1 Raja-raja 11:26-39

11:26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s servants, rebelled against ¹  the king. He was an Ephraimite ²  from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. 11:27 This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: ³  Solomon built a terrace and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ⁴  11:28 Jeroboam was a talented man; ⁵  when Solomon saw that the young man was an accomplished worker, he made him the leader of the work crew from the tribe ⁶  of Joseph. 11:29 At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah ⁷  was wearing a brand new robe, 11:30 and he grabbed the robe ⁸  and tore it into twelve pieces. 11:31 Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and I will give ten tribes to you. 11:32 He will retain one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 11:33 I am taking the kingdom from him ⁹  because they have ¹⁰  abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions ¹¹  by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, like Solomon’s father David did. ¹²  11:34 I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules. 11:35 I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son and give ten tribes to you. ¹³  11:36 I will leave ¹⁴  his son one tribe so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me ¹⁵  in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as my home. ¹⁶  11:37 I will select ¹⁷  you; you will rule over all you desire to have and you will be king over Israel. 11:38 You must obey ¹⁸  all I command you to do, follow my instructions, ¹⁹  do what I approve, ²⁰  and keep my rules and commandments, like my servant David did. Then I will be with you and establish for you a lasting dynasty, as I did for David; ²¹  I will give you Israel. 11:39 I will humiliate David’s descendants because of this, ²²  but not forever.” ²³ 

1 Raja-raja 12:1-10

Rehoboam Loses His Kingdom

12:1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in ²⁴  Shechem to make Rehoboam ²⁵  king. 12:2 ²⁶  When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. ²⁷  12:3 They sent for him, ²⁸  and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 12:4 “Your father made us work too hard. ²⁹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ³⁰  12:5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.

12:6 King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served ³¹  his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, ³²  “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 12:7 They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” ³³  12:8 But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. ³⁴  12:9 He asked them, “How do you advise me ³⁵  to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” ³⁶  12:10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam ³⁷  had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ ³⁸  Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! ³⁹ 

[11:26]  ¹ tn Heb “raised a hand against.”

[11:26]  ² tn Heb “Ephrathite,” which here refers to an Ephraimite (see HALOT 81 s.v. אֶפְרַיִם).

[11:27]  ³ tn Heb “this is the matter concerning which he raised a hand against the king.”

[11:27]  ⁴ sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

[11:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “man of strength.”

[11:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[11:29]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text has simply “he,” making it a bit unclear whether Jeroboam or Ahijah is the subject, but in the Hebrew word order Ahijah is the nearer antecedent, and this is followed by the present translation.

[11:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Ahijah grabbed the new robe that was on him.”

[11:33]  ⁹ tn The words “I am taking the kingdom from him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[11:33]  ¹⁰ tc This is the reading of the MT; the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “he has.”

[11:33]  ¹¹ tn Heb “walked in my ways.”

[11:33]  ¹² tn Heb “by doing what is right in my eyes, my rules and my regulations, like David his father.”

[11:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I will give it to you, ten tribes.”

[11:36]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “give.”

[11:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty. Because this imagery is unfamiliar to the modern reader, the translation “so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me” has been used.

[11:36]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.”

[11:37]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “take.”

[11:38]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “If you obey.” In the Hebrew text v. 38 is actually one long conditional sentence, which has been broken into two parts in the translation for stylistic purposes.

[11:38]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “walk in my ways.”

[11:38]  ²⁰ tn Heb “do what is right in my eyes.”

[11:38]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will build for you a permanent house, like I built for David.”

[11:39]  ²² sn Because of this. Reference is made to the idolatry mentioned earlier.

[11:39]  ²³ tn Heb “but not all the days.”

[12:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “come [to].”

[12:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:2]  ²⁶ tc Verse 2 is not included in the Old Greek translation. See the note on 11:43.

[12:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and Jeroboam lived in Egypt.” The parallel text in 2 Chr 10:2 reads, “and Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” In a purely consonantal text the forms “and he lived” and “and he returned” are identical (וישׁב).

[12:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “They sent and called for him.”

[12:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”

[12:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “but you, now, lighten the burdensome work of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” In the Hebrew text the prefixed verbal form with vav (וְנַעַבְדֶךָ, [vÿna’avdekha] “and we will serve you”) following the imperative (הָקֵל [haqel], “lighten”) indicates purpose (or result). The conditional sentence used in the translation above is an attempt to bring out the logical relationship between these forms.

[12:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “stood before.”

[12:6]  ³² tn Heb “saying.”

[12:7]  ³³ tn Heb “If today you are a servant to these people and you serve them and answer them and speak to them good words, they will be your servants all the days.”

[12:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “He rejected the advice of the elders which they advised and he consulted the young men with whom he had grown up, who stood before him.” The referent (Rehoboam) of the initial pronoun (“he”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:9]  ³⁵ tn In the Hebrew text the verb “we will respond” is plural, although it can be understood as an editorial “we.” The ancient versions have the singular here.

[12:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Lighten the yoke which your father placed on us.”

[12:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”

[12:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “My little one is thicker than my father’s hips.” The referent of “my little one” is not clear. The traditional view is that it refers to the little finger. As the following statement makes clear, Rehoboam’s point is that he is more harsh and demanding than his father.