Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Kings 12:23 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 23. 23Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Shemaiah stops Rehoboam's civil war.”
Rehoboam gathers an army to take the kingdom back
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 12:21–24. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Kings 12:21–24
Read 1 Kings 12:23 with 12:21–24. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Shows Rehoboam mobilizing a large Judahite-Benjaminite army to reverse the split by force; forbids civil war, names the northern Israelites as kin, and reports the army's obedience.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Shemaiah stops Rehoboam's civil war,” 1 Kings 12:23 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: Rehoboam's military response to the secession is stopped by a prophetic word that identifies the people he would fight as brethren and interprets the rupture without erasing his harsh choice.
Read 1 Kings 12:21–24 together
Why these verses belong together: Shemaiah stops Rehoboam's civil war is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 12:21–12:24.
Verse 21. 21 And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
Verse 22. 22 But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Verse 23. 23 Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,
Verse 24. 24 Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD.
What Remains True
Power remains accountable for every person exposed, silenced, displaced, injured, or killed even when the narrative also reports fulfillment or victory. This unit tests that truth through shows Rehoboam mobilizing a large Judahite-Benjaminite army to reverse the split by force; forbids civil war, names the northern Israelites as kin, and reports the army's obedience. In 1 Kings 12:23, the concrete line “Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Kings 12:21–24 — Shemaiah stops Rehoboam's civil warSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 12:21–24, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 12:21–24
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 608–610, translation and translator notes for 12:21–24
Open source ↗