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

2 But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, was still in Egypt, where he had fled from king Solomon, and he was living there.

3 So the people sent messengers to invite him back. And Jeroboam and the entire congregation of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

4 Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore lighten your father’s hard service, and the heavy burden he put on us, and we will serve you.

5 And he said to them, Go away for three days, then return to me. So the people left.

6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, and asked, How do you advise me to answer these people?

7 And they said to him, If you will be a servant to these people today, and will serve them, and answer them, and talk kindly to them, then they will be your servants forever.

8 But he ignored the advice that the old men gave him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, and who stood before him:

9 And he said to them, What do you advise that we say to these people, who have said to me, Make the yoke which your father put on us lighter?

10 And the young men who had grown up with him said, This is what you should say to these people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us; say this to them, My little finger will be thicker than my father’s waist.

11 And now whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father has punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.

12 So on the third day Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam, as the king had specified, saying, Return to me on the third day.

13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel that the old men had given him;

14 And spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.

15 So the king did not listen to the people; for this turn of events was from the LORD, that he might fulfill his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 ¶ So when all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: look now to your own family, David. So Israel departed to their homes.

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

18 Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor; and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. Then king Rehoboam ran to get into his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel is in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly, and made him king over all Israel: none followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah.

21 And when Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled the entire house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

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

23 Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,

24 The LORD has said, You shall not go up, or fight against your brethren the children of Israel: let every man return to his house; for this thing is from me. Therefore they listened to the word of the LORD, and left to return, according to the word of the LORD.

25 ¶ Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there; and went out from there, and fortified Penuel.

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

27 If these people go up to offer sacrifice in the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, then the heart of these people will turn back to their lord, and to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me, and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.

28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to the people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

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

30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went as far as Dan to worship before one.

31 And he built shrines on hilltops, and made priests of people who were not Levites.

32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is kept in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. He did the same in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he stationed priests from his hill shrines in Bethel.

33 So on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month he alone chose, he went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel; and ordained a feast for the children of Israel: and he offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.