The Northern Tribes Revolt
(2 Chronicles 10.1-19)1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the people of northern Israel had gathered to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had gone to Egypt to escape from King Solomon, heard this news, he returned from Egypt. 3 The people of the northern tribes sent for him, and then they all went together to Rehoboam and said to him, 4 “Your father Solomon treated us harshly and placed heavy burdens on us. If you make these burdens lighter and make life easier for us, we will be your loyal subjects.”
5 “Come back in three days and I will give you my answer,” he replied. So they left.
6 King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. “What answer do you advise me to give these people?” he asked.
7 They replied, “If you want to serve this people well, give a favorable answer to their request, and they will always serve you loyally.”
8 But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers. 9 “What do you advise me to do?” he asked. “What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?”
10 They replied, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!’ 11 Tell them, ‘My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!’”
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them. 13 The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people, 14 as the younger men had advised. He said, “My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!” 15 It was the will of the Lord to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.
16 When the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they shouted, “Down with David and his family! What have they ever done for us? People of Israel, let's go home! Let Rehoboam look out for himself!”
So the people of Israel rebelled, 17 leaving Rehoboam as king only of the people who lived in the territory of Judah.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, to go to the Israelites, but they stoned him to death. At this, Rehoboam hurriedly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. 19 Ever since that time the people of the northern kingdom of Israel have been in rebellion against the dynasty of David.
20 When the people of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they invited him to a meeting of the people and made him king of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to David's descendants.
Shemaiah's Prophecy
(2 Chronicles 11.1-4)21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he called together 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He intended to go to war and restore his control over the northern tribes of Israel. 22 But God told the prophet Shemaiah 23 to give this message to Rehoboam and to all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin: 24 “Do not attack your own relatives, the people of Israel. Go home, all of you. What has happened is my will.” They all obeyed the Lord's command and went back home.
Jeroboam Turns Away from God
25 King Jeroboam of Israel fortified the town of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there for a while. Then he left and fortified the town of Penuel. 26-27 He said to himself, “As things are now, if my people go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to the Lord in the Temple there, they will transfer their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah and will kill me.”
28 After thinking it over, he made two bull-calves of gold and said to his people, “You have been going long enough to Jerusalem to worship. People of Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt!” 29 He placed one of the gold bull-calves in Bethel and the other in Dan. 30 And so the people sinned, going to worship in Bethel and in Dan. 31 Jeroboam also built places of worship on hilltops, and he chose priests from families who were not of the tribe of Levi.
Worship at Bethel Is Condemned
32 Jeroboam also instituted a religious festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the gold bull-calves he had made, and he placed there in Bethel the priests serving at the places of worship he had built. 33 And on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the day that he himself had set, he went to Bethel and offered a sacrifice on the altar in celebration of the festival he had instituted for the people of Israel.
Rehabeam ohamba yaJuda naJerobeam ohamba yaIsrael
1 Ndele Rehabeam okwa ya kuSekem, osheshi Ovaisraeli aveshe va ya kuSekem ve mu ninge ohamba. 2 2 Ndele Jerobeam yaNebat, eshi e shi uda manga a li muEgipiti, omo a ya ohamba Salomo onhapo, ndele Jerobeam okwa aluka ko kuEgipiti, 3 Ndele ovanhu voilando yokoumbangalanhu ove mu ifana ko. Jerobeam navo aveshe ova ya kuRehabeam nove mu lombwela: 4 “Xo okwe tu hepeka noku tu twika omutengi mudjuu, ndelenee ove pupaleka hano oudjuu nonghalamwenyo yetu, opo tu ninge ovapiya voye ovaduliki.” 5 Ndele ye okwe va nyamukula: “Indeni manga, mu alukile nge konima yomafiku atatu.” Novanhu va ya. 6 Opo nee ohamba Rehabeam a kundafana novakulunhu va li ovayandjimayele vaxe, ndele ta pula: “Ondunge i lipi tamu pe nge opo ndi nyamukule ovanhu ava?” 7 Ndele vo ove mu lombwela tava ti: “Ove ngeenge wa hala okukala nawa novanhu ava, va ningila ouwa kwaashi tave ku pula, opo nee tava ka dulika kwoove.” 8 Ndelenee ye ina landula epukululo lovakulunhu; okwa ka pula omayele kovanyasha ovo a kula navo, vo ovo a ninga ovayandjimayele vaye. 9 Nokwe va pula: “Nye otamu pe nge epukululo lilipipo, ndi nyamukule ngahelipi ovanhu ava va popifa nge, ndele tava ti: ‘Pupaleka omutengi xo e u tu twika’?” 10 Novamati ava va kula pamwe naye, ve mu nyamukula tava ti: “Ovanhu ovo ve ku lombwela tava ti: ‘Xo okwe tu twika omutengi mudjuu, ndelenee ove u tu pupalekele,’ u noku va nyamukula ngaha: ‘Okamunwe kange kanini ke dule omatundji atate. 11 Tate ngeenge e mu twika omutengi mudjuu, ame ohandi ka weda ko komutengi weni. Tate ngeenge e mu dengifa eengola, ame ohandi ke mu dengifa eengola di nomakiya.’ ” 12 Jerobeam novanhu aveshe eshi ve uya kuRehabeam konima yomafiku atatu, ngaashi ohamba ye va lombwelele, 13 ohamba Rehabeam oya li ihe na ko nasha nepukululo olo lovakulunhu, noya pa ovanhu enyamukulo likukutu, 14 nokwa popya naavo papukululo lovalumenhu ovanyasha ndele ta ti: “Tate ngeenge e mu twika omutengi mudjuu, ame ohandi ka weda ko vali komutengi weni. Tate ngeenge e mu denga neengola, ame ohandi ke mu denga neengola domakiya.” 15 Osho ngaha hano ohamba inai pwilikina ovanhu, ndelenee Omwene osho a endifa, opo a wanife ondjovo yaye mwene, e i popififa Ahia, Omusilo, okupopya Jerobeam yaNebat.
