1 And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and he had become strong, that he abandoned the law {torah: divine instruction} of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Lawgiver}, and all Israel was with him.
2 And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak, king of Egypt, went up against Jerusalem because they acted unfaithfully {ma‘alu: betrayed trust in covenant} against the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}.
3 With one thousand and two hundred chariots {rekhev: military vehicles} and sixty thousand horsemen, there was no number for the people who came with him from Egypt—Libyans {luviyim: people of Libya}, Sukkites, and Cushites.
4 And he captured the fortified cities {hametzurot: walled strongholds} of Judah, and he came up to Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: city of peace}.
5 And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the officials {sarei: court officials} of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}: ‘You have abandoned Me, and I have also abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.’”
6 And the chiefs of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} is just {tsaddiq: morally upright}.”
7 And when the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Judge} saw that they humbled themselves {nikhne’u: submitted in repentance}, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will give them a small measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.”
8 For they will be servants to him, and they will know My {YHWH, Sovereign Disciplinarian} service and the service of the kingdoms {mamlakhot: foreign ruling powers} of the lands.
9 Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took the treasures {otzerot: stored wealth} of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Lord}, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also took the gold shields that Solomon made.
10 And King Rehoboam {Reḥav‘am: people-enlarger} made bronze shields in their place, and he appointed them under the care of the commanders of the runners—the guards at the entrance of the king’s house {beit: royal residence}.
11 And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Sovereign}, the guards {ratzim: royal attendants} came and carried them and then returned them to the chamber.
12 And when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Judge} turned from him, and He did not bring about complete destruction. And also in Judah there were good things {devarim: noble actions}.
13 And King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned, for he was forty and one years old {ben-arba'im ve'achath: forty-one years old} when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD {YHWH, Chosen Dwelling} had chosen to place His Name there from among all the tribes of Israel. The name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonitess.
14 And he did evil because he did not prepare his heart {lev: inner will} to seek the LORD {YHWH, Worthy of Seeking}.
15 And the words of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet {navi: divine messenger} and Iddo the seer {chozeh: visionary} concerning genealogies? And the wars of Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout their days.
16 And Rehoboam lay down with his fathers {avotav: ancestral predecessors} and was buried in the city of David. And Abijah his son became king in his place {takhtav: succession of rule}.