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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>1 Kings 12 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_kings/12.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/1_kings/12-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > 1 Kings 12</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_kings/11.htm" title="1 Kings 11">◄</a> 1 Kings 12 <a href="../1_kings/13.htm" title="1 Kings 13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch11012" class="chapter"> <h1 class="bksect">II. <span class="ac">The Reign of Jeroboam</span><a id="rfn11012000-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012000-1">*</a></h1> <h1 id="cn11012" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Political Disunity.<a id="rfn11012001-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012001-1">*</a></span> <span id="v11012001" class="ver">1</span>Rehoboam went to Shechem,<a id="rfn11012001-2" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012001-2">*</a> where all Israel had come to make him king. <span id="v11012002" class="ver">2</span>When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard about it, he was still in Egypt. He had fled from King Solomon and remained in Egypt, <span id="v11012003" class="ver">3</span>and they sent for him.</p> <p>Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and they said to Rehoboam, <span id="v11012004" class="ver">4</span>“Your father put a heavy yoke on us. If you now lighten the harsh servitude and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, we will be your servants.” <span id="v11012005" class="ver">5</span>He answered them, “Come back to me in three days,” and the people went away.</p> <p><span id="v11012006" class="ver">6</span>King Rehoboam asked advice of the elders who had been in his father Solomon’s service while he was alive, and asked, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” <span id="v11012007" class="ver">7</span>They replied, “If today you become the servant of this people and serve them, and give them a favorable answer, they will be your servants forever.” <span id="v11012008" class="ver">8</span>But he ignored the advice the elders had given him, and asked advice of the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service. <span id="v11012009" class="ver">9</span>He said to them, “What answer do you advise that we should give this people, who have told me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father imposed on us’?” <span id="v11012010" class="ver">10</span>The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is what you must say to this people who have told you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; you lighten it for us.’ You must say, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. <span id="v11012011" class="ver">11</span>My father put a heavy yoke on you, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.’ ” <span id="v11012012" class="ver">12</span>Jeroboam and the whole people came back to King Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had instructed them: “Come back to me in three days.” <span id="v11012013" class="ver">13</span>Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, the king gave the people a harsh answer. <span id="v11012014" class="ver">14</span>He spoke to them as the young men had advised: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.” <span id="v11012015" class="ver">15</span><a id="ren11012015-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11012015-a">a</a> The king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: he fulfilled the word the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, son of Nebat. <span id="v11012016" class="ver">16</span><a id="ren11012016-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11012016-b">b</a> When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king:</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">“What share have we in David?<a id="rfn11012016-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012016-1">*</a></p> <p class="sl1">We have no heritage in the son of Jesse.</p> <p class="sl">To your tents, Israel!</p> <p class="sl1l">Now look to your own house, David.”</p> </div> <p class="pcon">So Israel went off to their tents. <span id="v11012017" class="ver">17</span>But Rehoboam continued to reign over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.</p> <p><span id="v11012018" class="ver">18</span>King Rehoboam then sent out Adoram,<a id="rfn11012018-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012018-1">*</a> who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam then managed to mount his chariot and flee to Jerusalem. <span id="v11012019" class="ver">19</span>And so Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. <span id="v11012020" class="ver">20</span>When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to an assembly and made him king over all Israel. None remained loyal to the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Divine Approval.<a id="rfn11012021-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012021-1">*</a></span> <span id="v11012021" class="ver">21</span>On his arrival in Jerusalem, Rehoboam assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—one hundred and eighty thousand elite warriors—to wage war against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon. <span id="v11012022" class="ver">22</span>However, the word of God came to Shemaiah, a man of God: <span id="v11012023" class="ver">23</span>Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people: <span id="v11012024" class="ver">24</span>Thus says the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: You must not go out to war against your fellow Israelites. Return home, each of you, for it is I who have brought this about. They obeyed the word of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and turned back, according to the word of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>.</p> <p><span id="v11012025" class="ver">25</span>Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left it and built up Penuel.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Jeroboam’s Cultic Innovations.<a id="rfn11012026-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012026-1">*</a></span> <span id="v11012026" class="ver">26</span>Jeroboam thought to himself: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. <span id="v11012027" class="ver">27</span>If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.” <span id="v11012028" class="ver">28</span><a id="ren11012028-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11012028-c">c</a> The king took counsel, made two calves of gold, and said to the people: “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” <span id="v11012029" class="ver">29</span><a id="ren11012029-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en11012029-d">d</a> And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.<a id="rfn11012029-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012029-1">*</a> <span id="v11012030" class="ver">30</span>This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan. <span id="v11012031" class="ver">31</span>He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the common people who were not Levites.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Divine Disapproval.<a id="rfn11012032-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn11012032-1">*</a></span> <span id="v11012032" class="ver">32</span>Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month like the pilgrimage feast in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had built. <span id="v11012033" class="ver">33</span>Jeroboam went up to the altar he built in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he arbitrarily chose. He established a feast for the Israelites, and he went up to the altar to burn incense.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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