Study Desk

Thy father made our yoke grieuous: nowe therefore make thou the grieuous seruitude of thy father, and his sore yoke, that he put vpon vs, lighter, and we will serue thee.

And King Rehoboam tooke counsel with the olde men that had stande before Salomon his father, while hee yet liued, saying, What counsell giue ye that I may answere this people?

So the king hearkened not vnto the people: for it was the ordinance of God that the Lorde might performe his saying, which hee had spoken by Ahiiah the Shilonite to Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat.

Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram that was ouer the tribute, and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died: then King Rehoboham made speede to get him vp to his charet, to flee to Ierusalem.

Thus sayth the Lorde, Ye shall not goe vp, nor fight against your brethren: returne euery man to his house: for this thing is done of me. They obeyed therfore the word of the Lord, and returned from going against Ieroboam.

And in all cities he put shieldes & speares, and made them exceeding strong: so Iudah and Beniamin were his.

For the Leuites left their suburbes & their possession, and came to Iudah and to Ierusalem: for Ieroboam and his sonnes had cast them out from ministring in the Priestes office vnto the Lorde.

And Rehoboam loued Maakah ye daughter of Absalom aboue all his wiues and his concubines: for he tooke eighteene wiues, and three score concubines, and begate eyght and twentie sonnes, and three score daughters.

And Rehoboam made Abiiah the sonne of Maakah the chiefe ruler among his brethren: for he thought to make him King.

And he taught him: and dispersed all his sonnes throughout all the countreis of Iudah and Beniamin vnto euery strong citie: and hee gaue them aboundance of vitaile, and desired many wiues.

Neuerthelesse they shalbe his sernants: so shal they knowe my seruice, and the seruice of the kingdomes of the earth.

So King Rehoboam was strong in Ierusalem and reigned: for Rehoboam was one and fourtie yere olde, when he began to reigne, and reigned seuenteene yeres in Ierusalem, the citie which the Lorde had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his Name there. And his mothers name was Naamah an Ammonitesse.

And he did euill: for hee prepared not his heart to seeke the Lorde.

And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the citie of Dauid, and Abiiah his sonne reigned in his stead.

He reigned three yere in Ierusalem: (his mothers name also was Michaiah the daughter of Vriel of Gibea) and there was warre betweene Abiiah and Ieroboam.

Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel hath giuen the kingdome ouer Israel to Dauid for euer, euen to him and to his sonnes by a couenant of salt?

And Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat the seruant of Salomon the sonne of Dauid is risen vp, and hath rebelled against his lord:

And behold, this God is with vs, as a captaine, and his Priests with the sounding trumpets, to crie an alarme against you. O yee children of Israel, fight not against the Lorde God of your fathers: for ye shall not prosper.

And Abiiah and his people slewe a great slaughter of them, so that there fel downe wounded of Israel fiue hundreth thousand chosen men.

The rest of the actes of Abiiah and his maners and his sayings are written in the storie of the Prophet Iddo.