2 Chronicles 10:10

10:10 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 

2 Chronicles 10:14

10:14 and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; ⁴  I will make them even heavier. ⁵  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” ⁶ 

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

² tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”

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 (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.

⁴ tc 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.”

⁵ tn Heb “but I will add to your yoke.”

⁶ tn 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.