The Kingdom Divided

12 Then Rehoboam^(A) went to Shechem,^(B) for all Israel^(C) had gone to Shechem to make him king.^{(D) 2} When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he stayed in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence.^(E) Jeroboam stayed in Egypt.^{[a] 3} But they summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: ⁴ “Your father made our yoke harsh.^(F) You, therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us,^(G) and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam replied, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So the people left. ⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders^(H) who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people?”

⁷ They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”^(I)

⁸ But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him^(J) and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and attended him. ⁹ He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.’”^[b](K)

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him ¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.”

¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the Lord^(L) to carry out his word, which the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.^{(M) 16} When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him:

So Israel went to their tents, ¹⁷ but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.^(P)

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram,^[c](Q) who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into the chariot and flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel is still in rebellion against the house of David today.^(R)