1 Kings 8-12
Revised Geneva Translation
8 Then King Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes (the chief fathers of the children of Israel) to him in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion.
2 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast, in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
3 And all the elders of Israel came. And the priests took the Ark.
4 They bore the Ark of the LORD. And they bore the Tabernacle of the Congregation and all the holy vessels that were in the Tabernacle, those the priests and Levites brought up.
5 And King Solomon, and all the Congregation of Israel who were assembled to him, were with him before the Ark, offering sheep and oxen (which were too numerous to count or assess).
6 So, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to its place, into the Oracle of the House, into the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the Cherubim.
7 For the Cherubim stretched out their wings over the place of the Ark. And the Cherubim covered the Ark and its poles above.
8 And they drew out the poles, so that the ends of the poles might appear out of the Sanctuary, before the Oracle. But they were not seen outside. And they are there to this day.
9 Nothing was in the Ark except the two Tables of stone which Moses had put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a Covenant with the children of Israel, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
10 And when the priests had come out of the Sanctuary, the cloud filled the House of the LORD,
11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the Glory of the LORD had filled the House of the LORD.
12 Then Solomon spoke, “The LORD said that He would dwell in the dark cloud.
13 “I have built You a House to dwell in, a habitation for You to abide in forever.”
14 And the king turned his face and blessed all the Congregation of Israel. For all the Congregation of Israel stood.
15 And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, Who spoke with His Mouth to David, my father, and has, with His Hand, fulfilled it, saying,
16 ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city of all the tribes of Israel to build a House, so that My Name might be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people, Israel.’
17 “And it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a House to the Name of the LORD God of Israel.
18 “And the LORD said to David, my father, ‘Insomuch as it was in your heart to build a House to My Name, you did well that you were so minded.
19 ‘Nevertheless, you shall not build the House. But your son, who shall come out of your loins, he shall build the House to My Name.’
20 “And the LORD has made good His Word that He spoke. And I have risen up in the room of David, my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the House for the Name of the LORD God of Israel.
21 “And I have prepared a place for the Ark in it, in which is the Covenant of the LORD which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
22 Then Solomon stood before the Altar of the LORD, in the sight of all the Congregation of Israel, and stretched out his hands toward Heaven,
23 and said, “O LORD God of Israel! There is no God like You in Heaven above or on the Earth beneath, You Who keep Covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart;
24 “You Who have kept with Your servant David, my father, that You have promised him. For You spoke with Your Mouth and have fulfilled it with Your Hand, as it is this day.
25 “Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, that You have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, so that your children attend to their way, so that they walk before Me, as you have walked in My sight.’
26 “And now, O God of Israel, I pray, let Your Word be verified which You spoke to your servant David, my father.
27 “Is it indeed true that God will dwell on the Earth? Behold, the heavens, and the heavens of heavens, are not able to contain You! How much more so is this House that I have built?
28 “But have respect to the prayer of Your servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hear the cry and prayer which Your servant prays before You this day!
29 “So that Your Eyes may be open toward this House, night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may listen to the prayer which Your servant prays in this place.
30 “Hear, therefore, the supplication of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, who pray in this place! And hear in the place of Your habitation, in Heaven! And when You hear, have mercy!
31 “When a man shall trespass against his neighbor, and he lays upon him an oath, to cause him to swear. And the swearer shall come before Your Altar, into this House,
32 “then hear in Heaven and do, and judge Your servants, so that You condemn the wicked, to bring his way upon his head! And justify the righteous, to give to him according to his righteousness.
33 “When Your people Israel shall be overthrown before the enemy, because they have sinned against You, and turn back to you and confess Your Name and pray and make supplication to You in this House,
34 “then hear in Heaven and be merciful to the sin of Your people Israel! And bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.
35 “When the sky shall be shut up, and there shall be no rain because they have sinned against You, and shall pray in this place, and confess Your Name, and turn from their sin, when You afflict them,
36 “then hear in Heaven! And pardon the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel (after You have taught them the good way in which they may walk) and give rain upon the land that You have given Your people to inherit!
37 “When there shall be famine in the land, when there shall be pestilence, when there shall be blight, mildew, grasshopper or caterpillar; when their enemies shall besiege them in the cities of their land, any plague, any sickness,
38 “whatever prayer, supplication shall be made by any man of all Your people Israel, when everyone shall know the plague in his own heart and stretch forth his hands in this House,
39 “hear then in Heaven, in Your dwelling place, and be merciful, and do, and give every man according to all his ways, as You know his heart (for only You know the hearts of all the children of men),
40 “so that they may fear You as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers!
