5
Rehoboam replied, "Give me three days to consider the matter. Then come back." So the people left.
6
King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. "What answer do you advise me to give these people?" he asked.
7
They replied, "If you are kind to these people and try to please them by giving a considerate answer, they will always serve you loyally."
8
But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers.
9
"What do you advise me to do?" he asked. "What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?"
10
They replied, "This is what you should tell them: "My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.'
11
Tell them, "My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!' "
12
Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them.
13
The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people,
14
as the younger men had advised. He said, "My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!"
15
It was the will of the Lord God to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.