Rehoboam King of Judah

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.

² When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, heard about this, he returned from Egypt, ³ and the people then sent for Jeroboam.

Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke that he laid on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam said to them, “Return to me in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam asked for advice from the old men^[a] who had served his father Solomon while he was alive: “How would you advise me to respond to these people?”

⁷ They said to him, “If you are good to these people and respond favorably to their request, and you speak accommodating words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But Rehoboam did not follow the advice the old men gave him. Instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who were serving as his advisors. ⁹ He said to them, “How would you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father laid upon us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy. You make it light for us.’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.^{[b] 11} My father imposed a heavy yoke on you. I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.’”^[c]

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed: “Come back to me on the third day.”

¹³ The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the old men.

¹⁴ Instead, he spoke to them as the young men had advised: “My father made your yoke heavy. I will add to it. My father punished you with whips. I will punish you with scorpions.”

¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events was from God, so that the Lord would keep his word, as he had spoken it to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah from Shiloh.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw^[d] that the king did not listen to them, they responded to the king:

So all Israel went to their tents.^[e]

¹⁷ Rehoboam continued to rule over the people of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Hadoram,^[f] who was in charge of the forced labor, but the people of Israel stoned Hadoram to death. King Rehoboam, however, was able to get into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

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