2 Chronicles 10

1 And Rehoboam came to Shechem, for all Israel was coming to Shechem to make him king. 2 And when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it — he was in Egypt, where he had fled from before Solomon the king, and Jeroboam had settled in Egypt — Jeroboam came back out of Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam came, and the whole assembly of Israel with him, to Rehoboam, and they said, 4 “Your father made our yoke hard. Now give us relief from your father’s hard service and from his heavy yoke, which he laid on us, and we will serve you.” [a] 5 And he said to them, “Go, until three days have passed, and then come to me.” And the people went away.

6 And King Rehoboam gathered the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he was alive, and he said, “How do you counsel me to give this people an answer?” 7 And they spoke to him and said, “If today you are good to this people, and are pleased with them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all the days.”

8 But he abandoned the counsel of the elders, who had counseled him, and he took counsel with the young men who had been brought up with him, who stood before him. [b] 9 And he said to them, “What do you counsel, that I may give an answer to this people, who spoke to me and said, ‘Give us relief from the yoke that your father laid on us’?” 10 And the young men who had been brought up with him spoke to him, “This is what you are to say to the people who spoke to you and said, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, and you, lighten it from us’ — this is what you are to say: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 And now: my father disciplined you with a heavy yoke, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.’” [c]

12 And 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 And the king answered harshly, and King Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of the elders, 14 and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 And the king did not listen to the people, for the turn of things came from God: the Lord has raised up his word, which he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat [d] 16 and concerning all Israel. For the king did not listen to them. And the people answered the king and said, “What share have we in David? What inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, Israel! Now look to your own house, David.” And all Israel went to their tents. [f]

17 But as for the men of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah — over them Rehoboam reigned. [g] 18 And King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was over the tribute, and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam hurried to get up into his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. [h] 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.