| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king. | 1Rehoboam traveled to Shechem because all of Israel went there to install him as king. |
| 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. | 2Nebat's son Jeroboam heard about it while he was still in Egypt, where he had fled to get away from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt |
| 3They sent for him, and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, | 3after being summoned. When Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel arrived, they spoke to Rehoboam, |
| 4"Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don't make us work as hard, we will serve you." | 4"Your father made our burdens unbearable. Therefore lighten your father's requirements and his heavy burdens that he placed on us, and we'll serve you." |
| 5He said to them, "Go away for three days, then return to me." So the people went away. | 5"Come again in three days," Rehoboam told them. So the people left |
| 6King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, "How do you advise me to answer these people?" | 6while King Rehoboam conferred with his advisors who had worked for his father Solomon during his administration. He asked them, "What is your advice as to how I should respond to these people?" |
| 7They said to him, "Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward." | 7They advised him, "If today you are a servant, you will serve this people by answering them and speaking kindly to them. Then they will serve you forever." |
| 8But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. | 8But Rehoboam ignored the counsel that his elder advisors had given him. Instead, he consulted the younger men who had grown up with him and who worked for him. |
| 9He asked them, "How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, 'Lessen the demands your father placed on us'?" | 9As a result, he asked them, "What's your advice so that we can give an answer to these people who have asked me, 'Please lighten the burden that your father put on us.'?" |
| 10The young advisers with whom Rehoboam had grown up said to him, "Say this to these people who have said to you, 'Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.' Say this to them: 'I am a lot harsher than my father! | 10"This is what you should tell these people who asked you 'Your father made our burden heavy, but you must make it lighter for us!'" the young men who grew up with Rehoboam replied. "Tell them, 'My little finger will be thicker than my father's whole body! |
| 11My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.'" | 11Not only that, but since my father loaded you down heavily, I'm going to add to that burden. My father disciplined you with whips, but I'm going to discipline you with scorpions!'" |
| 12Jeroboam and all the people reported to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, "Return to me on the third day." | 12So Jeroboam and all the people went back to Rehoboam on the third day, just as they had been directed when the king said, "Come back again in three days." |
| 13The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men | 13But the king gave the people a harsh response, because he was ignoring the counsel that his elders had given him. |
| 14and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, "My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh." | 14Instead, Rehoboam spoke to them along the lines of what the younger men suggested. He told them "My father burdened you heavily, but I will add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I'm going to discipline you with scorpions!" |
| 15The king refused to listen to the people, because the LORD was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. | 15The king would not listen to the people, because the turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill his prediction that the LORD spoke by means of Ahijah the Shilonite to Nebat's son Jeroboam |
| 16When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, "We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse! Return to your homes, O Israel! Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!" So Israel returned to their homes. | 16When all of Israel saw that the king wasn't listening to them, the people responded to the king's message, "What's the point in following David? We have no inheritance in the descendants of Jesse. Let's go home, Israel! David, take care of your own household!' So Israel left for home. |
| 17(Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.) | 17And so Rehoboam ruled over the Israelis who lived in the cities of Judah. |
| 18King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the supervisor of the work crews, out after them, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. | 18King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of conscripted labor, but all of Israel stoned him to death, and King Rehoboam had to jump in his chariot and flee back in a hurry to Jerusalem. |
| 19So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day. | 19That's how Israel came to be in rebellion against David's dynasty to this day. |
| 20When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one except the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty. | 20Now when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him and invited him to visit their assembly, where they installed him as king over all of Israel. Nobody (with the sole exception of the tribe of Judah) would align with David's dynasty. |
| 21When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from all of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. | 21As soon as Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled 180,000 elite soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, intending to attack the dynasty of Israel and restore the kingdom to Solomon's son Rehoboam. |
| 22But God told Shemaiah the prophet, | 22But a message from God came to Shemaiah, a man of God: |
| 23"Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah, and to all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the rest of the people, | 23"Tell Solomon's son Rehoboam, king of Judah, all the dynasty of Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people, |
| 24The LORD says this: "Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen."'" They obeyed the LORD and went home as the LORD had ordered them to do. | 24This is what the LORD says: "You are not to fight or even approach your fellow Israelis in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, because this development comes from me."'" So they listened to what the LORD had to say and returned home, just as the LORD had directed. |
| 25Jeroboam built up Shechem in the Ephraimite hill country and lived there. From there he went out and built up Penuel. | 25Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel. |
| 26Jeroboam then thought to himself: "Now the Davidic dynasty could regain the kingdom. | 26Jeroboam was thinking to himself, "The kingdom is about to return to David's control. |
| 27If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the LORD's temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah." | 27If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!" |
| 28After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, "It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt." | 28So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, "It's too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" |
| 29He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. | 29He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. |
| 30This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves. | 30Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols. |
| 31He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests people who were not Levites. | 31Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi. |
| 32Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made. | 32Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed. |
| 33On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices. | 33Then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he went up to burn incense on the altar that he had set up in Bethel, thus beginning the festival that he had made up out of his own heart for the Israelis. |
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