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1 Kings 10:14–29 — Solomon’s Wealth and Splendor. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

666 is evidently a round number founded upon an approximative valuation

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

For we may surely see in this statement of Solomon's prodigious wealth an indication of his worldliness, the turning point, perhaps, in his estrangement from God. "The love of money" may have been the root of all his evil

Pulpit is reading backward from Revelation 13:18 and says so; the judgment on Solomon's worldliness stands on its own even if the numerical coincidence does not.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

But it should be remembered that at certain times and places accumulations of gold have taken place, so great as practically to reduce its value, and lead to its employment, not as a currency, but as a precious ornament

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The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

miš·qal haz·zā·hāḇ ’ă·šer- bā liš·lō·mōh bə·šā·nāh ’e·ḥāṯ way·hî šêš mê·’ō·wṯ šiš·šîm wā·šêš kik·kar zā·hāḇ

Word by word14 · parsed

מִשְׁקַ֣לmiš·qalThe weightH4948

√ mishqâl — weight (numerically estimated)Nounmasculine singular construct

mishqâl: weight (numerically estimated) The unit's first word sets its whole method: from here to v. 29 the narrator does almost nothing but measure. He weighs gold, counts shields, numbers steps and lions, prices chariots. He passes no verdict. The arithmetic is left standing where a prophet's oracle might have been, and the reader is made to do the weighing.

הַזָּהָ֔בhaz·zā·hāḇof goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iArticleNounmasculine singular

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-thatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בָּ֥אbācameH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

bôwʼ: to go or come The gold is the subject and the verb is intransitive: it came to Solomon. Nobody in this verse takes anything. The passivity is exactly what makes the following verses uneasy, since what comes in v. 14 must be gathered, made, stationed and exported by v. 29.

לִשְׁלֹמֹ֖הliš·lō·mōhto SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

בְּשָׁנָ֣הbə·šā·nāheach yearH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular

אֶחָ֑ת’e·ḥāṯ. . .H259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular

וַֽיְהִי֙way·hîwasH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

שֵׁ֥שׁšêš666H8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Numberfeminine singular

shêsh: six Three number words in a row, šêš mê’ōwṯ šiššîm wāšêš, six hundred sixty and six. K&D judges it “evidently a round number founded upon an approximative valuation”; Pulpit, on the other side, thinks the very oddness of the total is why it was recorded. Both readings are on the page, and the brief lets us go no further than that.

מֵא֛וֹתmê·’ō·wṯ. . .H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

שִׁשִּׁ֥יםšiš·šîm. . .H8346

√ shishshîym — sixtyNumbercommon plural

וָשֵׁ֖שׁwā·šêš. . .H8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Conjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular

כִּכַּ֥רkik·kartalentsH3603

√ kikkâr — a circle, iNounfeminine singular construct

kikkâr: a circle, a talent The estimates the commentators offer for 666 talents range from about two million to about eight million pounds sterling (Poole, Barnes, Cambridge, Keil, Peele as quoted by Pulpit). Pulpit draws the honest conclusion from the spread: “both estimates are little more than guesswork. We do not know the value of the Hebrew talent.”

זָהָֽב׃zā·hāḇH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“The-weight of-the-gold which came to-Solomon in-year one: and-it-came-to-be six hundreds sixty and-six talents of-gold.”

Where the English smooths the original

מִשְׁקַל מִשְׁקַל (miš·qal, H4948) is not an amount but a weight numerically estimated. The verse opens on the scale, not on the treasury: this gold is not counted, it is weighed. BSB keeps the noun, but the English ear hears an accounting figure where the Hebrew hears a balance beam.
בְּשָׁנָה אֶחָת בְּשָׁנָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת (bə·šā·nāh ’e·ḥāṯ) is literally “in year one,” that is, in a single year. BSB reads “each year.” K&D flatly rejects the Vulgate's per annos singulos, since the Ophir fleet came only once in three years; Pulpit likewise takes it of “one particular and exceptional year.” The English smooths a single reckoning into an annuity.
וַיְהִי וַֽיְהִי֙ (way·hî, H1961, Qal consecutive imperfect) is the narrative “and it came to be,” the same chain-verb that has carried every act of the reign. BSB's flat copula “was” hides that the sum is reported as an event in the story, not as a static statistic.
כִּכַּר כִּכַּ֥ר (kik·kar, H3603) means properly a circle, a round loaf or disc, and only then a talent. Ellicott: “The word properly signifies a ‘circle,’ or ‘globe,’ and the talent (among the Hebrews and other Orientals, as among the Greeks) denoted properly a certain weight.” English “talents” loses the picture of stacked gold rounds.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The word in the original, though it has the same consonants, has not the same vowels as the proper name

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Of the merchantmen, Heb. of the searchers , or spies, i.e. either merchants, who use to inquire and search out commodities, and all advantages of trade

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The great encouragement he gave to commerce was the means of enriching his royal treasury

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

That is, Arabia, which for the great abundance of all things was called Happy

Geneva glosses the Latin name Arabia Felix; Cambridge and K&D argue the Hebrew here is not Arabia at all but the mingled people, so this note preserves a reading the later critics abandoned.

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not including the revenue from the merchants, traders, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lə·ḇaḏ ū·mis·ḥar mê·’an·šê hat·tā·rîm hā·rō·ḵə·lîm wə·ḵāl hā·‘e·reḇ mal·ḵê ū·p̄a·ḥō·wṯ hā·’ā·reṣ

Word by word10 · parsed

לְבַד֙lə·ḇaḏnot includingH905

√ bad — properly, separationPreposition-lNounmasculine singular

bad: separation, apart One word, and it doubles the wealth of v. 14 without naming a figure. The narrator is telling us that the weighed gold was only the measurable part.

וּמִסְחַ֖רū·mis·ḥarthe revenueH4536

√ miçchâr — tradeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

מֵאַנְשֵׁ֣יmê·’an·šêfrom the merchantsH582

√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Preposition-mNounmasculine plural construct

הַתָּרִ֔יםhat·tā·rîm. . .H8446

√ tûwr — to meander (causatively, guide) about, especially fortrade or reconnoitringArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

tûwr: to meander, go about, spy out The participle is the word used of the men Moses sent to search out Canaan. Whether Solomon's revenue here comes from travelling traders (K&D, Cambridge) or from royal searchers who scrutinized the goods so the crown was not defrauded (Poole, Benson) cannot be settled from the consonants alone. Both readings turn on the same idea of men who go up and down the land looking.

הָרֹכְלִ֑יםhā·rō·ḵə·lîmtradersH7402

√ râkal — to travel for tradingArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

וְכָל־wə·ḵāland allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

הָעֶ֖רֶבhā·‘e·reḇthe ArabianH6152

√ ʻĂrâb — Arab (iArticleNounmasculine singular

ʻĂrâb: mixed crowd, Arabia A rare lexeme (five verses). K&D: a mixed crowd “who either attach themselves to a nation (Exodus 12:38), or live in the midst of it as foreigners (Nehemiah 13:3).” The empire's edges are populated by exactly the sort of unassimilated peoples Israel was warned about, and now they pay him.

מַלְכֵ֥יmal·ḵêkingsH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine plural construct

וּפַח֥וֹתū·p̄a·ḥō·wṯand governorsH6346

√ pechâh — a prefect (of a city or small district)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

pechâh: a prefect, governor An imported administrative title for an imported administrative reality. Israel under Solomon is being run on the pattern of the empires around it, and the loanword is the fingerprint.

הָאָֽרֶץ׃hā·’ā·reṣof the landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular

ʼerets: the land Definite: the land. Poole weighs whether this is Canaan or Arabia and leans to Arabia; K&D takes the governors for the twelve officers of 1 Kings 4:7-19, that is, for Israel itself.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“To-separation from the-trade-of the-men-of the-ones-going-about and-the-traffickers, and-all the-kings-of the-mixed-crowd and-the-governors-of the-land.”

Where the English smooths the original

לְבַד לְבַד֙ (lə·ḇaḏ, H905) is from a root meaning separation: “apart from, in separation from.” BSB's “not including” is a bookkeeper's phrase; the Hebrew sets a second heap of revenue beside the first and refuses to add them together. K&D explains why: this income came in kind, the 666 talents in metal.
הַתָּרִים הַתָּרִ֔ים (hat·tā·rîm, H8446 tûwr, Qal participle) means to meander about, and elsewhere in Scripture is used of spying out the land. Poole renders it “the searchers, or spies”; Cambridge, “those who go about” with their goods, hence the Revised Version's “chapmen.” BSB's “merchants” is a fair guess at a word Pulpit admits “is nowhere else used of traders.”
הָעֶרֶב הָעֶ֖רֶב (hā·‘e·reḇ) is pointed as ‘ereb, the mixed multitude of Exodus 12:38, not as ‘ărāb, Arabia. Cambridge and K&D both insist on the distinction, citing Jeremiah 25:24 where both words stand in one verse. BSB's “Arabian” follows Chronicles and the Vulgate and quietly settles a question the Hebrew leaves open.
פַחוֹת וּפַח֥וֹת (ū·p̄a·ḥō·wṯ, H6346 pechâh) is a loanword, not native Hebrew. K&D traces it to Sanskrit paksha by way of Persian; Barnes and Ellicott both note it is the Persian-era title borne by Tatnai, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. Ellicott concludes it “may possibly be a word of later origin than the age of Solomon, introduced by the compiler of the book.” BSB's colorless “governors” hides a genuine seam in the text's history.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

does not mean aurum jugulatum, i.e., gold mixed with metal of a different kind, but, as Kimchi has shown, aurum diductum, beaten gold

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The use of such ornaments argues a plethora of gold, too great to be absorbed either in currency or in personal and architectural decorations

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The Roman magistrates had rods and axes carried before them, in token of their power to correct the bad; but Solomon shields and targets, to show he took more pleasure in his power to defend and protect the good

Benson's contrast is homiletic rather than exegetical; nothing in the Hebrew says why the shields were made, and 1 Kings 14:26 shows how little they defended.

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King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ šə·lō·mōh way·ya·‘aś mā·ṯa·yim ṣin·nāh šā·ḥūṭ zā·hāḇ šêš- mê·’ō·wṯ zā·hāḇ ya·‘ă·leh ‘al- hā·’e·ḥāṯ haṣ·ṣin·nāh

Word by word14 · parsed

הַמֶּ֧לֶךְham·me·leḵKingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַיַּ֨עַשׂway·ya·‘aśmadeH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâsâh: to do or make The chapter's governing verb from here to v. 21. Solomon made, made, made. In 1 Kings 6 and 7 the same verb built the temple.

מָאתַ֥יִםmā·ṯa·yimtwo hundredH3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfd

צִנָּ֖הṣin·nāhlarge shieldsH6793

√ tsinnâh — a hook (as pointed)Nounfeminine singular

tsinnâh: the great body shield The first thing Solomon makes with the gold is armor, and armor that cannot be used. K&D: these shields were wood or basket-work overlaid with gold plate, made for the body-guard to carry on state occasions. A defense that would buckle under one blow is being manufactured out of the nation's surplus.

שָׁח֑וּטšā·ḥūṭ[of] hammeredH7820

√ shâchaṭ — to hammer outVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

shâchaṭ: to hammer out, beat thin (rare, 4 vv) The rarity matters: this participle is one of the few verbal threads that ties this passage to its parallel in 2 Chronicles 9:16, where the Verifier finds the same lexeme. Wherever gold is spread thin over something that is not gold, this word appears.

זָהָ֣בzā·hāḇgoldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

שֵׁשׁ־šêš-sixH8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Numberfeminine singular construct

מֵא֣וֹתmê·’ō·wṯhundred [shekels]H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

זָהָ֔בzā·hāḇof goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

יַעֲלֶ֖הya·‘ă·lehwentH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâlâh: to ascend, to cause to mount Hiphil. Gold goes up onto the shield here; in v. 29 chariots come up out of Egypt by the same root, and in v. 5 of this chapter the queen of Sheba had already been overwhelmed by Solomon's ascent to the house of the LORD. The verb of ascent is doing quiet work through the whole account.

