²³ He dealt wisely, and ^[a]dispersed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to every ^(A)fortified city; and he gave them provisions in abundance. He also sought many wives for them.

⁸ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than ^(A)the sons of light.

³ Their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.

^8 (A)But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[a]scourges!’ ”

¹² So ^(B)Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, ^[b]“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[c]scourges!” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people; ^(C)for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill His ^(D)word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

⁵ Then ^(A)Adonijah the ^[a]son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will ^[b]be king”; and ^(B)he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶ (And his father had not ^[c]rebuked him at any time by saying, “Why have you done so?” He was also very good-looking. ^(C)His mother had borne him after Absalom.)

⁶ But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he ^(A)sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to ^(B)the country of the east.