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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.”

10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, Yahweh’s house and the king’s house 11 (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn’t please him. 13 He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul[a] to this day. 14 Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents[b] of gold.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:13 “Cabul” sounds like Hebrew for “good-for-nothing”.
  2. 9:14 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tons