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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" /><title>1 Kings 12 NIV</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="../">NIV</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 International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/1_kings/12.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or he remained in">a</a></sup></span> Egypt. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke 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>The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge 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>Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the <span class="name">Lord</span>, to fulfill the word the <span class="name">Lord</span> had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“What share do we have in David,</p><p class="line2">what part in Jesse’s son?</p><p class="line1">To your tents, Israel!</p><p class="line2">Look after your own house, David!”</p></div><p class="pcontinued">So the Israelites went home. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.</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 out Adoniram, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 4:6 and 5:14); Hebrew Adoram">b</a></sup></span> who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to 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 <span class="name">Lord</span> says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’ ” So they obeyed the word of the <span class="name">Lord</span> and went home again, as the <span class="name">Lord</span> had ordered.</p> <p class="sectionhead">Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel">c</a></sup></span> </p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the <span class="name">Lord</span> in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other. <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text people went to the one as far as Dan">d</a></sup></span> </p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/12-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">2</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>he remained in</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">18</span> <span class="footnotebot">Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 4:6 and 5:14); Hebrew <i>Adoram</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">25</span> <span class="footnotebot">Hebrew <i>Penuel,</i> a variant of <i>Peniel</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">30</span> <span class="footnotebot">Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text <i>people went to the one as far as Dan</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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