41 “Moreover, regarding the stranger who is not of Your people Israel, who shall come out of a far country for Your Name’s sake
42 “(when they shall hear of Your great Name and of Your mighty Hand and of Your outstretched Arm), and shall come and pray in this House,
43 “hear in Heaven (Your dwelling place) and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all the people of the Earth may know Your Name and fear You as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that Your Name is called upon in this House which I have built!
44 “When Your people shall go out to battle against their enemy, by the way that You shall send them, and shall pray to the LORD, toward the way of the city which You have chosen, and the House that I have built for Your Name,
45 “hear, then, their prayer in Heaven, and their supplication, and judge their cause.
46 “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemies, so that they carry them away prisoners to the land of the enemies, either far or near,
47 “yet, if they turn back their heart in the land to which they are carried away captives and return and pray to You in the land of those who carried them away captives, saying, ‘We have sinned! We have transgressed and done wickedly!’
48 “if they turn back to You with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captives, and pray to You toward the way of their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the House which I have built for Your Name,
49 “then hear their prayer and their supplication in Heaven, Your dwelling place, and judge their cause!
50 “And be merciful to Your people who have sinned against You, and to all their iniquities in which they have transgressed against You. And cause it to be that those who led them away captives may have pity and compassion on them.
51 “For they are Your people, and Your inheritance, which You brought out of Egypt from the midst of the iron furnace.
52 “Let Your Eyes be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call for to You.
53 “For You separated them to Yourself from among all people of the Earth for an inheritance, as You said by the hand of Moses, Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God!”
54 And when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, he rose from before the Altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees, and stretching of his hands to Heaven,
55 and stood and blessed all the Congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 “Blessed be the LORD Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised! There has not failed one Word of all His good promise which He promised by the hand of Moses, His servant!
57 “The LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers, so that He does not forsake us or leave us,
58 “so that He may bow our hearts to Him, so that we may walk in all His ways, and keep His Commandments, and His Statutes, and His Laws which He Commanded our fathers!
59 “And these, my words, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God, day and night, so that He defends the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel always, as the matter requires,
60 “so that all the people of the Earth may know that the LORD is God! None other!
61 “Therefore, let your heart be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in His Statutes and to keep His Commandments, as this day!”
62 Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered Sacrifice before the LORD.
63 And Solomon offered a Sacrifice of Peace Offerings, which he offered to the LORD: twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred twenty thousand sheep. So, the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the House of the LORD.
64 The same day, the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the House of the LORD. For he made the Burnt Offerings and Meat Offerings and the fat of the Peace Offerings there, because the bronze Altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the Burnt Offerings and the Meat Offerings and the fat of the Peace Offerings.
65 And Solomon made a feast before the LORD our God at that time, and all Israel with him (a very great Congregation), from the entrance of Hamath to the river of Egypt, for seven days and seven days (fourteen days).
66 And on the eighth day, he sent the people away. And they thanked the king and went to their tents joyous and with glad hearts, because of all the goodness that the LORD had done for David, His servant, and for Israel, His people.
9 When Solomon had finished building the House of the LORD, and the king’s palace, and all of Solomon desires which it pleased him to do,
2 then the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me. I have sanctified this House which you have built to put My Name there forever. And My Eyes and My Heart shall be there perpetually.
4 “And if you will walk before Me, as David your father walked in pureness of heart and in righteousness, to do according to all that I have Commanded you, and keep My Statutes and My Judgments,
5 “then will I establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man upon the throne of Israel.’
6 “If you and your children turn away from Me, and will not keep My Commandments, My Statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 “then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them. And I will cast the House which I have sanctified for My Name out of My sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a common talk among all people.
8 “Even this high House shall be so. Everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and they shall say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this House?’
9 “And they shall answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, Who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them. Therefore, the LORD has brought all this misery upon them.’”
10 And at the end of twenty years, after Solomon had built the two houses (the House of the LORD and the king’s palace,
11 for which Hiram the king of Tyre had brought timber from cedar and fir trees to Solomon, and gold, and whatever he desired), then King Solomon gave twenty cities in the land of Galilee to Hiram.
12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him. And they did not please him.
13 Therefore he said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul to this day.
14 And Hiram had sent the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
15 And this is the reason for the tribute (why King Solomon raised tribute): to build the House of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
16 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had come up and taken Gezer and burnt it with fire and killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city and gave it for a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
17 Therefore, Solomon built Gezer and Beth Horon the lower,
18 and Baalath and Tadmor, in the wilderness of the land,
19 and all the cities of store that Solomon had (cities for chariots and cities for horsemen and all that Solomon desired and would build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion).
20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel
21 (their children who were left after them in the land whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy), those Solomon made tributaries to this day.
22 But of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondmen. But they were men of war and his servants and his princes and his captains and rulers of his chariots and his horsemen.