עַל־‘al-intoH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הָאֶחָֽת׃hā·’e·ḥāṯeachH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iArticleNumberfeminine singular

הַצִּנָּ֥הhaṣ·ṣin·nāhshieldH6793

√ tsinnâh — a hook (as pointed)ArticleNounfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-he-made the-king Solomon two-hundred body-shields, hammered-out gold; six hundreds of-gold he-caused-to-go-up upon the-shield the-one.”

Where the English smooths the original

צִנָּה צִנָּ֖ה (ṣin·nāh, H6793) is from a root meaning a hook, something pointed, and denotes the tall shield that covers the whole man (Pulpit compares 1 Samuel 17:7, 41). BSB's “large shields” is accurate but generic; Hebrew distinguishes this from the mâgên of the next verse by name, not merely by size.
שָׁחוּט שָׁח֑וּט (šā·ḥūṭ, H7820, Qal passive participle) is a genuinely rare word, occurring in only four verses. K&D, following Kimchi, takes it as aurum diductum, gold drawn out or beaten thin, and rejects the alternative aurum jugulatum, alloyed gold. BSB's “hammered” captures the process; what it cannot show is that the word is almost unique to these shields.
יַעֲלֶה יַעֲלֶ֖ה (ya·‘ă·leh, H5927 ʻâlâh, Hiphil) is causative: he made to go up six hundred upon the one shield. BSB's “went into each shield” turns an act of the king into a fact about the object. The same verb in v. 29 will bring chariots up out of Egypt.
שֵׁשׁ־מֵאוֹת שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֣וֹת (šêš mê’ōwṯ) is simply “six hundred”; the noun shekels is not in the Hebrew at all. Cambridge notes the idiom, comparing Genesis 24:22 and Exodus 30:23, and Pulpit adds that we cannot even be certain which shekel, Mosaic or royal, is meant. BSB supplies the bracketed word honestly, but the uncertainty it covers is real.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

Eupolemus (o), an Heathen writer, makes mention of those golden shields Solomon made, and which were made for show, and not for war

Gill's authority here is a fragment of Eupolemus preserved by Eusebius, not Scripture; the judgment that the shields were for show and not for war is nevertheless what 1 Kings 14:26 confirms.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

These golden shields were probably only used on grand occasions, and when not in use were suspended against the numerous pillars in the royal armoury

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The practice of hanging shields outside walls for ornamentation seems to have existed at Tyre Ezekiel 27:10-11 , Rome, Athens, and elsewhere

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He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·šə·lōš- mê·’ō·wṯ mā·ḡin·nîm šā·ḥūṭ zā·hāḇ šə·lō·šeṯ mā·nîm zā·hāḇ ya·‘ă·leh ‘al- hā·’e·ḥāṯ ham·mā·ḡên ham·me·leḵ way·yit·tə·nêm bêṯ ya·‘ar hal·lə·ḇā·nō·wn

Word by word17 · parsed

וּשְׁלֹשׁ־ū·šə·lōš-[He also made] threeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct

מֵא֤וֹתmê·’ō·wṯhundredH3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

מָֽגִנִּים֙mā·ḡin·nîmsmall shieldsH4043

√ mâgên — a shield (iNouncommon plural

mâgên: a shield, a buckler Five hundred golden shields in all, two hundred great and three hundred small. 1 Kings 14:26 records what became of them: Shishak of Egypt carried them off in Rehoboam's fifth year, and Rehoboam replaced them with bronze. The Verifier confirms the verbal overlap between the two passages on this very lexeme.

שָׁח֔וּטšā·ḥūṭof hammeredH7820

√ shâchaṭ — to hammer outVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

זָהָ֣בzā·hāḇgoldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹ֤שֶׁתšə·lō·šeṯthreeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumbermasculine singular construct

מָנִים֙mā·nîmminasH4488

√ mâneh — properly, a fixed weight or measured amount, iNounmasculine plural

mâneh: a fixed weight, a mina The arithmetic of the two shields is the point: six hundred units on the great shield, three minas on the small. K&D works the ratio carefully and concludes the reference must be to the royal shekel of 2 Samuel 14:26, half the sacred weight, putting about nine pounds of gold on a target and four and a half on a buckler.

זָהָ֔בzā·hāḇof goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

יַעֲלֶ֖הya·‘ă·lehwentH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

עַל־‘al-intoH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הָאֶחָ֑תhā·’e·ḥāṯeachH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iArticleNumberfeminine singular

הַמָּגֵ֣ןham·mā·ḡênshieldH4043

√ mâgên — a shield (iArticleNouncommon singular

הַמֶּ֔לֶךְham·me·leḵAnd the kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

וַיִּתְּנֵ֣םway·yit·tə·nêmput themH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural

nâthan: to give, put, set A plain verb doing structural work: the shields are given to the treasure house, exactly as tribute will be brought to Solomon in v. 25.

בֵּ֖יתbêṯin the HouseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

יַ֥עַרya·‘arof the ForestH3293

√ yaʻar — a copse of bushesNounmasculine singular construct

yaʻar: a copse, a forest The armory takes its name from the cedar it is made of. Barnes and Cambridge both suppose the shields hung on its pillars or outer walls, as shields hung at Tyre (Ezekiel 27:10-11), at Rome and on the Parthenon.

הַלְּבָנֽוֹן׃פhal·lə·ḇā·nō·wnof LebanonH3844

√ Lᵉbânôwn — Lebanon, a mountain range in PalestineArticleNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-three hundreds bucklers, hammered-out gold; three minas of-gold he-caused-to-go-up upon the-shield the-one. And-the-king gave-them in-the-house-of the-forest-of the-Lebanon.”

Where the English smooths the original

מָגִנִּים מָֽגִנִּים֙ (mā·ḡin·nîm, H4043 mâgên) is the small round buckler, the word that elsewhere names God himself as Israel's shield (Genesis 15:1, Psalm 3:3). BSB's “small shields” is correct in size and silent on the resonance: Solomon is manufacturing in gold the thing his father sang of as the LORD.
מָנִים מָנִים֙ (mā·nîm, H4488 mâneh) is properly a fixed weight or measured amount, the Greek mna. Ellicott and Poole both note that the parallel at 2 Chronicles 9:16 reads three hundred shekels, from which Cambridge concludes the maneh is one hundred shekels. BSB's “minas” is a transliteration, not a translation, and leaves the reader no way to compare the two shields.
וַיִּתְּנֵם וַיִּתְּנֵ֣ם (way·yit·tə·nêm, H5414 nâthan) is “and he gave them,” the ordinary verb of giving, with a plural suffix. BSB's “put them” is idiomatic English; the Hebrew uses the same verb that in v. 24 describes God giving wisdom in Solomon's heart and in v. 27 Solomon giving silver like stones.
בֵּית יַעַר הַלְּבָנוֹן בֵּ֖ית יַ֥עַר הַלְּבָנֽוֹן is a chain of three construct nouns: “house-of forest-of the-Lebanon.” BSB capitalizes it into a proper name, House of the Forest of Lebanon, which is defensible but conceals that the Hebrew is still describing a building of cedar pillars standing like a wood.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The Hebrew participle (which occurs in no other place) is from a root which signifies ‘to refine,’ ‘to purge.’

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

It is, on the whole, probable that the substance of the throne was wood, and that the ivory, cut into thin slabs, and probably carved in patterns, was applied externally as a veneer

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

and ivory being white, may denote the purity, justice, and equity with which he judged; the white throne in Revelation 20:11 may be an allusion to this

Gill's link to the great white throne of Revelation 20:11 is a figural reading, not a verbal one; the New Testament does not cite this verse.

source ↗

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

It seems to have been made not of solid ivory, but veneered

source ↗

Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ way·ya·‘aś gā·ḏō·wl kis·sê- šên way·ṣap·pê·hū mū·p̄āz zā·hāḇ

Word by word8 · parsed

הַמֶּ֛לֶךְham·me·leḵAdditionally, the kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

וַיַּ֧עַשׂway·ya·‘aśmadeH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

גָּד֑וֹלgā·ḏō·wla greatH1419

√ gâdôwl — great (in any sense)Adjectivemasculine singular

כִּסֵּא־kis·sê-throneH3678

√ kiççêʼ — properly, covered, iNounmasculine singular

kiççêʼ: a throne, properly a covered seat This is the one object in the inventory that is not treasure but office. Everything else in vv. 14-29 can be spent, worn, ridden or sold; the throne is the seat of judgment, which 1 Kings 7:7 places in a porch built for the purpose. That it is the most lavish item in the list is the chapter's sharpest irony.

שֵׁ֖ןšênof ivoryH8127

√ shên — a tooth (as sharp)Nouncommon singular

shên: a tooth Ivory enters Israel's history here. Ellicott notes the only other mention in Kings is Ahab's ivory house (1 Kings 22:39), also a Tyrian connection, and that Psalm 45:8 sings of ivory palaces. From Solomon on, ivory in Scripture is a marker of luxury under judgment (Amos 3:15; Amos 6:4).

וַיְצַפֵּ֖הוּway·ṣap·pê·hūand overlaid itH6823

√ tsâphâh — to sheet over (especially with metal)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

tsâphâh: to sheet over with metal The same verb overlaid the ark, the altar and the temple doors (Exodus 25:11; 1 Kings 6:20-22). The craft that gilded the sanctuary is now gilding the king's chair, and the text reports it in identical language without comment.

מוּפָֽז׃mū·p̄āzwith pureH6338

√ pâzaz — to refine (gold)VerbHofalParticiplemasculine singular

pâzaz: to refine (Hofal participle, hapax in this form) A word so rare that Cambridge can say it occurs nowhere else and the Chronicler had to substitute a common synonym. Whatever else this throne was, its gold is described with a word the language barely possessed.

זָהָ֥בzā·hāḇgoldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-he-made the-king a-throne of-tooth great, and-he-sheeted-it-over with-gold refined.”

Where the English smooths the original

כִּסֵּא כִּסֵּא־ (kis·sê, H3678) is properly something covered, a canopied seat, and only by extension a throne. Pulpit notes the plain sense is “seat,” and that in a land where men squatted or reclined a chair was itself a mark of dignity. BSB's “throne” is right and drops the etymological picture of a covered, elevated seat.
שֵׁן שֵׁ֖ן (šên, H8127) means a tooth. The Hebrew says “a great throne of tooth”; ivory has no separate word here, though v. 22 will use the compound שֶׁנְהַבִּים. BSB's “ivory” is necessary English and loses the bluntness of a king seated on teeth brought from the ends of the sea.
וַיְצַפֵּהוּ וַיְצַפֵּ֖הוּ (way·ṣap·pê·hū, H6823 tsâphâh, Piel) is to sheet over, to plate with metal. BSB's “overlaid it” is exact, but the commentators divide sharply on what was overlaid with what: Gill and Poole hold the gold was inlaid here and there so the ivory still showed; K&D reverses it, gold on the wood with ivory set into the plate.
מוּפָז מוּפָֽז (mū·p̄āz, H6338 pâzaz, Hofal participle) occurs, as Cambridge observes, “in no other place.” The root means to refine, so the Revised Version's “finest gold” is better than BSB's “pure gold”; Chronicles paraphrases it with the ordinary word ṭâhôr. Cambridge records the conjecture that the reading should be ma-uphaz, “from Uphaz,” and declines it.

