⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served^[a] his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them,^[b] “How do you advise me to answer these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “If you are fair to these people, grant their request, and are cordial to them, they will be your servants from this time forward.”^[c]