2 Chronicles 10
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all the Israelites had gone to Shechem to make him king.
And Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come together to make him king.
2 Jeroboam, son of Nebat, was still in Egypt when he heard about this. (He had run away to Egypt to escape from King Solomon and was living there.)
And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had news of it, (for he was in Egypt where he had gone in flight from King Solomon, ) he came back from Egypt.
3 The Israelite leaders sent for him. Jereboam and all the Israelites went to talk with Rehoboam.
And they sent for him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said,
4 “Your father placed a heavy burden on us,” they told him. “But now if you lighten the load your father imposed and the heavy demands he laid on us, we will serve you.”
Your father put a hard yoke on us: if you will make the conditions under which your father kept us down less cruel, and the weight of the yoke he put on us less hard, then we will be your servants.
5 Rehoboam answered, “Come back in three days time.” So the people left.
And he said to them, Come to me again after three days. So the people went away.
6 King Rehoboam asked for advice from the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. “How do you advise me to reply to these people about this?” he asked.
Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people?
7 They replied, “If you treat these people well, and please them by speaking kindly to them, they will always serve you.”
And they said to him, If you are kind to this people, pleasing them and saying good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.
8 But Rehoboam dismissed the advice of the elders. He instead asked advice from the young men who he had grown up with, and who were close to him.
But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, but went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him.
9 He asked them, “What response do you advise that we send back to these people who have told me, ‘Lighten the burden your father put on us’?”
And he said to them, What is your opinion? What answer are we to give to this people who have said to me, Make less the weight of the yoke which your father put on us?
10 The young men who he had grown up with told him, “This is what you have to tell these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our burden heavy, but you should make it lighter.’ This is what you should answer them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!
And the young men of his generation said to him, This is the answer to give to the people who came to you saying, Your father put a hard yoke on us, but will you make it less; say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's body;
11 My father placed a heavy burden on you, and I will make it even heavier. My father punished you with whips; I will punish you with scorpions.’”
If my father put a hard yoke on you, I will make it harder: my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give you blows with snakes.
12 Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, because the king had told them, “Come back in three days time.”
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had given orders, saying, Come to me again on the third day.
13 The king answered them sharply. Dismissing the advice of the elders,
And the king gave them a rough answer. So King Rehoboam gave no attention to the suggestion of the old men,
14 he replied using the advice of the young men. He said, “My father placed a heavy burden on you, and I will make it even heavier. My father punished you with whips; I will punish you with scorpions.”
But gave them the answer put forward by the young men, saying, My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder; my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes.
15 The king did not listen to what the people said, for this change in circumstances was from God, to fulfill what Lord had told Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
So the king did not give ear to the people; for this came about by the purpose of God, so that the Lord might give effect to his word which he had said by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
16 When all the Israelites saw that the king wasn't listening to them, they told the king: “What share do we have in David, and what part do we have in the son of Jesse? Go home, Israel! You're on your own, house of David!” So all the Israelites went home.
And when all Israel saw that the king would give no attention to them, the people in answer said to the king, What part have we in David? what is our heritage in the son of Jesse? every man to your tents, O Israel; now see to your house, David. So all Israel went to their tents.
17 However, Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in Judah.
But Rehoboam was still king over those of the children of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly jumped into his chariot and raced back to Jerusalem.
Then Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the overseer of the forced work; and he was stoned to death by all Israel. And King Rehoboam went quickly and got into his carriage to go in flight to Jerusalem.
19 As a result, Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
So Israel was turned away from the family of David to this day.
