2 Chronicles 10

The Northern Tribes Revolt
 ¹  Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king.  ²  When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of this, he returned from Egypt, for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon.  ³  The leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and all Israel went to speak with Rehoboam.  ⁴  "Your father was a hard master," they said. "Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects."
   ⁵  Rehoboam replied, "Come back in three days for my answer." So the people went away.
   ⁶  Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. "What is your advice?" he asked. "How should I answer these people?"
   ⁷  The older counselors replied, "If you are good to these people and do your best to please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects."
   ⁸  But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers.  ⁹  "What is your advice?" he asked them. "How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?"
   ¹⁰  The young men replied, "This is what you should tell those complainers who want a lighter burden: `My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!  ¹¹  Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!'"
   ¹²  Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Rehoboam's decision, just as the king had ordered.  ¹³  But Rehoboam spoke harshly to them, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors  ¹⁴  and followed the counsel of his younger advisers. He told the people, "My father laid [14]  heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!"
   ¹⁵  So the king paid no attention to the people. This turn of events was the will of God, for it fulfilled the LORD's message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh.
   ¹⁶  When all Israel realized [16]  that the king had refused to listen to them, they responded,

"Down with the dynasty of David!
  We have no interest in the son of Jesse.
Back to your homes, O Israel!
  Look out for your own house, O David!"

  So all the people of Israel returned home.  ¹⁷  But Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.
   ¹⁸  King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, [18]  who was in charge of the labor force, to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death. When this news reached King Rehoboam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.  ¹⁹  And to this day the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David.

2 Chronicles 11

Shemaiah's Prophecy
 ¹  When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he mobilized the men of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 select troops—to fight against Israel and to restore the kingdom to himself.
   ²  But the LORD said to Shemaiah, the man of God,  ³  "Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin:  ⁴  `This is what the LORD says: Do not fight against your relatives. Go back home, for what has happened is my doing!'" So they obeyed the message of the LORD and did not fight against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Fortifies Judah
 ⁵  Rehoboam remained in Jerusalem and fortified various towns for the defense of Judah.  ⁶  He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,  ⁷  Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,  ⁸  Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,  ⁹  Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,  ¹⁰  Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These became the fortified towns of Judah and Benjamin.  ¹¹  Rehoboam strengthened their defenses and stationed commanders in them, and he stored supplies of food, olive oil, and wine.  ¹²  He also put shields and spears in these towns as a further safety measure. So only Judah and Benjamin remained under his control.
   ¹³  But all the priests and Levites living among the northern tribes of Israel sided with Rehoboam.  ¹⁴  The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to serve the LORD as priests.  ¹⁵  Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the pagan shrines, where they worshiped the goat and calf idols he had made.  ¹⁶  From all the tribes of Israel, those who sincerely wanted to worship the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.  ¹⁷  This strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they supported Rehoboam son of Solomon, for during those years they faithfully followed in the footsteps of David and Solomon.

Rehoboam's Family
 ¹⁸  Rehoboam married his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.  ¹⁹  Mahalath had three sons—Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
   ²⁰  Later Rehoboam married another cousin, Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. Maacah gave birth to Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.  ²¹  Rehoboam loved Maacah more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and they gave birth to twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
   ²²  Rehoboam appointed Maacah's son Abijah as leader among the princes, making it clear that he would be the next king.  ²³  Rehoboam also wisely gave responsibilities to his other sons and stationed some of them in the fortified towns throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin. He provided them with generous provisions, and he found many wives for them.

2 Chronicles 12

Egypt Invades Judah
 ¹  But when Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the Law of the LORD, and all Israel followed him in this sin.  ²  Because they were unfaithful to the LORD, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign.  ³  He came with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horses, [3]  and a countless army of foot soldiers, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. [3]   ⁴  Shishak conquered Judah's fortified towns and then advanced to attack Jerusalem.
   ⁵  The prophet Shemaiah then met with Rehoboam and Judah's leaders, who had all fled to Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah told them, "This is what the LORD says: You have abandoned me, so I am abandoning you to Shishak."
   ⁶  Then the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is right in doing this to us!"
   ⁷  When the LORD saw their change of heart, he gave this message to Shemaiah: "Since the people have humbled themselves, I will not completely destroy them and will soon give them some relief. I will not use Shishak to pour out my anger on Jerusalem.  ⁸  But they will become his subjects, so they will know the difference between serving me and serving earthly rulers."
   ⁹  So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. He ransacked the treasuries of the LORD's Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.  ¹⁰  King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.  ¹¹  Whenever the king went to the Temple of the LORD, the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom.  ¹²  Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's anger was turned away, and he did not destroy him completely. There were still some good things in the land of Judah.

Summary of Rehoboam's Reign
 ¹³  King Rehoboam firmly established himself in Jerusalem and continued to rule. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel as the place to honor his name. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah, a woman from Ammon.  ¹⁴  But he was an evil king, for he did not seek the LORD with all his heart.
   ¹⁵  The rest of the events of Rehoboam's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Record of Shemaiah the Prophet and The Record of Iddo the Seer, which are part of the genealogical record. Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other.  ¹⁶  When Rehoboam died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Abijah became the next king.

<<  10:14 As in Greek version and many Hebrew manuscripts (see also 1 Kgs 12:14); Masoretic Text reads I will lay.
<<  10:16 As in Syriac version, Latin Vulgate, and many Hebrew manuscripts (see also 1 Kgs 12:16); Masoretic Text lacks realized.
<<  10:18 Hebrew Hadoram, a variant spelling of Adoniram; compare 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14; 12:18.
<<  12:3a Or charioteers, or horsemen. 12:3b Hebrew and Cushites.

John 11 : 30-57

   ³⁰  Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him.  ³¹  When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus's grave to weep. So they followed her there.  ³²  When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died."
   ³³  When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, [33]  and he was deeply troubled.  ³⁴  "Where have you put him?" he asked them.
  They told him, "Lord, come and see."  ³⁵  Then Jesus wept.  ³⁶  The people who were standing nearby said, "See how much he loved him!"  ³⁷  But some said, "This man healed a blind man. Couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?"    ³⁸  Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance.  ³⁹  "Roll the stone aside," Jesus told them.
  But Martha, the dead man's sister, protested, "Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible."
   ⁴⁰  Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?"  ⁴¹  So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me.  ⁴²  You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me."  ⁴³  Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"  ⁴⁴  And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go!"

The Plot to Kill Jesus
 ⁴⁵  Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.  ⁴⁶  But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.  ⁴⁷  Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council [47]  together. "What are we going to do?" they asked each other. "This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.  ⁴⁸  If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple [48]  and our nation."
   ⁴⁹  Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, "You don't know what you're talking about!"  ⁵⁰  "You don't realize that it's better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."    ⁵¹  He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation.  ⁵²  And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.
   ⁵³  So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus' death.  ⁵⁴  As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.
   ⁵⁵  It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began.  ⁵⁶  They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the Temple, they said to each other, "What do you think? He won't come for Passover, will he?"  ⁵⁷  Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him.

<<  11:33 Or he was angry in his spirit.
<<  11:47 Greek the Sanhedrin.
<<  11:48 Or our position; Greek reads our place.
<<  11:49 Greek that year; also in 11:51.