1 Kings 9:14
in 1 Kings 9And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.
KJV
And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.
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This verse in 1 Kings 9
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold. Not after the cities had been given him, but before; and it may be rendered "had sent" (m), and is the sum of the gold he furnished him with for the temple, 1Ki 9:11 which, according to Brerewood (n), was 540,000 pounds of our money; and, according to another (o) writer, it amounted to 1,466,400 ducats of gold, taking a talent at 12,220 ducats. (m) ישלח "miserat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (n) De Ponderibus & Pretiis, Vet. Num. c. 5. (o) Scheuchzer. Physic.
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 Awakening1 voice
), which encouraged him to build a fleet of his own. The success of others in any employment should quicken our industry; for in all labour there is profit.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Sixscore talents of gold - This was the sum which Hiram had lent, and in order to pay this Solomon had laid a tax upon his people, as we afterward learn. The whole is very darkly expressed.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Hiram sent sixscore talents of gold - Apparently, to show that, although disappointed, he was not offended. The sum sent was very large - above a million and a quarter of our money, according to one estimate of the weight of the Hebrew gold talent; or about 720,000 according to the estimate adopted in Exo 38:24-29 note. At any rate, it was more than equal to a sixth part of Solomon’s regular revenue 1Ki 10:14.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The land of Kovul. A land of chains, [i.e.,] a marshland into which the foot sinks and is entrapped.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
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].
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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח | vaiyishlach | and he had sent | H7971 → | 845 times |
| חִירָ֖ם | chiram | Hiram | H2438 → | 22 times |
| לַמֶּ֑לֶךְ | lamelekh | to the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| מֵאָ֥ה | meah | one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| וְעֶשְׂרִ֖ים | veesrim | and twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| כִּכַּ֥ר | kikar | talent[s] of | H3603 → | 68 times |
| זָהָֽב׃ | zahav | gold | H2091 → | 389 times |
וַיִּשְׁלַ֥חand he had sent
vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times
חִירָ֖םHiram
chiramH2438 →22 times
לַמֶּ֑לֶךְto the king
lamelekhH4428 →2525 times
מֵאָ֥הone hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
וְעֶשְׂרִ֖יםand twenty
veesrimH6242 →315 times
כִּכַּ֥רtalent[s] of
kikarH3603 →68 times
זָהָֽב׃gold
zahavH2091 →389 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
1 Kings 10:10Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was such an abundance of spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 10:2
She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. So she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind.
- Matthew 2:11
On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense…
- 1 Kings 10:2
Through
1 Kings 9:28They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 8:18
So Hiram sent him ships captained by his servants, along with crews of experienced sailors. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and acquired from there 450 talents of gold, which they delivered to…
- 1 Chronicles 29:4
three thousand talents of gold (the gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the buildings,
- Job 28:16
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
- Isaiah 13:12
I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
- Job 22:24
and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
- 2 Chronicles 8:18
Through
1 Kings 10:21All 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…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 10:17
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.
- 1 Kings 10:17
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.