1 Kings 12:6-11 - Rehoboam Seeks Counsel To Respond

⁶ And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that stood before Solomon his father, while he yet lived, and said, "What counsel give ye to answer this people withal?"

⁷ And they said unto him, "If thou shalt be a servant unto this people this day and serve them and answer them and speak kind words to them: they will be thy servants forever."

⁸ But he forsook the counsel that the old men had given him, and counselled with the young men that were nourished up with him and had waited on him. ⁹ And he said unto them, "What counsel give ye, to answer this people withal which have communed with me saying, 'Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us, lighter?'"

¹⁰ And the young men that were brought up with him, answered him, saying, "This people that have said unto thee, 'Thy father made our yoke heavy, make thou it us lighter' - thus answer them: 'My little finger shall be weightier than my father's loins! ¹¹ And now, where my father put a grievous yoke upon you, I will make it heavier. For where my father corrected you with scourges, I will chastise you with scorpions."