The Meaning of 1 Kings 12:14 Explained

1 Kings 12:14

KJV: 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.

YLT: and speaketh unto them, according to the counsel of the lads, saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, and I add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I -- I chastise you with scorpions;'

Darby: 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 scorpions.

ASV: and spake to them after 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does 1 Kings 12:14 Mean?

Context Summary

1 Kings 12:12-24 - The Kingdom Rent In Twain
Rehoboam richly deserved his fate. He was forty-one years old, 2 Chronicles 12:13, and ought to have known better. His speech betrayed the despot. He had no right to speak with such arrogant insolence to a great and liberty-loving people. It is only a weak man who boasts of deeds he cannot perform, and there was a rasping flavor in his comparison which indicated the malice of an unregenerate heart. We have heard people speak like this to those whom they counted their inferiors, but all such words are the scattering of thistledown, which will spoil the harvests of their own fields. Learn to speak civilly, or not at all. Insist that young lads and girls keep a civil tongue in their heads. Curses are like boomerangs; they come back on the man that utters them.
Twice over we are told that it was a thing brought about by God- 1 Kings 12:15; 1 Kings 12:24. Beneath all political changes and revolutions you will find the slow evolving of a divine purpose. God does not instigate sin. This arises from man's abuse of his own free-will. But God will so control the warring wills of men that the plan of His eternal counsel and foreknowledge shall not be interfered with but furthered.
1 Kings 12:1-33 - Breaking Three Commandments
From a worldly point of view Naboth might have done a good stroke of business by selling his estate to. Ahab. A royal price and assured favor might have been his-but he had a conscience! Above the persuasive tones of the monarch's offer sounded the voice of God: "The land shall not be sold for ever, for the land is mine." See Leviticus 25:23; Numbers 36:7; Ezekiel 46:18.
Ahab knew perfectly well that Jezebel could not give him the property of another except by foul means, but he took pains not to inquire. Though the direct orders for Naboth's death did not come from him, yet, by his silence, he was an accomplice and an accessory; and divine justice penetrates all such specious excuses. God holds us responsible for wrongs which we do not arrest, though we have the power. The crime was blacker because of the pretext of religion, as suggested by a fast. See also 2 Kings 9:26. The blood of murdered innocence cries to God, and his requital, though delayed, is inevitable. See Revelation 6:9-10. [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Kings 12

1  The Israelites, assembled at Shechem to crown Rehoboam,
4  by Jeroboam make a suit of relaxation unto him
6  Rehoboam, refusing the old men's counsel, answers them roughly
16  Ten tribes revolting, kill Adoram, and make Rehoboam flee
21  Rehoboam, raising an army, is forbidden by Shemaiah
25  Jeroboam strengthens himself by cities
26  and by idolatry of the two calves

What do the individual words in 1 Kings 12:14 mean?

And he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men saying My father made heavy - your yoke but I will add to your yoke my father chastised you with whips will chastise you with scourges
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם כַּעֲצַ֤ת הַיְלָדִים֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אָבִי֙ הִכְבִּ֣יד אֶֽת־ עֻלְּכֶ֔ם וַאֲנִ֖י אֹסִ֣יף עַֽל־ עֻלְּכֶ֑ם אָבִ֗י יִסַּ֤ר אֶתְכֶם֙ בַּשּׁוֹטִ֔ים אֲיַסֵּ֥ר אֶתְכֶ֖ם בָּעַקְרַבִּֽים

וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר  And  he  spoke 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם  to  them 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine plural
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
כַּעֲצַ֤ת  according  to  the  advice 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: עֵצָה 
Sense: counsel, advice, purpose.
הַיְלָדִים֙  of  the  young  men 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: יֶלֶד  
Sense: child, son, boy, offspring, youth.
לֵאמֹ֔ר  saying 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
אָבִי֙  My  father 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.
הִכְבִּ֣יד  made  heavy 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: כָּבֵד  
Sense: to be heavy, be weighty, be grievous, be hard, be rich, be honourable, be glorious, be burdensome, be honoured.
אֶֽת־  - 
Parse: Direct object marker
Root: אֹות 
Sense: sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative.
עֻלְּכֶ֔ם  your  yoke 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: עֹל  
Sense: yoke.
וַאֲנִ֖י  but  I 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אֲנִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
אֹסִ֣יף  will  add 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: יָסַף 
Sense: to add, increase, do again.
עֻלְּכֶ֑ם  your  yoke 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: עֹל  
Sense: yoke.
אָבִ֗י  my  father 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.
יִסַּ֤ר  chastised 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יָסַר 
Sense: to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish.
בַּשּׁוֹטִ֔ים  with  whips 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: שֹׁוט 
Sense: scourge, whip.
אֲיַסֵּ֥ר  will  chastise 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: יָסַר 
Sense: to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish.
בָּעַקְרַבִּֽים  with  scourges 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עַקְרָב  
Sense: scorpion.