23 These were the princes of the officers who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty. And they ruled the people who labored in the work.
24 And Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to the house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo.
25 And three times a year Solomon offered Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings upon the Altar which he built to the LORD. And he burnt incense upon the Altar that was before the LORD, when he had finished the House.
26 Also, King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Elath and the edge of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
27 And Hiram sent his servants (who were mariners and had knowledge of the sea) with the navy, with the servants of Solomon.
28 And they came to Ophir and fetched four hundred twenty talents of gold from there and brought it to King Solomon.
10 And the Queen of Sheba, hearing the fame of Solomon concerning the Name of the LORD, came to test him with hard questions.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, camels that bore sweet odors and gold, exceedingly much, and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart.
3 And Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king which he could not expound to her.
4 Then the Queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s wisdom, and the House that he had built,
5 and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the order of his ministers, and their apparel, and his drinking vessels, and his Burnt Offerings that he offered in the House of the LORD. And it took her breath away.
6 And she said to the king, “It was a true word that I heard in my own land of your sayings, and of your wisdom!
7 “However, I did not believe this report until I came and had seen it with my eyes. But lo, one half was not told to me. You have more wisdom and goodness than I have heard reported.
8 “Your men are happy. Happy are these, your servants, who always stand before you and hear your wisdom.
9 “Blessed be the LORD your God, Who loved you, to set you on the throne of Israel because the LORD loved Israel forever, and made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”
10 And she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and exceedingly many sweet odors, and precious stones. There was never so much such abundance of sweet odors as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 Also, the navy of Hiram which carried gold from Ophir, brought a great plenty of Almuggim trees from Ophir, and precious stones.
12 And the king made pillars for the House of the LORD from the Almuggim trees, and for the king’s palace, and made harps and psalteries for singers. No more such Almuggim trees ever came, nor were any more seen to this day.
13 And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba whatever she asked (in addition to that which Solomon gave her of his kingly liberality). So, she returned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
14 Also, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,
15 in addition to that of merchant men and of the merchandises of those who sold spices, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the princes of the country.
16 And King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold, six hundred shekels of gold per shield:
17 And three hundred bucklers of beaten gold, three pounds of gold went to one buckler. And the king put them in the house of the wood of Lebanon.
18 Then the king made a great throne of ivory and covered it with the best gold.
19 And the throne had six steps. And the top of the throne was round behind. And there were stays on either side, on the place of the throne, and two lions standing by the stays.
20 And there stood twelve lions on the six steps on either side. There was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
21 And all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold. And all the vessels of the house of the wood of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were silver. For it was nothing esteemed in the days of Solomon.
22 For the king had the navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram on the sea. The navy of Tarshish came every three years and brought gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.
23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the Earth, both in riches and in wisdom.
24 And all the world sought to see Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.
25 And every man brought his present: vessels of silver and vessels of gold and raiment and armor and sweet odors, horses and mules, from year to year.
26 Then Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. And he had a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he placed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
27 And the king gave silver in Jerusalem as stones and gave cedars as the wild fig trees that grow abundantly in the plain.
28 Also, Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and fine linen. The king’s merchants received the linen for a price.
29 There came up and went out of Egypt chariots worth six hundred shekels of silver, one horse being a hundred fifty. And thus they brought horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram, according to their means.
11 But King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, the women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and Heth
2 (the nations of which the LORD had said to the children of Israel, ‘Do not go in to them or let them come in to you. For surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.’). To them Solomon joined in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives (princesses) and three hundred concubines. And his wives perverted his heart.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.
5 For Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.
6 So Solomon worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD, but continued not to follow the LORD, as David his father.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab (on the mountain that is opposite Jerusalem), and to Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and offered to their gods.
9 Therefore, the LORD was angry with Solomon, because he had turned his heart from the LORD God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice
10 and had given him a charge concerning this thing, that he should not follow other gods. But he did not keep that which the LORD had Commanded him.
11 Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Because this has been done by you, and you have not kept My Covenant and My Statutes which I Commanded you, I will surely tear your kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, because of David your father. But I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to your son, because of David my servant and because of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
14 Then the LORD stirred up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, of the king’s seed, who was in Edom.
15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had stricken all the males in Edom, and had gone up to bury the dead
16 (Joab and all Israel had remained there for six months until he had destroyed all the males in Edom),
17 then this Hadad fled, and certain other Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt (Hadad still being a little child).
18 And they arose out of Midian and came to Paran and took men with them out of Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and apportioned him food and gave him land.
19 So, Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh. And he gave him as a wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the Queen.
20 And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath, his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.
21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, so that I may go to my own country.”
22 But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you would go to your own country like this?” And he answered, “Nothing. But let me go anyway.”
