2 Chronicles 12

¹ When Rehoboam had consolidated the kingdom and become strong, he, and al Israel with him,abandoned the Law of Yahweh;

² and thus it happened that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt marched onJerusalem, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh,

³ with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalry and countless hordes of Libyans, Sukkiimand Cushites who came from Egypt with him.

⁴ They captured the fortified towns of Judah and reached Jerusalem.

⁵ The prophet Shemaiah then came to Rehoboam and the generals of Judah, who had fal en back onJerusalem before Shishak's advance, and said to them, 'Yahweh says this, "You have abandoned me and so Ihave abandoned you into Shishak's clutches." '

⁶ At this, the Israelite generals and the king humbled themselves and said, 'Yahweh is just!'

⁷ When Yahweh saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah asfol ows, 'They have humbled themselves. I shal not destroy them but shall grant them some degree ofdeliverance. My retribution wil not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak;

⁸ they are nonetheless to become his slaves, so that they may learn the difference between serving meand serving kings of other countries.'

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt advanced on Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the Temple and thetreasures of the royal palace. He took everything away, including the golden shields which Solomon had made.

¹⁰ To replace these, King Rehoboam made bronze shields, entrusting them to the commanders of theguard who guarded the king's palace gate.

¹¹ Whenever the king went to the Temple of Yahweh, the guards would come out carrying them,returning them to the guardroom afterwards.

¹² Because King Rehoboam had humbled himself, the retribution of Yahweh turned away from him soas not to destroy him completely; and there were also some good features in Judah.

¹³ Thus he was able to strengthen his position in Jerusalem and continue as king; for Rehoboam wasforty-one years old when he came to the throne and remained king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the citychosen by Yahweh from al the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah theAmmonite.

¹⁴ But he did wrong in not setting his heart on seeking Yahweh.

¹⁵ The history of Rehoboam, from first to last, is this not all written down in the records of Shemaiah theprophet and of Iddo the seer? Warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam went on throughout the period.

¹⁶ When Rehoboam fel asleep with his ancestors, he was buried in the City of David; his son Abijahsucceeded him.