1Ki 12:2 Now when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, he was living in Egypt (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon).

1Ki 12:3 Then they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

1Ki 12:4 "Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you."

1Ki 12:5 Then he said to them, "Depart for three days, then return to me." So the people departed.

1Ki 12:6 King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How do you counsel me to answer this people?"

1Ki 12:7 Then they spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."

1Ki 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him.

1Ki 12:9 So he said to them, "What counsel do you give that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us'?"

1Ki 12:10 The young men who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!' But you shall speak to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins!

1Ki 12:11 Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'"

1Ki 12:12 Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

1Ki 12:13 The king answered the people harshly, for he forsook the advice of the elders which they had given him,

1Ki 12:14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions."

1Ki 12:15 So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the Lord, that He might establish His word, which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

1Ki 12:16 When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David! "So Israel departed to their tents.

1Ki 12:17 But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

1Ki 12:18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

1Ki 12:19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

1Ki 12:20 It came about when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. None but the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

1Ki 12:21 Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

1Ki 12:22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

1Ki 12:23 "Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, saying,

1Ki 12:24 'Thus says the Lord, "You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me."'" So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way according to the word of the Lord.

1Ki 12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.

1Ki 12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

1Ki 12:27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

1Ki 12:28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."

1Ki 12:29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

1Ki 12:30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

1Ki 12:31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

1Ki 12:32 Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

1Ki 12:33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

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1Ki 13:1 Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

1Ki 13:2 He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'"

1Ki 13:3 Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the Lord has spoken, 'Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.'"

1Ki 13:4 Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.

1Ki 13:5 The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

1Ki 13:6 The king said to the man of God, "Please entreat the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

1Ki 13:7 Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."

1Ki 13:8 But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

1Ki 13:9 For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.'"

1Ki 13:10 So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

1Ki 13:11 Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father.

1Ki 13:12 Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

1Ki 13:13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.

1Ki 13:14 So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."

1Ki 13:15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."

1Ki 13:16 He said, "I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

1Ki 13:17 For a command came to me by the word of the Lord, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'"

1Ki 13:18 He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

1Ki 13:19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

1Ki 13:20 Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back;

1Ki 13:21 and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have disobeyed the command of the Lord, and have not observed the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,

1Ki 13:22 but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water"; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.'"

1Ki 13:23 It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

1Ki 13:24 Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body.

1Ki 13:25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

1Ki 13:26 Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him."

1Ki 13:27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.

1Ki 13:28 He went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey.

1Ki 13:29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.

1Ki 13:30 He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

1Ki 13:31 After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

1Ki 13:32 For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria."

1Ki 13:33 After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.

1Ki 13:34 This event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

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1Ki 14:1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.

1Ki 14:2 Jeroboam said to his wife, "Arise now, and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people.

1Ki 14:3 Take ten loaves with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

1Ki 14:4 Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.

1Ki 14:5 Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be when she arrives that she will pretend to be another woman."

1Ki 14:6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message.

1Ki 14:7 Go, say to Jeroboam, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, "Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel,

1Ki 14:8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you--yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight;

1Ki 14:9 you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back--

1Ki 14:10 therefore behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.

1Ki 14:11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat; for the Lord has spoken it."'

1Ki 14:12 Now you, arise, go to your house. When your feet enter the city the child will die.

1Ki 14:13 All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

1Ki 14:14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

1Ki 14:15 "For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.

1Ki 14:16 He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin."

1Ki 14:17 Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died.

1Ki 14:18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

1Ki 14:19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

1Ki 14:20 The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

1Ki 14:21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

1Ki 14:22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed.

1Ki 14:23 For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree.

1Ki 14:24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

1Ki 14:25 Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

1Ki 14:26 He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and he took everything, even taking all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

1Ki 14:27 So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king's house.

1Ki 14:28 Then it happened as often as the king entered the house of the Lord, that the guards would carry them and would bring them back into the guards' room.

1Ki 14:29 Now 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?

1Ki 14:30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

1Ki 14:31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son became king in his place.

====== TODAY =================
Day 174 -- 23 June:   1 Kings 12-14
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Day 172 -- 21 June:   2 Chronicles 9;1 Kings 10-11
Day 173 -- 22 June:   Proverbs 30-31

===== COMING DAYS =================
Day 175 -- 24 June:   2 Chronicles 10-12

Day 176 -- 25 June:   2 Chronicles 13-16; 1 Kings 15:1-24
Day 177 -- 26 June:   1 Kings 15:25-16:34; 2 Chronicles 17
Day 178 -- 27 June:   1 Kings 17-19

Day 179 -- 28 June:   1 Kings 20-21