2 Chronicles 10

1Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

2And when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from before King Solomon), Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

3So they sent and called for him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

4Your father made our yoke heavy. So now lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will serve you.

5And he said to them, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.

6Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”

7They spoke to him, saying, “If you will be good to this people, and if you please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all your days.”

8But he abandoned the advice of the elders that they had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

9And he said to them, “What do you advise, so that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”

10The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “This is what you shall say to the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us.’ Thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.’”

11And now, my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I with scorpions.

12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had said, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”

13And the king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders.

14He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “I will make your yoke heavier, and I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I with scorpions.”

15So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, so that Yahweh might establish his word that he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

16And all Israel, because the king did not listen to them, answered the king, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each man to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents.

17But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.

18Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, but the sons of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam strengthened himself to get up into the chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.