1Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2And it happened, when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it — he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from before King Solomon — that Jeroboam remained in Egypt.
3So they sent and called for him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying:
4“Your father made our yoke hard. Now you, lighten your father’s hard service and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.”
5And he said to them, “Go away for three more days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
6Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”
7And he spoke to him, saying, “If today you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and answer them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all the days.”
8But he abandoned the counsel of the elders that they had given him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who were standing before him.
9And he said to them, “What do you advise, that we should answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
10And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, lighten it from us’ — thus you shall say to them: ‘My little one is thicker than my father’s loins!’
11“’And now, my father loaded a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”
13And the king answered the people harshly, and he abandoned the counsel of the elders that they had given him.
14And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “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 scorpions.”
15So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events from Yahweh, in order to fulfill his word that Yahweh had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, O David!” So Israel went to their tents.
17But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him with stones so that he died. But King Rehoboam managed to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20And it happened, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. None followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.
21When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying:
23“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people:
24‘Thus says Yahweh: You shall not go up and you shall not fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Return each man to his house, for this thing has come about from me.’” And they listened to the word of Yahweh and returned to go home, according to the word of Yahweh.
25Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.
26And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David.
27“If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and he said to them, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
29And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
30And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, as far as Dan.
31He also made a house of high places, and he made priests from the fringes of the people, who were not among the sons of Levi.
32And Jeroboam instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that is in Judah, and he went up on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he stationed at Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.
33And he went up on the altar that he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart; and he instituted a festival for the sons of Israel and went up on the altar to burn offerings.
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