3 Kings 12

¹And Roboam came into Sichem: for thither was all Israel gathered together to make him king.

²But Jeroboam the son of Nabat, when he was yet in Ægypt fugitive from the face of king Salomon, hearing of his death; returned out of Ægypt.

³And they sent and called him: Jeroboam therefore came, and all the multitude of Israel, and they spake to Roboam, saying.

⁴Thy father laid a most hard yoke upon us: thou therefore diminish now a little of thy father's most hard empire, and of the most heavy yoke, that he laid upon us, and we will serve thee.

⁵Who said to them: Go until the third day, and return to me. And when the people was gone,

⁶King Roboam took counsel with the ancients, that assisted before Salomon his father, whiles he yet lived, and he said: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people?

⁷Who said to him: If this day thou wilt yield to this people, and condescend to them, and grant to their petition, & wilt speak to them gentle words, they will be thy servants always.

⁸Who left the counsel of the ancients, which they had given him, and admitted youngmen, that had been brought up with him, & waited on him,

⁹and he said to them: What counsel give you me, that I may answer this people, which have said to me: Make the yoke lighter which thy father hath put upon us?

¹⁰And the youngmen that had been brought up with him, said: Thus speak to this people, which have spoken to thee, saying: Thy father aggravated our yoke, do thou ease it. Thus shalt thou speak to them: My least finger is grosser than the back of my father.

¹¹And now my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add upon your yoke: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.

¹²Jeroboam therefore came, and all the people to Roboam the third day, as the king had spoken, saying: Return to me the third day.

¹³And the king answered the people rough words, leaving the counsel of the ancients, which they had given him,

¹⁴and he spake to them according to the counsel of the youngmen, saying: My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.

¹⁵And the king condescended not to the people: because our Lord was turned away from him, that he might raise up his word, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias the Silonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.

¹⁶The people therefore seeing that the king would not hear them, answered him, saying: What part have we in David? Or what inheritance in the son of Isai? Go into thy tabernacles Israel, now see to thy house David. And Israel went into their tabernacles.

¹⁷But over the children of Israel, whosoever dwelt in the cities of Juda, Roboam reigned.

¹⁸King Roboam therefore sent Aduram, who was over the tributes: and all Israel stoned him, and he died, moreover king Roboam in haste went up into his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem:

¹⁹and Israel revolted from the house of David, until this present day.

²⁰And it came to pass when all Israel had heard, that Jeroboam was returned, they sent, and called him, an assembly being gathered, and they made him king over all Israel, neither did any man follow the house of David beside the tribe of Juda only.

²¹And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered together all the house of Juda, and the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred fourscore thousand chosen men warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, and to reduce the kingdom to Roboam the son of Salomon.

²²But the word of our Lord came to Semeias the man of God, saying:

²³Speak to Roboam the son of Salomon, the king of Juda, and to all the house of Juda, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying:

²⁴Thus saith our Lord: You shall not go up, neither shall you fight against your brethren the children of Israel: let every man return into his house, for this word is done by me. They heard the word of our Lord, & returned from their journey as our Lord had commanded them.

²⁵And Jeroboam built Sichem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt there: and departing thence he built Phanuel.

²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart: Now will the Kingdom return to the house of David,

²⁷if this people shall go up to make sacrifices in the house of our Lord into Jerusalem: and the heart of this people will be turned to their lord Roboam the king of Juda, and they will kill me, and return to him.

²⁸And finding out a device he made two golden calves, and said to them: Go up no more into Jerusalem: Behold thy gods Israel, which brought thee out of the Land of Ægypt.

²⁹And he put one in Bethel, and the other in Dan:

³⁰and this thing was an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf, as far as Dan.

³¹And he made temples in the excelses, and Priests of the abjects of the people, which were not of the children of Levi.

³²And he appointed a solemn day in the eighth month, the fifteenth day of the month, after the similitude of the solemnity, that was celebrated in Juda. And going up he made in like manner an altar in Bethel, to immolate to the calves, which he had framed: and he ordained in Bethel priests of the excelses, which he had made.

³³And he went upon the altar, which he had built in Bethel, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had forged out of his own heart: and he made a solemnity to the children of Israel, and went up upon the altar, to burn incense.