Passage

1 Kings 4.29-34

Book: 1 Kings · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"27. And those officers provided victuals for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking. 28. Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge."

"29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore. 30. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations round about. 32. And he spake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. 33. And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34. And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom." (1 Kings 4:27-34, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"27. Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon’s table, every man in his month. They let nothing be lacking. 28. They also brought Barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty."

"29. God gave Solomon abundant wisdom and understanding, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore. 30. Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around. 32. He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs numbered one thousand five. 33. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. 34. People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom." (1 Kings 4:27-34, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"27. And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 28. Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge. ^{dromedaries: or, mules, or, swift beasts}"

"29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom." (1 Kings 4:27-34, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"27. And these officers have sustained king Solomon and every one drawing near unto the table of king Solomon, each [in] his month; they let nothing be lacking. 28. And the barley and the straw, for horses and for dromedaries, they bring in unto the place where they are, each according to his ordinance."

"29. And God giveth wisdom to Solomon, and understanding, very much, and breadth of heart, as the sand that [is] on the edge of the sea; 30. and the wisdom of Solomon is greater than the wisdom of any of the sons of the east, and than all the wisdom of Egypt; 31. and he is wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol, and his name is in all the nations round about. 32. And he speaketh three thousand similes, and his songs [are] five, and the chief one; 33. and he speaketh concerning the trees, from the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that is coming out in the wall, and he speaketh concerning the cattle, and concerning the fowl, and concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fishes, 34. and there come out of all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth who have heard of his wisdom." (1 Kings 4:27-34, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Solomon

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.