NET Bible
"“Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.”"
— 1 Kings 12:4, NET Bible
“Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.”
“Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. ”
“"Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you."”
“Thy father laid a grievous yoke upon us: now, therefore, do thou take off a little of the grievous service of thy father, and of his most heavy yoke, which he put upon us, and we will serve thee.”
“Your father put a hard yoke on us: if you will make the conditions under which your father kept us down less cruel, and the weight of the yoke he put on us less hard, then we will be your servants.”
“Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.”
Rehoboam Loses His Kingdom Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king.
When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since.
They sent for him, and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
“Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.”
He said to them,“Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them,“How do you advise me to answer these people?”
They said to him,“Today if you will be a servant to these people and grant their request, speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants from this time forward.”