23 And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah.
24 And he gathered men to him and had been captain over the company when David killed them. And they went to Damascus and dwelt there. And they made him king in Damascus.
25 Therefore, he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon. Besides the evil that Hadad had done, he also abhorred Israel and reigned over Aram.
26 And Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant (whose mother was called Zeruah, a widow) lifted up his hand against the king.
27 And this was the reason that he lifted up his hand against the king: When Solomon built Millo, he repaired the broken places of the City of David, his father.
28 And this man, Jeroboam, was a man of strength and courage. And Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him overseer of all the labor of the House of Joseph.
29 And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the road, having a new garment on him. And those two were alone in the field.
30 Then Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces,
31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself! For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hands of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you.
32 ‘But he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem the city, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
33 ‘because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, and Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in My ways (to do right in My Eyes and My Statutes and My Laws) as David his father.
34 ‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand. For I will make him prince all his life long, for David my servant’s sake, whom I have chosen, who kept My Commandments and My Statutes.
35 ‘But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, the ten tribes.
36 ‘And to his son I will give one tribe, so that David My servant may have a light always before Me in Jerusalem the city, which I have chosen for Myself, to put My Name there.
37 ‘And I will take you. And you shall reign as your heart desires, and shall be king over Israel.
38 ‘And if you listen to all that I Command you, and will walk in My ways, and do right in My sight, to keep My Statutes and My Commandments as David my servant did, then will I be with you and build you a sure House, as I built to David. And will give Israel to you.
39 ‘And I will afflict the seed of David for this, but not forever.’”
40 Therefore, Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
41 And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?
42 The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, his father. And Rehoboam, his son, reigned in his place.
12 And Rehoboam went to Shechem. For all Israel had come to Shechem, to make him king.
2 And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard of it (who was still in Egypt, where Jeroboam had fled from King Solomon and dwelt in Egypt),
3 they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the Congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4 “Your father made our yoke grievous. Now, therefore, make the grievous servitude of your father and his severe yoke which he put upon us, lighter. And we will serve you.”
5 And he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.
6 And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon, his father, while he still lived, and said, “What counsel do you give, so that I may answer this people?”
7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are a servant to this people this day, and serve them, and answer them, and speak kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he forsook the counsel that the old men had given him, and asked counsel of the young men who had been brought up with him and waited on him.
9 And he said to them, “What counsel do you give, so that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke which your father has put upon us lighter’?”
10 Then the young men who were brought up with him, spoke to him, saying, “Thus shall you say to this people who have spoken to you, and said, ‘Your father has made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter to us.’ Thus shall you say to them, ‘My least part shall be bigger than my father’s loins.
11 ‘Now, whereas my father burdened you with a grievous yoke, I will make your yoke heavier still. My father has chastised you with rods, but I will correct you with scourges.’”
12 Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, “Come back to me on the third day.”
13 And the king answered the people sharply, and left the old men’s counsel that they gave him,
14 and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke grievous, and I will make your yoke more grievous. My father has chastised you with rods, but I will correct you with scourges.”
15 And the king did not listen to the people. For it was the Ordinance of the LORD that he might perform his saying which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
16 So, when all Israel saw that the king did not regard them, the people answered the king thus, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own House, David!” So, Israel departed to their tents.
17 However, Rehoboam still reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.
18 Now, King Rehoboam sent Adoram, the receiver of the tribute. And all Israel stoned him to death. Then King Rehoboam hurried to get up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
19 And Israel rebelled against the House of David to this day.
20 And when all Israel had heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one but the tribe of Judah followed the House of David.
21 And when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he gathered all the House of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred eighty thousand chosen men (who were good warriors) to fight against the House of Israel, and to bring the kingdom back 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, king of Judah, and to all the House of Judah and Benjamin, and the remnant of the people, saying,
24 ‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not go up or fight against your brethren, the children of Israel. Every man return to his house. For this thing is done by Me.”’” Therefore, they obeyed the Word of the LORD and returned and departed, according to the Word of the LORD.
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem on Mount Ephraim and dwelt in it and went from there and built Penuel.
26 And Jeroboam thought in his heart, “Now shall the kingdom return to the House of David.
27 “If this people goes up and does sacrifice in the House of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the hearts of this people turn back to their lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So shall they kill me and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah.”
28 Upon which the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, O Israel, your gods which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
29 And he set one in Bethel. And the other he set in Dan.
30 And this thing turned to sin. For the people went (because of the one) as far as Dan.
31 Also, he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32 And Jeroboam made a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the Feast that is in Judah, and offered on the altar. So he did in Bethel, and offered to the calves that he had made. And he placed the priests of the high places which he had made in Bethel.
33 And he offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, (in the month which he had forged of his own heart) and made a solemn feast to the children of Israel. And he went up to the altar, to burn incense.
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