2 Chronicles 10:1-11 ▼

1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king.

2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

3 They sent for him and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

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.|

5 He said to them, |Go away for three days, then return to me.| So the people went away.

6 King 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?|

7 They 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.|

8 But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up.

9 He asked them, |How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, 'Lessen the demands your father placed on us'?|

10 The 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!

11 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.'|