(26) Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, the son of a widow whose name was Zeruah, was in Solomon’s service; he raised his hand against the king. (27) The circumstances under which he raised his hand against the king were as follows: Solomon built the Millo and repaired the breach of the city of his father, David. (28) This Jeroboam was an able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was a capable worker, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the House of Joseph. (29) During that time Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem and the prophet Achiya of Shiloh met him on the way. He had put on a new robe; and when the two were alone in the open country, (30) Achiya took hold of the new robe he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. (31) “Take ten pieces,” he said to Jeroboam. “For thus said Adonai, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands, and I will give you ten tribes. (32) But one tribe shall remain his—for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. (33) For they have forsaken Me; they have worshiped Ashtoret the goddess of the Phoenicians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites; they have not walked in My ways, or done what is pleasing to Me, or [kept] My laws and rules, as his father David did. (34) However, I will not take the entire kingdom away from him, but will keep him as ruler as long as he lives for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, and who kept My commandments and My laws. (35) But I will take the kingship out of the hands of his son and give it to you—the ten tribes. (36) To his son I will give one tribe, so that there may be a lamp for My servant David forever before Me in Jerusalem—the city where I have chosen to establish My name. (37) But you have been chosen by Me; reign wherever you wish, and you shall be king over Israel. (38) If you heed all that I command you, and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, keeping My laws and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you and I will build for you a lasting dynasty as I did for David. I hereby give Israel to you; (39) and I will chastise David’s descendants for that [sin], though not forever.”
(1) Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to acclaim him as king. (2) Jeroboam son of Nebat learned of it while he was still in Egypt; for Jeroboam had fled from King Solomon, and had settled in Egypt. (3) They sent for him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam as follows: (4) “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke which your father laid on us, and we will serve you.” (5) He answered them, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away. (6) King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. He said, “What answer do you advise [me] to give to this people?” (7) They answered him, “If you will be a servant to those people today and serve them, and if you respond to them with kind words, they will be your servants always.” (8) But he ignored the advice that the elders gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. (9) “What,” he asked, “do you advise that we reply to the people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father placed upon us’?” (10) And the young men who had grown up with him answered, “Speak thus to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us.’ Say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. (11) My father imposed a heavy yoke on you, and I will add to your yoke; my father flogged you with whips, but I will flog you with scorpions.’” (12) Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, since the king had told them: “Come back on the third day.” (13) The king answered the people harshly, ignoring the advice that the elders had given him. (14) He spoke to them in accordance with the advice of the young men, and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father flogged you with whips, but I will flog you with scorpions.” (15) (The king did not listen to the people; for God had brought it about in order to fulfill the promise that God had made through Achiya the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.)
(26) Jeroboam said to himself, “Now the kingdom may well return to the House of David. (27) If these people still go up to offer sacrifices at the House of Adonai in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will turn back to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and go back to King Rehoboam of Judah.” (28) So the king took counsel and made two golden calves. He said to the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. This is your god (lit. these are your gods), O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (29) He set up one in Bethel and placed the other in Dan. (30) That proved to be a cause of guilt, for the people went to worship [the calf at Bethel and] the one at Dan. (31) He also made cult places and appointed priests from the ranks of the people who were not of Levite descent. (32) He stationed at Bethel the priests of the shrines that he had appointed to sacrifice to the calves that he had made. And Jeroboam established a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month; in imitation of the festival in Judah, he established one at Bethel, and he ascended the altar [there]. (33) On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the month in which he had contrived of his own mind to establish a festival for the Israelites—Jeroboam ascended the altar that he had made in Bethel.
(4) This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god (lit. these are your gods), O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (5) When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of Adonai!”
(1) a man of God arrived at Bethel from Judah at the command of Adonai. While Jeroboam was standing on the altar to present the offering, the man of God, at the command of Adonai, cried out against the altar: (2) “O altar, altar! Thus said God: A son shall be born to the House of David, Josiah by name; and he shall slaughter upon you the priests of the shrines who bring offerings upon you. And human bones shall be burned upon you.” (3) He gave a portent on that day, saying, “Here is the portent that God has decreed: This altar shall break apart, and the ashes on it shall be spilled.” (4) When the king heard what the man of God had proclaimed against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his arm above the altar and cried, “Seize him!” But the arm that he stretched out against him became rigid, and he could not draw it back. (5) The altar broke apart and its ashes were spilled—the very portent that the man of God had announced at Adonai's command. (6) Then the king spoke up and said to the man of God, “Please entreat Adonai your God and pray for me that I may be able to draw back my arm.” The man of God entreated Adonai and the king was able to draw his arm back; it became as it was before.
(21) Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon had become king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem—the city God had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to establish His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. (22) Judah did what was displeasing to God, and angered God more than their fathers had done by the sins that they committed. (23) They too built for themselves shrines, pillars, and sacred posts on every high hill and under every leafy tree; (24) there were also male prostitutes in the land. [Judah] imitated all the abhorrent practices of the nations that God had dispossessed before the Israelites. (25) In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt marched against Jerusalem (26) and carried off the treasures of the House of Adonai and the treasures of the royal palace. He carried off everything; he even carried off all the golden shields that Solomon had made. (27) King Rehoboam had bronze shields made instead, and he entrusted them to the officers of the guard who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. (28) Whenever the king went into the House of God, the guards would carry them and then bring them back to the armory of the guards. (29) The other events of Rehoboam’s reign, and all his actions, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. (30) There was continual war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. (31) Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Aviyam succeeded him as king.