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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 ISV</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="../topmenuchap/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">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ISV</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">International Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/isv/esv/1_kings/12.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Secession of the Northern Tribes</p><p class="cross_ref">(<a href="http://isv.scripturetext.com/2_chronicles/10.htm">2 Chronicles 10:1-19</a>)</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Rehoboam traveled to Shechem because all of Israel went there to install him as king. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Nebat’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 <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>after being summoned. When Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel arrived, they spoke to Rehoboam, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“Your father made our burdens unbearable.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:4 Lit. our yoke heavy">a</a></span> Therefore lighten your father’s requirements and his heavy burdens that he placed on us, and we’ll serve you.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>“Come again in three days,” Rehoboam<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:5 Lit. He">b</a></span> told them. So the people left <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>while 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?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>They 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.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>But Rehoboam<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:8 Lit. he">c</a></span> 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<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:8 Lit. who stood before">d</a></span> him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>As 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.’?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>“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<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:10 Lit. him">e</a></span> replied. “Tell them, ‘My little finger will be thicker than my father’s whole body!<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:10 Lit. father’s loin">f</a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Not 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!’”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>So 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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>But the king gave the people a harsh response, because he was ignoring the counsel that his elders had given him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Instead, Rehoboam<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:14 Lit. he">g</a></span> 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!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>The 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 <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>When 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,<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:16 Lit. Each man to his tent">h</a></span> Israel! David, take care of your own household!’ So Israel left for home.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:16 Lit. left for their tents">i</a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And so Rehoboam ruled over the Israelis who lived in the cities of Judah.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>King 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>That’s how Israel came to be in rebellion against David’s dynasty to this day.</p> <p class="heading">Jeroboam Reigns over Israel</p><p class="cross_ref">(<a href="http://isv.scripturetext.com/2_chronicles/11.htm">2 Chronicles 11:1-4</a>)</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Now 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>As 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But a message from God came to Shemaiah, a man of God: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>“Tell Solomon’s son Rehoboam, king of Judah, all the dynasty of Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>‘This 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,<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:24 The Heb. lacks home">j</a></span> just as the LORD had directed.</p> <p class="heading">Jeroboam’s Idolatry</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Jeroboam was thinking to himself, “The kingdom is about to return to David’s control.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:26 Lit. house">k</a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>If 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!” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>So 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!” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols.<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:30 The Heb. lacks of their idols">l</a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Jeroboam<span class="fn"><a href="#ftn" title="12:31 Lit. He">m</a></span> built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Jeroboam 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>Then, 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.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="ftn"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn1"><span class="fnb">a</span> 12:4 Lit. <i>our yoke heavy</i><br /><span class="fnb">b</span> 12:5 Lit. <i>He</i><br /><span class="fnb">c</span> 12:8 Lit. <i>he</i><br /><span class="fnb">d</span> 12:8 Lit. <i>who stood before</i><br /><span class="fnb">e</span> 12:10 Lit. <i>him</i><br /><span class="fnb">f</span> 12:10 Lit. <i>father’s loin</i><br /><span class="fnb">g</span> 12:14 Lit. <i>he</i><br /><span class="fnb">h</span> 12:16 Lit. <i>Each man to his tent</i><br /><span class="fnb">i</span> 12:16 Lit. <i>left for their tents</i><br /><span class="fnb">j</span> 12:24 The Heb. lacks <i>home</i><br /><span class="fnb">k</span> 12:26 Lit. <i>house</i><br /><span class="fnb">l</span> 12:30 The Heb. lacks <i>of their idols</i><br /><span class="fnb">m</span> 12:31 Lit. <i>He</i><br /></span><br><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><div align="center"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1<br />Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation<br />ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../1_kings/11.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="1 Kings 11"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="1 Kings 11" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../1_kings/13.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="1 Kings 13"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="1 Kings 13" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/1_kings/12-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><div align="center" style="background-color:#F2FAFF"><br /><br /><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="6710025936" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></td></tr></table><br /><br /><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="6710025936" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/botmenubhnm2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span></div></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>