“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants, even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful. Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, twenty thousand baths of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
Parallel Translations
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“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants,
even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.
Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, twenty thousand baths of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
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Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
Even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great.
And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
Show all 3 translations
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(2-7) Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
(2-8) even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.
(2-9) And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (12)
- 1 Kings 5:11 (v10) Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by…
- 1 Kings 5:6 (v8) Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for…
- 1 Kings 7:26 (v10) It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
- 1 Kings 7:38 (v10) He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.
- 1 Kings 9:8 (v9) Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to…
Show all 12 cross-references
- 1 Kings 10:11 (v8) The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, also brought in from Ophir great quantities of almug trees and precious stones.
- 2 Chronicles 2:5 (v9) “The house which I am building will be great; for our God is greater than all gods.
- 2 Chronicles 7:21 (v9) This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land and to…
- 2 Chronicles 9:10-11 (v8) The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones. The king used…
- Ezra 7:22 (v10) up to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred cors of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil,…
- Luke 10:7 (v10) Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.
- Romans 13:7-8 (v10) Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 Or, Almuggim.
Or, Almuggim.
Some take it for Brasil, or the wood called Ebenum, others for coral.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 2Ch 2:8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees,…
2Ch 2:8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants [shall be] with thy servants,
Ver. 8. Send me also cedar trees.] Which are strong, longlasting, and odoriferous.
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Fir trees, and algum trees.] See on 1Ki 5:8.
My servants shall be with thy servants.] See on 1Ki 5:6.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v9 See Poole "1Ch 2:5".
See Poole "1Ch 2:5".
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Even to prepare me timber in abundance,.... Since he…
Even to prepare me timber in abundance,.... Since he would want a large quantity for raftering, cieling, wainscoting, and flooring the temple:
for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great; as to its structure and ornaments.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v10 2Ch 2:10. Behold, I will give thy servants twenty…
2Ch 2:10. Behold, I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, &c. — Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water, but with plenty of provisions, and of the best kind. They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid, but well provided for, with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them. Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v10 Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt…
Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here. The true original may be restored from marginal reference, where the wheat is said to have been given “for food.”
The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings. The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief; the barley, wine, and ordinary oil, would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Pine. Hebrew algum, which rather denotes a species of…
Pine. Hebrew algum, which rather denotes a species of fir, than the juniper-tree; though the domestic kind was tall, and used in edifices. (Calmet) --- Arceuthina, "juniper," is taken from the Septuagint. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 Send me . . . cedar trees, &c.--The cedar…
Send me . . . cedar trees, &c.--The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable; the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood), though not found on Lebanon, are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on Kg1 10:11).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 8. fir trees] R.V. mg., cypress trees (which however…
8. fir trees] R.V. mg., cypress trees (which however are not now indigenous on Lebanon).
algum trees] called almug trees in 1Ki_10:11-12 and there described as coming from Ophir. According to 1Ki_5:8 Solomon asked for cedar and “fir” only; so that the mention of algum trees here is probably incorrect. Algum is perhaps sandal wood.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 (8) Fir trees.—The word bĕrôshîm is now often rendered…
(8) Fir trees.—The word bĕrôshîm is now often rendered cypresses. But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the “isle of bĕrôshîm,” and is called in Greek Πετυου̑σαι, i.e., “Pine islets.” Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon.
Algum trees.—Sandal wood; Heb. ’algummîm, which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgûka) than the ’almuggîm of 1Ki_10:11. (See Note on 2Ch_10:10.)
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Out of Lebanon.—The chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir, or Abhîra, at the mouth of the Indus (2Ch_10:10; comp. 1Ki_10:11). The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement. Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood, which he only knew as a Phoenician export, really grew, like the cedars and firs, on the Lebanon? Such a mistake would be perfectly natural; but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomon’s message.
For I know that thy servants . . .—Comp. the words of Solomon as reported in 1Ki_5:6.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Algum trees, out of Lebanon. These trees are called…
Algum trees, out of Lebanon. These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned, viz. here 2Ch_9:10, 2Ch_9:11, but in the three passages of Kings, almug, 1Ki_10:11, 12 bis. As we read in 1Ki_10:11; 2Ch_9:10, 2Ch_9:11, that they were exports from Ophir, we are arrested by the expression, "out of Lebanon," here. If they were accessible in Lebanon, it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir. Lastly, there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself. In Smith"s "Bible Dictionary," vol. 3. appendix, p. 6., the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here, and with someof its scientific technicalities. Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed. More modern disputants have suggested five, of these the red sandalwood being considered, perhaps, the likeliest. So great an authority as Dr. Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined. But inasmuch as it is so undetermined, it would seem possible that, if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as e.g. ebony with us), and, so to say, of shy growth in Lebanon, it might be that it did grow in Lebanon, but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir. Or, again, it may be that the words, "out of Lebanon," are simply misplaced, (1Ki_5:8) and should follow the words, "fir trees." The rendering "pillars" in 1Ki_10:12 for "rails" or "props" is unfortunate, as the other quoted uses of the wood for "harps" and "psalteries" would all betoken a small as well as very hard wood. Lastly, it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that, inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram, Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that "Lebanon" was not its proper habitat. Thy servants can skill to cut timber. This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1Ki_5:6, "There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus." Passages like 2Ki_19:23; Isa_14:8 Isa_37:24, go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered "hew," as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber. It is, therefore, rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade, while distinguishing Hiram"s servants. It is, of course, quite possible that the "hewing," or "felling," may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting, dressing, etc. Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees, as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate, and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood, the room for superiority of skill would be ample. My servants (so vers. 2, 18; 1Ki_5:15)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This continues Solomon's message to Hiram, the king of Tyre.
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cedar, cypress, and algum trees
These are different types of tress. (See: Translate Unknowns)
twenty thousand cors
A cor is 220 liters. Twenty thousand cors equals 4,400 kiloliters. (See: Biblical Volume)
twenty thousand
"20,000" (See: Numbers)
ground wheat
"wheat flour"
twenty thousand baths
A bath is 22 liters. Twenty thousand baths equals 440 kiloliters. (See: Biblical Volume)
translationWords
Lebanon
servant
amazed
wheat
barley
wine
oil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 2:8 The cedar is Cedrus libani (“cedar of Lebanon”),…
2:8 The cedar is Cedrus libani (“cedar of Lebanon”), a tree renowned for its beauty, impressive height (sometimes reaching 100 feet), and fragrant wood. Kings from Egypt, Phoenicia, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece used cedar timber from Lebanon for building temples and palaces. • Red sandalwood was used to make supports for the Temple (possibly pillars or balustrades) as well as musical instruments (see 1 Kgs 10:11). Often mentioned in ancient writings, the exact identity of this hard, reddish-brown wood is uncertain.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.