1 Kings 12:4

New English Translation

⁴“Your father made us work too hard.^[a] Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.”^[b]

1 Kings 12:4 tn Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”
1 Kings 12:4 tn Heb “but you, now, lighten the burdensome work of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” In the Hebrew text the prefixed verbal form with vav (וְנַעַבְדֶךָ, [v^enaʿavdekha] “and we will serve you”) following the imperative (הָקֵל [haqel], “lighten”) indicates purpose (or result). The conditional sentence used in the translation above is an attempt to bring out the logical relationship between these forms.

New English Translation (NET)