1And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had gone there to Shechem to make him king. 2And when Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard that Solomon, from whom he had fled to Egypt, had died, he returned to Israel. 3Then the Israelite leaders invited Jeroboam to join their assembly; and he came and said to Rehoboam, 4“Your father put a heavy burden on us; if you will lighten the tax and labor burden your father laid on us, we will serve you.” 5And Rehoboam replied, “Come back in three days for my answer.” And so, the people departed.

6Then King Rehoboam consulted the older men, who had advised Solomon, his father, and said, “How do you think I should answer this people?” 7And they said, “If you will serve the people, and give them a favorable answer, they, in turn, will be your servants forever.” 8But Rehoboam rejected that advice, and turned to the young men he had grown up with, who were now his advisors. 9And he asked them, “How would do you advise me to answer the people, who have said, ‘Lighten the load which your father laid upon us?’” 10And those young men said, “This is what to tell the people who asked for a lighter work load: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. 11And where my father laid a heavy yoke on you, I will add to more your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’”

12So when Jeroboam and the assembly of people returned to Rehoboam on the third day, 13King Rehoboam answered the people roughly, ignoring the old men's counsel; 14And followed the advice of the young men, and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; while my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15So the king did not heed the people; because this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill His words, which He spoke by Ahijah, the Shilonite, to Jeroboam, son of Nebat. 16And when those ten tribes of Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, they said to Rehoboam, “What share do we have in the dynasty of David and in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, David!” And so the ten tribes of Israel returned home. 17But Rehoboam still ruled over those Israelites who lived in the cities and towns of Judah.

18Then, when King Rehoboam sent out Adoram (Adoniram), who oversaw the forced labor; all Israel stoned him to death. Then King Rehoboam jumped into his chariot, and fled to Jerusalem. 19So the northern tribes of Israel rebelled against the house of David, as it is to this day. 20And when they heard that Jeroboam had returned, they invited him to their assembly, and made him king over northern Israel; there was none that followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah (which also included the tribe of Benjamin).

21And when Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem, he mobilized all Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin - a hundred eighty thousand men who were fit to wage war against the house of Israel, to try to recover the entire kingdom to himself, as the son and heir of Solomon. 22But this word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, 23“Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24‘Thus says the LORD, “You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Return to your homes; for this is My Doing.”’” So they obeyed this word of the LORD, and returned to their homes, as the LORD had ordered.

25Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and it became the capital (of northern Israel); and later he built Penuel. 26But Jeroboam did not trust the LORD’s promise to him and thought, “The kingdom may revert to the house of David: 27If the people go up to offer sacrifices in the Temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, their heart shall return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Then they will kill me, and give their allegiance again to Rehoboam, king of Judah.” 28So the Jeroboam, on the advice of his counselors, made two calves of gold, and told Israel, “It is too much for you to travel to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29And he set the one calf idol in Bethel, and set the other in Dan (at each end of his kingdom). 30And this became a grievous sin; for some people went to worship before the one idol at Bethel, and others to Dan. 31And he built shrines on high places, and made priests of all sorts of people who were not descendants of Levi. 32And Jeroboam ordained a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in imitation of the festival (of Tabernacles) that was held in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. He did this in Bethel, offering sacrifices to the calf idols that he had made; and he installed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33So he offered sacrifices upon the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a time of his own choosing; and instituted a festival for the Israelites; and he went up to that altar to burn incense.