¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel went to Shechem to make him king. ²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it, when he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon – so Jeroboam was living in Egypt – ³that they sent messengers and called for him. And Jeroboam came, as did the whole convocation of Israel, and they spoke to Rehoboam and said, ⁴“Your father made our yoke heavy, but lighten now the hard work imposed by your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵And he said to them, “Go, and come back to me in three days' time.” So the people went away. ⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had stood in the presence of Solomon his father when he was alive, and he said, “How do you advise me to reply to this people?” ⁷And they spoke to him and said, “If today you will be a servant to this people and will serve them and answer them and speak pleasing words to them, then they will be your servants all the time.” ⁸But he ignored the advice of the elders who had advised him, and he consulted the children who had grown up with him, who stood in his presence. ⁹And he said to them, “What do you advise that we reply to this people who spoke to me and said, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” ¹⁰And the children who had grown up with him spoke to him and said, “Say this to this people who spoke to you and said, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it on us’ – say this to them – : ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. ¹¹And now, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastened you with whips, but I will chasten you with scorpions.’ ” ¹²Then Jeroboam came to Rehoboam, as did all the people, on the third day, as the king had spoken when he said, “Come back to me on the third day.” ¹³And the king answered the people harshly, and he ignored the advice of the elders who had advised him. ¹⁴And he spoke to them according to the advice of the children and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastened you with whips, but I will chasten you with scorpions.” ¹⁵And the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of events from the Lord, in order to establish his word which the Lord had spoken through the intermediacy of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶And the whole of Israel saw that the king had not heeded them, and the people replied to the king and said,

“What part have we with David?”

And, “There is no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

Off to your tents, O Israel.

Now you see to your own house, David.”

Then Israel went off to their tents. ¹⁷But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then when King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was in charge of the tax, all Israel stoned him, and he died. And King Rehoboam scrambled to board a carriage to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel revolted against the house of David, as it is up to this day. ²⁰Then it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent messengers and called him to the congregation, and they made him king over all Israel. There was no-one in favour of the house of David, except for the tribe of Judah alone. ²¹Then when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he convened the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin – one hundred and eighty thousand young men – who were about to wage war, to fight against the house of Israel, so as to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²²And the word of God came to Shemaiah, a man of God, and it said, ²³“Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people, and say, ²⁴‘This is what the Lord says: «Do not go up and do not fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Go back, each one to his house, because this matter has been brought about by me.» ’ ” And they heeded the word of the Lord and turned back, so going according to the word of the Lord. ²⁵Meanwhile Jeroboam built Shechem on Mount Ephraim, and he resided in it, and he went out from there and built Penuel. ²⁶But Jeroboam said in his heart, “The kingdom will return now to the house of David. ²⁷If this people goes up to make sacrifices in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, then the people's heart will return to their lord – to Rehoboam king of Judah – and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” ²⁸Then the king consulted, and he made two golden calves, and he 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.” ²⁹And he put one in Beth-El, and he placed the other in Dan. ³⁰And this matter became a source of sin, and the people went into the presence of one of them – the one in Dan. ³¹And he made an elevated idolatrous temple, and he appointed priests from the common people who were not the sons of Levi. ³²And Jeroboam instituted a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival which is in Judah, and he made a burnt offering on the altar. This is what he did in Beth-El in sacrificing to the calves which he had made, and he appointed in Beth-El priests of the idolatrous raised sites which he had made. ³³So he made burnt offerings on the altar which he had made in Beth-El on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month when he devised on his own initiative that he should institute a festival for the sons of Israel. So he made burnt offerings on the altar with burning of incense.