Passage

2 Chronicles 9.21

Book: 2 Chronicles · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

19. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 20. And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

21. For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. (2 Chronicles 9:19-23, ASV)

WEB

19. Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom. 20. All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

21. For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23. All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. (2 Chronicles 9:19-23, WEB)

KJV

19. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. 20. And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ^{pure: Heb. shut up} ^{none were of silver: or, there was no silver in them}

21. For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ^{ivory: or, elephants' teeth}

And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. (2 Chronicles 9:19-23, KJV)

YLT

19. and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps on this [side], and on that: it hath not been made so for any kingdom. 20. And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon [are] of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon [are] of refined gold, silver is not reckoned in the days of Solomon for anything;

21. for ships of the king are going to Tarshish, with servants of Huram: once in three years come do the ships of Tarshish bearing gold, and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

And king Solomon becometh greater than any of the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom; 23. and all the kings of the earth are seeking the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God hath put in his heart, (2 Chronicles 9:19-23, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The Chronicler, as narrator. The book is anonymous.
Audience: The restored community in post-exilic Judah, living as a Persian province around a rebuilt temple, being shown how the monarchy and the sanctuary they inherited came to this point.
Location: Jerusalem and post-exilic Judah. The narrated events run from Solomon's accession to the fall of the city and the decree of Cyrus.
Time period: Narrating roughly 970 to 539 BC; composed later, most commonly placed in the fifth or fourth century BC. The book is anonymous. Jewish tradition associates it with Ezra, which is tradition rather than a claim the text makes.

Theological reading

Ships going to Tarshish return every three years with gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. The phrase "ships of Tarshish" most likely denotes a class of large seagoing vessel rather than a fixed destination, and the identification of Tarshish itself is uncertain, with Spain and Sardinia among the proposals. The Chronicler's point is the reach of Solomon's trade and the fulfilment of the wealth promised at 1:12. The list of goods is exotic on purpose: the queen of Sheba has just left, and the narrative is establishing that the report she heard was not exaggerated.

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.

H5650 - ebed, ebed, Strong's H5650
H0259 - echad, echad, Strong's H0259

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Deuteronomy 28-68 Slave Trade Prophecy Objection Defeater

Notes

Your annotations.

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.