⁸ But Rehoboam ·rejected this advice [^Ldisregarded/forsook the counsel given by the elders]. Instead, he asked the young men who had grown up with him and who served ·as his advisers [^Lhim]. ⁹ Rehoboam asked them, “What is your ·advice [counsel]? How should we answer these people who said, ‘·Don’t make us work as hard as your father did’ [^LLighten the yoke that your father put on us]?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him answered, “Those people said to you, ‘Your father ·forced us to work very hard [^Lmade our yoke heavy]. Now make our work ·easier [lighter].’ You should tell them, ‘My little finger is ·bigger [thicker] than my father’s ·legs [^Lloins; ^Cmore manly].