5. Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days, and I will answer you.” So the people left.
6. There were some older men who had helped Solomon make decisions when he was alive. So King Rehoboam asked these men what he should do. He said, “How do you think I should answer the people?”
7. They answered, “If you do what is good for the people, you will please them. If you speak kindly to them, they will always work for you.”
8. But Rehoboam did not listen to the advice from the older men. He asked the young men who were his friends.
9. Rehoboam said, “The people said, ‘Give us easier work than your father gave us.’ How do you think I should answer them? What should I tell them?”
10. Then the young men who grew up with him answered, “Those people came to you and said, ‘Your father forced us to work very hard. Now make our work easier.’ So you should tell them, ‘My little finger is stronger than my father’s whole body.
11. My father forced you to work hard, but I will make you work much harder! My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with whips that have sharp metal tips.’”
12. Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam, just as he had told them to do.
13. King Rehoboam did not listen to the advice from the older men, and he was rude to the people.
14. He did what his friends told him to do and said, “My father forced you to work hard, but I will make you work much harder! My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with whips that have sharp metal tips.”