---
title: "1 Kings 12 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/1-kings/12/
description: "Roboam, following the counsel of young men alienateth from him the minds of the… 1 Kings 12 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# 1 Kings 12

1 Kings 12 is chapter 12 of 22 in the First Book of Kings. Here are all 33 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Roboam, following the counsel of young men alienateth from him the minds of the people. They make Jeroboam king over ten tribes: he setteth up idolatry.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## 1 Kings 12 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Then Rehoboam went to Shechem. For in that place, all of Israel had gathered to appoint him as king.
2. Yet truly, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, while he was still in Egypt as a fugitive from the face of king Solomon, hearing of his death, returned from Egypt.
3. And they sent and called him. Therefore, Jeroboam went, with the entire multitude of Israel, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying:
4. “Your father imposed a very harsh yoke upon us. And so, you should now take away a little from the very harsh rule of your father and from his very grievous yoke, which he imposed upon us, and we will serve you.”
5. And he said to them, “Go away, until the third day, and then return to me.” And when the people had gone away,
6. king Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had assisted before his father Solomon while he was still living. And he said, “What counsel do you give to me, so that I may respond to this people?”
7. They said to him, “If today you will obey and serve this people, and yield to their petition, and if you will speak lenient words to them, they will be your servants for all days.”
8. But he abandoned the counsel of the old men, which they had given to him. And he consulted the young men who had been raised with him, and who were assisting him.
9. And he said to them: “What counsel do you give to me, so that I may respond to this people, who have said to me: ‘Make light the yoke that your father imposed on us?’”
10. And the young men who had been raised with him, said: “You shall speak in this way to this people, who have spoken to you, saying: ‘Your father weighed down our yoke. You should relieve us.’ You shall say this to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than the back of my father.
11. And now, my father placed a heavy yoke upon you, but I will add more upon your yoke. My father cut you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.’”
12. Therefore, Jeroboam and all the people went to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”
13. And the king responded to the people harshly, leaving behind the counsel of the elders that they had given to him.
14. And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: “My father weighed down your yoke, but I will add more to your yoke. My father cut you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.”
15. And the king did not acquiesce to the people. For the Lord had turned him away, so that he might raise up his word, which he had spoken by the hand of Ahijah, the Shilonite, to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
16. And so the people, seeing that the king had not been willing to listen to them, responded to him, saying: “What part do we have in David? Or what inheritance do we have in the son of Jesse? Go to your own tents, O Israel. Now David, see to your own house.” And Israel went away to their own tents.
17. But over all the sons of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned.
18. Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute. And all of Israel stoned him, and he died. Therefore, king Rehoboam hurrying, climbed into the chariot, and fled to Jerusalem.
19. And Israel drew away from the house of David, even to the present day.
20. And it happened that, when all of Israel had heard that Jeroboam had returned, gathering an assembly, they sent and called him, and they appointed him as king over all of Israel. And no one followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone.
21. Then Rehoboam went to Jerusalem, and he gathered together the entire house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand elect men of war, so that they might fight against the house of Israel, and might bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
22. But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying:
23. “Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah, and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying:
24. ‘Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, and you shall not make war against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Let each man return to his own house. For this word came from me.’” And they listened to the word of the Lord, and they returned from the journey, as the Lord had instructed them.
25. Then Jeroboam built up Shechem, on mount Ephraim, and he lived there. And departing from there, he built up Penuel.
26. And Jeroboam said in his heart: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David,
27. if this people ascend to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. And the heart of this people will be converted to their lord Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and they will put me to death, and return to him.”
28. And devising a plan, he made two golden calves. And he said to them: “No longer choose to ascend to Jerusalem. Behold, these are your gods, O Israel, who led you away from the land of Egypt!”
29. And he stationed one in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
30. And this word became an occasion of sin. For the people went to adore the calf, even to Dan.
31. And he made shrines on the high places, and he made priests out of the lowest people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32. And he appointed a solemn day in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, in imitation of the solemnity that was celebrated in Judah. And ascending to the altar, he acted similarly in Bethel, so that he immolated to the calves, which he had made. And in Bethel, he appointed priests of the high places, which he had made.
33. And he ascended to the altar, which he had raised up in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the day that he had decided in his own heart. And he made a solemnity to the sons of Israel, and he ascended to the altar, so that he might burn incense.

