1 Kings 12
New Catholic Bible
The Reign of Jeroboam[a][b]
Chapter 12
Revolt against Rehoboam. 1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard about this in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, he returned from Egypt.
3 They sent for Jeroboam, and when he arrived, he and the whole assembly of Israel spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. If you make our service and our heavy yoke lighter than the heavy load your father laid on us, then we will serve you.” 5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days, and then come back to me.” So the people departed.
6 King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had stood before Solomon, his father, during his lifetime. He said, “How do you advise me to answer this people, so that I can give them an answer?” 7 They answered him, “If you become a servant to this people today and you serve them and you give them a favorable answer, then they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he ignored the advice that the elders had given him, and instead, he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him. 9 He asked them, “What advice do you give me so that we can give an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke lighter than that which your father laid upon us?’ ”
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “Say the following to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; will you lighten it for us?’ Say this to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11 My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’ ”
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all of the people returned to Rehoboam as the king had decreed when he said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king responded harshly to the people. He ignored the counsel that the elders had given him. 14 He said to them what the young men had advised him saying, “My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
15 Thus the king would not listen to the people, for the Lord had brought this about to fulfill what he said when the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. 16 When all of Israel realized that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? What inheritance do we have in the son of Jesse? To your own tents, O Israel. Look after your own house, O David.” So the people of Israel returned to their homes.[c]
17 Rehoboam still ruled over those Israelites who were living in the cities of Judah. 18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram who was in charge of the forced labor, but all of Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19 Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David up to the present day.
20 When all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and summoned him to an assembly. They made him king over all of Israel. No one followed the house of David except for the tribe of Judah.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled the entire house of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand fighting men to battle against the house of Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all of the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says the Lord, You are not to go up or fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Let each man return home, for this thing is from me.’ ” They obeyed the word of the Lord, and they turned around and left, as the Lord had instructed.
25 Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and he dwelt there. He went out from there and built Penuel.
26 Jeroboam’s Idolatry. Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom is going to return to the house of David. 27 If this people goes up to sacrifice in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam, the king of Judah. They will kill me and they will return to Rehoboam, the king of Judah.”
28 The king sought counsel, and so he made two golden calves.[d] He said to them, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 He placed one in Bethel, and he placed the other in Dan.[e] 30 This thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before one of them, even to Dan.
31 He built shrines upon the high places, and he appointed priests from the lowliest of people who were not Levites.
32 He established a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the one that was celebrated in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. He did this in Bethel, offering sacrifices to the calves that he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places that he had made.
33 And so he established a festival for the Israelites on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a date of his own choosing, and he offered up a sacrifice on the altar he had built in Bethel. He offered up a sacrifice and burned incense on the altar.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 12:1 This section is continued in the second Book of Kings, down to chapter 17.
- 1 Kings 12:1 The division of the two kingdoms is represented as a judgment of God, but this is regularly the way the Bible speaks of every revolution and every war. Everything has to be paid for. The sins of Solomon, who had become a proud despot, and the ineptitude of his sons made the schism inevitable. After the division the two kingdoms had to reorganize, but the northern kingdom took a wrong path. The Books of Kings, however, are interested in the political history of the northern kingdom only to the extent that it influenced the religious history of the Israelite people.
- 1 Kings 12:16 The kingdoms did not divide immediately, but between Solomon’s demise and the actions of both Rehoboam and Jeroboam, the people do not have a leader strong or wise enough to keep them united.
- 1 Kings 12:28 Two golden calves: by setting up a new place of worship outside of Jerusalem, Jeroboam disregards God’s rules of worship and starts his own religion separating the people both physically and spiritually from their true home. His efforts are doomed as were previous generations that worshiped golden calves (Ex 32).
- 1 Kings 12:29 That is, at the two opposite ends of the new state: Dan was near the headwaters of the Jordan; Bethel was on the road to Jerusalem.
1 Kings 12
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
12 And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither were all Israel come together to make him king.
2 But Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was yet in Egypt, a fugitive from the face of king Solomon, hearing of his death, returned out of Egypt.
3 And they sent and called him: and Jeroboam came, and all the multitude of Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying:
4 Thy father laid a grievous yoke upon us: now therefore do thou take off a little of the grievous service of thy father, and of his most heavy yoke, which he put upon us, and we will serve thee.
5 And he said to them: Go till the third day, and come to me again. And when the people was gone,
6 King Roboam took counsel with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and he said: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people?
7 They said to him: If thou wilt yield to this people to day, and condescend to them, and grant their petition, and wilt speak gentle words to them, they will be thy servants always.
8 But he left the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and stood before him.
9 And he said to them: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people, who have said to me: Make the yoke which thy father put upon us lighter?
10 And the young men that had been brought up with him, said: Thus shalt thou speak to this people, who have spoken to thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease us. Thou shalt say to them: My little finger is thicker than the back of my father.
11 And now my father put a, heavy yoke upon you, but I will add to your yoke: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying: Come to me again the third day.
13 And the king answered the people roughly, leaving the counsel of the old men, which they had given him,
14 And he 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 beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.
15 And the king condescended not to the people: for the Lord was turned away from him, to make good his word, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias the Silonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.
16 Then the people seeing that the king would not hearken to them, answered him, saying: What portion have we in David? or what inheritance in the son of Isai? Go home to thy dwellings, O Israel, now David look to thy own house. So Israel departed to their dwellings.
17 But as for all the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda, Roboam reigned over them.
18 Then king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tribute: and all Israel stoned him, and he died. Wherefore king Roboam made haste to get him up into his chariot, and he fled to Jerusalem:
19 And Israel revolted from the house of David, unto this day.
20 And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they gathered an assembly, and sent and called him, and made him king over all Israel, and there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Juda only.
21 And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered together all the house of Juda, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred four-score thousand chosen men for war, to fight against the house of Israel and to bring the kingdom again under Roboam the son of Solomon.
22 But the word of the Lord came to Semeias the man of God, saying:
23 Speak to Roboam the son of Solomon, the king of Juda, and to all the house of Juda, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying:
24 Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: let every man return to his house, for this thing is from me. They hearkened to the word of the Lord, and returned from their journey, as the Lord had commanded them.
25 And Jeroboam built Sichem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt there, and going out from thence he built Phanuel.
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart: Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David,
27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem: and the heart of this people will turn to their lord Roboam the king of Juda, and they will kill me, and return to him.
28 And finding out a device he made two golden calves, and said to them: Go ye up no more to Jerusalem: Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan:
30 And this thing became an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf as far as Dan.
31 And he made temples in the high places, and priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32 And he appointed a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, after the manner of the feast that was celebrated in Juda. And going up to the altar, he did in like manner in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves, which he had made: and he placed in Bethel priests of the high places, which he had made.
33 And he went up to the altar, which he had built in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast to the children of Israel, and went upon the altar to burn incense.
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