3 Kings 12:16
Then the people seeing that the king would not hearken to them, answered him, saying: What portion have we in David? or what inheritance in the son of Isai? Go home to thy dwellings, O Israel, now David look to thy own house. So Israel departed to their dwellings.
Open 3 Kings 12:16 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Videns itaque populus quod noluisset eos audire rex, respondit ei dicens : Quæ nobis pars in David ? vel quæ hæreditas in filio Isai ? vade in tabernacula tua, Israël : nunc vide domum tuam, David. Et abiit Israël in tabernacula sua.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶδον πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ ὅτι οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν· καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ὁ λαὸς τῷ βασιλεῖ λέγων Τίς ἡμῖν μερὶς ἐν Δαυείδ; καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν κληρονομία ἐν υἱῷ Ἰεσσαί· ἀπότρεχε, Ἰσραήλ, εἰς τὰ σκηνώματά σου· νῦν βόσκε τὸν οἶκόν σου, Δαυείδ. καὶ ἀπῆλθεν Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τὰ σκηνώματα αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיַּ֣רְא כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל כִּ֠י לֹֽא שָׁמַ֣ע הַמֶּלֶךְ֮ אֲלֵיהֶם֒ וַיָּשִׁ֣בוּ הָעָ֣ם אֶת הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ דָּבָ֣ר לֵאמֹ֡ר מַה לָּנוּ֩ חֵ֨לֶק בְּדָוִ֜ד וְלֹֽא נַחֲלָ֣ה בְּבֶן יִשַׁ֗י לְאֹהָלֶ֨יךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַתָּ֕ה רְאֵ֥ה בֵיתְךָ֖ דָּוִ֑ד וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְאֹהָלָֽיו
Haydock's commentary
Look to. Chaldean, "rule over thy own tribe." They imitate those who give a bill of divorce. (Calmet)
Herein they were not excusable, no more than those who persecuted God's people, though he permitted their wickedness, to chastise the guilty. (Menochius)
Seba had formerly withdrawn the people from David in the same manner, 2 Kings xx. 1. (Haydock)
Abulensis thinks that as God had chosen Jeroboam, and his rival acted tryannically, the people did right. (Tirinus)
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.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter V. Those things which are generally looked on as good are mostly hindrances to a blessed life, and those which are looked on as evil are the materials out of which virtues grow. What belongs to blessedness is shown by other examples
17. Wherefore Naboth was blessed, even though he was stoned by the rich; weak and poor, as opposed to the royal resources, he was rich in his aim and his religion; so rich, indeed, that he would not exchange the inheritance of the vineyard received from his father for the king’s money; and on this account was he perfect, for he defended the rights of his forefathers with his own blood. Thus, also, Ahab was wretched on his own showing, for he caused the poor man to be put to death, so as to take possession of his vineyard himself.
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XVIII. We learn from the fact of the separation of the ten tribes from King Rehoboam what harm bad counsellors can do
94. Angered by this answer, the people said: “We have no portion in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse. Return to your tents, O Israel. For we will not have this man for a prince or a leader over us.” So, forsaken and deserted by the people, he could keep with him scarce two of the ten tribes for David’s sake.