Shishak Attacks Jerusalem

12 When Rehoboam had established his rule as king and had become strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord. All Israel went along with him.

² In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because Israel had been unfaithful to the Lord. ³ He came with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand charioteers.^[a] The forces that came with him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites, could not be counted. ⁴ He captured the fortified cities of Judah and advanced as far as Jerusalem.

⁵ Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the officials of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “This is what the Lord says. You abandoned me, so now I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.”

⁶ Then the officials of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying: “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will give them deliverance in a little while. My anger will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ However, they will become his servants. They will learn what it is to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of the foreign lands.”

⁹ Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures from the house of the Lord and the treasures from the house of the king. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and he entrusted them to the captains of the guard who were keeping watch at the entrance of the king’s palace. ¹¹ Whenever the king went to the House of the Lord, the guards would go along and carry the shields. Then they would return them to the guardroom.^[b]

¹² Because he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned from him. He did not completely destroy them, so conditions were good in Judah.^[c]

The Closing Summary of Rehoboam’s Reign

¹³ King Rehoboam strengthened his position in Jerusalem and ruled as king. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and for seventeen years he ruled as king in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel to put his Name there. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Na’amah the Ammonite.

¹⁴ He did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵ The acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the annals of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, which deal with genealogy? Rehoboam and Jeroboam waged war with each other throughout all their days.

¹⁶ Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah ruled as king in his place.