1 Kings 12

¹ And Rehoboam goes to Shechem, for to Shechem has all Israel come to make him king. ² And it comes to pass, at Jeroboam son of Nebat's hearing (and he [is] yet in Egypt where he has fled from the presence of Solomon the king, and Jeroboam dwells in Egypt), ³ that they send and call for him; and they come - Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel - and speak unto Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ "Your father made hard our yoke, and you, now, make light [some] of the hard service of your father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we serve you." ⁵ And he said unto them, "Go - yet three days, and come back unto me"; and the people go. ⁶ And king Rehoboam consults with the elders who have been standing in the presence of Solomon his father, in his being alive, saying, "How are you counselling to answer this people?" ⁷ And they speak unto him, saying, "If, to-day, you are servant to this people, and have served them, and answered them, and spoken unto them good words, then they have been to you servants all the days." ⁸ And he forsakes the counsel of the elders which they counselled him, and consults with the lads who have grown up with him, who are standing before him; ⁹ and he said unto them, "What are you counselling, and we answer this people, who have spoken unto me, saying, Lighten [somewhat] of the yoke that your father put upon us?" ¹⁰ And they speak unto him - the lads who had grown up with him - saying, "Thus do you say to this people who have spoken unto you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, and you, make [it] light upon us; thus do you speak unto them, My little [finger] is thicker than the loins of my father; ¹¹ and now, my father laid on you a heavy yoke, and I add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I - I chastise you with scorpions." ¹² And they come--Jeroboam and all the people - unto Rehoboam, on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, "Come back unto me on the third day." ¹³ And the king answers the people sharply, and forsakes the counsel of the elders which they counselled him, ¹⁴ and speaks unto them, according to the counsel of the lads, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, and I add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I - I chastise you with scorpions"; ¹⁵ and the king hearkened not unto the people, for the revolution was from Yahweh, in order to establish His word that Yahweh spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam son of Nebat. ¹⁶ And all Israel see that the king has not hearkened unto them, and the people send the king back word, saying, "What portion have we in David? yea, there is no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see your house, O David!" and Israel goes to its tents. ¹⁷ As to the sons of Israel, those dwelling in the cities of Judah - over them reign does Rehoboam. ¹⁸ And king Rehoboam sends Adoram who [is] over the tribute, and all Israel cast at him stones, and he dies; and king Rehoboam has strengthened himself to go up into a chariot to flee to Jerusalem; ¹⁹ and Israel transgresses against the house of David unto this day. ²⁰ And it comes to pass, at all Israel's hearing that Jeroboam has returned, that they send and call him unto the company, and cause him to reign over all Israel; none has been after the house of David save the tribe of Judah alone. ²¹ And Rehoboam comes to Jerusalem, and assembles all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight with the house of Israel, to bring back the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. ²² And the word of Elohim is unto Shemaiah a man of Elohim, saying, ²³ "Speak unto Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying, ²⁴ Thus said Yahweh, You do not go up nor fight with your brethren the sons of Israel; turn back each to his house, for from Me has this thing been"; and they hear the word of Yahweh, and turn back to go according to the word of Yahweh. ²⁵ And Jeroboam builds Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and dwells in it, and goes out thence, and builds Penuel; ²⁶ and Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now does the kingdom turn back to the house of David - ²⁷ if this people go up to make sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, then has the heart of this people turned back unto their lord, unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they have slain me, and turned back unto Rehoboam king of Judah." ²⁸ And the king takes counsel, and makes two calves of gold, and said unto them, "Enough to you of going up to Jerusalem; lo, your elohims, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." ²⁹ And he sets the one in Beth-El, and the other he has put in Dan, ³⁰ and this thing becomes a sin, and the people go before the one - unto Dan. ³¹ And he makes the house of high places, and makes priests of the extremities of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi; ³² and Jeroboam makes a festival in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that [is] in Judah, and he offers on the altar - so did he in Beth-El - to sacrifice to the calves which he made, and he has appointed in Beth-El the priests of the high places that he made. ³³ And he offers up on the altar that he made in Beth-El, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised of his own heart, and he makes a festival to the sons of Israel, and offers on the altar - to make perfume.