1 Kings 12:1-5

Rehoboam Loses His Kingdom

12:1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in ¹  Shechem to make Rehoboam ²  king. 12:2 ³  When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. ⁴  12:3 They sent for him, ⁵  and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 12:4 “Your father made us work too hard. ⁶  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ⁷  12:5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.

[12:1]  ¹ tn Heb “come [to].”

[12:1]  ² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:2]  ³ tc Verse 2 is not included in the Old Greek translation. See the note on 11:43.

[12:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Jeroboam lived in Egypt.” The parallel text in 2 Chr 10:2 reads, “and Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” In a purely consonantal text the forms “and he lived” and “and he returned” are identical (וישׁב).

[12:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “They sent and called for him.”

[12:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”

[12:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “but you, now, lighten the burdensome work of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” In the Hebrew text the prefixed verbal form with vav (וְנַעַבְדֶךָ, [vÿna’avdekha] “and we will serve you”) following the imperative (הָקֵל [haqel], “lighten”) indicates purpose (or result). The conditional sentence used in the translation above is an attempt to bring out the logical relationship between these forms.