1 Kings 9:27-28

9:27 Hiram sent his fleet and some of his sailors, who were well acquainted with the sea, to serve with Solomon’s men. ¹  9:28 They sailed ²  to Ophir, took from there four hundred twenty talents ³  of gold, and then brought them to King Solomon.

1 Kings 10:22

10:22 Along with Hiram’s fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships ⁴  that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet ⁵  came into port with cargoes of ⁶  gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “and Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, men of ships, [who] know the sea, [to be] with the servants of Solomon.”

² tn Heb “went.”

³ 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.”

⁴ tn Heb “a fleet of Tarshish [ships].” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

⁵ tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”

⁶ tn Heb “came carrying.”

⁷ tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Some suggest “baboons.”