Then Rehoboam went to Shechem , for all Israel had gone (there) to make him king -.
- When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this , (he) returned from Egypt , - - where he had fled from King Solomon -.
So they sent for (Jeroboam) and (he) and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said ... ,
“ 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.”
Rehoboam answered , “ Come back to me - in three days. ” So the people departed.
Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who vvv had served ... his father Solomon during his lifetime. “ How do you advise me to respond ... to these people ?” he asked.
They replied , “ If you will be kind to these people and please them by speaking kind words to them , they will be servants forever ....”
But (Rehoboam) rejected - the advice of the elders ; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
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 ’ ?”
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 !
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. ’”
After three days , Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam , since the king ... had said , “ Come back to me on the third day.”
And the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam - rejected the advice of the elders
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. ”
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.
When all Israel (saw) that the king had refused to listen to them , - they answered the king ... : “ What portion 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 ,
but Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites ... living in the cities of Judah.
Then King Rehoboam - sent out Hadoram , who was in charge of the forced labor , but the Israelites ... stoned - to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.
So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.