But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:

But he left the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and stood before him.

But he forsook the advice of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, who had grown up with him, that stood before him.

And he forsaketh the counsel of the elders which they counselled him, and consulteth with the lads who have grown up with him, who are standing before him;

But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, and went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him:

But he abandoned the counsel of the old men, which they had given to him. And he consulted the young men who had been raised with him, and who were assisting him.

The age of Rehoboam at his accession is an interesting and difficult question. According to the formal statement of the present text of 1-Kings 14:21; 2-Chronicles 12:13, he had reached the mature age of 41 years, and would therefore be unable to plead youth as an excuse for his conduct. The general narrative, however, seems to assume that he was quite a young man (compare 2-Chronicles 13:7). Perhaps the best way of removing the whole difficulty would be to read in the above text "twenty-one" for "forty-one." The corruption is one which might easily take place, if letters were used for numerals.

But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him,.... He did not rightly relish it, nor cordially receive it; it did not suit with his haughty temper, he could not brook it, to stoop to his people; he thought it a lessening of his dignity to do anything that looked like courting their favour; and therefore determined not to take the advice given him by the old men, but to seek for other:
and consulted with the men, that were grown up with him, and which stood before him; the sons of nobles, with whom he had his education, and who were his companions from his youth upwards, and who were now officers in his court, and of his privy council, being his favourites, and those he consulted on this occasion; and though they are called young men, as they were in comparison of the old men, yet since they were contemporary with Rehoboam, who was now forty one years of age, they must be about forty, or not much under, and at an age to be wiser than they appeared to be.

Young men - So called, comparatively to the old men: otherwise they were near forty years old.