1 Kings 11:22 But Pharaoh asked him, "What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?" "Nothing," Hadad replied, "but please let me go."

◄ 1 Kings 11:22 ►

New International Version
“What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?” Pharaoh asked. “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but do let me go!”

New Living Translation
“Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?” “Nothing,” he replied. “But even so, please let me return home.”

English Standard Version
But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”

Berean Standard Bible
But Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”

King James Bible
Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise.

New King James Version
Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that suddenly you seek to go to your own country?” So he answered, “Nothing, but do let me go anyway.”

New American Standard Bible
However, Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you are here, requesting to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

NASB 1995
Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you are seeking to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must surely let me go.”

NASB 1977
Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you are seeking to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must surely let me go.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you are seeking to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must surely let me go.”

Amplified Bible
Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that now you ask to go to your own country?” He replied, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

Christian Standard Bible
But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country? ” “Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?"” Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”

American Standard Version
Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit only let me depart.

Contemporary English Version
"Why?" asked the king. "Do you want something I haven't given you?" "No, I just want to go home."

English Revised Version
Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me depart in any wise.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Pharaoh asked him, "What don't you have here that makes you eager to go home?" "Nothing," he said. "But let me leave anyway."

Good News Translation
"Why?" the king asked. "Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?" "Just let me go," Hadad answered the king. And he went back to his country. As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.

International Standard Version
Pharaoh asked him, "But have you lacked anything from me that would make you want to go back to your own country?" "No," he answered, "but I still really must leave."

Majority Standard Bible
But Pharaoh asked him, ?What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?? ?Nothing,? Hadad replied, ?but please let me go.?

NET Bible
Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack here that makes you want to go to your homeland?" Hadad replied, "Nothing, but please give me permission to leave."

New Heart English Bible
Then Pharaoh said to him, "But what have you lacked with me, that look, you seek to go to your own country?" He answered, "Nothing, however only let me depart."

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Pharaoh said to him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thy own country? And he answered, Nothing: yet, in any wise let me go.

World English Bible
Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you seek to go to your own country?” He answered, “Nothing, however only let me depart.”

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
And Pharaoh says to him, “But what are you lacking with me, that behold, you are seeking to go to your own land?” And he says, “Nothing, but you certainly send me away.”

Young's Literal Translation
And Pharaoh saith to him, 'But, what art thou lacking with me, that lo, thou art seeking to go unto thine own land?' and he saith, 'Nay, but thou dost certainly send me away.'

Smith's Literal Translation
And Pharaoh will say to him, For what lackest thou with me, and behold thee seeking to go to thy land? and he will say, Naught: but sending, thou shalt send me away.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Pharao said to him: Why, what is wanting to thee with me, that thou seekest to go to thy own country? But he answered: Nothing: yet I beseech thee to let me go.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And Pharaoh said to him, “But what is lacking to you with me, so that you would seek to go to your own land?” But he responded: “Nothing. Yet I beg you that you may release me.”

New American Bible
Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me, that you are seeking to return to your own land?” He answered, “Nothing, but please let me go!”

New Revised Standard Version
But Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me that you now seek to go to your own country?” And he said, “No, do let me go.”

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
But Pharaoh said to him, What have you lacked with me that, behold, you seek to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing; but do let me go.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Pharaoh said to him: “What have you lacked with me that now you seek that you will go to your land?” He said to him: “Nothing, but send and let me go.”

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
Then Pharaoh said unto him: 'But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country?' And he answered: 'Nothing; howbeit let me depart in any wise.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Pharao said to Ader, What lackest thou with me? that lo! thou seekest to depart to thy country? and Ader said to him, By all means let me go.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Hadad's Return
…21When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.” 22But Pharaoh asked him, “ What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Exodus 2:15
When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.

2 Samuel 15:19-20
Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland. / In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness.”

1 Kings 3:1
Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.

1 Kings 9:16
Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

1 Kings 10:28-29
Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. / A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.

2 Chronicles 1:16-17
Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. / A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.

Isaiah 30:1-2
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. / They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.

Jeremiah 42:14-16
and if you say, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt and live there, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for bread,’ / then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and reside there, / then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow on your heels into Egypt, and you will die there.

Hosea 7:11
So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

Acts 7:23-29
When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. / And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him. / He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not. ...

Acts 7:35
This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

Hebrews 11:24-27
By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. / He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin. / He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward. ...

Matthew 2:13-15
When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” / So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, / where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Matthew 2:19-21
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. / “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.” / So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel.

Treasury of Scripture

Then Pharaoh said to him, But what have you lacked with me, that, behold, you seek to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing: however, let me go in any wise.

