¹⁶ There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(A)

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷ So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(A)

⁴⁰ And all the people went up after him, playing pipes^(A) and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

²⁶ To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(A) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(B) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(C) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹ My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged^(A) you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord,^(B) to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah^(C) the Shilonite.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

So the Israelites went home.^(F)

⁵ Now Adonijah,^(A) whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots^(B) and horses^[a] ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. ⁶ (His father had never rebuked^(C) him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

⁷ Adonijah conferred with Joab^(D) son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar^(E) the priest, and they gave him their support.

David Returns to Jerusalem

⁹ Throughout the tribes of Israel, all the people were arguing among themselves, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines.^(A) But now he has fled the country to escape from Absalom;^(B)