¹⁴ Solomon accumulated chariots^(A) and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,^[a] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The king made silver and gold^(B) as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. ¹⁶ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue^[b]—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. ¹⁷ They imported a chariot^(C) from Egypt for six hundred shekels^[c] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.^[d] They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

¹³ The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God,^(A) to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.^(B)

¹⁶ When all Israel^(C) saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

So all the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,^[a](E) who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.