Shishak of Egypt Comes Against Judah

1Now it happened that when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of Yahweh. 2Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: the Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. 4And he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you [†]to Shishak.’” 6So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “Yahweh is righteous.”

7When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves so I will not bring them to ruin, but I will grant them some measure of escape, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8But they will become his slaves so that they may know the difference between My slavery and the slavery of the kingdoms of the countries.”

Shishak Takes from Yahweh’s House

9So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house. He took everything; he even took the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the hand of the commanders of the [†]guard who kept the door of the king’s house. 11Now it happened that as often as the king entered the house of Yahweh, the [†]guards would come and carry them and then bring them back into the [†]guards’ room. 12And when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh turned away from him, so as not to ruin him completely; and also conditions were good in Judah.

13So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

15Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the [†]records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, according to genealogical record? Now there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 16And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and Abijah his son became king in his place.