1Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2Now when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it—he was in Egypt, where he had fled from before King Solomon—Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
3So they sent and called for him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying:
4“Your father made our yoke harsh; now therefore lighten your father’s harsh service and his heavy yoke that he placed upon us, and we will serve you.”
5And he said to them, “Come back to me again after three days.” So the people went away.
6Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he was alive, saying, “How do you advise me to reply to this people?”
7And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all the days.”
8But he forsook the counsel of the elders that they had given him, and he took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, those who stood before him.
9And he said to them, “What do you advise, that we should reply to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father placed upon us’?”
10Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you—lighten it from upon us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.
11And now, my father loaded upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I with scorpions.’”
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said, saying, “Come back to me on the third day.”
13And the king answered them harshly; King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders,
14and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “I will make your yoke heavy, and I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I with scorpions.”
15So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events from God, in order that Yahweh might fulfill his word that he had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David!” So all Israel went away to their tents.
17But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him with stones so that he died; and King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
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