1 Kings 12:8-11
said .... Say ........ said ............... Say <0559 01696> [Thus shalt thou.]
harsher <06995 05666> [My little finger.]
A proverbial mode of expression: "My little finger is thicker than my father's thigh." As much as the thigh surpasses the little finger in thickness, so much does my power exceed that of my father; and the use I shall make of it to oppress and tax you shall be in proportion.
make ... even heavier <03254> [I will add.]
punished ........ punish <03256> [but I will chastise.]
Should you rebel or become disaffected, my father's whip shall be a scorpion in my hand. His was chastisement, mine shall be punishment. Celsius and Hiller conjecture that {Æ’krabbim} denotes a thorny kind of shrub, whose prickles are of a venomous nature, called by the Arabs scorpion thorns, from the exquisite pain which they inflict. But the Chaldee renders it {margenin,} and the Syriac {moragyai,} i.e., [maragnai,] scourges; and in the parallel place of Chronicles the Arabic has {saut,} a scourge. Isidore, and after him Calmet and others, assert that the scorpion was a sort of severe whip, the lashes of which were armed with knots or points that sunk into and tore the flesh.
whips that really sting your flesh <06137> [scorpions.]
