2 Chronicles 12

Shishak Raids Jerusalemⓘ

Judah forsakes the Law and Egypt invades¹After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel^a with him forsook the Law of the Lord. ²In the fifth year of Rehoboamʼs reign, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem ³with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen,^b and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.^{c 4}He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Humility and a limited deliverance⁵Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’”

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

⁷When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. ⁸Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”

Shishak takes the treasures⁹So King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

¹⁰Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the care of the captains of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. ¹¹And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards would go with him, bearing the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom.

¹²Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Indeed, conditions were good in Judah.

Rehoboamʼs Reign and Deathⓘ

Rehoboam's reign ends¹³Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His motherʼs name was Naamah the Ammonite. ¹⁴And Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days. ¹⁶And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And his son Abijah^d reigned in his place.