| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. | 1Rehoboam traveled to Shechem because all of Israel went there to install him as king. |
| 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, for he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon's presence, Jeroboam stayed in Egypt. | 2Nebat'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 |
| 3They summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: " | 3after being summoned. When Jeroboam and the entire assembly of Israel arrived, they spoke to Rehoboam, |
| 4Your father made our yoke difficult. You, therefore, lighten your father's harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." | 4"Your father made our burdens unbearable. Therefore lighten your father's requirements and his heavy burdens that he placed on us, and we'll serve you." |
| 5Rehoboam replied, "Go home for three days and then return to me." So the people left. | 5"Come again in three days," Rehoboam told them. So the people left |
| 6Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, "How do you advise me to respond to these people?" | 6while 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?" |
| 7They replied, "Today if you will be a servant to these people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever." | 7They 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." |
| 8But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and served him. | 8But Rehoboam 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 him. |
| 9He asked them, "What message do you advise that we send back to these people who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us?" | 9As 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.'?" |
| 10Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, "This is what you should say to these people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!' This is what you should tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins! | 10"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 replied. "Tell them, 'My little finger will be thicker than my father's whole body! |
| 11Although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.'" | 11Not 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!'" |
| 12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: "Return to me on the third day." | 12So 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." |
| 13Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him | 13But the king gave the people a harsh response, because he was ignoring the counsel that his elders had given him. |
| 14and spoke to them according to the young men's advice: "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips." | 14Instead, Rehoboam 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!" |
| 15The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the LORD to carry out His word, which the LORD had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. | 15The 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 |
| 16When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him: What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, return to your tents; David, now look after your own house! So Israel went to their tents, | 16When 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, Israel! David, take care of your own household!' So Israel left for home. |
| 17but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah. | 17And so Rehoboam ruled over the Israelis who lived in the cities of Judah. |
| 18Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into the chariot and flee to Jerusalem. | 18King 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. |
| 19Israel is in rebellion against the house of David until today. | 19That's how Israel came to be in rebellion against David's dynasty to this day. |
| 20When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone. | 20Now 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. |
| 21When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized 180,000 choice warriors from the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. | 21As 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. |
| 22But a revelation from God came to Shemaiah, the man of God: " | 22But a message from God came to Shemaiah, a man of God: |
| 23Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, | 23"Tell Solomon's son Rehoboam, king of Judah, all the dynasty of Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people, |
| 24This is what the LORD says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for I have done this.'" So they listened to what the LORD said and went back as He had told them. | 24This 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, just as the LORD had directed. |
| 25Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel. | 25Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel. |
| 26Jeroboam said to himself, "The way things are going now, the kingdom might return to the house of David. | 26Jeroboam was thinking to himself, "The kingdom is about to return to David's control. |
| 27If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the LORD's temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will murder me and go back to the king of Judah." | 27If 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!" |
| 28So the king sought advice. Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, "Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt." | 28So 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!" |
| 29He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan. | 29He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. |
| 30This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan. | 30Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols. |
| 31Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and set up priests from every class of people who were not Levites. | 31Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi. |
| 32Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up. | 32Jeroboam 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. |
| 33He offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own. He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense. | 33Then, 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. |
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