11
When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. But Yahweh’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers! Every man return to his house; for this thing is of me.”’” So they listened to Yahweh’s words, and returned from going against Jeroboam.
Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. 11 He fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, oil and wine. 12 He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceedingly strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
13 The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him out of all their territory. 14 For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office to Yahweh. 15 He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made. 16 After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, those who set their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
18 Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. 19 She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 After her, he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. 22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers; for he intended to make him king. 23 He dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city. He gave them food in abundance and he sought many wives for them.
+1:1“Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.+1:1The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).+1:17The pieces of silver were probably shekels, so 600 pieces would be about 13.2 lbs. or 6 kg. of silver, and 150 would be about 3.3 lbs. or 1.5 kg. of silver.+1:17or, Aramean+2:4“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.+2:101 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 liters or 6 bushels, so 20,000 cors of wheat would weigh about 545 metric tons+2:101 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters or 2.4 pecks 20,000 baths of barley would weigh about 262 metric tons.+3:3A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.+3:8A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 600 talents is about 18 metric tons+3:9A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 50 shekels was about 0.5 kilograms or about 16 Troy ounces.+4:1A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.+4:2or, pool, or, reservoir+4:5A bath is about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21.1 liters, so 3,000 baths is about 16,800 gallons or 63.3 kiloliters.+6:13A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.+8:13or, booths (sukkot)+8:18A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 450 talents is about 13.5 metric tons+9:4or, she was breathless.+9:9A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tons+9:10possibly Indian sandalwood, which has nice grain and a pleasant scent and is good for woodworking+9:13A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 666 talents is about 20 metric tons+9:15A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels was about 6 kilograms or about 192 Troy ounces.+9:16A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 300 shekels was about 3 kilograms or about 96 Troy ounces.