Study Desk

And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.

And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it--for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon--that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.'

So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish His word, which He spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

Thus saith the LORD: Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren; return every man to his house, for this thing is of Me.' So they hearkened unto the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.

For the Levites left their open land and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office unto the LORD;

and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the satyrs, and for the calves which he had made.

So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.

And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines--for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begot twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters.

And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, even the prince among his brethren; for he was minded to make him king.

And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fortified city; and he gave them victual in abundance. And he sought for them many wives.

So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there; and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

ought ye not to know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.

But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and we have priests ministering unto the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work;

and they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken Him.

And, behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.'

for he took away the strange altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim;