Day 213 of 365

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

²It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon), that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

³They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴"Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you."

⁵He said to them, "Come again to me after three days." The people departed.

⁶King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?"

⁷They spoke to him, saying, "If you are kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

⁹He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'"

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter on us;' thus you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

¹¹Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day."

¹³The king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men,

¹⁴and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; for it was brought about of God, that the Lord might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David." So all Israel departed to their tents.

¹⁷But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and the children of Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam made speed to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

¹When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.

²But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

³"Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

⁴'Thus says the Lord, "You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers! Return every man to his house; for this thing is of me."'" So they listened to the words of the Lord, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah.

⁶He built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

⁷Beth Zur, and Soco, and Adullam,

⁸and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,

⁹and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,

¹⁰and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities.

¹¹He fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, and oil and wine.

¹²He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceeding strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

¹³The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border.

¹⁴For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office to the Lord;

¹⁵and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.

¹⁶After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse;

¹⁹and she bore him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.)

²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers; for he intended to make him king.

²³He dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city: and he gave them food in abundance. He sought for them many wives.

¹It happened, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

²It happened in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against the Lord,

³with twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand horsemen. The people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

⁴He took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.

⁵Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, "Thus says the Lord, 'You have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.'"

⁶Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, "The Lord is righteous."

⁷When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house. He took it all away. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

¹⁰King Rehoboam made in their place shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.

¹¹It was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.

¹²When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah there were good things found.

¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

¹⁴He did that which was evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, aren't they written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the way of genealogies? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

¹⁶Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

¹God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.

²So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.

³Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.

⁴So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,

⁶when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches.

⁷For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.

⁸My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.

⁹But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food.

¹¹But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will praise him, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be silenced.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.

⁹Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man's friend.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend. Do not go to your brother's house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!

¹⁴He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.

¹⁵A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike:

¹⁶restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend's countenance.

¹⁸Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man's eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

²³Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:

²⁴for riches are not forever, nor does even the crown endure to all generations.

²⁵The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.

²⁶The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.

²⁷There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, for your family's food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.