April 21

1 Kings 12:1 — 13:34

12 And Rehoboam proceeded to go to Shechem, for it was to Shechem that all Israel came to make him king. 2 And it came about that as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it while he was yet in Egypt (because he had run off on account of King Solomon, that Jeroboam might dwell in Egypt), 3 then they sent and called him. After that Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and began to speak to Rehoboam, saying: 4 “Your father, for his part, made our yoke hard, and, as for you, now make the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us lighter, and we shall serve you.”

5 At this he said to them: “Go away for three days and return to me.” So the people went away. 6 And King Rehoboam began to take counsel with the older men who had continued attending upon Solomon his father while he continued alive, saying: “How are YOU advising to reply to this people?” 7 Accordingly they spoke to him, saying: “If today you would prove yourself a servant to this people and actually serve them, you must also answer them and speak to them with good words; and they will be bound to become your servants always.”

8 However, he left the counsel of the older men with which they had advised him, and he began to take counsel with the young men that had grown up with him, who were the ones attending upon him. 9 And he went on to say to them: “What is it that YOU are offering in counsel that we may reply to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put upon us lighter’?” 10 In turn the young men that had grown up with him spoke to him, saying: “This is what you should say to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father, for his part, made our yoke heavy, but, as for you, make it lighter upon us’; this is what you should speak to them, ‘My little finger itself will certainly be thicker than my father’s hips. 11 And now my father, for his part, loaded upon YOU a heavy yoke; but I, for my part, shall add to YOUR yoke. My father, for his part, chastised YOU with whips, but I, for my part, shall chastise YOU with scourges.’”

12 And Jeroboam and all the people proceeded to come to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying: “Return to me on the third day.” 13 And the king began to answer the people harshly, and to leave the counsel of the older men who had counseled him. 14 And he went on to speak to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: “My father, for his part, made YOUR yoke heavy, but I, for my part, shall add to YOUR yoke. My father, for his part, chastised YOU with whips, but I, for my part, shall chastise YOU with scourges.” 15 And the king did not listen to the people, because the turn of affairs took place at the instance of Jehovah, in order that he might indeed carry out his word that Jehovah had spoken by means of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 When all Israel got to see that the king had not listened to them, then the people replied to the king, saying: “What share do we have in David? And there is no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your gods, O Israel. Now see to your own house, O David!” With that Israel began to go to their tents. 17 As for the sons of Israel that were dwelling in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam continued to reign over them.

18 Subsequently King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over those conscripted for forced labor, but all Israel pelted him with stones, so that he died. And King Rehoboam himself managed to get up into the chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 And the Israelites kept up their revolt against the house of David down to this day.

20 And it came about that as soon as all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they at once sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. None became a follower of the house of David except the tribe of Judah by itself.

21 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he immediately congregated all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand choice men able-bodied for war, to fight against the house of Israel, so as to bring the kingship back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 Then the word of the [true] God came to Shemaiah the man of the [true] God, saying: 23 “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “YOU must not go up and fight against YOUR brothers the sons of Israel. Go back each one to his house, for it is at the instance of myself that this thing has been brought about.”’” So they obeyed the word of Jehovah, and went back home according to the word of Jehovah.

25 And Jeroboam proceeded to build Shechem in the mountainous region of Ephraim and to dwell in it. Then he went forth from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam began to say in his heart: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. 27 If this people continues going up to render sacrifices in the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, the heart of this people will also be bound to return to their lord, Rehoboam the king of Judah; and they will certainly kill me and return to Rehoboam the king of Judah.” 28 Consequently the king took counsel and made two golden calves and said to the people: “It is too much for YOU to go up to Jerusalem. Here is your God, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 Then he placed the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing came to be a cause for sin, and the people began to go before the one as far as Dan.

31 And he began to make a house of high places and to make priests from the people in general, who did not happen to be of the sons of Levi. 32 And Jeroboam went on to make a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that was in Judah, that he might make offerings upon the altar that he had made in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves that he had made; and he put in attendance at Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 And he began to make offerings upon the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had invented by himself; and he proceeded to make a festival for the sons of Israel and to make offerings upon the altar to make sacrificial smoke.


13 And here there was a man of God that had come out of Judah by the word of Jehovah to Bethel, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make sacrificial smoke. 2 Then he called out against the altar by the word of Jehovah and said: “O altar, altar, this is what Jehovah has said, ‘Look! A son born to the house of David, whose name is Josiah! And he will certainly sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places that are making sacrificial smoke upon you, and men’s bones he will burn upon you.’” 3 And he gave a portent on that day, saying: “This is the portent of which Jehovah has spoken: Look! The altar is ripped apart, and the fatty ashes that are upon it will certainly be spilled out.”

