7
And they said to him, "If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."
8
But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
9
And he said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?"
10
And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us'; thus shall you say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.
11
And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'"
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.