Rebellion against Rehoboam
(1 Kings 12:1–15)

1And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2And it came to pass, when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard it—he was in Egypt, because he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king—that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3And they sent and called for him, and Jeroboam came, and all Israel, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4“Your father hardened our yoke, and now lighten the severe service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will serve you.”

5And he said to them, “After three days come back to me.” And the people departed.

6And King Rehoboam counseled with the elders who had stood before Solomon his father in his being alive, saying, “How do you⁺ counsel to answer this people?”

7And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to this people, and please them and speak to them good words, they will be to you servants all the days.”

8And he rejected the counsel of the elders who had counseled him, and he counseled with the young men who had grown up with him, those standing before him. 9And he said to them, “What do you⁺ counsel, and how should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten from the yoke that your father gave to us’?”

10and the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made heavy our yoke, and you, make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father. 11And now, my father loaded on you⁺ a heavy yoke, and I will add to your⁺ yoke; my father chastised you⁺ with whips, and I with scorpions.’”

12And Jeroboam came, and all the people, to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” 13And the king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam rejected the counsel of the elders, 14and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “Your⁺ yoke My father made heavy,† and I will add to it; my father chastised you⁺ with whips, and I with scorpions.”

15And the king did not listen to the people, for the turning was from God, that YHWH might fulfill His word that He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

The Kingdom Divided
(1 Kings 12:16–19)

16And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people answered the king,† saying,

“What portion is to us in David?

And we have no inheritance in a son of Jesse;

every man to your tents, O Israel;

look now to your own house, O David.”

And all Israel departed to their tents. 17And the sons of Israel dwelt in the cities of Judah, and Rehoboam reigned over them.

18And King Rehoboam sent Hadoram,† who was over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam mounted in haste into a chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19And Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.