2 Chronicles 10
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
2 Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it while he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
3 They sent for him, and Jeroboam came with all Israel. They said to Rehoboam:
4 “Your father made our yoke harsh. Now ease your father’s hard labor and the heavy yoke he placed on us, and we will serve you.”
5 He said to them, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.
6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive. He asked, “What advice do you give me about how to answer these people?”
7 They replied, “If you are good to these people, please them, and speak kindly to them, they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the advice the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
9 He asked them, “What advice do you give, so we can answer these people who said to me, ‘Ease the yoke your father placed on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is what you should say to the people who told you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should lighten our burden.’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.’”
11 “‘Now, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
12 Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said: “Come back to me on the third day.”
13 The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elders’ advice.
14 He spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “I will make your yoke heavy, and I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
15 The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from God, so that the LORD might fulfill the word he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king: “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So all Israel went to their tents.
17 But Rehoboam ruled over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.
18 King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to climb into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
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