The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lak·kis·sêh šêš ma·‘ă·lō·wṯ mê·’a·ḥă·rāw lak·kis·sêh ‘ā·ḡōl wə·rōš- wə·yā·ḏōṯ ū·miz·zeh miz·zeh ’el- mə·qō·wm haš·šā·ḇeṯ ū·šə·na·yim ’ă·rā·yō·wṯ ‘ō·mə·ḏîm ’ê·ṣel hay·yā·ḏō·wṯ

Word by word18 · parsed

לַכִּסֵּ֗הlak·kis·sêhThe throneH3678

√ kiççêʼ — properly, covered, iPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

שֵׁ֧שׁšêšhad sixH8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Numberfeminine singular construct

מַעֲל֣וֹתma·‘ă·lō·wṯstepsH4609

√ maʻălâh — elevation, iNounfeminine plural

maʻălâh: elevation, step, ascent Six steps, and the seventh place is the seat. Nothing in the text presses the number, and no commentator in the brief does either, so the pattern is offered here only as an observation: the throne is reached the way a sanctuary is reached, by going up.

מֵאַֽחֲרָ֔יוmê·’a·ḥă·rāwand its backH310

√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition-mthird person masculine singular

לַכִּסֵּה֙lak·kis·sêh. . .H3678

√ kiççêʼ — properly, covered, iPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

עָגֹ֤ל‘ā·ḡōl[had] a roundedH5696

√ ʻâgôl — circularAdjectivemasculine singular

וְרֹאשׁ־wə·rōš-topH7218

√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

וְיָדֹ֛תwə·yā·ḏōṯThere were armrestsH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcConjunctive wawNounfeminine plural

yâd: a hand, power, means The plural of the commonest word for hand, used of the arms of a chair. Geneva glosses it simply as the places to lean upon. Whatever leans on those hands is held up by carved power.

וּמִזֶּ֖הū·miz·zehon both sidesH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatConjunctive waw, Preposition-mPronounmasculine singular

מִזֶּ֥הmiz·zeh. . .H2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatPreposition-mPronounmasculine singular

אֶל־’el-ofH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

מְק֣וֹםmə·qō·wmthe seatH4725

√ mâqôwm — properly, a standing, iNounmasculine singular construct

הַשָּׁ֑בֶתhaš·šā·ḇeṯ. . .H7675

√ shebeth — properly, sessionArticleNounmasculine singular

shebeth: session, a sitting The word marks the throne as a bench, not a couch. Israel's king sat to hear cases (2 Samuel 15:2-4; 1 Kings 3:16-28), and the chapter that opens with the queen of Sheba praising his judgment ends with him trading horses.

וּשְׁנַ֣יִםū·šə·na·yimwith [a]H8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoConjunctive wawNumbermd

אֲרָי֔וֹת’ă·rā·yō·wṯlionH738

√ ʼărîy — a lionNounmasculine plural

ʼărîy: a lion Two lions at the hands, twelve on the steps. Poole gives three candidate meanings and refuses to choose between them; Barnes grounds the emblem in the prophetic poetry of Genesis 49:9 and Numbers 23:24, which stood written long before Solomon carved it.

עֹמְדִ֖ים‘ō·mə·ḏîmstandingH5975

√ ʻâmad — to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

אֵ֥צֶל’ê·ṣelbesideH681

√ ʼêtsel — a sidePreposition

הַיָּדֽוֹת׃hay·yā·ḏō·wṯeach armrestH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcArticleNounfeminine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“Six steps to-the-throne, and-a-round head to-the-throne from-behind-it, and-hands on-this-side and-on-that-side unto the-place-of the-sitting, and-two lions standing beside the-hands.”

Where the English smooths the original

מַעֲלוֹת מַעֲל֣וֹת (ma·‘ă·lō·wṯ, H4609) means elevation, ascent, the same noun that titles the Songs of Ascents. BSB's “steps” is right; Pulpit adds the point the word carries: “The characteristic feature in the royal throne was its elevation.” One climbed to Solomon.
וְיָדֹת וְיָדֹ֛ת (wə·yā·ḏōṯ, H3027 yâd) is literally hands. Gill notes the old versions rendered it manus, and BSB gives the sense as “armrests.” The lexicon's gloss for yâd, “the open hand, indicating power, means, direction,” is what the English cannot carry: the throne has hands, and lions stand beside them.
מְקוֹם הַשָּׁבֶת מְק֣וֹם הַשָּׁ֑בֶת (mə·qōwm haš·šā·ḇeṯ, H4725 + H7675) is “the place of the sitting,” shebeth meaning properly session. BSB's “the seat” is furniture; the Hebrew names the act, the sitting in judgment for which the porch of 1 Kings 7:7 was built.
עָגֹל וְרֹאשׁ עָגֹ֤ל וְרֹאשׁ־ (‘ā·ḡōl wə·rōš, H5696 + H7218) is “a round head,” rôʼsh being the ordinary word for head. BSB reads “its back had a rounded top.” Cambridge takes the head to be a canopy; Keil, the curve of the back itself; the LXX read the consonants as calf and gave heads of calves. The Hebrew phrase is genuinely underdetermined.

Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·šə·nêm ‘ā·śār ’ă·rā·yîm ‘ō·mə·ḏîm šām ‘al- šêš ham·ma·‘ă·lō·wṯ miz·zeh ū·miz·zeh lō- ḵên na·‘ă·śāh lə·ḵāl mam·lā·ḵō·wṯ

Word by word15 · parsed

וּשְׁנֵ֧יםū·šə·nêmTwelveH8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoConjunctive wawNumbermd

shᵉnayim / ʻâsâr: twelve K&D and Pulpit agree the number is not decorative. Twelve lions for twelve tribes, whose whole interest, as Pulpit puts it, is gathered into the royal house. Within two chapters ten of those tribes will walk away from it (1 Kings 12:16).

עָשָׂ֣ר‘ā·śār. . .H6240

√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumbermasculine singular construct

אֲרָיִ֗ים’ă·rā·yîmlionsH738

√ ʼărîy — a lionNounmasculine plural

עֹמְדִ֥ים‘ō·mə·ḏîmstoodH5975

√ ʻâmad — to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

ʻâmad: to stand A participle: the lions are standing, permanently posted. They neither guard nor threaten; they hold still.

שָׁ֛םšāmH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

עַל־‘al-onH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

שֵׁ֥שׁšêšthe sixH8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Numberfeminine singular construct

הַֽמַּעֲל֖וֹתham·ma·‘ă·lō·wṯstepsH4609

√ maʻălâh — elevation, iArticleNounfeminine plural

מִזֶּ֣הmiz·zehone at either endH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatPreposition-mPronounmasculine singular

וּמִזֶּ֑הū·miz·zehof each [step]H2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatConjunctive waw, Preposition-mPronounmasculine singular

לֹֽא־lō-NothingH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

כֵ֖ןḵênlike [this]H3651

√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb

נַעֲשָׂ֥הna·‘ă·śāhhad ever been madeH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâsâh: to make (Nifal, passive) The verse's verdict is comparative, not moral. The narrator will not say the throne was good or evil; he says only that no kingdom ever had its like. Barnes, comparing the Assyrian and Egyptian reliefs, judges the claim sober rather than boastful.

לְכָל־lə·ḵālfor anyH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

מַמְלָכֽוֹת׃mam·lā·ḵō·wṯkingdomH4467

√ mamlâkâh — dominion, iNounfeminine plural

mamlâkâh: dominion, kingdom The word is dominion in the abstract. Solomon's throne is measured against the idea of kingship itself, which is precisely the comparison the Gospels will make when they set someone greater beside it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-twelve lions standing there upon the-six steps, from-this-side and-from-that-side. Not was-made so for-any kingdoms.”

Where the English smooths the original

נַעֲשָׂה נַעֲשָׂ֥ה (na·‘ă·śāh, H6213, Nifal perfect) is passive: “it was not made so.” BSB's “Nothing like this had ever been made” supplies the subject and the pluperfect. Hebrew simply denies the deed, and it is the same verb ʻâsâh with which Solomon has been making things since v. 16; here the making is taken out of his hands and reported as a bare fact about the world.
לֹא־כֵן לֹֽא־כֵ֖ן (lō ḵên, H3808 + H3651) is “not so,” two short words. Kên is properly set upright, thus. BSB expands to “Nothing like this,” which is the sense; the Hebrew idiom is a flat, almost dismissive denial.
מַמְלָכוֹת מַמְלָכֽוֹת (mam·lā·ḵō·wṯ, H4467 mamlâkâh) is plural, kingdoms, and means dominion as much as territory. BSB's singular “for any kingdom” reads well but loses the sweep: not for any of the kingdoms, anywhere.
וּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר וּשְׁנֵ֧ים עָשָׂ֣ר (ū·šə·nêm ‘ā·śār) is the plain “twelve.” BSB prints “Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step,” filling in the arithmetic. Pulpit argues at length that twelve, not fourteen, is the total, the two of v. 19 being the pair on the topmost step.

All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḵōl ham·me·leḵ šə·lō·mōh maš·qêh kə·lê zā·hāḇ wə·ḵōl kə·lê bêṯ- ya·‘ar hal·lə·ḇā·nō·wn sā·ḡūr zā·hāḇ ’ên ke·sep̄ neḥ·šāḇ lō lim·’ū·māh bî·mê šə·lō·mōh

Word by word20 · parsed

וְ֠כֹלwə·ḵōlAllH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

הַמֶּ֤לֶךְham·me·leḵKingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹמֹה֙šə·lō·mōhSolomon’sH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

מַשְׁקֵ֨הmaš·qêhdrinkingH4945

√ mashqeh — properly, causing to drink, iNounmasculine singular construct

mashqeh: drinking vessel, cupbearer The noun is formed from the causative of to drink; it names both the drinking vessel and the man who pours. Cambridge notes the LXX omits the defining word here and adds golden lavers.

כְּלֵ֞יkə·lêcupsH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural construct

זָהָ֔בzā·hāḇwere goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

וְכֹ֗לwə·ḵōland allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

כְּלֵ֛יkə·lêthe utensilsH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural construct

בֵּֽית־bêṯ-of the HouseH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct

יַ֥עַרya·‘arof the ForestH3293

√ yaʻar — a copse of bushesNounmasculine singular construct

הַלְּבָנ֖וֹןhal·lə·ḇā·nō·wnof LebanonH3844

√ Lᵉbânôwn — Lebanon, a mountain range in PalestineArticleNounproperfeminine singular

סָג֑וּרsā·ḡūrwere pureH5462

√ çâgar — to shut upVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

çâgar: to shut up, to close Gold that is shut up. The participle is used of pure metal, but the root is the one used of closing a door or shutting a city. Solomon's finest gold is, by the word chosen for it, gold that goes nowhere.

זָהָ֣בzā·hāḇgoldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

אֵ֣ין’ênThere was noH369

√ ʼayin — a non-entityAdverb

ʼayin: non-entity, there is not A particle of pure negation, doing the work of a whole clause.

כֶּ֗סֶףke·sep̄silverH3701

√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)Nounmasculine singular

נֶחְשָׁ֛בneḥ·šāḇbecause it was accountedH2803

√ châshab — properly, to plait or interpenetrate, iVerbNifalParticiplemasculine singular

châshab: to reckon, to account, to impute The theological weight of this verb is carried in Genesis 15:6 and Psalm 32:2, where God reckons righteousness or refuses to reckon iniquity. Here a king's court does the reckoning, and what it prices at zero is silver. The grammar is the same; the accountant has changed.

לֹ֥אlōas nothingH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

לִמְאֽוּמָה׃lim·’ū·māh. . .H3972

√ mᵉʼûwmâh — properly, a speck or point, iPreposition-lNounmasculine singular

mᵉʼûwmâh: a speck, anything at all Henry turns exactly this into his argument: if abundance of gold can make silver despised, wisdom and grace and the foretastes of heaven should make gold lightly esteemed. The word supplies him his fulcrum, since it names the smallest conceivable amount.

בִּימֵ֥יbî·mêin the daysH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-bNounmasculine plural construct

שְׁלֹמֹ֖הšə·lō·mōhof SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-all the-vessels-of the-drinking-of the-king Solomon gold, and-all the-vessels-of the-house-of the-forest-of the-Lebanon shut-up gold. There-is-no silver: it-was-reckoned for-nothing-at-all in-the-days-of Solomon.”

