7 Then worthless, evil men became friends with Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam and those bad men turned against Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. Rehoboam was young and did not have experience. So Rehoboam could not stop Jeroboam and his bad friends.
7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.
7 And there gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young [as king], irresolute, and inexperienced and did not withstand them with firmness and strength.
7 And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them.
7 And there were gathered to him very vain men, and sons of Belial. And they prevailed against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. For Rehoboam was inexperienced, and he had a fearful heart, and so he was unable to resist them.
King Rehoboam made himself a strong king in Jerusalem. He was 41 years old when he became king. Rehoboam was king in Jerusalem for 17 years. Jerusalem is the city that the Lord chose from all the family groups of Israel. The Lord chose to put his name there in Jerusalem. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah. Naamah was from the country of Ammon.
So the leaders of Shechem gave Abimelech 70 pieces of silver. That silver was from the temple of the god Baal Berith. [77] Abimelech used the silver to hire some men. These men were worthless, reckless men. They followed Abimelech wherever he went.
There are many people who refuse to obey—people who talk about worthless things and lead other people into the wrong way. I am talking mostly about those people who say that all non-Jewish people must be circumcised. {\cf2\super [6]}
But the Jews \{that did not believe\} became jealous. They hired some bad men from the city. These bad men gathered many people and made trouble in the city. They went to Jason’s house, looking for Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring Paul and Silas out before the people.
The people of Israel saw that King Rehoboam did not listen to them. Then they said to the king, “Are we part of David’s family? No! Do we get any of Jesse’s land? No! So Israel, let’s go to our own homes. Let David’s son rule his own people!” Then all the people of Israel went to their homes.
Then two men told the people that they heard Naboth speak against God and against the king. So the people carried Naboth out of the city. Then they killed him with rocks.
Find some men that will tell lies about Naboth. Those people should say that they heard Naboth speak against the king and against God. Then take Naboth out of the city and kill him with rocks.
Many people joined David. There were men who were in some kind of trouble. And there were men who owed a lot of money. And there were men who were just not satisfied with life. All those kinds of people joined David, and David became their leader. David had about 400 men with him.
some bad people in your own nation are persuading the people of their city to do bad things. They might say to the people of their city, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods.’ (These gods would be gods that you never knew before.)
And it was on the very same day that I was anointed [20] to be the king. These sons of Zeruiah have caused me a lot of trouble. I hope the Lord gives these men the punishment they deserve.”