But

Jeremiah 2:31
O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

Luke 22:35
And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.

Nothing [heb] Not

2 Samuel 18:22,23
Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? …

Psalm 37:8
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

Mark 14:31
But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

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Case Country Depart Desirest Desiring Hadad Howbeit However Lacked Nevertheless Pharaoh Seek Seekest Seeking Short Surely Want Wise

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1 Kings 11

1. Solomon's wives and concubines
4. In his old age they draw him to idolatry
9. God threatens him,
14. Solomon's adversaries were Hadad, who was entertained in Egypt
23. Rezon, who reigned in Damascus
26. And Jeroboam, to whom Ahijah prophesied
41. Solomon's acts, reign, and death. Rehoboam succeeds him

Berean Study Bible

But Pharaoh asked him
The phrase begins with "But," indicating a contrast or a shift in the narrative. "Pharaoh" refers to the ruler of Egypt, a significant figure in the ancient world, often seen as a symbol of power and authority. The Hebrew root for "Pharaoh" is "Par'oh," which means "great house," reflecting the grandeur and might of the Egyptian monarchy. Historically, Egypt was a place of refuge and political alliance for many, including biblical figures like Abraham and Joseph. Pharaoh's inquiry suggests a relationship of hospitality and perhaps political alliance with Hadad, a foreigner in his court.

What have you lacked here with me
This question implies a sense of provision and care. The Hebrew word for "lacked" is "ḥāsēr," which conveys a sense of deficiency or need. Pharaoh's question suggests that he believes he has provided well for Hadad, offering him a place of security and abundance. This reflects the historical context where foreign dignitaries or exiles were often treated with honor in royal courts, receiving land, wealth, or positions of influence.

that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?
The word "suddenly" indicates an unexpected or abrupt decision, suggesting urgency or a change in circumstances. The desire to "go back" to one's "own country" highlights themes of identity, belonging, and loyalty. In the ancient Near Eastern context, one's homeland was deeply tied to personal and familial identity. Hadad's longing to return may reflect a sense of duty or a call to reclaim his heritage and position in Edom, his native land.

'Nothing,' Hadad replied, 'but please let me go.'
Hadad's response, "Nothing," indicates that his decision is not due to any lack or mistreatment. The Hebrew word for "nothing" is "lō," a simple negation, emphasizing that his departure is not due to dissatisfaction. His polite request, "please let me go," shows respect and acknowledgment of Pharaoh's authority. This reflects the cultural norms of honor and diplomacy, where even in leaving, Hadad seeks to maintain a respectful relationship with Pharaoh. His request underscores a personal conviction or calling that transcends material provision, pointing to a deeper purpose or divine prompting in his return to Edom.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? [The natural inquiry of Eastern courtesy.] And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise. [Heb. thou shalt surely send me away. Rawlinson says, "There is a remarkable abruptness in this termination." But we must remember how unfinished, to our eyes, Scripture narratives constantly seem. There is no need, consequently, to suspect any accidental omission from the Hebrew text. The LXX., it is true, adds, "and Ader departed," etc., but this may be inferred from vers. 14, 25. And Hadad's persistent desire to depart, for which he assigns no reason, is suggestive of the thoughts which were stirring in his soul. "The keen remembrance of his native land, his lost kingdom, and the slaughter of all his house, gathered strength within him; and all the ease and princely honour which he enjoyed in Egypt availed not against the claims of ambition, vengeance, and patriotism" (Kitto).]

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

But Pharaoh
פַרְעֹ֗ה (p̄ar·‘ōh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6547: Pharaoh -- a title of Egypt kings

asked him,
וַיֹּ֧אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“What
מָה־ (māh-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

have you
אַתָּ֤ה (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

lacked
חָסֵר֙ (ḥā·sêr)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2638: Needy, lacking, in want of

here with me
עִמִּ֔י (‘im·mî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

that you suddenly
וְהִנְּךָ֥ (wə·hin·nə·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Interjection | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2005: Lo! behold!

want
מְבַקֵּ֖שׁ (mə·ḇaq·qêš)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1245: To search out, to strive after

to go back
לָלֶ֣כֶת (lā·le·ḵeṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

your own country?”
אַרְצֶ֑ךָ (’ar·ṣe·ḵā)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

“Nothing,”
לֹ֔א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

[Hadad] replied,
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ׀ (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“but
כִּ֠י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

please let me go.”
שַׁלֵּ֖חַ (šal·lê·aḥ)
Verb - Piel - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

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OT History: 1 Kings 11:22 Then Pharaoh said to him But what (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)