Daily Bread

Rehoboam King of Judah^(A)

²¹ Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.^(B)

²² Judah^(C) did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger^(D) more than those who were before them had done. ²³ They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones^(E) and Asherah poles^(F) on every high hill and under every spreading tree.^{(G) 24} There were even male shrine prostitutes^(H) in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable^(I) practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked^(J) Jerusalem. ²⁶ He carried off the treasures of the temple^(K) of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields^(L) Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.^{(M) 28} Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

²⁹ As for the other events of Rehoboam’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ³⁰ There was continual warfare^(N) between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ³¹ And Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.^(O) And Abijah^[a] his son succeeded him as king.