24
when David killed the men from Tzovah. Rezon rallied men to himself and became the leader of a band of marauders; they went to Dammesek and settled there, while he became king of Dammesek.
25
He remained an adversary as long as Shlomo lived, causing difficulties in addition to those of Hadad. He detested Isra'el and ruled Aram.
26
Also Yarov'am the son of N'vat, an Efrati from Tz'redah, whose mother's name was Tz'ru'ah, one of Shlomo's servants, rebelled against the king.
27
Here is the reason he rebelled against the king: Shlomo was building the Millo and closing the breach in [the wall of] the City of David his father.
28
Now this Yarov'am was a strong, energetic man; and Shlomo, seeing how serious the young man was, made him supervisor over all the work being done by the tribe of Yosef.
29
Once, during this period, when Yarov'am had gone out of Yerushalayim, the prophet Achiyah from Shiloh spotted him traveling. Achiyah was wearing a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in open country.
30
Achiyah took hold of his new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
31
Then he said to Yarov'am, "Take ten pieces for yourself! For here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'I am going to tear the kingdom out of Shlomo's hand, and I will give ten tribes to you.
32
But he will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Yerushalayim, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Isra'el.
33
I will do this because they have abandoned me and worshipped 'Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni, K'mosh the god of Mo'av and Milkom the god of the people of 'Amon. They haven't lived according to my ways, so that they could do what was right in my view and obey my regulations and rulings, as did David his father.
34
Nevertheless, I will not take the entire kingdom away from him; but I will make him prince as long as he lives, for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose, because he obeyed my mitzvot and regulations.