¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

²It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard — and he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from the face of King Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelled in Egypt —

³that they sent and called to him; and Jeroboam and all the company of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴"Your father made our yoke hard; and you, now, lighten the harsh service of your father and his heavy yoke which he set on us, and we will serve you."

⁵And he said to them, "Go for another three days, and return to me." And the people went.

⁶And King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had been standing before the face of Solomon his father while he was alive, saying, "How do you counsel us to return word to this people?"

⁷And they spoke to him, saying, "If today you will be a slave to this people, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be slaves to you all the days."

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him, and consulted with the youths who had grown up with him, who stood before his face.

⁹And he said to them, "What are you counseling, so that we may return word to this people who spoke to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us'?"

¹⁰And the youths who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Like this you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, and you, lighten it off us' — like this you shall speak to them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.

¹¹And now, my father loaded a heavy yoke on you, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.'"

¹²And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

¹³And the king answered the people harshly, and forsook the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him,

¹⁴and spoke to them according to the counsel of the youths, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions."

¹⁵And the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs from Yahweh, so as to establish his word which Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶And all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, and the people returned word to the king, saying, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse! To your tents, O Israel! Now see to your house, O David!" And Israel went to its tents.

¹⁷But as for the children of Israel who were dwelling in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸And King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died; and King Rehoboam made haste to go up into the chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

²⁰It happened, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel; no one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

²¹And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen ones who made war, to fight with the house of Israel, to return the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

²²And the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

²³"Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,

²⁴'This is what Yahweh says: You shall not go up, and you shall not fight with your brothers, the children of Israel; return, each man to his house, for this word has come to be from me.'" And they heard the word of Yahweh, and returned to go according to the word of Yahweh.

²⁵And Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountain of Ephraim, and dwelled in it; and he went forth from there, and built Penuel.

²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

²⁷If this people goes up to make sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam the king of Judah."

²⁸And the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem! Behold, your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

²⁹And he put the one in Bethel, and the other he set in Dan.

³⁰And this word became a sin; and the people went before the face of the one, as far as Dan.

³¹And he made a house of high places, and made priests from the ends of the people, who were not from the children of Levi.

³²And Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that is in Judah, and he offered up on the altar. So he did in Beth-el, sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he stationed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made.

³³And he offered up on the altar that he had made in Beth-el, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised out of his own heart; and he made a festival for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar to turn sacrifices to smoke.