They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.
Parallel translations
- WEB They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
- KJV And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
- NKJV And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
- NASB And they went to Ophir and received 420 talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
- NLT They sailed to Ophir and brought back to Solomon some sixteen tons of gold.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The fleet returned from Ophir with about 420 talents of gold for Solomon. It illustrates the immense wealth flowing into his kingdom.
Overview
Ophir, a famed but unidentified source of fine gold, yielded an enormous quantity that enriched the king. This wealth signaled God's blessing on Solomon's reign and the fulfillment of the riches God had promised him (3:13). Yet the steady accumulation of gold also drifts toward the very abundance the law warned kings against, setting the stage for the spiritual dangers that prosperity can breed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Chr 29:4three thousand talents of gold (the gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the buildings,
- 2 Chr 8:18So Hiram sent him ships captained by his servants, along with crews of experienced sailors. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and acquired from there 450 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.
- Job 22:24and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
- 1 Kgs 10:11(The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir a great cargo of almug wood and precious stones.
- Ps 45:9The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.
- Job 28:16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
- Isa 13:12I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
- Gen 10:29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
- 2 Chr 9:10(The servants of Hiram and of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum wood and precious stones.
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 9:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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