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.


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/result. The conditional sentence used in the present translation 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 for good to these people and you are favorable to them and speak to them good words, they will be your servants all the days.”


text: Heb “Rehoboam 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.”


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 (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). 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, but more likely it refers to a type of whip that inflicts an especially biting, painful wound.


text: Heb “Rehoboam.” The pronoun “he” has been used in the translation in place of the proper name in keeping with contemporary English style.


label: NET textual note

text: The Hebrew text reads, “I will make heavy your yoke,” but many medieval Hebrew mss and other ancient textual witnesses have, “my father made heavy your yoke.”


text: Heb “but I will add to your yoke.”


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


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


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