1 Kings 12:10

12:10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam ¹  had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ ²  Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! ³ 

1 Kings 14:5

14:5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so. ⁴  When she comes, she will be in a disguise.”

[12:10]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:10]  ² tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”

[12:10]  ³ tn 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.

[14:5]  ⁴ sn Tell her so-and-so. Certainly the Lord gave Ahijah a specific message to give to Jeroboam’s wife (see vv. 6-16), but the author of Kings here condenses the Lord’s message with the words “so-and-so.” For dramatic effect he prefers to have us hear the message from Ahijah’s lips as he speaks to the king’s wife.