16 Ovaisraeli aveshe eshi va mona nokutya, ohamba inai va pwilikina, ovanhu va nyamukula ohamba ndele tava ti:
“Fye otu noshitukulwa shilipipo muDavid?
Katu noshitukulwafyuululwa momona waIsai.
Israel, inda komatwali oye!
David, tala hano paife eumbo loye mwene!”
Opo nee Ovaisraeli va ya komatwali avo. 17 Ndelenee Rehabeam okwa kala ashike ohamba yovanhu ava vomoshitukulwa shaJuda.
18 Opo nee ohamba Rehabeam ya tuma Adoram, omupashukili woilonga yefininiko moshilongo, ndelenee ovana vaIsrael ve mu dipaa nomamanya. Nohamba Rehabeam ya ya onhapo kuJerusalem netemba loita. 19 Okudja opo Ovaisraeli va amuka kepata laDavid fiyo onena eli.
20 Ndelenee Ovaisraeli eshi va uda nokutya, Jerobeam a aluka, ove mu ifana koshiongalele, ndele ve mu ninga ohamba yOvaisraeli aveshe. Nande umwe ina shikula eumbo laDavid, epata laJuda olo alike.
21 Ndele Rehabeam eshi e uya kuJerusalem, okwa shiva eumbo alishe laJuda nepata laBenjamin, ovalumenhu ovanyasha va wana okulwa: omayovi efele nomafele omilongo hetatu, va ka homone eumbo laIsrael, va alulile Rehabeam yaSalomo ouhamba. 22 Ndelenee ondjovo yaKalunga ye uya kuShemaia, omulumenhu waKalunga ndele tai ti: 23 “Lombwela Rehabeam yaSalomo, novanhu aveshe moilando yaJuda naBenjamin, u tye: 24 ‘Inamu dengafana nOvaisraeli shaashi nye vamwe aveke. Shuneni amushe komaumbo, osheshi eshi sha ningwa ehalo lange.’ ” Vo aveshe va dulika keendjovo dOmwene ndele va shuna komaumbo. 25 Ndele Jerobeam okwa tunga Sekem keemhunda daEfraim nokwa kala ko. Nokwa dja ko ndele ta tungu Penuel.
Jerobeam ta eta mo efimaneko loikalunga
26 Ndele Jerobeam okwa diladila momwenyo waye ta ti: “Paife ouhamba tau shuna keumbo laDavid, 27 shaashi ovanhu ava tava fikama, va ka yambe omayambo mongulu yOmwene muJerusalem, opo nee omitima dovanhu ava tadi ka shuna komwene wavo Rehabeam, ohamba yaJuda, ndele vo tava ka dipaa nge nokushuna kuRehabeam, ohamba yaJuda.” 28 Onghee hano ohamba, eshi ya diladila oshinima eshi, ya ninga eenhana mbali doshingoldo ndele tai ti kovanhu: “Efimbo lile nokuli mwa ile kuJerusalem, ndele taleni, Ovaisraeli, oikalunga yeni oyei, ye mu pitifa mo medu laEgipiti!” 29 Ndele okwa dika imwe muBetel noikwao e i dika muDan. 30 Noshinima tuu eshi sha li etimba. Novanhu va shikula efano limwe kuBetel nalikwao fiyo okuDan. 31 Ye okwa tunga yo eetembeli koikulundudu nokwa nangeka moilonga ovanhu ve lili vomoshiwana, ovo vehe shi Ovalevi ovapristeli. 32 Ndele Jerobeam okwa ninga oshivilo mohani onhihetatu mefiku etimulongo netitano ngaashi oshivilo osho tashi danwa muJuda, ndele ta londo koaltari. Osho ngaha a ninga muBetel nokwa yambela eenhana, ye e di ninga. Ndele muBetel yo okwa nangeka ovapristeli moilonga yokoikulundu yoaltari, ye e i ninga. 33 Nokwa londa koaltari, e i ninga muBetel, mefiku etimulongo netitano mohani onhihetatu, mohani ye mwene pamwenyo waye e i hoolola. Nokwa ningila Ovaisraeli oshivilo nokwa londa koaltari a ka twimine.
