King Hiram’s Twenty Towns

10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace(A) 11 King Hiram of Tyre(B) having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold(C) for his every wish(D)—King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. 12 So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. 13 So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother?” So he called them the Land of Cabul,[a] as they are still called today.(E) 14 Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds[b] of gold.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 9:13 = Like Nothing
  2. 9:14 Lit 120 talents

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10 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and the royal palace,[a] 11 King Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre twenty towns in the region of Galilee, because Hiram had supplied Solomon with cedars, evergreens, and all the gold he wanted. 12 When Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.[b] 13 Hiram asked,[c] “Why did you give me these towns, my friend?”[d] He called that area the region of Cabul, a name which it has retained to this day.[e] 14 Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents[f] of gold.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:10 tn Heb “the two houses, the house of the Lord and the house of the king.”
  2. 1 Kings 9:12 tn Heb “they were not agreeable in his eyes.”
  3. 1 Kings 9:13 tn Heb “and he said.”
  4. 1 Kings 9:13 tn Heb “my brother.” Kings allied through a parity treaty would sometimes address each other as “my brother.” See 1 Kgs 20:32-33.
  5. 1 Kings 9:13 tn Heb “he called them the land of Cabul to this day.” The significance of the name is unclear, though it appears to be disparaging. The name may be derived from a root, attested in Akkadian and Arabic, meaning “bound” or “restricted.” Some propose a wordplay, pointing out that the name “Cabul” sounds like a Hebrew phrase meaning, “like not,” or “as good as nothing.”
  6. 1 Kings 9:14 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 9,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV, NLT); CEV “five tons”; TEV “4,000 kilogrammes.”