Where the English smooths the original

סָגוּר סָג֑וּר (sā·ḡūr, H5462 çâgar, Qal passive participle) is literally shut up, closed. BSB renders “pure gold,” which is the settled sense (compare 1 Kings 6:20), but the picture underneath is of gold sealed off, hoarded, shut in. The LXX kept the image: chrysíō synkekleisména.
נֶחְשָׁב נֶחְשָׁ֛ב (neḥ·šāḇ, H2803 châshab, Nifal participle) means to be reckoned, accounted, imputed, from a root meaning to plait or interweave a thought. BSB's “it was accounted” is exact. This is the verb of Genesis 15:6, where faith is reckoned as righteousness; here silver is reckoned as nothing.
לִמְאוּמָה לִמְאֽוּמָה (lim·’ū·māh, H3972 mᵉʼûwmâh) is properly a speck, a point, hence “anything at all.” With the negative it means not a particle. BSB's “as nothing” is right and understated; the Hebrew says silver was not reckoned at so much as a speck.
אֵין אֵ֣ין (’ên, H369) is the particle of non-existence, a non-entity. Hebrew does not say “there was no silver” in the past tense; it states a bare absence. Pulpit warns against the marginal reading that the vessels contained no alloy: the point is that silver was not used, not that the gold was unmixed.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

but of the names used, koph , for “ape,” is not a Hebrew word, but closely resembles the Sanscrit kapi

source ↗

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

Tharshish, or Tartessus, in Spain, had the richest silver mines known in the ancient world

source ↗

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

But whether it was Spain, where in those times there was abundance of gold and silver, as Strabo and others affirm, or some place in the Indies, it is needless to determine

source ↗

Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

By Tharshish is meant Cilicia, which was abundant in the variety of precious things

Geneva's identification of Tarshish with Cilicia is a minority reading; Ellicott and Barnes argue for Tartessus in Spain, Cambridge for a class of ship rather than a destination, and Poole declines to decide. The disagreement is reported, not resolved.

source ↗

For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî lam·me·leḵ ’o·nî ṯar·šîš bay·yām ‘im ḥî·rām ’o·nî ’a·ḥaṯ lə·šā·lōš šā·nîm ’o·nî ṯar·šîš tā·ḇō·w nō·śə·’êṯ zā·hāḇ wā·ḵe·sep̄ šen·hab·bîm wə·qō·p̄îm wə·ṯuk·kî·yîm

Word by word20 · parsed

כִּי֩kîForH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

לַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙lam·me·leḵthe king hadH4428

√ melek — a kingPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

אֳנִ֨י’o·nîthe shipsH590

√ ʼŏnîy — -a ship or (collectively) a fleetNounmasculine singular construct

ʼŏnîy: a ship, collectively a fleet Israel is a land people; the sea in Hebrew Scripture is usually something to be crossed by miracle or feared in a storm. Here Solomon owns it jointly with a Phoenician king. The partnership that built the temple (1 Kings 5) now runs a three-year trade circuit.

תַרְשִׁ֤ישׁṯar·šîšof TarshishH8659

√ Tarshîysh — Tarshish, a place on the Mediterranean, hence, the ephithet of a merchant vessel (as if for or from that port)Nounpropermasculine singular

בַּיָּ֔םbay·yāmat seaH3220

√ yâm — a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of waterPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

עִ֖ם‘imwithH5973

√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition

חִירָ֑םḥî·rāmHiram’sH2438

√ Chîyrâm — Chiram or Chirom, the name of two TyriansNounpropermasculine singular

אֳנִ֣י’o·nîfleetH590

√ ʼŏnîy — -a ship or (collectively) a fleetNounmasculine singular construct

אַחַת֩’a·ḥaṯand onceH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular

לְשָׁלֹ֨שׁlə·šā·lōševery three yearsH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threePreposition-lNumberfeminine singular

שָׁנִ֜יםšā·nîm. . .H8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine plural

אֳנִ֣י’o·nîthe shipsH590

√ ʼŏnîy — -a ship or (collectively) a fleetNounmasculine singular construct

תַרְשִׁ֗ישׁṯar·šîšof TarshishH8659

√ Tarshîysh — Tarshish, a place on the Mediterranean, hence, the ephithet of a merchant vessel (as if for or from that port)Nounpropermasculine singular

תָּב֣וֹא׀tā·ḇō·wwould arriveH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular

bôwʼ: to come (feminine imperfect) The verb is feminine singular, agreeing with the collective fleet, and imperfect: the ships would come, habitually, once in three years. K&D uses precisely this three-year cycle to argue that v. 14's 666 talents cannot be an annual figure.

נֹֽשְׂאֵת֙nō·śə·’êṯbearingH5375

√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeVerbQalParticiplefeminine singular construct

nâsâʼ: to lift, to bear, to carry The participle is feminine, matching the fleet: the ships come bearing. The same verb elsewhere carries sin, guilt and the lifted face of blessing (Numbers 6:26); here it carries apes.

זָהָ֣בzā·hāḇgoldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

וָכֶ֔סֶףwā·ḵe·sep̄silverH3701

√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

שֶׁנְהַבִּ֥יםšen·hab·bîmivoryH8143

√ shenhabbîym — probably, tooth of elephants, iNounmasculine plural

shenhabbîym: tooth of elephants, ivory The cargo list is the most quoted half-verse in the unit, and every item in it except gold and silver is a luxury with no use. Barnes observes that the Hebrew names for ivory, apes and peacocks are all of uncertain and probably foreign origin, so that the trade brought in the vocabulary along with the goods.

וְקֹפִ֖יםwə·qō·p̄îmapesH6971

√ qôwph — a monkeyConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

וְתֻכִּיִּֽים׃wə·ṯuk·kî·yîmand peacocksH8500

√ tukkîy — probably of foreign derivationConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

tukkîy: probably of foreign derivation A word the lexicographers decline to etymologize. Whatever bird came off those ships, Hebrew had to borrow a name for it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“For a-fleet-of Tarshish was-to-the-king in-the-sea with the-fleet-of Hiram; once to-three years came the-fleet-of Tarshish bearing gold and-silver, teeth-of-elephants and-apes and-peacocks.”

Where the English smooths the original

כִּי כִּי֩ (kî, H3588) is causal and binds this verse to the last: silver was reckoned at nothing because the king had a fleet. BSB's “For” preserves it, but the paragraph break in most printed Bibles hides that v. 22 is the reason for v. 21. Pulpit marks the logic exactly: “Reason why silver was so lightly esteemed.”
אֳנִי אֳנִ֨י (’o·nî, H590) is a collective singular, “a ship or (collectively) a fleet,” and it stands three times in this one verse in construct: fleet-of-Tarshish, fleet-of-Hiram, fleet-of-Tarshish. BSB's plural “ships” is idiomatic; the Hebrew repetition of the single collective noun is what gives the verse its rhythm of departure and return.
שֶׁנְהַבִּים שֶׁנְהַבִּ֥ים (šen·hab·bîm, H8143) is, as the lexicon says, “probably, tooth of elephants,” a compound and not the simple shên of v. 18. Ellicott records that the second element resembles the Sanskrit ibha, elephant, and that many would emend the text to shen habnîm, “ivory and ebony,” as in Ezekiel 27:15. BSB's flat “ivory” conceals both the compound and the textual question.
וְתֻכִּיִּים וְתֻכִּיִּֽים (wə·ṯuk·kî·yîm, H8500) is frankly labelled in the lexicon “probably of foreign derivation.” Ellicott compares the Tamil tôka; Barnes says the word may equally mean parrots or guinea fowl. BSB prints “peacocks” with the confidence of a tradition, not of a lexicon.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

There is something ominous of evil here. Riches are put before wisdom. This was not the case in the beginning of Solomon's reign

Pulpit is quoting Wordsworth here; the observation about word order is an editorial judgment, since Hebrew narrative lists are not always significant in their sequence.

source ↗

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. In which he was an eminent type of Christ; see Ephesians 3:8

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

we observe that while its wealth and prosperity are painted in bright colours, the chief stress is laid on its moral greatness, as a kingdom of righteousness and peace

source ↗

So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ šə·lō·mōh way·yiḡ·dal mik·kōl mal·ḵê hā·’ā·reṣ lə·‘ō·šer ū·lə·ḥā·ḵə·māh

Word by word8 · parsed

הַמֶּ֣לֶךְham·me·leḵSo KingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹמֹ֔הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַיִּגְדַּל֙way·yiḡ·dalsurpassedH1431

√ gâdal — to be (causatively make) large (in various senses, as in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

gâdal: to become or be made great The lexicon gives the range: great “in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride.” The verb is morally neutral and its object here is unspecified; it simply records growth. 1 Kings 11 will supply the direction that growth was heading.

מִכֹּ֖לmik·kōlallH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

מַלְכֵ֣יmal·ḵêthe kingsH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine plural construct

הָאָ֑רֶץhā·’ā·reṣof the earthH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular

לְעֹ֖שֶׁרlə·‘ō·šerin richesH6239

√ ʻôsher — wealthPreposition-lNounmasculine singular

ʻôsher: wealth The word stands first in the pair, and Ecclesiastes, which tradition attaches to this king, will spend twelve chapters taking it apart. Henry makes the same connection: this was he who, having tasted all earthly enjoyments, wrote a book to show the vanity of all worldly things.

וּלְחָכְמָֽה׃ū·lə·ḥā·ḵə·māhand wisdomH2451

√ chokmâh — wisdom (in a good sense)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounfeminine singular

chokmâh: wisdom (in a good sense) At 1 Kings 3:11-13 Solomon asked for this and was given the other as well, unasked. Here the order of the two has quietly reversed. Ellicott sees the same inversion at the level of the empire, arguing that its true glory lay in righteousness and peace, and that falling away from this brought decay and ruin.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-he-became-great, the-king Solomon, away-from-all the-kings-of the-earth, for-riches and-for-wisdom.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַיִּגְדַּל וַיִּגְדַּל֙ (way·yiḡ·dal, H1431 gâdal, Qal consecutive imperfect) is inceptive. K&D states it flatly: “Solomon became greater, not was greater, on account of the Vv consec.” BSB's “surpassed” reports a settled condition where the Hebrew reports a process still running, and a process is a thing that can run too far.
מִכֹּל מִכֹּ֖ל (mik·kōl) is the comparative min, literally “from all,” Hebrew's way of saying “more than all.” The idiom measures greatness by distance from others rather than by any standard of its own. BSB's “surpassed all” is correct and makes the comparison sound absolute where the Hebrew keeps it relative.
לְעֹשֶׁר וּלְחָכְמָה לְעֹ֖שֶׁר וּלְחָכְמָֽה (lə·‘ō·šer ū·lə·ḥā·ḵə·māh, H6239 + H2451) puts riches first and wisdom second. Pulpit, following Wordsworth, will not let the order pass: “There is something ominous of evil here. Riches are put before wisdom. This was not the case in the beginning of Solomon's reign (1 Kings 3:11).” BSB preserves the order; only a commentator can tell you it matters.
הָאָרֶץ הָאָ֑רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ, H776) means both the earth and the land. BSB reads the wider sense, and Barnes checks it: “By ‘all the earth’ we are, of course, only to understand the kings or people of neighboring nations.” The Hebrew word will carry either, and the English has to choose.

