2Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it. He was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. When he heard, Jeroboam came back from Egypt.
3They sent for him and called him. So Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam. They said,
4"Your father made our yoke hard to bear. Now make the hard service of your father lighter, and lift some of the heavy yoke that he laid on us, and we will serve you."
5He said to them, "Come back to me after three days." So the people went away.
6King Rehoboam asked advice from the old men who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He said, "What advice do you give me, so that I may answer this people?"
7They said to him, "If you are kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants for ever."
8But he turned away from the advice the old men gave him. He asked advice from the young men who had grown up with him and who served him.
9He said to them, "What advice do you give, so that we may answer this people? They said to me, 'Make the yoke your father laid on us lighter.'"
10The young men who had grown up with him said to him, "This is what you should say to the people who spoke to you and said, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter for us.' Say this to them: 'My little finger shall be thicker than my father's waist.'"
11"'My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.'"
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had told them: "Come back to me on the third day."
13The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam turned away from the advice of the old men.
14He answered them as the young men had advised. He said, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions."
15So the king did not listen to the people. This turn of events came from God, so that the LORD might carry out his word, which he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king. They said, "What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, Israel. And now, David, look after your own house." So all Israel went to their tents.
18Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labour. The children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. But King Rehoboam hurried to get into his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.