4 And it came about that, as soon as the king heard the word of the man of the [true] God that he had called out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam at once thrust out his hand from off the altar, saying: “YOU men, grab hold of him!” Immediately his hand that he had thrust out against him became dried up, and he was not able to draw it back to himself. 5 And the altar itself was ripped apart so that the fatty ashes were spilled out from the altar, according to the portent that the man of the [true] God had given by the word of Jehovah.

6 The king now answered and said to the man of the [true] God: “Soften, please, the face of Jehovah your God and pray in my behalf that my hand may be restored to me.” At this the man of the [true] God softened the face of Jehovah, so that the king’s hand was restored to him, and it came to be as at first. 7 And the king went on to say to the man of the [true] God: “Do come with me to the house and take sustenance, and let me give you a gift.” 8 But the man of the [true] God said to the king: “If you gave me half of your house I would not come with you and eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 For that is the way he commanded me by the word of Jehovah, saying, ‘You must not eat bread or drink water, and you must not return by the way that you went.’” 10 And he began to go by another way, and he did not return by the way by which he had come to Bethel.

11 And a certain old prophet was dwelling in Bethel, and his sons now came in and related to him all the work that the man of the [true] God had done that day in Bethel [and] the words that he had spoken to the king, and they went on relating them to their father. 12 Then their father spoke to them: “Which way, then, did he go?” So his sons showed him the way that the man of the [true] God that had come out of Judah had gone. 13 He now said to his sons: “Saddle the ass for me.” Accordingly they saddled the ass for him, and he went riding on it.

14 And he went following the man of the [true] God and got to find him sitting under the big tree. Then he said to him: “Are you the man of the [true] God who has come out of Judah?” to which he said: “I am.” 15 And he went on to say to him: “Go with me to the house and eat bread.” 16 But he said: “I am not able to go back with you or to come in with you, and I may not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 For it has been spoken to me by the word of Jehovah, ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there. You must not go back again by the way by which you went.’” 18 At this he said to him: “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel himself spoke to me by the word of Jehovah, saying, ‘Have him come back with you to your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He deceived him.) 19 So he went back with him that he might eat bread in his house and drink water.

20 And it came about, while they were sitting at the table, that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet that had brought him back; 21 and he began to call out to the man of the [true] God that had come out of Judah, saying: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that you rebelled against the order of Jehovah and did not keep the commandment with which Jehovah your God commanded you, 22 but you went back that you might eat bread and drink water in the place about which he spoke to you: “Do not eat bread or drink water,” your dead body will not come into the burial place of your forefathers.’”

23 And it came about after his eating bread and after his drinking that he at once saddled for him the ass, that is, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And he got on his way. Later a lion found him on the road and put him to death, and his dead body came to be thrown onto the road. And the ass was standing beside it, and the lion was standing beside the dead body. 25 And here there were men passing by, so that they got to see the dead body thrown onto the road and the lion standing beside the dead body. Then they came in and spoke of it in the city in which the old prophet was dwelling.

26 When the prophet that had brought him back from the way heard of it, he immediately said: “It is the man of the [true] God that rebelled against the order of Jehovah; and so Jehovah gave him to the lion, that he might crush him and put him to death, according to the word of Jehovah that he spoke to him.” 27 And he went on to speak to his sons, saying: “Saddle the ass for me.” So they saddled it. 28 Then he got on his way and found the dead body of him thrown onto the road with the ass and the lion standing beside the dead body. The lion had not eaten the dead body, nor had it crushed the ass. 29 And the prophet proceeded to lift up the dead body of the man of the [true] God and to deposit him upon the ass and to bring him back. Thus he came into the city of the old prophet to bewail and bury him. 30 Accordingly he deposited his dead body in his own burial place; and they kept wailing over him: “Too bad, my brother!” 31 And it came about after his burying him that he went on to say to his sons: “When I die YOU must bury me in the burial place in which the man of the [true] God is buried. Beside his bones deposit my own bones. 32 For without fail the word that he called out by the word of Jehovah against the altar that is in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria will take place.”

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn back from his bad way, but he again went making priests of high places from the people in general. As for anyone delighting in it, he would fill his hand with power, [saying]: “And let him become [one of the] priests of high places.” 34 And in this thing there came to be a cause of sin on the part of the household of Jeroboam and an occasion for effacing them and annihilating them off the surface of the ground.