World English Bible · The divided kingdom
2 Chronicles 10
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
went to , for all Israel had come to to make him king. When Jeroboam the son of heard of it (for he was in , where he had fled from the of King ), Jeroboam returned out of . They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to , saying, "Your made our grievous. Now therefore make the grievous of your and his heavy which he put on us, lighter, and we will you." He said to them, "Come again to me after three days." So the people departed. King with the old men, who had stood before his while he yet lived, saying, "What do you give me about how to answer these people?" They spoke to him, saying, "If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants ." But he abandoned the of the old men which they had given him, and with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. He said to them, "What do you give, that we may give an answer to these people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the that your put on us lighter'?" The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your made our heavy, but make it lighter on us;' thus you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than waist. Now whereas burdened you with a heavy , I will add to your . chastised you with whips, but I will you with scorpions.'" So Jeroboam and all the people came to the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day." The king answered them roughly; and King abandoned the of the old men, and spoke to them after the of the young men, saying, " made your heavy, but I will add to it. chastised you with whips, but I will you with scorpions." So the king didn't listen to the people; for it was brought about by , that might establish his word, which he spoke by the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of . When all Israel saw that the king didn't listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What do we have in ? We don't have an in the son of ! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, ." So all Israel departed to their tents. But as for the who lived in the cities of Judah, reigned over them. Then King sent , who was over the men subject to forced labor; and the stoned him to with stones. King hurried to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to . So Israel rebelled against house to this day.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The divided kingdom, 931 BC to 745 BC ›
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, often at odds, with Aram of Damascus as the immediate threat and Assyria growing in the distance.
- Aram of Damascus
- The immediate enemy for most of two centuries, close enough to raid every campaigning season and strong enough to take territory. Most of the wars in Kings that read like national emergencies are border wars with Damascus.
- Assyria
- Growing steadily in the distance. Shalmaneser III fights a coalition at Qarqar in 853 BC and his own inscription lists King Ahab of Israel among his opponents with two thousand chariots, the earliest Assyrian mention of an Israelite king. A later monument shows Jehu bowing and paying tribute. Assyria is not yet the destroyer, but it is already taking notes.
- Egypt
- Divided and unreliable, capable of the occasional raid, such as Shishak stripping the temple in Rehoboam's fifth year, but no longer an empire that governs the Levant.
- Further afield
- The Greeks adopt the alphabet, hold the first Olympiad by tradition in 776 BC, and begin to compose the Homeric poems. Rome is founded by tradition in 753 BC, a village of huts at this point. This is the century in which the classical world begins.