## 1 Kings 12 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Venit autem Roboam in Sichem: illuc enim congregatus erat omnis Israël ad constituendum eum regem.
2. At vero Jeroboam filius Nabat, cum adhuc esset in Ægypto profugus a facie regis Salomonis, audita morte ejus, reversus est de Ægypto.
3. Miseruntque et vocaverunt eum: venit ergo Jeroboam, et omnis multitudo Israël, et locuti sunt ad Roboam, dicentes:
4. Pater tuus durissimum jugum imposuit nobis: tu itaque nunc imminue paululum de imperio patris tui durissimo, et de jugo gravissimo quod imposuit nobis, et serviemus tibi.
5. Qui ait eis: Ite usque ad tertium diem, et revertimini ad me. Cumque abiisset populus,
6. iniit consilium rex Roboam cum senioribus qui assistebant coram Salomone patre ejus cum adhuc viveret, et ait: Quod datis mihi consilium, ut respondeam populo huic?
7. Qui dixerunt ei: Si hodie obedieris populo huic, et servieris, et petitioni eorum cesseris, locutusque fueris ad eos verba lenia, erunt tibi servi cunctis diebus.
8. Qui dereliquit consilium senum, quod dederant ei, et adhibuit adolescentes, qui nutriti fuerant cum eo, et assistebant illi,
9. dixitque ad eos: Quod mihi datis consilium, ut respondeam populo huic, qui dixerunt mihi: Levius fac jugum quod imposuit pater tuus super nos?
10. Et dixerunt ei juvenes qui nutriti fuerant cum eo: Sic loqueris populo huic, qui locuti sunt ad te, dicentes: Pater tuus aggravavit jugum nostrum: tu releva nos. Sic loqueris ad eos: Minimus digitus meus grossior est dorso patris mei.
11. Et nunc pater meus posuit super vos jugum grave, ego autem addam super jugum vestrum: pater meus cecidit vos flagellis, ego autem cædam vos scorpionibus.
12. Venit ergo Jeroboam et omnis populus ad Roboam die tertia, sicut locutus fuerat rex, dicens: Revertimini ad me die tertia.
13. Responditque rex populo dura, derelicto consilio seniorum quod ei dederant,
14. et locutus est eis secundum consilium juvenum, dicens: Pater meus aggravavit jugum vestrum, ego autem addam jugo vestro: pater meus cecidit vos flagellis, ego autem cædam vos scorpionibus.
15. Et non acquievit rex populo: quoniam aversatus fuerat eum Dominus, ut suscitaret verbum suum quod locutus fuerat in manu Ahiæ Silonitæ, ad Jeroboam filium Nabat.
16. Videns itaque populus quod noluisset eos audire rex, respondit ei dicens: Quæ nobis pars in David? vel quæ hæreditas in filio Isai? vade in tabernacula tua, Israël: nunc vide domum tuam, David. Et abiit Israël in tabernacula sua.
17. Super filios autem Israël, quicumque habitabant in civitatibus Juda, regnavit Roboam.
18. Misit ergo rex Roboam Aduram, qui erat super tributa: et lapidavit eum omnis Israël, et mortuus est. Porro rex Roboam festinus ascendit currum, et fugit in Jerusalem:
19. recessitque Israël a domo David usque in præsentem diem.
20. Factum est autem cum audisset omnis Israël quod reversus esset Jeroboam, miserunt, et vocaverunt eum congregato cœtu, et constituerunt eum regem super omnem Israël: nec secutus est quisquam domum David præter tribum Juda solam.
21. Venit autem Roboam Jerusalem, et congregavit universam domum Juda, et tribum Benjamin, centum octoginta millia electorum virorum bellatorum, ut pugnarent contra domum Israël, et reducerent regnum Roboam filio Salomonis.
22. Factus est autem sermo Domini ad Semeiam virum Dei, dicens:
23. Loquere ad Roboam filium Salomonis regem Juda, et ad omnem domum Juda, et Benjamin, et reliquos de populo, dicens:
24. Hæc dicit Dominus: Non ascendetis, neque bellabitis contra fratres vestros filios Israël: revertatur vir in domum suam: a me enim factum est verbum hoc. Audierunt sermonem Domini, et reversi sunt de itinere, sicut eis præceperat Dominus.
25. Ædificavit autem Jeroboam Sichem in monte Ephraim, et habitavit ibi: et egressus inde ædificavit Phanuel.
26. Dixitque Jeroboam in corde suo: Nunc revertetur regnum ad domum David,
27. si ascenderit populus iste ut faciat sacrificia in domo Domini in Jerusalem: et convertetur cor populi hujus ad dominum suum Roboam regem Juda, interficientque me, et revertentur ad eum.
28. Et excogitato consilio fecit duos vitulos aureos, et dixit eis: Nolite ultra ascendere in Jerusalem: ecce dii tui Israël, qui te eduxerunt de terra Ægypti.
29. Posuitque unum in Bethel, et alterum in Dan:
30. et factum est verbum hoc in peccatum: ibat enim populus ad adorandum vitulum usque in Dan.
31. Et fecit fana in excelsis, et sacerdotes de extremis populi, qui non erant de filiis Levi.
32. Constituitque diem solemnem in mense octavo, quintadecima die mensis, in similitudinem solemnitatis quæ celebrabatur in Juda. Et ascendens altare, similiter fecit in Bethel, ut immolaret vitulis quos fabricatus fuerat: constituitque in Bethel sacerdotes excelsorum quæ fecerat.
33. Et ascendit super altare quod exstruxerat in Bethel, quintadecima die mensis octavi, quem finxerat de corde suo: et fecit solemnitatem filiis Israël, et ascendit super altare, ut adoleret incensum.

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 20: Benjamin was a small tribe, and so intermixed with the tribe of Juda, (the very city of Jerusalem being partly in Juda, partly in Benjamin,) that they are here counted but as one tribe.
- Verse 28: “Golden calves” … It is likely, by making his gods in this form, he mimicked the Egyptians, among whom he had sojourned, who worshipped their Apis and their Osiris under the form of a bullock.
- Verse 29: “Bethel” … Bethel was a city of the tribe of Ephraim in the southern part of the dominions of Jeroboam, about six leagues from Jerusalem; Dan was in the extremity of his dominions to the north in the confines of Syria.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Fri, Feb 11, 2028 (computed): Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, 1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19
- Sat, Feb 12, 2028 (computed): Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, 1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).