translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “come [to].”


text: Heb “him”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


label: NET textual note

text: Verse 2 is not included in the Old Greek translation. See the note on 11:43 .


text: Heb “and Jeroboam lived in Egypt.” The parallel text in 2 Chr 10:2 reads, “and Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” In a purely consonantal text the forms “and he lived” and “and he returned” are identical ( וישׁב ).


text: Heb “They sent and called for him.”


text: Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”


text: Heb “but you, now, lighten the burdensome work of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” In the Hebrew text the prefixed verbal form with vav ( וְנַעַבְדֶךָ , [ vÿna ’ avdekha ] “and we will serve you”) following the imperative ( הָקֵל [ haqel ], “lighten”) indicates purpose (or result). The conditional sentence used in the translation above is an attempt to bring out the logical relationship between these forms.


text: Heb “stood before.”


text: Heb “saying.”


text: Heb “If today you are a servant to these people and you serve them and answer them and speak to them good words, they will be your servants all the days.”


text: Heb “He rejected the advice of the elders which they advised and he consulted the young men with whom he had grown up, who stood before him.” The referent (Rehoboam) of the initial pronoun (“he”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: In the Hebrew text the verb “we will respond” is plural, although it can be understood as an editorial “we.” The ancient versions have the singular here.


text: Heb “Lighten the yoke which your father placed on us.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”


text: Heb “My little one is thicker than my father’s hips.” The referent of “my little one” is not clear. The traditional view is that it refers to the little finger. As the following statement makes clear, Rehoboam’s point is that he is more harsh and demanding than his father.


text: Heb “and now my father placed upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke.”


text: Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” “Scorpions” might allude to some type of torture using poisonous insects, but more likely it refers to a type of whip that inflicts an especially biting, painful wound. Cf. CEV “whips with pieces of sharp metal.”


text: Heb “came.”


text: Heb “and spoke to them according to.”


text: Heb “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke.”


text: Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” See the note on the same phrase in v. 11 .


text: Heb “because this turn of events was from the Lord. ”


text: Heb “so that he might bring to pass his word which the Lord spoke.”


text: Heb “to your tents, Israel.” The word “return” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “Now see your house, David.”


text: Heb “went to their tents.”


text: The MT has “Adoram” here, but the Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta have “Adoniram.” Cf. 1 Kgs 4:6 .


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Heb “there was no one [following] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah, it alone.”


text: Heb “he summoned all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men, accomplished in war.”


text: Heb “and the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying.”


text: The Old Greek translation has here a lengthy section consisting of twenty-three verses that are not found in the MT.


text: Heb “said in his heart.”


text: Heb “Now the kingdom could return to the house of David.” The imperfect verbal form translated “could return” is understood as having a potential force here. Perhaps this is not strong enough; another option is “will return.”


text: Heb “the heart of these people could return to their master.”


text: The words “with his advisers” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Heb “to them,” although this may be a corruption of “to the people.” Cf. the Old Greek translation.


text: For location see Map4-G4 ; Map5-C1 ; Map6-E3 ; Map7-D1 ; Map8-G3 .


text: Heb “and this thing became a sin.”


text: The MT reads “and the people went before the one to Dan.” It is likely that some words have been accidentally omitted and that the text originally said, “and the people went before the one at Bethel and before the one at Dan.”


text: The Hebrew text has the singular, but the plural is preferable here (see 1 Kgs 13:32 ). The Old Greek translation and the Vulgate have the plural.


text: Heb “and he offered up [sacrifices] on the altar; he did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made.”


text: Heb “which he had chosen by himself.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Jeroboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.