1 Kings 12:26
in 1 Kings 12Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now will the kingdom return to the house of David:
KJV
And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
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This verse in 1 Kings 12
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Jeroboam’s fear was lest a reaction should set in, and a desire for reunion manifest itself. He was not a man content to remain quiet, trusting simply to the promise made him 1Ki 11:38. Hence, he gave way to the temptation of helping forward the plans of Providence by the crooked devices of a merely human policy. His measures, like all measures which involve a dereliction of principle, brought certain evils in their train, and drew down divine judgment on himself. But they fully secured the object at which he aimed.
This site's exposition
Now shall the kingdom return
on 1 Kings 12:26-27
Jeroboam reasons within himself rather than inquiring of the Lord who had just given him the kingdom, and his fear is that pilgrimage to Jerusalem's temple will pull the people's hearts back to Rehoboam and cost him his life. The reasoning is the forfeiture of thread two in real time: at 11:38 the Lord had offered Jeroboam the same sure house built for David, on the condition that he keep the statutes as David did, and here in his own heart he trades that promise for a policy he can control himself. Matthew Henry names the root of it directly: a practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our treacherous departures from him.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Said, &c. - Reasoned within himself. The phrase discovers the fountain of his error, that he did not consult with God, who had given him the kingdom; as in all reason, and justice, and gratitude he should have done: nor believed God's promise, chap. xi, 38, but his own carnal policy.
He was distrustful of the promise of God, could not take his word that, if he would keep close to his duty, God would build him a sure house ( ch. xi. 38 ); but he would contrive ways and means, and sinful ones too, for his own safety. A practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our treacherous departures from him.
And Jeroboam said in his heart, As he was musing about the state of his kingdom and the affairs of it: now shall the kingdom return to the house of David; such were his fears, unless some method could be taken to prevent it, particularly with respect to religion, which was what his thoughts were employed about.
Sin is a bad way of building up a family. Rehoboam was the son of the wisest of men, yet did not inherit his father's wisdom, and then it stood him in little stead to inherit his father's throne. Neither wisdom nor grace runs in the blood.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The latter place was the most frequented--for the words (1Ki 12:30) should be rendered, "the people even to Dan went to worship before the one" (Jer 48:13; The innovation was a sin because it was setting up the worship of God by symbols and images and departing from the place where He had chosen to put His name.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֥אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יָרָבְעָ֖ם | yaraveam | Jeroboam | H3379 → | 104 times |
| בְּלִבּ֑וֹ | belibo | in heart his | H3820 → | 595 times |
| עַתָּ֛ה | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| תָּשׁ֥וּב | tashuv | it will return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| הַמַּמְלָכָ֖ה | hamamlakhah | the kingdom | H4467 → | 117 times |
| לְבֵ֥ית | leveit | to [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| דָּוִֽד׃ | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
וַיֹּ֥אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יָרָבְעָ֖םJeroboam
yaraveamH3379 →104 times
בְּלִבּ֑וֹin heart his
beliboH3820 →595 times
עַתָּ֛הnow
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
תָּשׁ֥וּבit will return
tashuvH7725 →1056 times
הַמַּמְלָכָ֖הthe kingdom
hamamlakhahH4467 →117 times
לְבֵ֥יתto [the] house of
leveitH1004 →2046 times
דָּוִֽד׃David
davidH1732 →999 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Chronicles 20:20Early in the morning they got up and left for the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, “Hear me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the…
it leads to
- Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 8:31
What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- John 14:1
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.
- John 11:40
Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
- Luke 16:31
Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
- Hebrews 11:6
Through
Psalms 14:1The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
it leads to
- Psalms 10:4
In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.
- Psalms 53:1
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Romans 3:10–12
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
- Psalms 10:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.