11:3 He had 700 royal wives 1 and 300 concubines; 2 his wives had a powerful influence over him. 3
10:14 Solomon received 666 talents 11 of gold per year, 12
6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv 18 (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple.
10:26 Solomon accumulated 19 chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. 20
1 tn Heb “wives, princesses.”
2 sn Concubines were slave women in ancient Near Eastern societies who were the legal property of their master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with their master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. The usage in the present passage suggests that after the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (cf. also 2 Sam 21:10-14).
3 tn Heb “his wives bent his heart.”
4 tn The word “messengers” is supplied in the translation both here and in v. 20 for clarification.
5 tn Heb “who eat at the table of Jezebel.”
7 tc Some Greek
8 tn Heb “besides thirty-three hundred from the officials of Solomon’s governors who were over the work, the ones ruling over the people, the ones doing the work.”
10 tn Heb “these [were] the officials of the governors who were over the work belonging to Solomon, five hundred fifty, the ones ruling over the people, the ones doing the work.”
13 tn Heb “went.”
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 31,500 pounds of gold (cf. NCV); CEV, NLT “sixteen tons”; TEV “more than 14,000 kilogrammes.”
16 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 50,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV); CEV, NLT “twenty-five tons”; TEV “almost 23,000 kilogrammes.”
17 tn Heb “the weight of the gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.”
19 tn The Hebrew text has simply “six hundred,” with no unit of measure given.
22 sn Three minas. The mina was a unit of measure for weight.
23 sn The Palace of the Lebanon Forest. This name was appropriate because of the large amount of cedar, undoubtedly brought from Lebanon, used in its construction. The cedar pillars in the palace must have given it the appearance of a forest.
25 tn Heb “and a chariot went up and came out of Egypt for six hundred silver [pieces], and a horse for one hundred fifty, and in the same way to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram by their hand they brought out.”
28 tn Heb “to the people.”
31 sn During the month Ziv. This would be April-May, 966
34 tn Or “gathered.”
35 tn Heb “he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.”
37 tn Heb “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”
38 tn Though Jehoshaphat requested an oracle from “the