12:1 羅波安往示劍去；因為以色列人都到了示劍要立他作王。
12:2 尼八的兒子耶羅波安先前躲避所羅門王，逃往埃及，住在那裡（他聽見這事。）
12:3 以色列人打發人去請他來，他就和以色列會眾都來見羅波安，對他說：
12:4 「你父親使我們負重軛，做苦工，現在求你使我們做的苦工、負的重軛輕鬆些，我們就事奉你。」
12:5 羅波安對他們說：「你們暫且去，第三日再來見我。」民就去了。
12:6 羅波安之父所羅門在世的日子，有侍立在他面前的老年人，羅波安王和他們商議，說：「你們給我出個甚麼主意，我好回覆這民。」
12:7 老年人對他說：「現在王若服事這民如僕人，用好話回答他們，他們就永遠作王的僕人。」
12:8 王卻不用老年人給他出的主意，就和那些與他一同長大、在他面前侍立的少年人商議，
12:9 說：「這民對我說：『你父親使我們負重軛，求你使我們輕鬆些。』你們給我出個甚麼主意，我好回覆他們。」
12:10 那同他長大的少年人說：「這民對王說：『你父親使我們負重軛，求你使我們輕鬆些。』王要對他們如此說：『我的小拇指頭比我父親的腰還粗。
12:11 我父親使你們負重軛，我必使你們負更重的軛！我父親用鞭子責打你們，我要用蠍子鞭責打你們！』」
12:12 耶羅波安和眾百姓遵著羅波安王所說「你們第三日再來見我」的那話，第三日他們果然來了。
12:13 王用嚴厲的話回答百姓，不用老年人給他所出的主意，
12:14 照著少年人所出的主意對民說：「我父親使你們負重軛，我必使你們負更重的軛！我父親用鞭子責打你們，我要用蠍子鞭責打你們！」
12:15 王不肯依從百姓，這事乃出於耶和華，為要應驗他藉示羅人亞希雅對尼八的兒子耶羅波安所說的話。
12:16 以色列眾民見王不依從他們，就對王說：我們與大衛有甚麼分兒呢？與耶西的兒子並沒有關涉。以色列人哪，各回各家去吧！大衛家啊，自己顧自己吧！於是，以色列人都回自己家裡去了，
12:17 惟獨住猶大城邑的以色列人，羅波安仍作他們的王。
12:18 羅波安王差遣掌管服苦之人的亞多蘭往以色列人那裡去，以色列人就用石頭打死他。羅波安王急忙上車，逃回耶路撒冷去了。
12:19 這樣，以色列人背叛大衛家，直到今日。
12:20 以色列眾人聽見耶羅波安回來了，就打發人去請他到會眾面前，立他作以色列眾人的王。除了猶大支派以外，沒有順從大衛家的。
12:21 羅波安來到耶路撒冷，招聚猶大全家和便雅憫支派的人共十八萬，都是挑選的戰士，要與以色列家爭戰，好將國奪回，再歸所羅門的兒子羅波安。
12:22 但上帝的話臨到神人示瑪雅，說：
12:23 「你去告訴所羅門的兒子猶大王羅波安和猶大、便雅憫全家，並其餘的民說：
12:24 『耶和華如此說：你們不可上去與你們的弟兄以色列人爭戰。各歸各家去吧！因為這事出於我。』」眾人就聽從耶和華的話，遵著耶和華的命回去了。
12:25 耶羅波安在以法蓮山地建築示劍，就住在其中；又從示劍出去，建築毘努伊勒。
12:26 耶羅波安心裡說：「恐怕這國仍歸大衛家；
12:27 這民若上耶路撒冷去，在耶和華的殿裡獻祭，他們的心必歸向他們的主─猶大王羅波安，就把我殺了，仍歸猶大王羅波安。」
12:28 耶羅波安王就籌劃定妥，鑄造了兩個金牛犢，對眾民說：「以色列人哪，你們上耶路撒冷去實在是難；這就是領你們出埃及地的上帝。」
12:29 他就把牛犢一隻安在伯特利，一隻安在但。
12:30 這事叫百姓陷在罪裡，因為他們往但去拜那牛犢。
12:31 耶羅波安在邱壇那裡建殿，將那不屬利未人的凡民立為祭司。
12:32 耶羅波安定八月十五日為節期，像在猶大的節期一樣，自己上壇獻祭。他在伯特利也這樣向他所鑄的牛犢獻祭，又將立為邱壇的祭司安置在伯特利。
12:33 他在八月十五日，就是他私自所定的月日，為以色列人立作節期的日子，在伯特利上壇燒香。
Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from[a] Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.
7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
“What
share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
Look after your own house, David!”
So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,[b] who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22 But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.[c]
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.[d]
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth mont the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
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上帝所定意的事情，是人無法挽回的，因為人只能伏於上帝的作為下！正如上帝要以色列分裂，所以羅波安會選擇了年輕友人的意見，而不選擇年長者的叡見，以至於以色列人隨從耶羅波安的引導而背叛大衛王朝。
《箴言》21章1節：「王的心在耶和華手中，好像隴溝的水隨意流轉。」
然而羅波安雖然沒有父親所羅門王有智慧，卻是敬畏上帝！不像耶羅波安害怕民眾要去耶路撒冷過節，鑄造了兩個金牛犢，對眾民說：「以色列人哪，你們上耶路撒冷去實在是難；這就是領你們出埃及地的上帝。」
不僅如此，他還定八月十五日為節期，像在猶大的節期一樣，自己上壇獻祭。他在伯特利也這樣向他所鑄的牛犢獻祭，又將立為邱壇的祭司安置在伯特利。他在八月十五日，就是他私自所定的月日，為以色列人立作節期的日子，在伯特利上壇燒香。
他這樣的舉動不僅沒有使他的國位堅立，還讓百姓與他一起犯罪遠離耶和華上帝！造成後來以色列滅亡的禍因，也因為這樣以色列政治不穩定、道德敗壞、信仰破產！
這也讓我們警戒，君王本來是要代表上帝來治理百姓，引導百姓來敬畏上帝，行公義、好憐憫，存謙卑的心與上帝同行！同樣教會的領袖，自己要先成為敬畏主的榜樣，如此才能帶領弟兄姊妹，在基督裡建立教會！所以，我們被上帝呼召成為教會領袖時，不要忘記讓我們成為領袖的使命，要靠主所賜的聖靈建立教會成基督的身體和靈宮，讓主的名得榮耀！
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