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So in the fifth year of Rehoboam's rule, the Lord punished them for their unfaithfulness and allowed King Shishak of Egypt to invade Judah. Shishak attacked with his army of 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry troops, as well as countless Egyptian soldiers from Libya, Sukkoth, and Ethiopia.[a] He captured every one of the fortified cities in Judah and then marched to Jerusalem.

Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah had gone to Jerusalem to escape Shishak's invasion. And while they were there, Shemaiah the prophet told them, “The Lord says that because you have disobeyed him, he has now abandoned you. The Lord will not help you against Shishak!”

Rehoboam and the leaders were sorry for what they had done and admitted, “The Lord is right. We have deserted him.”

When the Lord heard this, he told Shemaiah:

The people of Judah are truly sorry for their sins, and so I won't let Shishak completely destroy them. But because I am still angry, he will conquer and rule them.

Then my people will know what it's like to serve a foreign king instead of serving me.

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Footnotes

  1. 12.3 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.

Because they had been unfaithful(A) to the Lord, Shishak(B) king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans,(C) Sukkites and Cushites[a](D) that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities(E) of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then the prophet Shemaiah(F) came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon(G) you to Shishak.’”

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled(H) themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”(I)

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance.(J) My wrath(K) will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject(L) to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 12:3 That is, people from the upper Nile region