1 Kings 12:17
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain: and you shall know and see that you yourselves have done a great evil in the sight of the Lord, in desiring a king over you.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Numquid non messis tritici est hodie ? invocabo Dominum, et dabit voces et pluvias : et scietis, et videbitis, quia grande malum feceritis vobis in conspectu Domini, petentes super vos regem.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- οὐχὶ θερισμὸς πυρῶν σήμερον; ἐπικαλέσομαι Κύριον καὶ δώσει φωνὰς καὶ ὑετόν, καὶ γνῶτε καὶ ἴδετε ὅτι ἡ κακία ὑμῶν μεγάλη ἣν ἐποιήσατε ἐνώπιον Κυρίου αἰτήσαντες ἑαυτοῖς βασιλέα. ⸆
- Hebrew (WLC)
- הֲל֤וֹא קְצִיר חִטִּים֙ הַיּ֔וֹם אֶקְרָא֙ אֶל יְהוָ֔ה וְיִתֵּ֥ן קֹל֖וֹת וּמָטָ֑ר וּדְע֣וּ וּרְא֗וּ כִּֽי רָעַתְכֶ֤ם רַבָּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֤ר עֲשִׂיתֶם֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לִשְׁא֥וֹל לָכֶ֖ם מֶֽלֶךְ
Haydock's commentary
Wheat-harvest. At which time of the year it never thunders or rains in those countries. (Challoner)
The wheat-harvest is towards the end of June. The usual seasons for rain are only spring and autumn. (St. Jerome in Amos iv. 7, &c.)
Thunder. Literally, "voices," Psalm xvii. 14. (Calmet)
See. Being fully convinced by the miracle, which declares the will of God in the clearest manner. Though God was pleased thus to manifest his displeasure, at the people's assuming to themselves the right of changing the established form of government, by insisting so much upon having a king at this time, we cannot hence infer, as Paine and some late seditious writers have done, that the regal power is in itself an evil. It might be contrary to a theocracy, and still might suit the manners of some nations better than any other form. To determine precisely what sort of government is the best, would be an arduous task. We admire our own constitution; yet our ally, the prince of the Brazils, has lately forbidden any panegyric of it to be printed in his dominions. All innovations are, generally, attended with the most serious inconveniences. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.