CHAPTER 12
1 And when the realm of Reho-boam was made strong and comforted, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
2 And in the fifth year of the realm of Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, went up into Jerusalem, for they, that is, the men of Jerusalem, [had] sinned against the Lord;
3 and he ascended with a thousand and two hundred chariots, and with sixty thousand horsemen, and no number was of the common people, that came with him from Egypt, that is, Libyans, and Troglodytes, and Ethiopians.
4 And he took [the] full strong cities in Judah, and he came to Jerusalem.
5 And Shemaiah, the prophet, entered to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, which, fleeing from Shishak, were gathered together in Jerusalem. And he said to them, The Lord saith these things, Ye have forsaken me, and I have forsaken you in the hand of Shishak.
6 And the princes of Israel and the king were astonied, and said, The Lord is just [or rightwise].
7 And when the Lord had seen that they were meeked, the word of the Lord was made to Shemaiah, and said, For they be meeked, I shall not destroy them, and I shall give to them a little help, and my strong vengeance shall not drop upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
8 Nevertheless they shall serve him, that they know the diversity of my service, and of the service of the realm of lands.
9 Therefore Shishak, the king of Egypt, went away from Jerusalem, after that he had taken away the treasures [or treasuries] of the house of the Lord, and of the king’s house; and he took all things with him, and the gold shields which Solomon had made,
10 for which golden shields king Rehoboam made brazen shields, and he betook those [or them] to the princes of [the] shield-makers, that kept the porch of the palace.
11 And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the shield-makers came, and took those shields, and they brought them again to his armoury place.
12 Nevertheless for they were meeked, the ire of the Lord was turned away from them, and they were not done away utterly; for good works were found also in Judah.
13 Therefore king Rehoboam was comforted in Jerusalem, and reigned. And he was of one and forty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose of all the lineages of Israel, that he should confirm his name there. And the name of his mother was Naamah an Ammonitess.
14 And he did evil, and he made not ready his heart to seek God.
15 And the first and the last works of Rehoboam be written, and diligently declared, in the books of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the prophet. And Rehoboam and Jeroboam fought in all days against themselves.
16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David; and Abijah, his son, reigned for him.