2 Chronicles 10 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Rehoboam went to Shechem, because that's where all of Israel had gathered to make him king.

When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this — he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon — he came back from Egypt.

They sent for him and called him back. So Jeroboam came with all of Israel, and they spoke to Rehoboam:

"Your father put a crushing burden on us. If you lighten the harsh labor and the heavy load your father put on us, we'll serve you."

He told them, "Come back to me in three days." So the people left.

King Rehoboam consulted the older advisors who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. "What do you advise me to tell these people?" he asked.

They told him, "If you're good to these people and show them kindness — if you give them a favorable answer — they'll serve you forever."

But he rejected the advice the older men gave him and instead consulted the young men who had grown up with him — the ones who were now his attendants.

He asked them, "What do you advise? How should we respond to these people who are asking me to lighten the burden my father put on them?"

The young men who had grown up with him said, "Here's what you should tell these people who said, 'Your father made our load heavy — make it lighter.' Tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.'"

"So — my father loaded you with a heavy burden? I'll make it even heavier. My father disciplined you with whips; I'll discipline you with scorpion-tipped whips."

On the third day, Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam, just as the king had said: "Come back to me on the third day."

The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the older advisors' counsel

and spoke to them the way the young men had advised: "My father made your burden heavy, and I'll make it even heavier. My father disciplined you with whips; I'll use scorpion-tipped whips."

The king refused to listen to the people, because this turn of events was directed by God to fulfill the message Yahweh had spoken through Ahijah from Shiloh to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

When all of Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king: "What share do we have with David? We have no stake in Jesse's son! Everyone go home, Israel! David — look after your own house now!" And all of Israel went home.

But Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.

King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam barely managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

And that's how Israel broke away from the house of David — and it's been that way ever since.