13 rSo King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
Rehoboam’s Family
18 Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of vEliab the son of Jesse, 19 and she bore him sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 After her he took wMaacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore him xAbijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). 22 yAnd Rehoboam appointed xAbijah the son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. 23 And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities, and he gave them abundant provisions and procured wives for them.1
Egypt Plunders Jerusalem
1 zWhen the rule of Rehoboam was established aand he was strong, bhe abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
14 And he did evil, sfor he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
22 iAnd Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they jprovoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves khigh places land pillars and mAsherim on every high hill and nunder every green tree, 24 and there were also omale cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
2 cIn the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, dShishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—eLibyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. 4 And he took fthe fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5 Then gShemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, h‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” 6 Then the princes of iIsrael and the king humbled themselves and said, j“The Lord is righteous.” 7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: k“They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, land my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, mthat they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”
9 nSo Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away othe shields of gold that Solomon had made, 10 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 11 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. 12 And when phe humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, qconditions were good1 in Judah.
I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord
A Maskil1 of hEthan the Ezrahite.
1 iI will sing of jthe steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your kfaithfulness to all generations.
2 For I said, j“Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens lyou will establish your kfaithfulness.”
3 You have said, “I have made ma covenant with my nchosen one;
I have osworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your poffspring forever,
and build your qthrone for all generations.’” Selah
5 Let rthe heavens praise your swonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of tthe holy ones!
6 For uwho in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
uWho among the heavenly beings2 is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly vto be feared in the council of tthe holy ones,
and awesome above all wwho are around him?
8 O Lord God of hosts,
xwho is mighty as you are, O yLord,
with your faithfulness all around you?
9 You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you zstill them.
10 You acrushed bRahab like a carcass;
you cscattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 dThe heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
ethe world and all that is in it, you have ffounded them.
12 gThe north and the south, you have created them;
hTabor and iHermon jjoyously praise your name.
13 You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14 kRighteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
lsteadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are the people who know mthe festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in nthe light of your face,
16 who exult in your oname all the day
and in your righteousness are pexalted.
17 For you are qthe glory of their strength;
by your favor our rhorn is exalted.
18 For our sshield belongs to the Lord,
our king to tthe Holy One of Israel.
19 uOf old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,3 and said:
“I have vgranted help to one who is wmighty;
I have exalted one xchosen from the people.
20 yI have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have zanointed him,
21 so that my ahand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him;
bthe wicked shall not humble him.
23 I will ccrush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My dfaithfulness and my dsteadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his ehorn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on fthe sea
and his right hand on fthe rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my gFather,
my God, and hthe Rock of my salvation.’
27 And I will make him the ifirstborn,
jthe highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my kcovenant will stand firm4 for him.
29 I will establish his loffspring forever
and his lthrone as mthe days of the heavens.
30 nIf his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,5
31 if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with othe rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my kcovenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn pby my holiness;
I will not qlie to David.
36 His loffspring shall endure forever,
rhis lthrone as long as sthe sun before me.
37 Like sthe moon it shall be established forever,
ta faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
38 But now you have ucast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your vanointed.
39 You have wrenounced xthe covenant with your servant;
you have ydefiled his zcrown in the dust.
40 You have abreached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41 aAll who pass by plunder him;
he has become bthe scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
44 You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short cthe days of his youth;
you have dcovered him with shame. Selah
46 eHow long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath fburn like fire?
47 gRemember hhow short my itime is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48 jWhat man can live and never ksee death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of lSheol? Selah
49 Lord, where is your msteadfast love of old,
which by your mfaithfulness you swore to David?
50 nRemember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my oheart the insults6 of all the many nations,
51 with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
52 rBlessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
29 sNow the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 tAnd there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. uHis mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And vAbijam his son reigned in his place.
