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Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it (for he was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 So they summoned him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam. They said to him, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy, but if you lighten the harsh labour and the heavy yoke your father laid on us, we will serve you.”
5 Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had attended Solomon his father while he was still alive, asking, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
7 They replied to him, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favourable answer, they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the advise that the elders had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “This is how you should answer the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter for us’; this is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. 11 My father loaded a heavy yoke on you, but I will add even more to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions’.”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.” 13 The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elder’s advise, 14 and he followed the advise of the young men, and said to them, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, so that the Lord might fulfil His word which He spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered the king,
“What portion do we have in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
Each man to your tents, O Israel!
Look after your own house now, O David!”
So all Israel went to their tents. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labour, but the Israelites stoned him to death. However, King Rehoboam managed to get up into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.