2 Chronicles 10

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¹And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither all Israel were assembled, to make him king.

²And when Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was in Egypt, (for he was fled thither from Solomon,) heard it, forthwith he returned.

³And they sent for him, and he came with all Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying:

⁴Thy father oppressed us with a most grievous yoke, do thou govern us with a lighter hand than thy father, who laid upon us a heavy servitude, and ease some thing of the burden, that we may serve thee.

⁵And he said to them: Come to me again after three days. And when the people were gone,

⁶He took counsel with the ancients, who had stood before his father Solomon, while he yet lived, saying: What counsel give you to me, that I may answer the people?

⁷And they said to him: If thou please this people, and soothe them with kind words, they will be thy servants for ever.

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the ancients, and began to treat with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and were in his train.

⁹And he said to them: What seemeth good to you? or what shall I answer this people, who have said to me: Ease the yoke which thy father laid upon us?

¹⁰But they answered as young men, and brought up with him in pleasures, and said: Thus shalt thou speak to the people, that said to thee: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease it: thus shalt thou answer them: My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father.

¹¹My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, and I will add more weight to it: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.

¹²So Jeroboam, and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as he commanded them.

¹³And the king answered roughly, leaving the counsel of the ancients.

¹⁴And he spoke according to the advice of the young men: My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, which I will make heavier: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions.

¹⁵And he condescended not to the people’s requests: for it was the will of God, that his word might be fulfilled which he had spoken by the hand of Ahias the Silonite to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.

¹⁶And all the people upon the king’s speaking roughly, said thus unto him: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to thy dwellings, O Israel, and do thou, O David, feed thy own house. And Israel went away to their dwellings.

¹⁷But Roboam reigned over the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda.

¹⁸And king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tributes, and the children of Israel stoned him, and he died: and king Roboam made haste to gee up into his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem.

¹⁹And Israel revolted from the house of David unto this day.