Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 10:11
Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Rehoboam speaks directly to the assembled people who have returned after three days to hear his verdict on their request. He delivers his response after hearing the counsel of his young advisors, rejecting their plea to lighten the burden his father imposed.
The words — The Hebrew אֹסִיף ('o.Sif) translates literally as "I will add," marking a deliberate escalation. This verb directly counters the people's request for relief by declaring increased oppression.
The thread — The king's promise to intensify forced labor parallels Pharaoh's ruthless treatment of Israel in Exodus 1:13. It also mirrors Pharaoh's complaint about the Israelites' growing numbers and labor in Exodus 5:5, where rulers respond to population pressure by tightening control rather than easing it.
Why it lands — The text records a ruler's explicit choice to worsen conditions in response to a grievance. It requires the reader to observe how political pride overrides administrative relief and directly increases the burden on the governed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Cross-references
- Exodus 1:13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
- Exodus 5:5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would be stopping them from their labor.”
- Exodus 5:18 Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
- 1 Samuel 8:18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.”
- Isaiah 47:6 I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
- Isaiah 58:6 Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?
- Jeremiah 28:13 “Go and tell Hananiah that this is what the LORD says: ‘You have broken a yoke of wood, but in its place you have fashioned a yoke of iron.’
- Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.
- Revelation 9:3 And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.