The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ mə·ḇaq·šîm ’eṯ- pə·nê šə·lō·mōh liš·mō·a‘ ’eṯ- ḥā·ḵə·mā·ṯōw ’ă·šer- ’ĕ·lō·hîm nā·ṯan bə·lib·bōw

Word by word13 · parsed

וְכָ֨ל־wə·ḵālThe wholeH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

הָאָ֔רֶץhā·’ā·reṣworldH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular

מְבַקְשִׁ֖יםmə·ḇaq·šîmsoughtH1245

√ bâqash — to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer)VerbPielParticiplemasculine plural

bâqash: to search out, specifically in worship or prayer The participle keeps the action open: the nations are still coming. Gill restricts the subject sensibly (“by all the earth is meant the inhabitants of it, and only them, and those the more principal”), and Poole calls it a synecdoche that “is very frequent.” The grammatical point stands whatever the extent: this is the verb of seeking God, aimed at a man.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

פְּנֵ֣יpə·nêan audienceH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct

pânîym: the face, the part that turns Cambridge notes that 2 Chronicles 9:23 reads “all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon,” with the identical Hebrew for the last words, and judges the fuller form better here. Either way, the idiom is the sanctuary's.

שְׁלֹמֹ֑הšə·lō·mōhwith SolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

לִשְׁמֹ֙עַ֙liš·mō·a‘to hearH8085

√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

חָכְמָת֔וֹḥā·ḵə·mā·ṯōwthe wisdomH2451

√ chokmâh — wisdom (in a good sense)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-thatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אֱלֹהִ֖ים’ĕ·lō·hîmGodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural

נָתַ֥ןnā·ṯanhad putH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

nâthan: to give The pivot of the verse and of the unit. Everything Solomon has in this chapter he either made, gathered or took; this one thing was given, and given not to his treasury but into his heart. Gill will not let it blur: “For it was all of God, a peculiar gift of his.”

בְּלִבּֽוֹ׃bə·lib·bōwin his heartH3820

√ lêb — the heartPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

lêb: the heart The same organ that 1 Kings 11:4 says his wives turned away after other gods. What God put in is named here; what displaced it is named one chapter later, using the same word.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-all the-earth were-seeking the-face-of Solomon, to-hear his-wisdom which God had-given in-his-heart.”

Where the English smooths the original

מְבַקְשִׁים מְבַקְשִׁ֖ים (mə·ḇaq·šîm, H1245 bâqash, Piel participle) is intensive and continuous: they kept seeking. The lexicon's gloss is telling: “to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer).” This is the verb used of seeking the LORD (Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 27:8). BSB's “sought an audience” is diplomatic English for a word that is normally religious.
פְּנֵי פְּנֵ֣י (pə·nê, H6440) is the face, “the part that turns.” “To seek the face of” is the exact idiom used of seeking God's face in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Psalm 105:4. BSB's “sought an audience with Solomon” is what it means in a court; it is not what it says, and the loss here is theologically loaded.
נָתַן בְּלִבּוֹ נָתַ֥ן בְּלִבּֽוֹ (nā·ṯan bə·lib·bōw, H5414 + H3820) is “gave in his heart,” not “gave to his mind.” Lêb is the whole inner man, will and understanding together. BSB keeps “heart,” rightly; Pulpit glosses it as “mind,” which narrows it.
אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהִ֖ים (’ĕ·lō·hîm, H430) is the generic plural for God, not the covenant name YHWH, which the chapter used at 10:1 and 10:9 on the queen of Sheba's lips. BSB prints “God,” which is correct and cannot show the shift. In the verse where the whole earth comes to hear, the narrator uses the name the whole earth could use.

Year after year, each visitor would bring his tribute: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

də·ḇar- šā·nāh bə·šā·nāh wə·hêm·māh ’îš mə·ḇi·’îm min·ḥā·ṯōw kə·lê ḵe·sep̄ ū·ḵə·lê zā·hāḇ ū·śə·lā·mō·wṯ wə·nê·šeq ū·ḇə·śā·mîm sū·sîm ū·p̄ə·rā·ḏîm

Word by word16 · parsed

דְּבַר־də·ḇar-H1697

√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine singular construct

dâbâr: a word, a matter The idiom uses the word for word to mean the fixed quota of a year, and the double shânâh that follows makes the repetition audible.

שָׁנָ֖הšā·nāhYearH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular

בְּשָׁנָֽה׃סbə·šā·nāhafter yearH8141

√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular

וְהֵ֣מָּהwə·hêm·māh. . .H1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Conjunctive wawPronounthird person masculine plural

אִ֣ישׁ’îš[each] visitorH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular

ʼîysh: a man, each one The distributive that turns a procession into persons.

מְבִאִ֣יםmə·ḇi·’îmwould bringH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbHifilParticiplemasculine plural

מִנְחָת֡וֹmin·ḥā·ṯōwhis tributeH4503

√ minchâh — a donationNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

minchâh: a donation, a tribute, an offering This is the unit's most theologically weighted noun. Every year the nations bring to Solomon what Leviticus prescribes bringing to God, and the narrator does not blink. The Verifier links the verse to Psalm 72:10 on this very lexeme, where the tribute of Tarshish and the isles is asked for a king who delivers the needy.

כְּלֵ֣יkə·lêarticlesH3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural construct

כֶסֶף֩ḵe·sep̄of silverH3701

√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)Nounmasculine singular

וּכְלֵ֨יū·ḵə·lê. . .H3627

√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

זָהָ֤בzā·hāḇand goldH2091

√ zâhâb — gold, figuratively, something gold-colored (iNounmasculine singular

וּשְׂלָמוֹת֙ū·śə·lā·mō·wṯclothingH8008

√ salmâh — a dressConjunctive wawNounfeminine plural

וְנֵ֣שֶׁקwə·nê·šeqweaponsH5402

√ nesheq — military equipment, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

nesheq: military equipment Weapons arriving as a gift, in a chapter whose only other armor is gold and decorative. Solomon is being given the real thing and manufacturing the ornamental version.

וּבְשָׂמִ֔יםū·ḇə·śā·mîmspicesH1314

√ besem — fragranceConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

סוּסִ֖יםsū·sîmhorsesH5483

√ çûwç — a horse (as leaping)Nounmasculine plural

וּפְרָדִ֑יםū·p̄ə·rā·ḏîmand mulesH6505

√ pered — a mule (perhaps from his lonely habits)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

pered: a mule The mount of royalty in this narrative: Solomon rode David's mule to his own anointing (1 Kings 1:33-38). Now mules arrive as tribute by the drove.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-they were-bringing, each-man his-tribute-offering: vessels-of silver and-vessels-of gold and-garments and-weaponry and-spices, horses and-mules, the-matter-of-a-year in-its-year.”

Where the English smooths the original

מִנְחָתוֹ מִנְחָת֡וֹ (min·ḥā·ṯōw, H4503 minchâh) is “a donation,” and it is the standard word for the grain offering brought to God (Leviticus 2:1) and for Cain's and Abel's offerings (Genesis 4:3-5). BSB's “his tribute” is right for a royal court and silent about the cultic weight of the noun. Psalm 72:10 prays that kings will bring this same minchâh.
דְּבַר־שָׁנָה בְּשָׁנָה דְּבַר־שָׁנָ֖ה בְּשָׁנָֽה is literally “the matter (or word) of a year in its year,” which Pulpit renders “the matter of a year in his year.” BSB's “Year after year” is clean English for a knotty idiom, and the knot is where the interpretive question sits: a fixed annual rate implies tribute, not free gifts.
אִישׁ אִ֣ישׁ (’îš, H376) is a distributive singular standing inside a plural clause: they were bringing, a man, his present. BSB supplies “each visitor” in brackets, honestly. The Hebrew construction makes the crowd into a file of individuals, each with something in his hands.
וְנֵשֶׁק וְנֵ֣שֶׁק (wə·nê·šeq, H5402) is “military equipment,” armor or weapons. BSB reads “weapons”; Pulpit records that Ewald understood perfume and the LXX rendered it staktē, oil of myrrh, and Cambridge notes the LXX omits the item entirely. The gift list is not textually secure.

Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šə·lō·mōh way·ye·’ĕ·sōp̄ re·ḵeḇ ū·p̄ā·rā·šîm way·hî- lōw ’e·lep̄ wə·’ar·ba‘- mê·’ō·wṯ re·ḵeḇ ū·šə·nêm- ‘ā·śār ’e·lep̄ pā·rā·šîm way·yan·ḥêm hā·re·ḵeḇ bə·‘ā·rê wə·‘im- ham·me·leḵ bî·rū·šā·lim

Word by word20 · parsed

שְׁלֹמֹה֮šə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֶּאֱסֹ֣ףway·ye·’ĕ·sōp̄accumulatedH622

√ ʼâçaph — to gather for any purposeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʼâçaph: to gather for any purpose The unit's final movement begins with gathering. Compare the divine promise of 1 Kings 3:13, where riches and honor were given. From v. 26 forward the verbs are all Solomon's own: he gathered, he led, he gave, his merchants took and brought out.

רֶ֣כֶבre·ḵeḇH7393

√ rekeb — a vehicleNounmasculine singular

וּפָרָשִׁים֒ū·p̄ā·rā·šîmH6571

√ pârâsh — a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, not single nor for mounting )Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural

וַיְהִי־way·hî-. . .H1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ל֗וֹlōw

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

אֶ֤לֶף’e·lep̄1,400 {}H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular

וְאַרְבַּע־wə·’ar·ba‘-. . .H702

√ ʼarbaʻ — fourConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular

מֵאוֹת֙mê·’ō·wṯ. . .H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

רֶ֔כֶבre·ḵeḇchariotsH7393

√ rekeb — a vehicleNounmasculine singular

וּשְׁנֵים־ū·šə·nêm-and 12,000H8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoConjunctive wawNumbermd

עָשָׂ֥ר‘ā·śār. . .H6240

√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumbermasculine singular

אֶ֖לֶף’e·lep̄. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular

פָּֽרָשִׁ֑יםpā·rā·šîmhorsesH6571

√ pârâsh — a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, not single nor for mounting )Nounmasculine plural

pârâsh: a steed, a horseman Twelve thousand of them. Cambridge is blunt: “Here we find the first institution of cavalry in Israel in defiance of the Deuteronomic law,” and adds the puzzle that a book compiled after Deuteronomy records the breach without comment, though 1 Kings 11:2 does comment on another.

וַיַּנְחֵם֙way·yan·ḥêmwhich he stationedH5148

√ nâchâh — to guideConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural

nâchâh: to guide, to lead The shepherd verb, applied to war horses. It is the same root by which the LORD led Israel by a pillar of cloud and by which the psalmist asks to be led in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:24). Here it governs a cavalry deployment, and the collision of registers is in the Hebrew, not in the commentary.

הָרֶ֔כֶבhā·re·ḵeḇin the chariotH7393

√ rekeb — a vehicleArticleNounmasculine singular

בְּעָרֵ֣יbə·‘ā·rêcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Preposition-bNounfeminine plural construct

וְעִם־wə·‘im-and also withH5973

√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iConjunctive wawPreposition

הַמֶּ֖לֶךְham·me·leḵ[him]H4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃bî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

Yᵉrûwshâlaim: Jerusalem Gill, citing Josephus, divides the force between the capital and the outposts, half the horsemen quartered about the king. The name matters here: in this unit Jerusalem is mentioned twice, once as the garrison of the chariot force and once as the place where silver lies about like stones (v. 27), and never as the city of the ark or the altar. The city chosen for the Name is being described, in these closing verses, exactly as any capital of any kingdom would be described, and 1 Kings 11:7 will raise a high place on the hill that faces it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-Solomon gathered chariotry and-horsemen; and-there-was to-him a-thousand and-four hundreds chariot and-twelve thousand horsemen; and-he-led-them in-the-cities-of the-chariot and-with the-king in-Jerusalem.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַיֶּאֱסֹף וַיֶּאֱסֹ֣ף (way·ye·’ĕ·sōp̄, H622 ʼâçaph) is “to gather for any purpose,” the verb of harvest, of gathering a people, of being gathered to one's fathers. BSB's “accumulated” is a financial word for an agricultural one, and it is apt: what Solomon gathers here is exactly what Deuteronomy 17:16 told a king not to multiply.
פָּרָשִׁים פָּֽרָשִׁ֑ים (pā·rā·šîm, H6571) is glossed in the lexicon as “a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle),” and Cambridge notes the word “means both the horse for riding and the rider,” as English says “a hundred horse.” BSB prints “horses” in the second clause and Hebrew leaves the ambiguity standing; the same word in other passages is rendered “horsemen.”
וַיַּנְחֵם וַיַּנְחֵם֙ (way·yan·ḥêm, H5148 nâchâh, Hiphil) is “and he led them,” the verb of guidance: he leadeth me beside still waters (Psalm 23:3), thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people (Exodus 15:13). BSB's “stationed” is a garrison word. The Hebrew says the king shepherded his chariots.
רֶכֶב רֶ֣כֶב (re·ḵeḇ, H7393) is a collective, “a vehicle,” used both of a single chariot and of chariotry as an arm of war. It appears three times in this verse, in the opening pair, in the count, and in “the cities of the chariot.” BSB varies the English each time; Hebrew hammers one noun.

