Your father made our yoke heavy: Since Rehoboam’s father has not been mentioned by name in this chapter in Hebrew, Good News Translation and certain other versions (including Contemporary English Version and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente) insert the name “Solomon.”
A yoke is a wooden bar that joins together the necks of two cows or oxen so that they may work together. The Hebrew noun for yoke is often used figuratively in the Old Testament, as it is here, to refer to slavery or oppression (for example, Isa 9.4; 10.27; Jer 27.8, 11). Here the Israelites are referring to the forced labor and high taxes that Solomon had imposed on the people in order to build the Temple, his palace, and other building projects. Good News Translation omits completely the metaphorical language of the yoke and speaks of “heavy burdens” (also Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). Similarly, New Living Translation says “Your father was a hard master.” In languages where the yoke is known, it may be possible, however, to keep the image of the yoke while also expressing the meaning of the image. Compare Bible en français courant, which changes the metaphor into a simile the second time it occurs in the verse by saying “this burden which weighs on us like a yoke on our shoulders.” For the figurative use of yoke in the New Testament, compare Matt 11.29-30.
The Hebrew of this verse, and also of verses 9-10, contains a play on words between the word for our yoke (ʿullenu in Hebrew) and the word for upon us (ʿalenu). Such a wordplay will be impossible to reproduce in most languages.
Now therefore lighten …: A more literal rendering in English is “And/Therefore you now lighten….” The independent pronoun for “you” in Hebrew suggests a slight emphasis. The contrast between what Solomon had done in the past and what the people now ask Rehoboam to do is more emphatic in Hebrew than in most translations like Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. This contrast is also heightened in Hebrew because the words for you (ʾattah) and now (ʿattah) are similar in sound and spelling.
The hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us: The writer refers to the hard service and heavy yoke. New Living Translation renders this as “the harsh labor demands” and “heavy taxes.” Some interpreters, however, think that only one thought is intended and show this by placing the second phrase in apposition to the first one; for example, New Jerusalem Bible says “your father’s cruel slavery, that heavy yoke which he imposed on us.”
We will serve you: It was not possible for each individual Israelite to give personal service to Rehoboam. In this context the sense is that the Israelites would be loyal subjects (so Good News Translation).
La Bible du Semeur offers a possible model for restructuring this verse by shifting the main clause (we will serve you) forward in the verse:
• Your father imposed a very heavy yoke on us. We will be submitted to you on condition that you now lighten the weighty bondage and this heavy yoke that your father imposed on us.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .