9. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we respond to these people who are asking me to lighten the burden my father put on them?”
10. The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is heavier than my father’s whole body.
11. If my father put a heavy burden on you, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.’ ”
12. So Jer o boam and all the people came back to Rehoboam two days later, as the king had instructed them.
13. The king answered the people harshly. He ignored the advice the older leaders gave him.
14. He spoke to them as the young men advised. He said, “If my father made your burden heavy, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.”
15. The king refused to listen to the people because the Lord was directing these events to carry out the promise he had made to Jer o boam (Nebat’s son) through Ahijah from Shiloh.