12 Jer·o·boʹam and all the people came to Re·ho·boʹam on the third day, just as the king had said: “Return to me on the third day.”+ 13 But the king answered them harshly. Thus King Re·ho·boʹam rejected the advice of the older men.* 14 He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying: “I will make your yoke heavier, and I will add to it. My father punished you with whips, but I will do so with scourges.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was caused by the true God,+ in order to carry out the word that Jehovah had spoken through A·hiʹjah+ the Shiʹlo·nite to Jer·o·boʹam the son of Neʹbat.