1 Kings 12:6-15

12:6 King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served ¹  his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, ²  “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 12:7 They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” ³  12:8 But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. ⁴  12:9 He asked them, “How do you advise me ⁵  to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” ⁶  12:10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam ⁷  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.’ ⁸  Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! ⁹  12:11 My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. ¹⁰  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’” ¹¹ 

12:12 Jeroboam and all the people reported ¹²  to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, “Return to me on the third day.” 12:13 The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men 12:14 and followed ¹³  the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. ¹⁴  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” ¹⁵  12:15 The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events ¹⁶  so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made ¹⁷  through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

[12:6]  ¹ tn Heb “stood before.”

[12:6]  ² tn Heb “saying.”

[12:7]  ³ tn 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.”

[12:8]  ⁴ tn 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.

[12:9]  ⁵ tn 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.

[12:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Lighten the yoke which your father placed on us.”

[12:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”

[12:10]  ⁹ 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.

[12:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and now my father placed upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke.”

[12:11]  ¹¹ tn 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.”

[12:12]  ¹² tn Heb “came.”

[12:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and spoke to them according to.”

[12:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke.”

[12:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” See the note on the same phrase in v. 11.

[12:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “because this turn of events was from the Lord.”

[12:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “so that he might bring to pass his word which the Lord spoke.”