5
Rehoboam answered, "Come back to me in three days." So the people went away.
6
Then King Rehoboam asked the elders for advice. They had served his father Solomon while he was still living. Rehoboam asked them, "What advice can you give me? How should I answer these people?"
7
They replied, "Be kind to them. Please them. Give them what they are asking for. Then they'll always serve you."
8
But Rehoboam didn't accept the advice the elders gave him. He asked for advice from the young men who had grown up with him and were now serving him.
9
He asked them, "What's your advice? How should I answer these people? They said to me, 'Make the load your father put on our shoulders lighter.' "