2 Chronicles 10:3–11

³And they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel went, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve you.” ⁵And he said to them, “In three days return to me again.” And the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had been serving^a before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, “What word do you advise to answer this people?” ⁷And they said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them, then speak good words to them. Then they will be your servants forever.”^{b 8}But he forsook the advice of the elders that advised him and took counsel of the young men who had grown up with him who were serving^c before him. ⁹And he said to them, “What do you advise that we should say in return to this people, who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father has put upon us’?” ¹⁰Then the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus you should say to this people who have said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, so you yourself should lighten it for us.’ Thus you should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father. ¹¹So now, my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, but I myself will add to the yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I myself will do so with scorpions.’ ”