1 Kings
12 And Rehoboam came to Shekem, because all Israel had come to Shekem to install him as king; 2 —— 3* and they told Rehoboam 4 “Your father made our yoke bear hard on us; now make the hard service to your father rather easier, and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will be your subjects.” 5 And he said to them “Go, and in three days more come back to me”; and they went.
6 And King Rehoboam consulted the old men who had been in the service of his father Solomon when he was alive, asking them “How do you advise me to reply to these people?” 7* and they told him “If today you will be a subject to these people and respond to them and speak them fair, they will be subjects to you permanently.” 8 But he discarded the old men’s policy which they had recommended to him, and consulted the boys who had grown up with him, whom he had in his service, 9 and said to them “What reply do you advise that we give to these people who have told me ‘Make the yoke your father put on us rather easier’?” 10* And the boys who had grown up with him told him “This is what you will say to these people who have told you ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, be easier on us’: you will tell them ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s hips. 11 Now my father imposed a heavy yoke on you, and I will add to your yoke; my father punished you with whips, and I will punish you with scorpions.’”
12 And all Israel came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had told them, “Come back to me on the third day”; 13 and the king gave them a harsh answer, and discarded the old men’s policy which they had recommended to him 14 and spoke to them in accordance with the boys’ policy, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father punished you with whips, and I will punish you with scorpions.” 15* And the king did not listen to the people, because it was a crisis determined by Jehovah in order to make good his prediction which Jehovah had given by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16* And all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them; and the people replied to the king “What share have we in David? no estate in Jesse’s son; to your homes, Israel! now look after your own house, David!” 17 and Israel went to their homes. 18 And King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the superintendent of the corvée; and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam put his best foot foremost in getting into his chariot to take flight to Jerusalem; 19 and Israel rebelled against the house of David, and it has lasted to this day. 20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back they sent and called him to the congress, and made him king over all Israel: nobody followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah alone.
21* And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand picked warriors, to make war with the house of Israel, to restore the kingship to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 And Jehovah’s word came to Shemaʽiah the man of God 23 “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all the houses of Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people, 24* ‘Says Jehovah, You shall not go up, nor make war with your brothers the sons of Israel; go back home; for this thing has come from me.’” And they listened to Jehovah’s word and went back, going by Jehovah’s word.
25 And Jeroboam fortified Shekem in the highland of Ephraim, and made it his capital; and he went out from there and fortified Penuel.
26 And Jeroboam said to himself “Now the kingship will go back to the family of David: 27 if these people go up to offer sacrifice at Jehovah’s house at Jerusalem, the people’s hearts will turn back to their sovereign King Rehoboam of Judah, and they will kill me.” 28 And the king thought up a policy, and made two golden calves and said to the people “No more going up to Jerusalem: here are your gods, Israel, that brought you up out of Egypt”; 29 and he set one in Bethel and one he put in Dan, 30 and this thing became a sin. And the people went before the one up to Dan, 31 and he made height-houses, and made priests out of the common people who were not sons of Levi; 32 and Jeroboam appointed a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast in Judah, and went up the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made and setting up at Bethel the height-priests he had made.
33 And he went up the altar he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he had improvised out of his own fancy; and he appointed a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up the altar to offer.