted, "We do not want anything to do with this descendant of King David! We will not pay attention to what this grandson of Jesse says! You people of Israel, let us go home! As for this descendant of David, he can rule his own tribe!" So the Israelite leaders returned to their homes. BSB BSB: When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,
17 UDB And after that, the only Israelite people over whom Rehoboam ruled were those who lived in the territory of the tribe of Judah. BSB BSB: but Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
18 UDB Then King Rehoboam went with Adoniram to talk to the Israelite people. Adoniram was the man who supervised all the men who were forced to work for Rehoboam. But the Israelite people killed him by throwing stones at him. When that happened, King Rehoboam quickly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Then King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.
19 UDB Ever since that time, the people of the northern tribes of Israel have been rebelling against the descendants of King David. BSB BSB: So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.
Shemaiah’s Prophecy (2 Chronicles 11:1–4)
20 UDB When the Israelite people heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they invited him to come to a meeting, and there they appointed him to be the king of Israel. Only the people of the tribe of Judah continued to be loyal to the kings descended from King David. BSB BSB: When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.
21 UDB When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He wanted them to fight against the northern tribes of Israel and defeat them so that he could rule all the tribes of his kingdom again. BSB BSB: And when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22 UDB But God spoke to the prophet Shemaiah and said this to him: BSB BSB: But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
23 UDB "Go and tell this to Solomon's son Rehoboam, who is the king of Judah, and to all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the people from the northern tribe who live in Judah: BSB BSB: “Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people
24 UDB 'Yahweh says that you must not go to fight against your own relatives, the people of Israel. All of you must go home. What has happened is what Yahweh wanted to happen.'" So Shemaiah went and told that to them, and they all listened what Yahweh had commanded them to do, and they went home. BSB BSB: that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and turned back according to the word of the LORD.
Jeroboam’s Idolatry 25 UDB Then Jeroboam's workers built walls around the city of Shechem in the hill country where the descendants of Ephraim lived, and he ruled from there for a while. He and his workers then left there and went to the city of Peniel, and they built walls around that city. BSB BSB: Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And from there he went out and built Penuel.
26 UDB Then Jeroboam said to himself, "If my people continue to go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to Yahweh at the temple there, soon they will again become loyal to Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they will kill me." BSB BSB: Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David.
29 UDB He told his workers to place one of the statues in the city of Bethel in the south and one in the city of Dan in the north. BSB BSB: One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
30 UDB So what Jeroboam did caused the people to sin. Some of them went and worshiped the calf at Bethel, and others went and worshiped the other calf at Dan. BSB BSB: And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.
31 UDB Moses had declared that only men from the tribe of Levi would be priests, but Jeroboam also told his workers to build places on the hills where they could worship idols, and then he appointed men who were not from the tribe of Levi to be priests for the idols. BSB BSB: Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
32 UDB They had a celebration in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day, like the celebration of living in temporary shelters that occurred in Judah each year. On the altar that they built at Bethel, he offered sacrifices to the gold statues of calves that they had made, and he stationed the priests on the hills where idols were worshiped, where his workers built houses used for idolatry. BSB BSB: And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.
33 UDB Jeroboam went up to that altar on that day in the eighth month that he himself had chosen. There on that altar he burned incense to be a sacrifice. And he declared that the people should celebrate that festival on that same day every year. BSB BSB: On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. So he ordained a feast for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.
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