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1 Kings 9:16

in 1 Kings 9

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

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

KJV

For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

This verse in 1 Kings 9

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Pharaoh - had gone up, and taken Gezer - This city Joshua had taken from the Canaanites, Jos 10:33; Jos 12:12, and it was divided by lot to the tribe of Ephraim, and was intended to be one of the Levitical cities; but it appears that the Canaanites had retaken it, and kept possession till the days of Solomon, when his father-in-law, Pharaoh king of Egypt, retook it, and gave it to Solomon in dowry with his daughter.

This site's exposition

the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor

on 1 Kings 9:15-19

The account of the forced labor names its projects: the temple, the palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and “Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer”. Gezer needed rebuilding because Pharaoh had set it on fire and “given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife”.

This site's exposition

given it as a dowry to his daughter

Gezer had been assigned to Ephraim and named a Levitical city, yet Adam Clarke notes that the Canaanites held it until Pharaoh's campaign. Joshua 16:10 records that Ephraim left them there. Matthew Henry observes that the king of Egypt, a man of war, captured a city for Solomon to build.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Solomon was not himself a warlike prince, but the king of Egypt, who was, took cities for him to build. Then he built cities for convenience, for store, for his chariots, and for his horsemen,
For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

this is the reason of the levy--A levy refers both to men and money, and the necessity for Solomon making it arose from the many gigantic works he undertook to erect.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

And this is the review of the tax. Described at the end of this topic, “All the people that remained, etc., 12 Below v. Shlomo levied a tax of labor.” 13 Below v. The tax levy was to build all these [structures].
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 9:15:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • פַּרְעֹ֨הPharaoh

    parohH6547 →274 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H4428 →2525 times

  • מִצְרַ֜יִםEgypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • עָלָ֗הhe had gone up

    ʾalahH5927 →890 times

  • וַיִּלְכֹּ֤דand he had captured

    vaiyilkodH3920 →

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • גֶּ֙זֶר֙Gezer

    gezerH1507 →15 times

  • וַיִּשְׂרְפָ֣הּand he had burned it

    vaiyisrefahH8313 →117 times

  • בָּאֵ֔שׁwith <the> fire

    baeshH784 →378 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֛יthe Canaanite[s]

    hakenaaniH3669 →

  • הַיֹּשֵׁ֥בwho was dwelling

    haiyoshevH3427 →1079 times

  • בָּעִ֖ירin the city

    bairH5892 →1090 times

  • הָרָ֑גhe had killed

    haragH2026 →167 times

  • וַֽיִּתְּנָהּ֙and he had given it

    vaiyitenahH5414 →2011 times

  • שִׁלֻּחִ֔יםdowri<es>

    shiluchimH7964 →

  • לְבִתּ֖וֹto daughter his

    levitoH1323 →588 times

  • אֵ֥שֶׁת[the] wife of

    ʾeshetH802 →781 times

  • שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃Solomon

    shelomohH8010 →291 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Kings 7:8

    And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 8:11

      Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her. For he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Kings 3:1

      Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    1 Kings 3:1

    Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 9:24

      As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Joshua 16:10

    But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.

    it leads to

    • Judges 1:29

      Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer.

    • Deuteronomy 7:1–2

      When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations…

    • Joshua 17:13

      However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they failed to drive them out completely.

  • Through

    1 Kings 9:24

    As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 7:8

      And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

    • 1 Kings 11:27

      and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Sir Edward John Poynter, 1890. Public domain.
The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Sir Edward John Poynter, 1890. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.