Study Desk

^(C1)When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, ^(C2)he and all Israel with him abandoned the Law of the LORD.

^(C1)And it came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that ^(C2)Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

with 1,200 chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were innumerable: ^(C1)the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

And he captured ^(C1)the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then ^(C1)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the LORD says: '^(C2)You have abandoned Me, so I also have abandoned you ^(F1)to Shishak.'"

So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The ^(C1)LORD is righteous."

When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, "^(C1)They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them; and I will grant them a little deliverance, and ^(C2)My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.

"But they will become his slaves, so ^(C1)that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

^(C1)So Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything; ^(C2)he even took the gold shields which Solomon had made.

Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the ^(F1)care of the commanders of the ^(F2)guards who guarded the entrance of the king's house.

As often as the king entered the house of the LORD, the ^(F1)guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the ^(F1)guards' room.

And ^(C1)when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and conditions ^(C2)were also good in Judah.