The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ ’eṯ- way·yit·tên hak·ke·sep̄ bî·rū·šā·lim kā·’ă·ḇā·nîm wə·’êṯ nā·ṯan hā·’ă·rā·zîm lā·rōḇ kaš·šiq·mîm ’ă·šer- baš·šə·p̄ê·lāh

Word by word13 · parsed

הַמֶּ֧לֶךְham·me·leḵThe kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַיִּתֵּ֨ןway·yit·tênmadeH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

הַכֶּ֛סֶףhak·ke·sep̄silverH3701

√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)ArticleNounmasculine singular

keçeph: silver (from its pale color) The metal that was reckoned at a speck in v. 21 is lying in the streets in v. 27. K&D notes the verse is simply v. 21 extended. The same commodity is worthless and ubiquitous at once, which is what a glut means.

בִּירוּשָׁלִַ֖םbî·rū·šā·limas common in JerusalemH3389

√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

כָּאֲבָנִ֑יםkā·’ă·ḇā·nîmas stonesH68

√ ʼeben — a stonePreposition-k, ArticleNounfeminine plural

וְאֵ֣תwə·’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

נָתַ֛ןnā·ṯanandH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

הָאֲרָזִ֗יםhā·’ă·rā·zîmcedarH730

√ ʼerez — a cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots)ArticleNounmasculine plural

ʼerez: a cedar (from the tenacity of its roots) Cedar was the temple's wood and Lebanon's glory, brought by treaty with Hiram in 1 Kings 5. Here it is reduced to the level of the commonest building timber in the land.

לָרֹֽב׃lā·rōḇas abundantH7230

√ rôb — abundance (in any respect)Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

כַּשִּׁקְמִ֥יםkaš·šiq·mîmas sycamoreH8256

√ shiqmâh — a sycamore (usually the tree)Preposition-k, ArticleNounfeminine plural

shiqmâh: a sycamore, the fig mulberry Poole says shortly that sycamores “were vile and common,” citing Isaiah 9:10 where rebuilding with cedar instead of sycamore is an act of pride. K&D adds that the sycamore forests of the lowland were crown property (1 Chronicles 27:28) and quotes Theodoret that Palestine was once full of them.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בַּשְּׁפֵלָ֖הbaš·šə·p̄ê·lāhin the foothillsH8219

√ shᵉphêlâh — Lowland, iPreposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular

shᵉphêlâh: the Lowland A real district with a real economy, not scenery. Barnes and Ellicott both press the consequence: this wealth enriched the metropolis while the provinces carried the cost, and the discontent surfaced under Jeroboam.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-the-king gave the-silver in-Jerusalem as-the-stones, and-the-cedars he-gave as-the-sycamores which are-in-the-Shephelah, for-abundance.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַיִּתֵּן וַיִּתֵּ֨ן (way·yit·tên, H5414 nâthan) is “gave,” not “made.” BSB reads “The king made silver as common,” which is the sense; the Hebrew verb is the same one that in v. 24 has God giving wisdom into Solomon's heart and in v. 17 has Solomon giving the shields to the armory. Three gifts, and the middle one is the only thing not counted in talents.
כָּאֲבָנִים כָּאֲבָנִ֑ים (kā·’ă·ḇā·nîm, H68) has the article: as the stones, meaning the stones lying about Jerusalem. K&D calls the whole statement “a hyperbolical description,” as do Barnes, Gill and Pulpit. BSB's “as common in Jerusalem as stones” supplies “common,” which the Hebrew leaves to the comparison itself.
בַּשְּׁפֵלָה בַּשְּׁפֵלָ֖ה (baš·šə·p̄ê·lāh, H8219) is the Shephelah, the named lowland running from the hills of Judah to the sea. BSB's “in the foothills” is a description; Cambridge notes the Revised Version consistently prints “the lowland,” that the word hardened into the proper name Sephela, and Pulpit says flatly that the older rendering “vale” is “altogether misleading.”
לָרֹב לָרֹֽב (lā·rōḇ, H7230) is a prepositional phrase, “for abundance,” standing at the end of the sentence as its verdict. BSB folds it into the adjective “as abundant.” In Hebrew the clause ends on the bare noun for multitude, which is also the noun Deuteronomy uses when it warns the king against multiplying.

Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ă·šer liš·lō·mōh has·sū·sîm ū·mō·w·ṣā mim·miṣ·rā·yim ū·miq·wêh ham·me·leḵ sō·ḥă·rê yiq·ḥū bim·ḥîr miq·wêh

Word by word11 · parsed

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerSolomon’sH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

לִשְׁלֹמֹ֖הliš·lō·mōh. . .H8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

הַסּוּסִ֛יםhas·sū·sîmhorsesH5483

√ çûwç — a horse (as leaping)ArticleNounmasculine plural

וּמוֹצָ֧אū·mō·w·ṣāwere importedH4161

√ môwtsâʼ — a going forth, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

môwtsâʼ: a going forth, an export The horses' motion is described from the Egyptian end. In the Torah the movement that matters is Israel's going forth out of Egypt; here a trade route runs the other way, and Deuteronomy 17:16 had named that exact reversal as the thing a king must never cause.

מִמִּצְרָ֑יִםmim·miṣ·rā·yimfrom EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

Mitsrayim: Egypt Named twice in two verses at the close of the unit. Whatever else the passage is doing, it ends with Solomon's supply line running back into the house of bondage.

וּמִקְוֵ֕הū·miq·wêhand KueH4723

√ miqveh — something waited for, iConjunctive waw, Preposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

miqveh: something waited for, a collection The single most uncertain word in these sixteen verses. Cambridge's reconstruction is the most workable: the king's agents contracted wholesale with Egyptian breeders for droves at a fixed sum, then retailed them, and the profit was the crown's. But Cambridge concedes the word must bear one sense in both of its occurrences here, and the Hebrew pointing resists.

הַמֶּ֔לֶךְham·me·leḵthe royalH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

סֹחֲרֵ֣יsō·ḥă·rêmerchantsH5503

√ çâchar — to travel round (specifically as a pedlar)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

çâchar: to travel round, to trade as a pedlar The Verifier links this lexeme to Ezekiel 27:21, in the middle of the oracle where Tyre's trading list becomes its dirge. K&D notes these are called the king's traders because they traded on the king's account, not because they paid him a trade tax.

יִקְח֥וּyiq·ḥūpurchased themH3947

√ lâqach — to take (in the widest variety of applications)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

בִּמְחִֽיר׃bim·ḥîr. . .H4242

√ mᵉchîyr — price, payment, wagesPreposition-bNounmasculine singular

מִקְוֵ֖הmiq·wêhfrom KueH4723

√ miqveh — something waited for, iPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-the-going-forth of-the-horses which were-to-Solomon was-from-Egypt, and-from-Kue; the-traders-of the-king took from-Kue at-a-price.”

Where the English smooths the original

וּמוֹצָא וּמוֹצָ֧א (ū·mō·w·ṣā, H4161 môwtsâʼ) is a noun, “a going forth, an export,” not a passive verb. Cambridge gives the literal rendering: “and the export of horses which was to Solomon (was) from Egypt.” BSB's “were imported from Egypt” reverses the vantage point, describing the arrival where Hebrew describes the departure.
מִקְוֵה וּמִקְוֵ֕ה (ū·miq·wêh, H4723) is the crux of the unit and every source in the brief handles it differently. The lexicon says “something waited for,” a collection (of waters, Genesis 1:10). The Authorized Version read “linen yarn”; Barnes and Gesenius read “a drove” or “company”; the LXX and Vulgate read a place name, Koa or Tekoa; K&D prefers the place name and Cambridge prefers the drove. BSB prints Kue. No reading is secure.
סֹחֲרֵי סֹחֲרֵ֣י (sō·ḥă·rê, H5503 çâchar, Qal participle construct) means literally “those who travel round,” the pedlar's verb, the same root Ezekiel 27 uses through his whole indictment of Tyre's commerce. BSB's “royal merchants” is a title; the Hebrew is a description of men on the road.
בִּמְחִיר בִּמְחִֽיר (bim·ḥîr, H4242 mᵉchîyr) is “at a price, for payment, for hire.” BSB leaves it unrendered in the visible text (the interlinear marks it with ellipsis) and carries the sense in “purchased them.” It matters, because K&D uses this phrase against Movers's theory that the sums in v. 29 were customs duties rather than prices.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

this statement is curiously confirmed by both Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions, describing a powerful confederacy of Hittites in the valley of the Orontes in Syria

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

who became the bitterest enemies of Israel" (Wordsworth): one fruit of a worldly policy

Pulpit is quoting Wordsworth's phrase; the judgment is a commentator's inference from the later history, not a statement of this verse.

source ↗

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

These amounts are sufficient to show how untenable the opinion of Movers is, that the sums mentioned are not the prices paid for horses and chariots, but the payment made for their exit, or the customs duty

source ↗

Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Solomon, who possessed, as it were, the gate of Egypt, by being master of that one only passage, the distance between the Red and the Mediterranean sea, took, it seems, an advantage of this, to lay an excessive high tribute on all that were brought out of Egypt that way

Benson's account of a deliberately high transit tariff is a reconstruction; K&D argues on linguistic grounds that the sums are prices, not duties, so the two readings in this verse's voices genuinely conflict.

source ↗

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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mer·kā·ḇāh wat·ta·‘ă·leh wat·tê·ṣê mim·miṣ·ra·yim bə·šêš mê·’ō·wṯ ke·sep̄ wə·sūs ū·mê·’āh ba·ḥă·miš·šîm wə·ḵên bə·yā·ḏām yō·ṣi·’ū lə·ḵāl mal·ḵê ha·ḥit·tîm ū·lə·mal·ḵê ’ă·rām

Word by word18 · parsed

מֶרְכָּבָ֤הmer·kā·ḇāhA chariotH4818

√ merkâbâh — a chariotNounfeminine singular

merkâbâh: a chariot The word Exodus 14:25 uses of Pharaoh's chariots at the sea, and Exodus 15:4 of the chariots cast into it. It re-enters Israel's story here as a commodity with a price tag, bought from the same country.

וַֽ֠תַּעֲלֶהwat·ta·‘ă·lehcould be importedH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular

וַתֵּצֵ֨אwat·tê·ṣê. . .H3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular

מִמִּצְרַ֙יִם֙mim·miṣ·ra·yimfrom EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

בְּשֵׁ֣שׁbə·šêšfor sixH8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Preposition-bNumberfeminine singular construct

מֵא֣וֹתmê·’ō·wṯhundred [shekels]H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

כֶּ֔סֶףke·sep̄of silverH3701

√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)Nounmasculine singular

וְס֖וּסwə·sūsand a horseH5483

√ çûwç — a horse (as leaping)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

וּמֵאָ֑הū·mê·’āhfor a hundredH3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular

בַּחֲמִשִּׁ֣יםba·ḥă·miš·šîmand fiftyH2572

√ chămishshîym — fiftyPreposition-b, ArticleNumbercommon plural

וְ֠כֵןwə·ḵênLikewiseH3651

√ kên — properly, set uprightConjunctive wawAdverb

בְּיָדָ֥םbə·yā·ḏām[they]H3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

yâd: a hand (indicating power, means, agency) The unit's closing image is a hand, and it is a trader's. Compare v. 19, where the throne itself had hands with lions beside them. Both are the same noun; one holds judgment, the other holds the reins of an export trade.

