1 Kings 10:22

New King James Version

For the king had merchant ships [fn] at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. [fn]

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Hebrew Names Version
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

King James Version
For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

English Standard Version
For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

New Century Version
King Solomon also had many trading ships at sea, along with Hiram's ships. Every three years the ships returned, bringing back gold, silver, ivory, apes, and baboons.

New English Translation
Along with Hiram's fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet came into port with cargoes of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Amplified Bible
For the king had at sea the [large cargo] ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

New American Standard Bible
For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's ships; once every three years the ships of Tarshish would come carrying gold and silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For the King had on the sea the nauie of Tharshish with the nauie of Hiram: once in three yere came the nauie of Tharshish, and brought golde & siluer, yuorie, and apes and peacockes.

Legacy Standard Bible
For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came carrying gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

Contemporary English Version
Solomon had a lot of seagoing ships. Every three years he sent them out with Hiram's ships to bring back gold, silver, and ivory, as well as monkeys and peacocks.

Complete Jewish Bible
The king had a fleet of large "Tarshish" ships along with Hiram's fleet; once every three years the "Tarshish" fleet came in, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

Darby Translation
For the king had on the sea a Tarshish-fleet, with the fleet of Hiram: once in three years came the Tarshish-fleet, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Easy-to-Read Version
The king also had many cargo ships that he sent out to trade things with other countries. These were Hiram's ships. Every three years the ships would come back with a new load of gold, silver, ivory, and apes and baboons.

George Lamsa Translation
For the king had at sea a navy of ships of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy from Tarshish, bringing silver and gold, ivory, apes and peacocks.

Good News Translation
He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with Hiram's fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

Lexham English Bible
For the fleet of Tarshish belonged to the king and was on the sea with the fleet of Hiram; once every three years the fleet of Tarshish used to come carrying gold and silver, ivory, apes, and baboons.

Literal Translation
For the king had a navy of Tarshish at sea with a navy of Hiram; once in three years the navy of Tarshish would come bearing gold, and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the kynges Seeshippe yt sayled vpon the See with ye shippe of Hiram, came once in thre yeare, and broughte golde, syluer, Yuery, Apes, and Pecockes.

American Standard Version
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Bible in Basic English
For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For the kinges nauie of shippes went on the sea vnto Tharsis with the nauie of Hirams shippes: euen once in three yeres went the nauie to Tharsis, and brought golde and siluer, Elephantes teeth, apes, and pecockes.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

King James Version (1611)
For the king had at sea a nauie of Tharshish, with the nauie of Hiram: once in three yeeres came the nauie of Tharshish, bringing golde and siluer, yuorie, and apes, and peacocks.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For Solomon had a ship of Tharsis in the sea with the ships of Chiram: one ship came to the king every three years out of Tharsis, laden with gold and silver, and wrought stones, and hewn stones.

English Revised Version
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Berean Standard Bible
For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the schip of `the kyng wente onys bi thre yeer with the schip of Hiram in to Tharsis, and brouyte fro thennus gold, and siluer, and teeth of olifauntis, and apis, and pokokis.

Young's Literal Translation
for a navy of Tarshish hath the king at sea with a navy of Hiram; once in three years cometh the navy of Tarshish, bearing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Update Bible Version
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years the navy of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Webster's Bible Translation
For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

World English Bible
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

New Living Translation
The king had a fleet of trading ships of Tarshish that sailed with Hiram's fleet. Once every three years the ships returned, loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

New Life Bible
For the king had a group of ships of Tarshish at sea with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

New Revised Standard
For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, a fleet of Tarshish, had the king, at sea, with the fleet of Hiram, - once in three years, came in the fleet of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the king’s navy, once in three years, went with the navy of Hiram by sea to Tharsis, and brought from thence gold, and silver, and elephants’ teeth, and apes, and peacocks.

