1 Kings 12:14

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) 1 Kings 12:14 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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1 Kings 12:14 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/1-kings/12/14.

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English Translation
and spoke 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.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    and spoke 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.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    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.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I, I will discipline you with scorpions.”

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    and spoke 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.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.”
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.”
  • King James Version Public Domain
    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.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    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.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    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;
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And spake to them after the counsell of the yong men, saying, My father made your yoke grieuous, and I will make your yoke more grieuous: my father hath chastised you with rods, but I will correct you with scourges.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And he 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 beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    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;'
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and speaks to them, according to the counsel of the boys, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I discipline you with scorpions”;
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    He spoke to them following the advice of the young men; he said, “My father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.”
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I, I will discipline you with scorpions.”
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    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.”
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And spoke 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.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    he replied using the advice of the young men. He said, “My father placed a heavy burden on you, and I will make it even heavier. My father punished you with whips; I will punish you with scorpions.”
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    But giving them the answer put forward by the young men, saying, My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder; my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    and spoke 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.'

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

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בָּעַקְרַבִּֽים
ʻaqrâb
H6137
“in/at the · scorpions”
Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
Part of Speech
Preposition + Noun
Type
Common
Gender
Masculine
Number
Plural
State
Absolute
Full BDB Definition

Origin: of uncertain derivation

TWOT: 1683

scorpion
  1. וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר dâbar H1696 “and · to speak” Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  2. אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם ʼêl H413 “to · them” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  3. כַּעֲצַ֤ת ʻêtsâh H6098 “like/as · counsel of” Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct
  4. הַיְלָדִים֙ yeled H3206 “the · children” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  5. לֵאמֹ֔ר ʼâmar H559 “to say” Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  6. אָבִי֙ ʼâb H1 “father · my” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  7. הִכְבִּ֣יד kâbad H3513 “to be heavy” Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  8. אֶֽת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  9. עֻלְּכֶ֔ם ʻôl H5923 “yoke · your” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural
  10. וַאֲנִ֖י ʼănîy H589 “and · I” Conjunction + Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  11. אֹסִ֣יף yâçaph H3254 “to add” Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  12. עַֽל ʻal H5921 “upon” Preposition
  13. עֻלְּכֶ֑ם ʻôl H5923 “yoke · your” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural
  14. אָבִ֗י ʼâb H1 “father · my” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  15. יִסַּ֤ר yâçar H3256 “to discipline” Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  16. אֶתְכֶם֙ ʼêth H853 “- · you” Particle, Direct Object + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural
  17. בַּשּׁוֹטִ֔ים shôwṭ H7752 “in/at the · whips” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  18. וַאֲנִ֕י ʼănîy H589 “and · I” Conjunction + Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  19. אֲיַסֵּ֥ר yâçar H3256 “to discipline” Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  20. אֶתְכֶ֖ם ʼêth H853 “- · you” Particle, Direct Object + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

21
words
15
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is בָּעַקְרַבִּֽים scorpion H6137 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בָּעַקְרַבִּֽים scorpion H6137 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 6 verbs
  • 8 nouns
  • 2 pronouns
  • 2 prepositions
  • 3 particles

Verb forms

  • וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר Piel · Sequential Imperfect
  • לֵאמֹ֔ר Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • הִכְבִּ֣יד Hiphil · Perfect
  • אֹסִ֣יף Hiphil · Imperfect
  • יִסַּ֤ר Piel · Perfect
  • אֲיַסֵּ֥ר Piel · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • אָבִי֙ father H1 ×2
  • עֻלְּכֶ֔ם yoke H5923 ×2
  • יִסַּ֤ר to discipline H3256 ×2
  • וַאֲנִ֖י I H589 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 38 words from the Hebrew and 40 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 21 Hebrew tokens and 35 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

15

Topical passages linked to 1 Kings 12:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Exodus 5:5–9 Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens."
  • Exodus 5:16–18 No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and, behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people."
  • 1 Kings 12:10–11 The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus shall you tell this people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but make you it lighter to us; thus shall you speak to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.
  • Exodus 1:14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
  • 2 Chronicles 22:4–5 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab; for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
  • Esther 1:16–21 Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the peoples who are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.
  • Esther 2:2–4 Then said the king's servants who ministered to him, Let there be beautiful young virgins sought for the king:
  • Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are just, But the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
  • Proverbs 13:10 Pride only breeds quarrels, But with ones who take advice is wisdom.
  • Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
  • Proverbs 17:14 The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, Therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.
  • Ecclesiastes 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
  • Isaiah 19:11–13 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
  • Daniel 6:7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of you, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
  • James 3:14–4:2 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and don't lie against the truth.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Kings 12:14 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם כַּעֲצַ֤ת הַיְלָדִים֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אָבִי֙ הִכְבִּ֣יד אֶֽת עֻלְּכֶ֔ם וַאֲנִ֖י אֹסִ֣יף עַֽל עֻלְּכֶ֑ם אָבִ֗י יִסַּ֤ר אֶתְכֶם֙ בַּשּׁוֹטִ֔ים וַאֲנִ֕י אֲיַסֵּ֥ר אֶתְכֶ֖ם בָּעַקְרַבִּֽים

and spoke 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.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Kings 12:14 Septuagint · lemma form

καί λαλέω πρός αὐτός κατά ὁ βουλή ὁ παιδάριον λέγω ὁ πατήρ ἐγώ βαρύνω ὁ κλοιός σύ καΐἐγώ προςτίθημι ἐπί ὁ κλοιός σύ ὁ πατήρ ἐγώ παιδεύω σύ ἐν μάστιξ καΐἐγώ παιδεύω σύ ἐν σκορπίος

And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וּמַלֵיל עִמְהוֹן כְּמִלְכָּא דְיַנְקַיָא לְמֵימָר אַבָּא אַתְקֵיף יַת נִירְכוֹן וַאֲנָא אוֹסִיף עַל נִירְכוֹן אַבָּא רְדָא יַתְכוֹן בְּשַׁרְבִיטִין וַאֲנָא אֶרְדֵי יַתְכוֹן בְּמַרְגְנִין:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 1 Kings 12:14 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

1Ki 12:14 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.

Ver. 14. And spake to them after the counsel of the young men.] This was egregious folly. Green wood is ever shrinking and warping: whereas the well seasoned holdeth a constant firmness.

But I will chastise you with scorpions.] Vox haec dignior est carnifice quam rege. See 1Ki 12:11.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people,.... To lessen their taxes, and ease them of their burdens, as they desired:

for the cause was from the Lord; it was according to his will and appointment; the defection of the people was willed by the Lord, and various things in Providence turned up to alienate their minds from Rehoboam, and dispose them to a revolt from him in favour of Jeroboam; and the Lord suffered the counsellors of Rehoboam to give him the advice they did, and gave him up to the folly of his own heart to take it:

that he might perform his saying, which the Lord spake to Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat; see Kg1 11:29.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

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.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 21 words (15 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻaqrâb (“scorpion”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “scorpion” (ʻaqrâb) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. How does Deuteronomy 8:15, which shares the word «scorpion», read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “father” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  5. «וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר» is a Piel Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  6. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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