2 Chroniques 10

Israel rejects Rehoboam

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gathered at Shechem to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he was in Egypt, where he had taken refuge from King Solomon, and he returned from Egypt.^{a 3}So they sent and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴“Your father made our yoke hard. Now ease the harsh labor your father demanded and the heavy yoke he laid on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵He said to them, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people left.

⁶King Rehoboam then consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive. “What answer do you advise me to give this people?” he asked. ⁷They answered him, “If you are kind to this people and show them favor, and speak kind words to them, they will always be your servants.” ⁸But he rejected the advice the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and now served him. ⁹He asked them, “What do you advise? How should we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” ¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him answered, “The people said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter for us.’ Give them this answer: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹So then: my father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will make your yoke heavier still. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.’”^b

The harsh answer

¹²On the third day Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam, as the king had told them: “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³The king gave them a harsh answer. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders. ¹⁴He spoke to them as the young men had advised: “I will make your yoke heavy, and I will add to its weight. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.”^{c 15}So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events came from God, so that the LORD might fulfill the word he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. ¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king: \q “What part do we have in David? \q We have no inheritance in Jesse’s son! \q Each man to your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” \q So all Israel went home.

¹⁷But Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah. ¹⁸King Rehoboam then sent Hadoram, the officer over the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get up into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.^d