15. So the king did not do what the people wanted. The Lord caused this to happen. He did this in order to keep the promise he made to Jeroboam son of Nebat when he sent the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh to speak to him.
16. The Israelites saw that the new king refused to listen to them, so they said to him, “We are not part of David’s family are we? We don’t get any of Jesse’s land, do we? So, people of Israel, let’s go home and let David’s son rule his own people!” So the Israelites went home.
17. But Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.
18. A man named Adoniram was one of the men who directed the workers. King Rehoboam sent Adoniram to talk to the people, but the Israelites threw stones at him until he died. King Rehoboam ran to his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem.
19. So Israel rebelled against the family of David, and this is how things are even today.
20. When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had come back, they called him to a meeting and made him king over all Israel. The tribe of Judah was the only tribe that continued to follow the family of David.
21. Rehoboam went back to Jerusalem and gathered together an army of 180,000 men from the families of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. Rehoboam wanted to go fight against the Israelites and take back his kingdom.
22. But God spoke to a prophet named Shemaiah. He said,
23. “Talk to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to men of Judah and Benjamin.
24. Say to them, ‘The Lord says that you must not go to war against your brothers. Everyone, go home! I made all this happen.’” So all the men in Rehoboam’s army obeyed the Lord. They went home, just as the Lord had commanded.
25. Jeroboam rebuilt the city of Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. Later he went to the city of Penuel and rebuilt it.
26-27. Jeroboam said to himself, “If the people keep going to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Lord’S Temple, someday they will want to be ruled by their old masters. They will want to be ruled by King Rehoboam of Judah. And then they will kill me.”
28. So the king asked his advisors what to do. They gave him their advice, and King Jeroboam made two golden calves. He said to the people, “You don’t have to go to Jerusalem to worship anymore. Israel, these are the gods that brought you out of Egypt.”
29. King Jeroboam put one golden calf in Bethel and the other one in the city of Dan.
30. What a terrible sin this was, because the Israelites started going to the cities of Dan and Bethel to worship the calves.