2 Chronicles 10
1 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither all Israel were assembled, to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he returned from Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon.
And when Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was in Egypt, (for he was fled thither from Solomon, ) heard it, forthwith he returned.
3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said,
And they sent for him, and he came with all Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying:
4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you should lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
Thy father oppressed us with a most grievous yoke, do thou govern us with a lighter hand than thy father, who laid upon us a heavy servitude, and ease some thing of the burden, that we may serve thee.
5 Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people departed.
And he said to them: Come to me again after three days. And when the people were gone,
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.
He took counsel with the ancients, who had stood before his father Solomon, while he yet lived, saying: What counsel give you to me, that I may answer the people?
7 They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
And they said to him: If thou please this people, and soothe them with kind words, they will be thy servants for ever.
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
But he forsook the counsel of the ancients, and began to treat with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and were in his train.
9 He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
And he said to them: What seemeth good to you? or what shall I answer this people, who have said to me: Ease the yoke which thy father laid upon us?
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!
But they answered as young men, and brought up with him in pleasures, and said: Thus shalt thou speak to the people, that said to thee: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease it: thus shalt thou answer them: My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father.
11 Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, and I will add more weight to it: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.
12 After three days, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, since the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.”
So Jeroboam, and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as he commanded them.
13 And the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders
And the king answered roughly, leaving the counsel of the ancients.
14 and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”
And he spoke according to the advice of the young men: My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, which I will make heavier: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.
15 So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from God, in order that the LORD might fulfill the word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
And he condescended not to the people’s requests: for it was the will of God, that his word might be fulfilled which he had spoken by the hand of Ahias the Silonite to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So all the Israelites went home,
And all the people upon the king’s speaking roughly, said thus unto him: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to thy dwellings, O Israel, and do thou, O David, feed thy own house. And Israel went away to their dwellings.
17 but Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
But Roboam reigned over the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.
And king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tributes, and the children of Israel stoned him, and he died: and king Roboam made haste to gee up into his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem.
19 So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.
And Israel revolted from the house of David unto this day.
