And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Parallel translations
- WEB and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
- BSB and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”
- NKJV and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”
- NASB and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!”
- NLT and followed the counsel of his younger advisers. He told the people, “My father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Rehoboam threatens to make the yoke heavier and the punishment harsher, following his peers' advice. He chooses tyranny over compassion.
Overview
Adopting the young men's words, Rehoboam vows to increase the people's burden and chastise them with scorpions. His arrogance answers a reasonable plea with cruelty. The folly of this reply directly provokes the northern tribes to rebel, demonstrating how pride in leadership brings ruin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Exod 5:5–9And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
- 1 Kgs 12:10–11And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.
- Exod 5:16–18There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.
- Eccl 7:8Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
- 2 Chr 22:4–5Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction.
- Esth 2:2–4Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
- Jas 3:14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
- Prov 17:14The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.
- Dan 6:7All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
- Prov 16:18Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
- Isa 19:11–13Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
- Exod 1:14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
- Esth 1:16–21And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.
- Prov 13:10Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.
- Prov 12:5The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
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Original language
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