2 Chronicles 12:1-15

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.’” ¹  12:6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.” ²  12:7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: ³  “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. ⁴  My anger will not be unleashed against ⁵  Jerusalem through ⁶  Shishak. 12:8 Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.” ⁷ 

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 ⁸  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. ⁹ 

12:12 So when Rehoboam ¹⁰  humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; ¹¹  Judah experienced some good things. ¹²  12:13 King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹³  he ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵  Rehoboam’s ¹⁶  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. 12:14 He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. ¹⁷ 

12:15 The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded ¹⁸  in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records.

[12:5]  ¹ tn Heb “also I have rejected you into the hand of Shishak.”

[12:6]  ² tn Or “fair,” meaning the Lord’s punishment of them was just or fair.

[12:7]  ³ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying.”

[12:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and I will give to them soon deliverance.”

[12:7]  ⁵ tn Or “gush forth upon.”

[12:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[12:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “so they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.”

[12:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “runners” (also in v. 11).

[12:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the chamber of the runners.”

[12:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord turned from him and did not destroy completely.”

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

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

[12:13]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”

[12:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.”

[12:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “As for the events of Rehoboam, the former and the latter, are they not written?”