NETfree - II Chronicles - 12

12:1  After Rehoboam's rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the LORD.

12:2  Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam's fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

12:3  He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

12:4  He captured the fortified cities of Judah and marched against Jerusalem.

12:5  Shemaiah the prophet visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.'"

12:6  The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is just."

12:7  When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem through Shishak.

12:8  Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations."

12:9  King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the LORD's temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

12:10  King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

12:11  Whenever the king visited the LORD's temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

12:12  So when Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; Judah experienced some good things.

12:13  King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; he was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

12:14  He did evil because he was not determined to follow the LORD.

12:15  The events of Rehoboam's reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records.

12:16  Then Rehoboam passed away and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah replaced him as king.