2 Chronicles 11:1--12:16

11:1 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from Judah and Benjamin ¹  to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. 11:2 But the Lord told Shemaiah the prophet, ²  11:3 “Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin, 11:4 ‘The Lord says this: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen.”’” ³  They obeyed the Lord and called off the attack against Jeroboam. ⁴ 

Rehoboam’s Reign

11:5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem; ⁵  he built up these fortified cities throughout Judah: 11:6 Bethlehem, ⁶  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. ⁷  Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

11:13 The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided. ⁸  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 ⁹  appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers ¹⁰  and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made. ¹¹  11:16 Those among all the Israelite tribes who were determined to worship the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem ¹²  to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors. ¹³  11:17 They supported ¹⁴  the kingdom of Judah and were loyal to ¹⁵  Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years; they followed the edicts of ¹⁶  David and Solomon for three years.

11:18 Rehoboam married ¹⁷  Mahalath the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of ¹⁸  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. ¹⁹  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. ²⁰  11:23 He wisely placed some of his many sons throughout the regions of Judah and Benjamin in the various fortified cities. ²¹  He supplied them with abundant provisions and acquired many wives for them. ²² 

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.’” ²³  12:6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.” ²⁴  12:7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: ²⁵  “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. ²⁶  My anger will not be unleashed against ²⁷  Jerusalem through ²⁸  Shishak. 12:8 Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.” ²⁹ 

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 ³⁰  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. ³¹ 

12:12 So when Rehoboam ³²  humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; ³³  Judah experienced some good things. ³⁴  12:13 King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ³⁵  he ³⁶  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. ³⁷  Rehoboam’s ³⁸  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. 12:14 He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. ³⁹ 

12:15 The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded ⁴⁰  in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records. 12:16 Then Rehoboam passed away ⁴¹  and was buried in the City of David. ⁴²  His son Abijah replaced him as king.

[11:1]  ¹ tn Heb “he summoned the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men, accomplished in war.”

[11:2]  ² tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying.”

[11:4]  ³ tn Heb “for his thing is from me.”

[11:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they heard the words of the Lord and returned from going against Jeroboam.”

[11:5]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:6]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[11:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “he strengthened them greatly, very much.”

[11:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel supported him from all their territory.”

[11:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jeroboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for the high places.”

[11:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and for the goats and for the calves he had made.”

[11:16]  ¹² tn Heb “and after them from all the tribes of Israel, the ones giving their heart[s] to seek the Lord God of Israel came [to] Jerusalem.”

[11:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[11:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “strengthened.”

[11:17]  ¹⁵ tn Or “strengthened.”

[11:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they walked in the way of.”

[11:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “took for himself a wife.”

[11:18]  ¹⁸ tn The words “and of” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[11:21]  ¹⁹ 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).

[11:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and Rehoboam appointed for a head Abijah son of Maacah for ruler among his brothers, indeed to make him king.”

[11:23]  ²¹ 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.”

[11:23]  ²² tn “and he asked for a multitude of wives.”

[12:5]  ²³ tn Heb “also I have rejected you into the hand of Shishak.”

[12:6]  ²⁴ tn Or “fair,” meaning the Lord’s punishment of them was just or fair.

[12:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying.”

[12:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and I will give to them soon deliverance.”

[12:7]  ²⁷ tn Or “gush forth upon.”

[12:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[12:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “so they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.”

[12:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “runners” (also in v. 11).

[12:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “to the chamber of the runners.”

[12:12]  ³² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:12]  ³³ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord turned from him and did not destroy completely.”

[12:12]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and also in Judah there were good things.”

[12:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the king, Rehoboam, strengthened himself in Jerusalem and ruled.”

[12:13]  ³⁶ 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.

[12:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”

[12:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.”

[12:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “As for the events of Rehoboam, the former and the latter, are they not written?”

[12:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[12:16]  ⁴² sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.