⁹ Rehoboam said to them, “What do you counsel that we give as a response to this people who have spoken to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father placed on us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him said, “So you should speak to the people who have spoken to you saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it from us.’ So you will say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Whereas my father placed a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke. My father chastened you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”