The Divided Kingdom

He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

He strengthened their fortresses and put officers in them, with supplies of food, oil, and wine.

He also put shields and spears in all the cities and strengthened them greatly. So Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

Moreover, the priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel stood with Rehoboam.

For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.

And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.

Those from every tribe of Israel who had set their hearts to seek the LORD their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

And Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab.

She bore sons to him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

After her, he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, intending to make him king.

Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives for them.

After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel with him forsook the Law of the LORD.

In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem

with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’”

So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”

When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.