King James Version › 1 Kings › 12

1 Kings

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1 And Re­hoboam went to Shechem: for all Is­rael were come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And it came to pass, when Jer­oboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the pres­ence of king Solomon, and Jer­oboam dwelt in Egypt;) 3 That they sent and called him. And Jer­oboam and all the con­gre­ga­tion of Is­rael came, and spake unto Re­hoboam, say­ing, 4 Thy fa­ther made our yoke grievous: now there­fore make thou the grievous ser­vice of thy fa­ther, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. 5 And he said unto them, De­part yet for three days, then come again to me. And the peo­ple de­part­ed. 6 And king Re­hoboam con­sult­ed with the old men, that stood be­fore Solomon his fa­ther while he yet lived, and said, How do ye ad­vise that I may an­swer this peo­ple? 7 And they spake unto him, say­ing, If thou wilt be a ser­vant unto this peo­ple this day, and wilt serve them, and an­swer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy ser­vants for ev­er. 8 But he for­sook the coun­sel of the old men, which they had giv­en him, and con­sult­ed with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood be­fore him: 9 And he said unto them, What coun­sel give ye that we may an­swer this peo­ple, who have spo­ken to me, say­ing, Make the yoke which thy fa­ther did put upon us lighter? 10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, say­ing, Thus shalt thou speak unto this peo­ple that spake unto thee, say­ing, Thy fa­ther made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My lit­tle finger shall be thick­er than my father's loins. 11 And now where­as my fa­ther did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my fa­ther hath chas­tised you with whips, but I will chas­tise you with scor­pi­ons. 12 So Jer­oboam and all the peo­ple came to Re­hoboam the third day, as the king had ap­point­ed, say­ing, Come to me again the third day. 13 And the king an­swered the peo­ple rough­ly, and for­sook the old men's coun­sel that they gave him; 14 And spake to them af­ter the coun­sel of the young men, say­ing, My fa­ther made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my fa­ther also chas­tised you with whips, but I will chas­tise you with scor­pi­ons. 15 Where­fore the king hear­kened not unto the peo­ple; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might per­form his say­ing, which the LORD spake by Ahi­jah the Shilonite unto Jer­oboam the son of Nebat. 16 So when all Is­rael saw that the king hear­kened not unto them, the peo­ple an­swered the king, say­ing, What por­tion have we in David? nei­ther have we in­her­i­tance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Is­rael: now see to thine own house, David. So Is­rael de­part­ed unto their tents. 17 But as for the chil­dren of Is­rael which dwelt in the cities of Ju­dah, Re­hoboam reigned over them. 18 Then king Re­hoboam sent Ado­ram, who was over the trib­ute; and all Is­rael stoned him with stones, that he died. There­fore king Re­hoboam made speed to get him up to his char­i­ot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Is­rael re­belled against the house of David unto this day. 20 And it came to pass, when all Is­rael heard that Jer­oboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the con­gre­ga­tion, and made him king over all Is­rael: there was none that fol­lowed the house of David, but the tribe of Ju­dah on­ly. 21 And when Re­hoboam was come to Jerusalem, he as­sem­bled all the house of Ju­dah, with the tribe of Ben­jamin, an hun­dred and fourscore thou­sand cho­sen men, which were war­riors, to fight against the house of Is­rael, to bring the king­dom again to Re­hoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came unto She­ma­iah the man of God, say­ing, 23 Speak unto Re­hoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Ju­dah, and unto all the house of Ju­dah and Ben­jamin, and to the rem­nant of the peo­ple, say­ing, 24 Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the chil­dren of Is­rael: re­turn ev­ery man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hear­kened there­fore to the word of the LORD, and re­turned to de­part, ac­cord­ing to the word of the LORD. 25 Then Jer­oboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt there­in; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. 26 And Jer­oboam said in his heart, Now shall the king­dom re­turn to the house of David: 27 If this peo­ple go up to do sac­ri­fice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this peo­ple turn again unto their lord, even unto Re­hoboam king of Ju­dah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Re­hoboam king of Ju­dah. 28 Where­upon the king took coun­sel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: be­hold thy gods, O Is­rael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the oth­er put he in Dan. 30 And this thing be­came a sin: for the peo­ple went ­to worship be­fore the one, even unto Dan. 31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the low­est of the peo­ple, which were not of the sons of Levi. 32 And Jer­oboam or­dained a feast in the eighth month, on the fif­teenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Ju­dah, and he of­fered upon the al­tar. So did he in Bethel, sac­ri­fic­ing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he of­fered upon the al­tar which he had made in Bethel the fif­teenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had de­vised of his own heart; and or­dained a feast unto the chil­dren of Is­rael: and he of­fered upon the al­tar, and burnt in­cense.