יֹצִֽאוּ׃פyō·ṣi·’ūexported themH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine plural

yâtsâʼ: to go out (Hiphil: to bring out) Causative, plural: they brought them out. The subject is the traders, not the king, and the grammar quietly distributes the responsibility.

לְכָל־lə·ḵālto allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

מַלְכֵ֧יmal·ḵêthe kingsH4428

√ melek — a kingNounmasculine plural construct

הַחִתִּ֛יםha·ḥit·tîmof the HittitesH2850

√ Chittîy — a Chittite, or descendant of ChethArticleNounpropermasculine plural

Chittîy: a Hittite Ellicott records that the survival of Hittite power after the conquest, which this verse asserts, is confirmed by Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions describing a confederacy in the Orontes valley. Pulpit resists reading them as the seven nations of Canaan, since those had been put to forced labor in 1 Kings 9:20.

וּלְמַלְכֵ֥יū·lə·mal·ḵêand to the kingsH4428

√ melek — a kingConjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounmasculine plural construct

אֲרָ֖ם’ă·rāmof AramH758

√ ʼĂrâm — Aram or Syria, and its inhabitantsNounproperfeminine singular

ʼĂrâm: Aram, Syria The last proper noun in the unit. Pulpit, with Wordsworth, notes what the reader of Kings already knows: these become Israel's bitterest enemies, and they are being armed here through Solomon's merchants.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-a-chariot came-up and-went-out from-Egypt for-six hundreds of-silver, and-a-horse for-a-hundred and-fifty; and-so for-all the-kings-of the-Hittites and-for-the-kings-of Aram, by-their-hand they-brought-out.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַתַּעֲלֶה וַתֵּצֵא וַֽ֠תַּעֲלֶה וַתֵּצֵ֨א (wat·ta·‘ă·leh wat·tê·ṣê, H5927 + H3318) is two verbs, “and it came up and it went out,” both feminine, both consecutive. BSB compresses to “could be imported.” The pair traces the whole journey: up out of the Nile plain, out across the frontier. The first of the two is the same ʻâlâh that put gold onto the shields in v. 16.
מֶרְכָּבָה מֶרְכָּבָ֤ה (mer·kā·ḇāh, H4818) is “a chariot,” and K&D argues it here denotes the chariot together with its team, comparing 2 Samuel 8:4 and Ezekiel 39:20. That is what makes the price of six hundred intelligible beside a horse at a hundred and fifty. BSB's bare “chariot” leaves the arithmetic looking stranger than it is.
בְּיָדָם בְּיָדָ֥ם (bə·yā·ḏām, H3027) is “by their hand,” the idiom for agency. Cambridge renders it “these merchants were the agents through whom the various princes obtained their supplies,” and K&D insists on the literal sense, the traders carrying the goods themselves even to distant kings. BSB's “they exported them” drops the hand and with it the picture of who is actually doing this.
וְכֵן וְ֠כֵן (wə·ḵên, H3651) is “and thus, and so,” the same adverb that stood in v. 20's verdict, lōʼ kên, not so was it made for any kingdom. BSB reads “Likewise.” The unit therefore opens its last clause with the word it used to crown the throne, and spends it on an arms ledger.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The weight of the gold, and what is left out of the weighing — 10:14-15

The section opens not with a verb but with a scale: מִשְׁקַל (mišqal), the weight. Six hundred sixty and six talents came to Solomon in one year, and then, in a single word, לְבַד (lᵉbad, apart from), a second and unmeasured revenue is set beside it. K&D reads the total as “evidently a round number founded upon an approximative valuation,” and explains the separation of the two heaps shrewdly: the 666 came in metal, the rest came in kind, from travelling traders, wholesale merchants, the kings of the mingled people and the governors of the land. JFB adds the commercial machinery, that Solomon's fortifications secured the caravan routes and that he taxed the traffic he protected. The estimates of what 666 talents were worth run from Poole's two millions to the eight millions Pulpit cites from Peele, and Pulpit draws the only honest conclusion available: “both estimates are little more than guesswork.” ⚙ What the Hebrew does establish, beyond any currency conversion, is the method of the passage. From here to v. 29 the narrator weighs, counts, prices and numbers, and passes no verdict at all.

ii. Five hundred shields that never met a blow — 10:16-17

The first use of the gold is armor. Two hundred צִנָּה (tsinnâh, the tall body shield) and three hundred מָגֵן (mâgên, the buckler), all of שָׁחוּט gold, a word so rare it occurs in four verses of the Hebrew Bible. K&D, following Kimchi, settles its sense as aurum diductum, gold beaten thin, and notes that the shields themselves were wood or basket-work under the plate. Gill quotes Eupolemus through Eusebius to the effect that they “were made for show, and not for war,” and Cambridge says they hung against the pillars of the royal armory. Ellicott sees in the whole display a “plethora of gold, too great to be absorbed either in currency or in personal and architectural decorations.” Benson alone tries to redeem the image, contrasting the Roman lictors' rods and axes, tokens of power to punish, with Solomon's shields, tokens of power to protect. ⚙ Benson's reading is generous and the narrative does not sustain it: at 1 Kings 14:26 Shishak of Egypt walks off with every one of these shields, and Rehoboam replaces them with bronze. The Verifier confirms the verbal tie between the two passages on mâgên itself.

iii. A throne of tooth, and twelve lions on the stairs — 10:18-20

Here the inventory touches office rather than treasure. The כִּסֵּא is the seat of judgment, housed in the porch of 1 Kings 7:7, and it is made of שֵׁן, tooth, overlaid with מוּפָז gold, a Hofal participle that Cambridge says “occurs in no other place.” The commentators cannot agree on the construction: Gill and Poole have gold studded into ivory, K&D has ivory inset into gold plate, Barnes and JFB have a wooden core veneered. What they do agree on is the lions. Barnes traces the emblem to prophetic poetry older than Solomon, Genesis 49:9 and Numbers 23:24, and calls the lion the natural figure of sovereignty; K&D holds that the twelve “may possibly have pointed to the rule over the twelve tribes of Israel, which was concentrated in the throne”; Pulpit says the number “would signify that all the tribes had an interest in the royal house.” Gill goes further and names Solomon here “a type of Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah.” ⚙ The verdict the narrator does give is comparative and nothing more: לֹא־כֵן, not so was it made for any kingdoms. Two chapters later ten of those twelve tribes will tell Rehoboam they have no portion in the house of David.

iv. Silver reckoned at a speck, and ships three years at sea — 10:21-22

Silver was נֶחְשָׁב, reckoned, for מְאוּמָה, a speck. Gill, Poole and Pulpit all call the statement hyperbolical and Pulpit supports it with Ctesias and Athenaeus on the treasuries of Nineveh and Babylon. Henry and Benson both turn it into argument: if abundance of gold can make silver despised, says Henry, shall not wisdom and grace make gold lightly esteemed. The reason for the glut follows in v. 22, the אֳנִי תַרְשִׁישׁ sailing with Hiram's fleet and coming in once in three years with gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. Where it sailed is genuinely disputed in the sources: Ellicott and Barnes argue for Tartessus in Spain, Geneva says Cilicia, Cambridge holds that “ships of Tarshish” names a class of vessel rather than a destination, and Poole simply declines: “it is needless to determine.” Ellicott and Cambridge both observe that qôph and tukkî are not Hebrew words at all but resemble Sanskrit kapi and Tamil tôka. ⚙ Whatever the route, the vocabulary itself is imported. Even the names of the cargo are foreign in Israel's mouth.

v. All the earth sought his face — 10:23-25

וַיִּגְדַּל: Solomon became great, and K&D insists on the tense, “became greater, not was greater, on account of the Vv consec.” He surpassed all the kings of the earth לְעֹשֶׁר וּלְחָכְמָה, for riches and for wisdom, and Pulpit catches what the word order does: “There is something ominous of evil here. Riches are put before wisdom. This was not the case in the beginning of Solomon's reign.” Then all the earth sought the face of Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had given in his heart, and Gill will not let the gift be mistaken for an achievement: “For it was all of God, a peculiar gift of his.” Ellicott reads the empire soberly as “a loosely-compacted group of tributary states,” held by personal ascendancy, commerce and some force, and notes that Psalm 72 lays its stress not on wealth but on righteousness and peace. The tribute of v. 25 comes מִנְחָתוֹ, each man his minchâh, the same noun Scripture uses for an offering brought to God. ⚙ Men come from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom God gave, and they arrive carrying offerings to the man who received it.

vi. Horses out of Egypt, and the road back — 10:26-29

The unit closes where Deuteronomy 17:16 told a king of Israel never to go. Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen, fourteen hundred and twelve thousand, and וַיַּנְחֵם, led them, using the shepherd's verb, into the chariot cities. Cambridge states the collision without flinching: “Here we find the first institution of cavalry in Israel in defiance of the Deuteronomic law.” Gill notes the same of the horses from Egypt, and Benson breaks into open lament over a king who could speak of every tree from the cedar to the hyssop and forgot the beginning of wisdom. Pulpit reads the whole cavalry force as “another token of declension.” Meanwhile silver lies in Jerusalem like stones and cedar like the sycamores of the Shephelah, which K&D calls “a hyperbolical description,” and Barnes and Ellicott both press the sharper point, that this wealth enriched the capital while the provinces bore the burden, producing the discontent that broke out under Jeroboam. The last verse leaves Solomon as the arms dealer of the region, chariots and horses going out by his merchants' hand to the kings of the Hittites and of Aram, whom Pulpit, with Wordsworth, calls “the bitterest enemies of Israel: one fruit of a worldly policy.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by the text. Read on its surface, 1 Kings 10:14-29 is a doxology: God promised Solomon riches and honor he had not asked for (1 Kings 3:13), and here is the promise paid out in weighed gold. Matthew Henry reads it exactly so, as “the performance of God's promise.” But the passage is also, clause by clause, an inventory of the three things Deuteronomy 17:16-17 forbade the king: he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. Verses 26 to 29 multiply horses, and multiply them out of Egypt, and then sell the surplus to Israel's future enemies. Verses 14 to 27 multiply silver and gold until silver is reckoned at a speck. The next chapter will supply the third clause, the many wives. The narrator never says any of this. He weighs, counts and prices, and that is the whole of his rhetoric. ⚙ My reading is that the silence is the argument: obedience is not measured by the scale, and a chronicle that can only weigh has already lost the ability to judge. The same hand that reports the throne with its twelve lions will report, two chapters later, that ten of those tribes went home. The gold shields go to Egypt in Rehoboam's fifth year. What God gave, Solomon accumulated; what Solomon accumulated, Shishak carried off. I hold this reading loosely, since the text itself declines to state it, and I would rather be corrected by Scripture than be clever about it.

The narrator never accuses Solomon; he simply weighs everything Solomon had, and lets the scale finish the sentence.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The Chronicler weighs the same gold verbal / quotation: confirmed

2 Chronicles 9:13-24 reproduces this entire inventory, and the Verifier finds the overlap where it matters most. The rare participle שָׁחוּט (shâchaṭ, H7820, beaten thin) occurs in only four verses of the Hebrew Bible, and two of them are 1 Kings 10:16-17 and 2 Chronicles 9:16. Ellicott uses the parallel to fix the maneh at one hundred shekels; Cambridge and Poole use it to gloss “three pound”; K&D uses the Chronicler's ṭâhôr to explain the otherwise unexampled mûphâz of v. 18. ⚙ This is literary dependence between two recensions of one record, not one book quoting another as Scripture, and the tier below should be read in that sense.

