⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had been serving^a before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, “How are you advising me to answer this people?”^b ⁷They said to him, “If you will be a servant today to this people, then you will serve them; and if you answer them and speak good words to them, they will always be your servants.” ⁸But he rejected the advice of the old men, which they gave him, and he consulted with the youngsters who had grown up with him, who were serving^c before him. ⁹He said to them, “What are you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us.’ ” ¹⁰Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹So then, my father loaded a heavy yoke on all of you, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’ ”

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Footnotes

aLiterally “standing”
bLiterally “to return a word to this people”
cLiterally “standing”