Now as they heard these things, they were  ¹exasperated and gnashed their teeth at him.

But being  ¹full of the Holy Spirit, he looked intently into heaven and saw the  ²glory of God and Jesus  ³standing at the right hand of God;

And he said, Behold, I see the  ¹heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed upon him with one accord.

And they threw him outside of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man called  ¹Saul.

And they stoned Stephen as he  ¹called upon the Lord and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!

And kneeling down, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do  ¹not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

And Saul approved of his killing. And there occurred in that day a great persecution against the  ¹church which was in Jerusalem; and all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul was devastating the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he delivered them to prison.

And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from Solomon the king; and Jeroboam returned from Egypt;

And they sent word to him and called him), Jeroboam and all of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

Your father made our yoke hard. Now therefore make the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us lighter, and we will serve you.

And he said to them, Go away for another three days, then return to me. And the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who attended Solomon his father while he was alive, saying, What counsel do you give me to return as an answer to this people?

And they spoke to him, saying, If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants always.

But he forsook the counsel of the elders with which they counseled him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who attended him.

And he said to them, What counsel do you give me that we may return an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us?

And the young men who grew up with him spoke with him, saying, Thus shall you say to the people who have spoken to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter on us; thus shall you say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.

And now, whereas my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, I will increase your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had spoken, saying, Return to me on the third day.

And the king answered them harshly; and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders

And spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, I will make your yoke heavy, and I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was of God that Jehovah might establish His word which He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

And when all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people returned an answer to the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each one to your tents, O Israel. Now see to your own house, O David. And all Israel went to their tents.

But as for the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the children of Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to get up into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.

So Israel has rebelled against the house of David until this day.

And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand choice warriors, to wage war with Israel in order to return the kingdom to Rehoboam.

But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

Thus says Jehovah, You shall not go up and wage war with your brothers. Every man return to his house; for this matter is of Me. So they listened to the words of Jehovah and returned from going against Jeroboam.

 ¹And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah.

He built Bethlehem and Etam and Tekoa

And Beth-zur and Soco and Adullam

And Gath and Mareshah and Ziph

And Adoraim and Lachish and Azekah

And Zorah and Aijalon and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities.

And he strengthened the fortresses and put commanders in them, as well as stores of food and oil and wine,

And in every city, shields and spears; and he made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

And the  ¹priests and the Levites who had been throughout all Israel presented themselves to him out of all their territory;

For the Levites abandoned their pasture lands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out so that they could not function as priests to Jehovah.

And he appointed priests for himself for the high places and for the  ¹goats and the calves that he had made.

And those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came after them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, the God of their fathers.

And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

And Rehoboam took to himself for his wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.

And she bore him sons: Jeush and Shemariah and Zaham.

And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith.

And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines. (For he had taken  ¹eighteen wives and  ¹sixty concubines and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.)

And Rehoboam  ¹appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief prince, the leader among his brothers; for he intended to make him king.

And he acted wisely and dispersed all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them food in abundance and sought many wives for them.

And when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and when it was strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of Jehovah.

Then in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had been unfaithful to Jehovah,

With one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: Libyans, Sukkiim, and Cushites.

And he captured the fortified cities which belonged to Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who were gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak; and he said to them, Thus says Jehovah, You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you, delivering you into the hand of Shishak.

So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, Jehovah is righteous.

And when Jehovah saw that they had humbled themselves the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will give them a little deliverance, and My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak;

For they will become his servants that they may know the difference between serving Me and serving the kingdoms of the lands.

And Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king's house; indeed he took away all. And he took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made.

And King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them into the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the entrance of the king's house.

And whenever the king went into the house of Jehovah, the guards came and carried them and returned them to the guardroom.

And when he humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, and He did not destroy them completely; and also things in Judah were good.

So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where Jehovah had chosen, out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

And he did what was evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek Jehovah.

And the acts of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer according to the genealogical records? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.