2 Chronicles 9:16 · 2 Chronicles 9:21 · 2 Chronicles 1:16

basis: Verifier: 2 Chronicles 9:16 shares H7820 shâchaṭ (in 4 vv), a rare lexeme, plus H2091 zâhâb (in 336 vv); 2 Chronicles 9:21 shares H2091 zâhâb and H7969 shâlôwsh (in 381 vv); 2 Chronicles 1:16 shares H8010 Shᵉlômôh (in 263 vv). The rare lexeme carries the verbal tier; it is parallel recension, not citation.

The golden shields leave for Egypt structural / thematic: confirmed

The five hundred shields of vv. 16-17 have a recorded end. In 1 Kings 14:25-26, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt comes up against Jerusalem and takes away the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, including the shields of gold that Solomon had made; Rehoboam makes bronze ones to replace them. Cambridge, Pulpit, JFB and K&D all note the sequel at this verse. The Verifier confirms the verbal overlap on מָגֵן (mâgên, H4043), the very word for the smaller shields. ⚙ The gold went back to Egypt in one generation, which is also the direction the horses came from.

1 Kings 14:26 · 2 Chronicles 12:9-11

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 10:17 / 1 Kings 14:26: shared H4043 mâgên (in 60 vv), H2091 zâhâb (in 336 vv), H1004 bayith (in 1709 vv), H4428 melek (in 1921 vv). A real verbal link inside one narrative arc; tiered structural because no quotation is involved.

The law of the king, read backward structural / thematic: confirmed

Deuteronomy 17:16-17 sets three limits on any king Israel might have: he shall not multiply horses, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, nor greatly multiply silver and gold. Verses 26-29 do the first two explicitly and by name, and vv. 14-27 do the third. Cambridge states the collision at v. 26 (“in defiance of the Deuteronomic law”), Gill notes it at v. 28, Pulpit at both, and Benson turns it into lament. The Verifier confirms shared lexemes between 1 Kings 10:28 and Deuteronomy 17:16. ⚙ No quotation formula appears in either direction, so this is a structural correspondence the commentators saw, not a citation the text claims.

Deuteronomy 17:16-17 · 1 Samuel 8:11-18

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 10:28 / Deuteronomy 17:16: shared H5483 çûwç (in 130 vv), H4714 Mitsrayim (in 573 vv). Ordinary-frequency lexemes, so the link is thematic and legal rather than verbal; 1 Samuel 8:11-18 is added on the commentators' reading, not on a computed basis.

Tribute, and the psalm that asks for it structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 25 says each visitor brought his מִנְחָה (minchâh, H4503), a donation or tribute, year by year. Psalm 72:10 prays that the kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring minchâh, and Ellicott appeals to that psalm at v. 23 precisely to contrast its emphasis: “while its wealth and prosperity are painted in bright colours, the chief stress is laid on its moral greatness, as a kingdom of righteousness and peace.” Pulpit likewise cites Psalm 72:10 for the Mediterranean fleet. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme. ⚙ The psalm asks for tribute as the by-product of justice to the needy; Kings records the tribute and says nothing of the needy.

Psalm 72:10-12 · 2 Chronicles 9:24

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 10:25 / Psalm 72:10: shared H4503 minchâh (in 194 vv). A common lexeme, so the weight of the link is motif and royal ideology, not verbal rarity.

Ships of Tarshish, and the glory carried in typological

The fleet of v. 22 sails again in Isaiah 60:9, where the isles wait and the ships of Tarshish bring the sons of Zion from far, their silver and their gold with them, to the city whose light has come. The Verifier confirms the shared proper noun תַּרְשִׁישׁ (H8659, in 24 verses) together with gold and silver. Ellicott, reading Psalm 72 beside this chapter, has already set the pattern: the wealth of the nations flowing to David's son is a real hope of the prophets, but its stress falls on righteousness and peace rather than on the freight. Revelation 21:24-26 keeps the figure and adds the safeguard, that the kings of the earth bring their glory into a city which has no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. ⚙ Read typologically, 1 Kings 10:22 is a small and tarnished rehearsal of that procession: the cargo is right and the destination is wrong, since in Isaiah and in Revelation the gold arrives at a throne nobody had to gild. The figural reading is ancient and widely held; the verbal link reaches only as far as Isaiah, since Revelation is Greek and can share no lexeme with either.

Isaiah 60:6-9 · Revelation 21:24-26

basis: Verifier pair 1 Kings 10:22 / Isaiah 60:9: shared H8659 Tarshîysh (in 24 vv), H2091 zâhâb (in 336 vv), H3701 keçeph (in 343 vv). The Hebrew half of the link is verbally confirmed; the Revelation half is figural only and cannot be tiered verbal across the Testaments. Ancient and widely held as a reading of the nations' tribute.

Tyre's ledger and Solomon's structural / thematic: confirmed

Ezekiel 27 is an oracle against Tyre cast as a bill of lading, and at 27:21 it names עֲרָב together with the verb סָחַר (çâchar, to travel about trading), the same pair of lexemes that meets in this unit at v. 15 and v. 28. Tyre is Solomon's partner throughout: Hiram's fleet sails with his in v. 22, and Ellicott, Barnes and Cambridge all credit Tyrian seamanship with the ivory, the apes and the throne itself. ⚙ Ezekiel's point is that a catalogue of merchandise can be a funeral dirge. The same list-making voice is at work in 1 Kings 10, and this passage will end its own ledger in 1 Kings 11.

Ezekiel 27:12-21 · Ezekiel 28:4-5

basis: Verifier: Ezekiel 27:21 shares H6152 ʻĂrâb (in 5 vv, rare) and H5503 çâchar (in 20 vv) with this unit. The rare lexeme would support a verbal tier, but there is no quotation in either direction and the shared words are trade vocabulary, so the claim is deliberately kept at structural.

Six hundred sixty and six flagged: verify source

Pulpit raises what every reader of the English Bible notices: “The correspondence with the number of the Beast (Revelation 13:18; cf. Ezra 2:13) is in all probability not altogether accidental,” and he presses it further, that the mark of the beast is on the buyers and sellers while Solomon is here a royal merchant. ⚙ This link is flagged and should stay flagged. Revelation is Greek and Kings is Hebrew, so no shared lexeme can exist. Pulpit himself allows in the same note that the number may have been corrupted in transmission, and he refers the reader to a journal article rather than to an authority. K&D, reading the same figure, calls it simply a round approximation. Nothing in Revelation cites 1 Kings. Treat the resonance as suggestive and unproven.

Revelation 13:17-18 · Ezra 2:13

basis: No computed basis is possible: cross-Testament Greek to Hebrew admits no shared Strong's lexeme, and there is no NT citation formula. The link rests on a numerical coincidence which Pulpit himself concedes may be textual corruption; provenance disputed, recorded here only because a named public-domain source raises it.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

A greater than Solomon is here ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verses 23-25 are the exact scene the Gospels reach back for. All the earth sought the face of Solomon to hear the wisdom God had given in his heart, and Jesus says the queen of the South came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31). The reading is ancient and is carried by the sources in the brief: Gill writes at v. 23 that in this Solomon “was an eminent type of Christ,” and Ellicott says of the wisdom on which the chapter lays its emphasis that “in this higher character it was the type of the kingdom of the true Son of David.” Matthew 6:29 completes the inversion from the other side: Solomon in all his glory, which is precisely the glory catalogued here in talents and minas and ivory, was not arrayed like one lily. ⚙ The comparison the New Testament draws is never flattering to the inventory. It grants the splendour and then sets something greater beside it, unweighed.

Matthew 12:42 · Luke 11:31 · Matthew 6:29

The lion on the steps, and the throne that judges ancient/widely-held

Twelve lions stand on the six steps and two beside the hands of the seat. Barnes grounds the emblem where Scripture itself put it, in Genesis 49:9, Judah a lion's whelp, written long before any carver in Jerusalem took up the figure; Poole allows both that it marks “the tribe from which Solomon sprung” and that it signifies the courage judgment requires; K&D takes the twelve for the twelve tribes gathered into the throne. Gill says plainly that here “Solomon was a type of Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah,” which is the title Revelation 5:5 gives to the Lamb who alone may open the scroll. Gill adds, at v. 18, that since ivory is white it may speak of the purity and equity of the judgment given from that seat, and that “the white throne in Revelation 20:11 may be an allusion to this.” ⚙ The ivory allusion is Gill's figural suggestion and he marks it as a possibility, not a citation; the lion of Judah is the firmer of the two, resting on Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5 directly. ⚙ What the type cannot carry is the gold. The throne of 1 Kings 10 was stripped by Shishak's generation; the throne of Revelation 20 is white, and nothing is laid over it.

Genesis 49:9 · Revelation 5:5 · Revelation 20:11

The riches that were emptied out novel

⚙ This reading is my own and is offered as novel, not as the church's settled exposition. The unit's verbs are all of accumulation: he gathered, he made, he caused to go up, he gave silver like stones, and the gold that came to him was shut up. The apostolic description of Christ runs the same vocabulary in reverse: though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9), and he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7). Ellicott, reading Psalm 72 against this chapter, already notices that the true glory of the Davidic kingdom lies in righteousness and peace rather than in wealth and power, and that “the falling away from this in the later days of Solomon brought at once decay and ruin.” ⚙ I do not claim any verbal link between these texts; there can be none across the Testaments on shared lexemes. I claim only that the son of David who is greater than Solomon reverses every verb in this inventory, and that a reader who has just weighed 666 talents is being prepared, by contrast, for a king with nowhere to lay his head.

2 Corinthians 8:9 · Philippians 2:7 · Matthew 8:20

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. The Hebrew here is sound but three words in these sixteen verses are genuinely contested, and no synthesis can settle them. (1) מוּפָז in v. 18 occurs in no other place, as Cambridge states; the Chronicler substituted an ordinary word. (2) מִקְוֵה in v. 28 is the crux of the unit: the Authorized Version's “linen yarn,” Gesenius and Barnes's “a drove” or “company,” and the LXX and Vulgate's reading of it as a place name (Koa, or Tekoa) are all live options in the sources, and K&D leans to the place name while Cambridge leans to the drove. BSB prints Kue. (3) הָעֶרֶב in v. 15 is pointed as the mingled people, not Arabia; Cambridge and K&D insist on the distinction from Jeremiah 25:24, while BSB, Geneva and the Vulgate read Arabia. Nothing in the ⚙ layer above resolves any of these; where the sources divide, the division is reported.

Numbers. No monetary equivalent given by any commentator here can be trusted. The brief carries figures from Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Poole, Gill, JFB, Cambridge and Keil that differ by a factor of three or more for the same 666 talents, and Pulpit says why: the weight of the Hebrew talent is unknown and its purchasing power more so. The shekel question is equally open, Mosaic or royal, with K&D arguing from the maneh of v. 17 for the royal weight. Verse 26's 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen stand in a known tension with 1 Kings 4:26 and with the LXX and 2 Chronicles 9:25; Cambridge records the variants without resolving them.

Sources. Matthew Henry's note in the brief is a single comment on the whole span 10:14-29 and is reproduced under every verse by the source; it is quoted once here, for v. 21, and should not be read as a verse-level remark. Geneva's entries for most verses are the verse text itself with a short marginal gloss, so Geneva appears only where an actual gloss exists (vv. 15, 22). Gill's note at v. 22 is capped in the brief and the capped remainder was not consulted; nothing above depends on it. Gill also cites Eupolemus through Eusebius and various classical authors, which are secondary reports, not Scripture.

What the ⚙ layer claims. The reading that this passage inverts Deuteronomy 17:16-17 is not stated by the biblical narrator; it is drawn by Cambridge, Gill, Benson and Pulpit from the law, and extended here. The 666 and Revelation 13 connection is flagged, not asserted. The christological entries are marked ancient/widely-held where Gill and Ellicott carry them and novel where the inversion is mine.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)