1    ^noteRehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2   When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it in Egypt, where he had taken refuge to escape Solomon, he returned from Egypt. 3   They now recalled him, and he and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ‘Your father laid a cruel yoke upon us; 4   but if you will now lighten the cruel slavery he imposed on us and the heavy yoke he laid on us, we will serve you.’ 5   ‘Give me three days,’ he said, ‘and come back again.’ 6   So the people went away. King Rehoboam then consulted the elders who had been in attendance on his father Solomon while he lived: ‘What answer do you advise me to give to this people?’ 7   And they said, ‘If you show yourself well-disposed to this people and gratify them by speaking kindly to them, they will be your servants ever after.’ 8   But he rejected the advice which the elders gave him. He next consulted those who had grown up with him, 9   the young men in attendance, and asked them, ‘What answer do you advise me to give to this people's request that I should lighten the yoke which my father laid on them?’ 10   The young men replied, ‘Give this answer to the people who say that your father made their yoke heavy and ask you to lighten it; tell them: “My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. 11   My father laid a heavy yoke on you; I will make it heavier. My father used the whip on you; but I will use the lash.”’ 12   Jeroboam and the people all came back to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered. 13   And the king gave them a harsh answer. He rejected the advice which the elders had given him and spoke to the people as the young men had advised: 14   ‘My father made ^note your yoke heavy; I will make it heavier. My father used the whip on you; but I will use the lash.’ 15   So the king would not listen to the people; for the Lord had given this turn to the affair, in order that the word he had spoken by Ahijah of Shiloh to Jeroboam son of Nebat might be fulfilled.

16   When all Israel saw ^note that the king would not listen to them, they answered:

  What share have we in David?
    We have no lot in the son of Jesse.
  Away to your homes, O Israel;
    now see to your own house, David.

17   So all Israel went to their homes, and Rehoboam ruled over those Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

The kings from Rehoboam to Ahaz

18   Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, the commander of the forced levies, but the Israelites stoned him to death; whereupon King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and fled to Jerusalem. 19   From that day to this, Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.

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