1 Kings 5
The full text of 1 Kings 5 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father. For Hiram had always been a friend of David.
2 Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying,
3 "You know that David my father was not able to build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare that surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.
4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is no adversary and no misfortune.
5 So I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place—he will build the house for my name.'
6 Now therefore command that they cut cedars of Lebanon for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will give you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."
7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, "Blessed be the LORD today, who has given David a wise son over this great people!"
8 Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard what you sent to me. I will do all you desire concerning cedar timber and cypress timber.
9 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you designate. I will have them broken up there, and you shall carry them away. And you shall meet my desire by providing food for my household."
10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber, all his desire.
11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household and twenty cors of beaten oil. This Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.
12 The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.
13 King Solomon raised a labor force out of all Israel, and the labor force was thirty thousand men.
14 He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was over the labor force.
15 Solomon had seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country,
16 besides Solomon's three thousand three hundred chief officers who were over the work, who supervised the people doing the work.
17 The king commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stone.
18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites cut them, and they prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
Translation notes (8)
- 1 Kings 5:1a The Hebrew word ohev means 'one who loves,' that is, a treaty ally.
- 1 Kings 5:4a The Hebrew word satan here means 'adversary' or 'opponent,' not the celestial figure known as Satan.
- 1 Kings 5:8a The Hebrew word beroshim likely refers to cypress or juniper trees.
- 1 Kings 5:11a Heb. shemen katit, premium pressed olive oil; 2 Chr 2:10 has different quantities.
- 1 Kings 5:13a Heb. mas, corvée labor; see 1 Sam 8:11-18 for prophetic warning about this.
- 1 Kings 5:16a 2 Chr 2:18 reads 3,600; the difference may reflect different counting of categories.
- 1 Kings 5:17a The Hebrew term avnei gazit refers to stones cut or hewn to precise dimensions.
- 1 Kings 5:18a The Gebalites were craftsmen from Gebal, also known as Byblos, a Phoenician coastal city.
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