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1 Kings 8:63

in 1 Kings 8

And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered unto Jehovah, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.

KJV

And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

This verse in 1 Kings 8

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
These numbers have been thought incredible, but they are not impossible. At least 100, 000, or 120, 000 men 1Ki 8:65 were assembled; and as they all offered sacrifice with the king 1Ki 8:62, the number of victims must have been enormous. Part of the flesh of so many victims would be eaten; but much of the meat may have been privately burned Lev 19:6, the object of the sacrifice being the glory of God, and not the convenience of the people. Profusion was a usual feature of the sacrifices of antiquity.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

These were Israel's golden days, days of the Son of man in type. The Dedication of the Temple. 1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the L ORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:80%@v1-3

And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord--The dedication was not a ceremony ordained by the law, but it was done in accordance with the sentiments of reverence naturally associated with edifices appropriated to divine worship. [See on 2Ch 7:5.]

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Two and twenty thousand oxen - This was the whole amount of the victims that had been offered during the fourteen days; i.e., the seven days of the dedication, and the seven days of the feast of tabernacles. In what way could they dispose of the blood of so many victims?

The words behind it

24 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.

  • וַיִּזְבַּ֣חand he sacrificed

    vaiyizbachH2076134 times

  • שְׁלֹמֹ֗הSolomon

    shelomohH8010291 times

  • אֵ֣ת<obj.>

    ʾetH85310935 times

  • זֶ֣בַח[the] sacrifice of

    zevachH2077162 times

  • הַשְּׁלָמִים֮the peace offerings

    hashelamimH800287 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • זָבַ֣חhe sacrificed

    zavachH2076134 times

  • לַיהוָה֒to Yahweh

    layahwehH30686520 times

  • בָּקָ֗רcattle

    bakarH1241183 times

  • עֶשְׂרִ֤יםtwenty

    ʾesrimH6242315 times

  • וּשְׁנַ֙יִם֙and two

    ushenayimH8147768 times

  • אֶ֔לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505505 times

  • וְצֹ֕אןand sheep

    vetzonH6629274 times

  • מֵאָ֥הone hundred

    meahH3967581 times

  • וְעֶשְׂרִ֖יםand twenty

    veesrimH6242315 times

  • אָ֑לֶףthousand

    ʾalefH505505 times

  • וַֽיַּחְנְכוּ֙and they dedicated

    vaiyachnekhuH2596

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] house of

    beitH10042046 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • הַמֶּ֖לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH36055413 times

  • בְּנֵ֥י[the] people of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel

    yisraelH34782507 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

    Nehemiah 12:27

    At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps,…

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 15:16

      David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.

    • Deuteronomy 20:5

      Furthermore, the officers are to address the army, saying, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man dedicate…

    • 1 Chronicles 15:28

      So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.

    • 2 Chronicles 5:13

      The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: “For He…

    • 2 Chronicles 29:30

      Then King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the LORD in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their…

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 15:11

    At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from all the plunder they had brought back.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 14:13–15

      Then Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell and could not recover, for they were crushed before the LORD and His army. So the people of Judah carried…

    • 2 Chronicles 1:6

      Solomon offered sacrifices there before the LORD on the bronze altar in the Tent of Meeting, where he offered a thousand burnt offerings.

    • 1 Samuel 15:15

      Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.