¹When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he called together from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand choice men to make war and to battle with Israel in order to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.[#11:1 Hb division .]

²But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God saying:[#2Ch 12:15]

³Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon and king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,

⁴“So says the Lord : You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each man must return to his house, for this event is from Me.” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back from attacking Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Secures the Kingdom

⁵So Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built siege cities in Judah.[#2Ch 8:2–6]

⁶He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

⁷Beth-zur in the east, Soko, Adullam,[#Jos 15:35]

⁸Gath, Mareshah in the west, Ziph,

⁹Adoraim, Lachish in the south, Azekah,

¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon in the northwest, and central Hebron, all of which were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

¹¹He strengthened the fortresses and set leaders in them with stockpiles of food, oil, and wine.

¹²And in all the cities he placed shields and spears, and he greatly strengthened these places. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³And the priests and Levites in all Israel came before him from all their territories.

¹⁴For the Levites left their pasturelands and properties, and they traveled to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord .[#Nu 35:2–5; #2Ch 13:9]

¹⁵And he set for himself priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols that he made.[#1Ki 12:31; #1Ki 12:28]

¹⁶And those who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel followed after them from all the tribes of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.[#2Ch 15:9]

¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.[#2Ch 12:1]

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸And Rehoboam took Mahalath for a wife, the daughter of both Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse,[#1Sa 16:6; 17:13]

¹⁹and she bore sons to him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰Then after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom. And she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.[#2Ch 13:2]

²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines), and he had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.[#Dt 17:17]

²²And Rehoboam set Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and head over his brothers for he planned to make him king.[#Dt 21:15–17]

²³And he was discerning and spread out all his sons to all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, even among the fortified cities, and he provided for them an abundance of provisions and wives.