Rebellion against Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 10:1–15)
1 UST Leaders from all the tribes of Israel went to the city of Shechem in order to appoint Rehoboam as 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 UST Jeroboam had fled to Egypt to escape from Solomon, and he had settled there. He learned in Egypt that Solomon had died. 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 UST The Israelite leaders asked him to come back to Israel{, and he did.} They went together to speak with Rehoboam. They told him, BSB BSB: So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel came to Rehoboam and said,
4 UST “Your father Solomon forced us to work very hard, but if you allow us to work less hard and allow us to pay fewer taxes, then we will agree to be your subjects.” 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 UST He replied,“Go away for a couple of days{ to give me some time to consider that}. Then come back{ 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 UST Then King Rehoboam asked for advice from the older men who had been officials of his father Solomon while he was still living. He asked them,“What do you think I should say in response to what these Israelite leaders have asked me to do?” 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 UST They replied,“We recommend that on this occasion, you humble yourself and do what they have asked. Speak kindly to them when you reply to them. If you do that, they will always be your loyal subjects.” 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 UST But Rehoboam decided not to do what the older men had advised him to do. Instead, he asked for advice from the younger men who had been his friends since they were boys and 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 UST He asked them,“What do you think we should say in response to these Israelite leaders who have asked me to allow them to work less hard than my father required them to work?” 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 UST Those young men who were his boyhood friends replied,“This is what you should tell these people who asked you to allow them to work less hard than your father required them to work:‘I am a harsher man than my father was. 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 UST This is my answer to you. My father required you to work hard. But I am going to make you work even harder. My father had his overseers discipline you Israelite workers harshly. But I am going to have them discipline you even more harshly.’” 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 UST A couple of days after Jeroboam and the Israelite leaders first met with Rehoboam, they came to speak with him again, just as 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 UST The king disregarded the advice that the older men had given him. Instead, he spoke roughly to the Israelite leaders. BSB BSB: And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders
14 UST He told them what the younger men had advised him to say. He said,“My father required you to work hard. But I am going to make you work even harder. My father had his overseers discipline you Israelite workers harshly. But I am going to have them discipline you even more harshly.” 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 UST So the king did not do what the Israelite leaders wanted him to do. That was because Yahweh caused him to refuse their request. In that way, Yahweh made happen what he had told Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite. 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 UST When the Israelite leaders realized that Rehoboam was not going to do what they had asked, they responded to him by shouting,“We do not want to be subjects of this descendant of King David! We will not accept this grandson of Jesse as our ruler! We Israelites should all 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 UST (After that, the only Israelites who accepted Rehoboam as their king were the members of the tribe of Judah.) BSB BSB: but Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
18 UST King Rehoboam had an official whose name was Adoniram. He supervised the men whom Rehoboam forced to work for him.{ Before the Israelite leaders left,} King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram{ to try to make them obey him}. But the Israelite people killed him by throwing stones at him. When that happened, King Rehoboam got into his chariot as fast as he could 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 UST Ever since that time, the people of the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be subjects of 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 UST When the people of the northern tribes heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they invited him to come to a gathering of their representatives. There they appointed him to be their king. Only the people of the tribe of Judah continued to be loyal to the kings who were descendants of 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 UST When Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem, he gathered 180, 000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He wanted them to fight against soldiers of the northern Israelite tribes{ and defeat them} so that he could rule all of the Israelite tribes 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 UST But God spoke to the prophet Shemaiah and said to him, BSB BSB: But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
23 UST “Here is something that I want you to tell Rehoboam son of Solomon, the king of Judah, the army of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the people of those tribes. BSB BSB: “Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people
24 UST Tell them that I say that they must not go to fight against their fellow Israelites. They must all go home. Tell them that this has happened because I wanted it to happen.”{ So Shemaiah went and told that to them, and} they all obeyed what Yahweh had commanded them to do and 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 UST Then Jeroboam told his workers to rebuild walls around the city of Shechem in the hilly area where the tribe of Ephraim lived. He moved to that city{ and made it his capital}. Later he and his workers went from there to the city of Peniel, and they rebuilt the walls around that city{ to make it a border fortress}. 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 UST Then Jeroboam said to himself,“It seems likely that the descendants of David will soon rule all of Israel once again. BSB BSB: Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David.
27 UST If my subjects continue to go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to Yahweh at the temple there, soon they will want Rehoboam to be their king again. Then they will kill me and agree to become his subjects again.” BSB BSB: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
29 UST He told his workers to place one of the statues in the city of Bethel{ in the south of his kingdom} 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 UST What Jeroboam did caused the people of his kingdom to sin{ because they started worshiping these calves as idols}. They would travel all the way to the city of Dan to worship where one of the calves was. BSB BSB: And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.
31 UST Jeroboam had his workers build shrines for worship on the top of hills. He also appointed Israelite men from many different tribes to be priests, even though the law of Moses said that only men from the tribe of Levi could be priests. BSB BSB: Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
32 UST Jeroboam also held a celebration like the Festival of Shelters that people celebrated in Judah each year. However, he held it on the fifteenth day of the eighth month{ rather than on that day in the seventh month, as the law of Moses commanded}. He went to Bethel and offered sacrifices to the golden calf statue that he had made and put there. He had the priests whom he had appointed come to Bethel and work in the shrine that his workers had built there. 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 UST Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar{ in that shrine} on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He had chosen that month himself. There on that altar he burned incense as an offering. 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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