| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king. | 1Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, because all of Israel went there to install him as king. |
| 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt. | 2Nebat's son Jeroboam heard about it in Egypt, where he had fled to get away from Solomon the king. Jeroboam returned from Egypt |
| 3They sent for him and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, | 3after being summoned. When Jeroboam and all of Israel arrived, they spoke to Rehoboam, |
| 4"Your father made us work too hard! Now if you lighten the demands he made and don't make us work as hard, we will serve you." | 4"Your father made our burdens unbearable. Therefore you must lighten your father's requirements and his heavy burden that he placed on us, and we'll serve you." |
| 5He said to them, "Go away for three days, then return to me." So the people went away. | 5"Come back again in three days," Rehoboam told them. So the people left |
| 6King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, "How do you advise me to answer these people?" | 6while King Rehoboam conferred with his advisors who had worked with his father Solomon during his administration. He asked them, "What is your advice as to what response I should return to these people?" |
| 7They said to him, "If you are fair to these people, grant their request, and are cordial to them, they will be your servants from this time forward." | 7In reply, they told him, "If you will be kind to this people, please them, and speak appropriately to them with kind words, they'll serve you forever." |
| 8But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. | 8But Rehoboam ignored the counsel that his elder advisors had given him. Instead, he consulted the younger men who had grown up with him and worked for him. |
| 9He asked them, "How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, 'Lessen the demands your father placed on us'?" | 9As a result, he asked them, "What's your advice, so we can give an answer to these people who have asked me, 'Please lighten the burden that your father put on us'?" |
| 10The young advisers with whom Rehoboam had grown up said to him, "Say this to these people who have said to you, 'Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden'--say this to them: 'I am a lot harsher than my father! | 10"This is what you should tell the people who asked you 'Your father made our burden heavy, but you must make it lighter for us!'" the young men who had grown up with Rehoboam replied. "Tell them 'My little finger will be thicker than my father's whole body! |
| 11My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.'" | 11Not only that, but since my father loaded you down heavily, I'm going to add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I'm going to do so with scorpions!'" |
| 12Jeroboam and all the people reported to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, "Return to me on the third day." | 12So Jeroboam and all the people went back to Rehoboam on the third day, just as they had been directed when the king said, "Come back again in three days." |
| 13The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men | 13But the king answered them strictly and ignored the counsel of his elders. |
| 14and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, "My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh." | 14Instead, Rehoboam spoke to them along the lines of what the younger men suggested. He told them "My father burdened you heavily, but I will add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I will, too—with scorpions!" |
| 15The king refused to listen to the people, because God was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. | 15The king would not listen to the people because the turn of events was from God, so that the LORD might fulfill his prediction that he spoke through Nebat's son Ahijah the Shilonite. |
| 16When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, "We have no portion in David--no share in the son of Jesse! Return to your homes, O Israel! Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!" So all Israel returned to their homes. | 16All of Israel—since the king wasn't going to listen to them—the people responded to the king, "What's the point in following David? We have no inheritance in the descendants of Jesse. Let's go home, Israel! David, take care of your own household!' So all of Israel left for home. |
| 17(Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.) | 17And so Rehoboam ruled over the Israelis who lived in the cities of Judah. |
| 18King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the supervisor of the work crews, out after them, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. | 18King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of conscripted labor, but the Israelis stoned him to death, and King Rehoboam had to jump in his chariot and flee back in a hurry to Jerusalem. |
| 19So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day. | 19That's how Israel came to be in rebellion against David's dynasty to this day. |
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