2 Chronicles 10 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Rehoboam went to the town of Shechem because all the people of Israel went there to make him king.

² Jeroboam was in Egypt because he ran away from King Solomon. Jeroboam was Nebat’s son. Jeroboam heard that Rehoboam was going to be the new king. So Jeroboam came back from Egypt.

³ The people of Israel called Jeroboam to come with them. Then Jeroboam and all the people of Israel went to Rehoboam. They said to him, “Rehoboam,

⁴ your father made life hard for us. It was like carrying a heavy weight. Make that weight lighter, then we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam talked with the older men who had served his father Solomon in the past. Rehoboam said to them, “What do you advise me to say to those people?”

⁷ The older men said to Rehoboam, “If you are kind to those people and please them and say good words to them, then they will serve you forever.”

⁸ But Rehoboam did not accept the advice the older men gave him. Rehoboam talked with the young men that had grown up with him and were serving him.

⁹ Rehoboam said to them, “What advice do you give me? How should we answer those people? They asked me to make their work easier. And they want me to make the weight lighter that my father put on them.”

¹⁰ Then the young men that grew up with Rehoboam said to him, “This is what you should say to the people who talked with you. The people said to you, ‘Your father made life hard for us. It was like carrying a heavy weight. But we want you to make that weight lighter.’ But Rehoboam, this is what you should say to those people: Say to them, ‘My little finger will be thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹ My father loaded you with a heavy burden. But I will make that burden heavier. 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 to Rehoboam. That is what King Rehoboam told them to do when he said, “Come back to me in three days.”

¹³ Then King Rehoboam talked to them in a mean way. King Rehoboam did not accept the advice of the older men.

¹⁴ King Rehoboam talked to the people the way the young men advised him. He said, “My father made your burden heavy, but I will make it heavier. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with whips that have sharp metal tips.”

¹⁵ So King Rehoboam did not listen to the people. He did not listen to the people because this change of things came from God. God caused this to happen. This happened so that the Lord could make his word come true that he spoke through Ahijah to Jeroboam. Ahijah was from the Shilonite people, and Jeroboam was Nebat’s son.

¹⁶ The people of Israel saw that King Rehoboam did not listen to them. Then they said to the king, “Are we part of David’s family? No! Do we get any of Jesse’s land? No! So Israel, let’s go to our own homes. Let David’s son rule his own people!” Then all the people of Israel went to their homes.

¹⁷ But there were some of the people of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah. And Rehoboam was king over those people.