1 Kings 9:13
in 1 Kings 9“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.
KJV
And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.
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This verse in 1 Kings 9
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Cabul is said to be a Phoenician word, and signified “displeasing” (see margin). There is some reason to believe that the cities thus despised by Hiram were restored to Solomon 2Ch 8:2, and that Solomon rebuilt them and colonized them with Israelites.
This site's exposition
they pleased him not
on 1 Kings 9:12-14
Hiram travels out from Tyre to inspect the cities and they please him not, a Phoenician trader's plain verdict on inland Galilean hill country. He calls them the land of Cabul, a word the commentators read as displeasing or as worthless clay ground, and the name stands unto this day, a note the narrator drops without resolving the two kings' dispute. Hiram's own gift of sixscore talents of gold closes the account from his side, the same sum the parenthesis of verse 11 has already flagged as owed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Cabul - That is, of dirt, as most interpret it. Because, though the land was very good, yet being a thick and stiff clay, and therefore requiring great pains to manure it, it was very unsuitable to the disposition of the Tyrians, who were delicate, and lazy, and luxurious, and wholly given to merchandise.
And he said,....
Did Solomon act meanly in giving Hiram what was not worth his acceptance? Or was Hiram humoursome and hard to please? I am willing to believe it was neither the one nor the other.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Called them the land of Cabul - Whether this epithet was given to this land by Hiram as a mark of disapprobation, or what is its proper meaning, the learned are not agreed. That there was a country of this name in the promised land in the time of Joshua, is evident enough from Jos 19:27, as it was one part of the boundary of the tribe of Asher; hence some interpret the word border or boundary, and so, the Septuagint understood it, for they have translated the Hebrew word ὁριον, which signifies the same. The margin gives another meaning.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The land of Kovul. A land of chains, [i.e.,] a marshland into which the foot sinks and is entrapped.
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
15 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֕אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מָ֚ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| הֶעָרִ֣ים | hearim | [are] the cities | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| הָאֵ֔לֶּה | haeleh | <the> these | H428 → | 746 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| נָתַ֥תָּה | natatah | you have given | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לִּ֖י | li | to me | ||
| אָחִ֑י | ʾachi | O brother my | H251 → | 630 times |
| וַיִּקְרָ֤א | vaiyikra' | and someone called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לָהֶם֙ | lahem | <to> them | ||
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כָּב֔וּל | kavul | Cabul | H3521 → | |
| עַ֖ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| הַיּ֥וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ פ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מָ֚הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
הֶעָרִ֣ים[are] the cities
hearimH5892 →1090 times
הָאֵ֔לֶּה<the> these
haelehH428 →746 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
נָתַ֥תָּהyou have given
natatahH5414 →2011 times
לִּ֖יto me
li
אָחִ֑יO brother my
ʾachiH251 →630 times
וַיִּקְרָ֤אand someone called
vaiyikra'H7121 →733 times
לָהֶם֙<to> them
lahem
אֶ֣רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
כָּב֔וּלCabul
kavulH3521 →
עַ֖דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
הַיּ֥וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַזֶּֽה׃ פ<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 stopsEach 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
Amos 1:9This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 9:11–14
King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire.
- Isaiah 23:1–18
This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.
- Zechariah 9:2–4
and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.
- Joel 3:4–8
Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return…
- 2 Chronicles 2:8–16
Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber there. And indeed, my servants will work with yours
- 1 Kings 9:11–14
Through
Joshua 19:27then turned eastward toward Beth-dagon, touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el, and went north to Beth-emek and Neiel, passing Cabul on the left.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 5:2
carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.
- 1 Samuel 5:2
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.