3 Kings 12:4
Thy father laid a grievous yoke upon us: now therefore do thou take off a little of the grievous service of thy father, and of his most heavy yoke, which he put upon us, and we will serve thee.
Open 3 Kings 12:4 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →In the palace
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Pater tuus durissimum jugum imposuit nobis : tu itaque nunc imminue paululum de imperio patris tui durissimo, et de jugo gravissimo quod imposuit nobis, et serviemus tibi.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ὁ πατήρ σου ἐβάρυνεν τὸν κλοιὸν ἡμῶν· καὶ σὺ νῦν κούφισον ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ πατρός σου τῆς σκληρᾶς καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κλοιοῦ αὐτοῦ τοῦ βαρέως οὗ ἔδωκεν ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς, καὶ δουλεύσομέν σοι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- אָבִ֖יךָ הִקְשָׁ֣ה אֶת עֻלֵּ֑נוּ וְאַתָּ֡ה עַתָּ֣ה הָקֵל֩ מֵעֲבֹדַ֨ת אָבִ֜יךָ הַקָּשָׁ֗ה וּמֵעֻלּ֧וֹ הַכָּבֵ֛ד אֲשֶׁר נָתַ֥ן עָלֵ֖ינוּ וְנַעַבְדֶֽךָּ
Haydock's commentary
Yoke, of personal service, (Calmet) first to build the temple, and afterwards to erect palaces, fortify cities, &c. The works of Mello gave the greatest discontent. (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.
The Fathers on this verse
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
93. Justice , then, especially graces men that are set over any office; on the other hand, injustice fails them and fights against them. Scripture itself gives us an example, where it says, that when the people of Israel, after the death of Solomon, had asked his son Rehoboam to free their neck from their cruel yoke, and to lighten the harshness of his father’s rule, he, despising the counsel of the old men, gave the following answer at the suggestion of the young men: “He would add a burden to the yoke of his father, and change their lighter toils for harder.”