8
But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
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He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
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The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
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My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”
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Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.”
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The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders,
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he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”
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So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.