11:5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem; 1 he built up these fortified cities throughout Judah: 11:6 Bethlehem, 2 Etam, Tekoa, 11:7 Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, 11:8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 11:9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 11:10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. 11:11 He fortified these cities and placed officers in them, as well as storehouses of food, olive oil, and wine. 11:12 In each city there were shields and spears; he strongly fortified them. 3 Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
11:13 The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided. 4 11:14 The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord’s priests. 11:15 Jeroboam 5 appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers 6 and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made. 7 11:16 Those among all the Israelite tribes who were determined to worship the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem 8 to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors. 9 11:17 They supported 10 the kingdom of Judah and were loyal to 11 Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years; they followed the edicts of 12 David and Solomon for three years.
11:18 Rehoboam married 13 Mahalath the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of 14 Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab. 11:19 She bore him sons named Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 11:20 He later married Maacah the daughter of Absalom. She bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 11:21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines. 15 He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines; he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
11:22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as the leader over his brothers, for he intended to name him his successor. 16 11:23 He wisely placed some of his many sons throughout the regions of Judah and Benjamin in the various fortified cities. 17 He supplied them with abundant provisions and acquired many wives for them. 18
12:1 After Rehoboam’s rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord. 12:2 Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 12:3 He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. 12:4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and marched against Jerusalem.
12:5 Shemaiah the prophet visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.’” 19 12:6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.” 20 12:7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: 21 “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. 22 My anger will not be unleashed against 23 Jerusalem through 24 Shishak. 12:8 Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.” 25
12:9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. 12:10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard 26 who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 12:11 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 27
12:12 So when Rehoboam 28 humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; 29 Judah experienced some good things. 30 12:13 King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; 31 he 32 was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. 33 Rehoboam’s 34 mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. 12:14 He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. 35
12:15 The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded 36 in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records. 12:16 Then Rehoboam passed away 37 and was buried in the City of David. 38 His son Abijah replaced him as king.
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
3 tn Heb “he strengthened them greatly, very much.”
4 tn Heb “and the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel supported him from all their territory.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jeroboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “for the high places.”
7 tn Heb “and for the goats and for the calves he had made.”
8 tn Heb “and after them from all the tribes of Israel, the ones giving their heart[s] to seek the
9 tn Heb “fathers.”
10 tn Or “strengthened.”
11 tn Or “strengthened.”
12 tn Heb “they walked in the way of.”
13 tn Heb “took for himself a wife.”
14 tn The words “and of” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
15 sn Concubines were slave women in ancient Near Eastern societies who were the legal property of their master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with their master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).
16 tn Heb “and Rehoboam appointed for a head Abijah son of Maacah for ruler among his brothers, indeed to make him king.”
17 tn Heb “and he was discerning and broke up from all his sons to all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities.”
18 tn “and he asked for a multitude of wives.”
19 tn Heb “also I have rejected you into the hand of Shishak.”
20 tn Or “fair,” meaning the
21 tn Heb “the word of the
22 tn Heb “and I will give to them soon deliverance.”
23 tn Or “gush forth upon.”
24 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
25 tn Heb “so they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.”
26 tn Heb “runners” (also in v. 11).
27 tn Heb “to the chamber of the runners.”
28 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “the anger of the
30 tn Heb “and also in Judah there were good things.”
31 tn Heb “and the king, Rehoboam, strengthened himself in Jerusalem and ruled.”
32 tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The recurrence of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.
33 tn Heb “the city where the
34 tn Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
35 tn Heb “because he did not set his heart to seek the
36 tn Heb “As for the events of Rehoboam, the former and the latter, are they not written?”
37 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
38 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.