3:16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 3:17 One of the women said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was with me in the house.
4:12 Baana son of Ahilud was in charge of Taanach and Megiddo, 18 as well as all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah and on past Jokmeam.
4:13 Ben-Geber was in charge of Ramoth Gilead; he controlled the tent villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan, including sixty large walled cities with bronze bars locking their gates.
4:14 Ahinadab son of Iddo was in charge of Mahanaim.
4:15 Ahimaaz was in charge of Naphtali. (He married Solomon’s daughter Basemath.)
4:16 Baana son of Hushai was in charge of Asher and Aloth.
4:17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah was in charge of Issachar.
4:18 Shimei son of Ela was in charge of Benjamin.
4:19 Geber son of Uri was in charge of the land of Gilead (the territory which had once belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites and to King Og of Bashan). He was sole governor of the area.
4:20 The people of Judah and Israel were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore; they had plenty to eat and drink and were happy. 4:21 (5:1) 19 Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River 20 to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms paid tribute as Solomon’s subjects throughout his lifetime. 21 4:22 Each day Solomon’s royal court consumed 22 thirty cors 23 of finely milled flour, sixty cors of cereal,
1 tn Or “south.”
2 sn The name Jakin appears to be a verbal form and probably means, “he establishes.”
3 tn Or “north.”
4 sn The meaning of the name Boaz is uncertain. For various proposals, see BDB 126-27 s.v. בעז. One attractive option is to revocalize the name as בְּעֹז (be’oz, “in strength”) and to understand it as completing the verbal form on the first pillar. Taking the words together and reading from right to left, one can translate the sentence, “he establishes [it] in strength.”
5 tn Heb “he built.”
6 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.
7 tn Heb “one hundred cubits.”
8 tn Heb “fifty cubits.”
9 tn Heb “thirty cubits.”
10 tn Heb “bowed low and bowed down to.”
11 tn Heb “said to.”
12 tn Heb “let them seek for my master, the king, a young girl, a virgin.” The third person plural subject of the verb is indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f). The appositional expression, “a young girl, a virgin,” is idiomatic; the second term specifically defines the more general first term (see IBHS 230 §12.3b).
13 tn Heb “and she will stand before the king.” The Hebrew phrase “stand before” can mean “to attend; to serve” (BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד).
14 tn Heb “and she will lie down in your bosom.” The expression might imply sexual intimacy (see 2 Sam 12:3 [where the lamb symbolizes Bathsheba] and Mic 7:5), though v. 4b indicates that David did not actually have sex with the young woman.
15 tn Heb “and my master, the king, will be warm.”
16 tn Heb “and look, a dream.”
17 tn Or “tokens of peace”; NIV, TEV “fellowship offerings.”
18 map For location see Map1-D4; Map2-C1; Map4-C2; Map5-F2; Map7-B1.
19 sn Beginning with 4:21, the verse numbers through 5:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:21 ET = 5:1 HT, 4:22 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:18 ET = 5:32 HT. Beginning with 6:1 the numbering of verses in the English Bible and the Hebrew text is again the same.
20 tn Heb “the River” (also in v. 24). This is the standard designation for the Euphrates River in biblical Hebrew.
21 tn Heb “[They] were bringing tribute and were serving Solomon all the days of his life.”
22 tn Heb “the food of Solomon for each day was.”
23 tn As a unit of dry measure a cor was roughly equivalent to six bushels.