Revised Standard Version
For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

THE MESSAGE
The king had a fleet of ocean-going ships at sea with Hiram's ships. Every three years the fleet would bring in a cargo of gold, silver, and ivory, and apes and peacocks.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁵ besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country. ¹⁶ And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷ He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had merchant ships [fn] at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. [fn] ²³ So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Tharshish: 1 Kings 22:48, Genesis 10:4, 2 Chronicles 9:21, 2 Chronicles 20:36, 2 Chronicles 20:37, Psalms 48:7, Psalms 72:10, Isaiah 2:16, Isaiah 23:1, Isaiah 23:6, Isaiah 23:10, Isaiah 60:9, Isaiah 66:19, Ezekiel 27:12, Jonah 1:3, Tarshish

ivory: or, elephant's teeth, 1 Kings 10:18, Amos 3:15

apes: Kophim, rather monkeys, the same as the Greek ךחצןע, ךחנןע, or ךחגןע, and Roman Cephus, which animal both Pliny and Solinus inform us was brought from Ethiopia. The same name appears in the monkeys, called KEIIIEN in the Prenestine Pavement, and in the French cep or ceb.

peacocks: Job 39:13

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:39 - the ivory house 2 Chronicles 8:18 - General 2 Chronicles 9:10 - brought gold Song of Solomon 7:4 - ivory Jeremiah 10:9 - Tarshish Ezekiel 27:15 - of ivory Ezekiel 27:25 - ships

Cross-References

Genesis 9:26
And he said: "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.

Genesis 10:1
1 Chronicles 1:5-27">[xr] Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

Genesis 10:9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."

Genesis 10:17
the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite;

Genesis 10:27
Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

Numbers 23:7
And he took up his oracle and said: "Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. "Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!'

2 Kings 15:19
Pul 2 Kings 15:29)">[fn] king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control.

Job 1:17
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!"

Isaiah 11:11
It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

Isaiah 21:2
A distressing vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the navy of Hiram,.... Tharshish was not the place the navy went from, but whither it went to, as appears from 2 Chronicles 9:21 and designs not Tarsus in Cilicia; nor Tartessus in Spain, or Gades, or which was however near it; though it appears from Strabo s and Mela t that the Phoenicians were acquainted with those parts, and were possessed of them; and particularly, according to Velleius Paterculus u, the navy of Tyre traded thither before the days of Solomen; and Vitringa w is clear in it, that these were ships that traded to Tartessus, with the ships of Tyre; and it is more likely that that place is meant than Carthage, now called Tunis, in Africa; though the Targum here calls it the navy, the navy of Africa; but as Tharshish is sometimes used for the sea in general, here it may signify a particular sea, so called: and which Josephus x names the Tarsic sea, the same with the Indian sea; and points to the same country where Ophir was, which was washed by it, and to which the two fleets joined were bound. This is observed, to account for it how Solomon came by so much gold:

once in three years came the navy of Tharshish; it returned in such a space of time; navigation not being improved as now, and sailing by coasts, and what with their stay abroad to sell and purchase goods, and to refit their ships, as well as sometimes contrary winds, they were so long in performing this voyage, which is now done in a few months:

bringing gold and silver; so that silver was accounted of, and used for some purposes, though not for the king's plate:

ivory, and apes, and peacocks; ivory is the elephant's tooth, as the word signifies; some of those are of an almost incredible size; some are said to be of ninety, others one hundred and twenty five pounds weight; Vartomannus y says, he saw in Sumatra, where some place Ophir, one that weighed three hundred and thirty pounds; though, according to the Ethiopians z the ivory is from the horns; and so say a Pausanias and others, see Ezekiel 27:15 but it is commonly supposed to be of the two teeth in the upper jaw that stands out; and whether they are called horns or teeth, they are the same of which ivory is: of elephants there were large numbers in India, bigger and stronger than those in Africa; which latter were afraid of the former, as Diodorus Siculus b, Curtius c, and Pliny d relate; so Virgil e speaks of ivory as fetched from India and Horace f also, which must be East India, for there are no ivory nor apes in the West Indies g: "apes" or "monkeys" were then, as now, brought from those parts. Strabo h reports, that when the Macedonians under Alexander were there, such a vast number of them came out of the woods, and placed themselves on the open hills, that they took them for an army of men set in battle array to fight them. Vartomannus i speaks of monkeys in the country of Calecut, of a very small price: near Surat apes are in great esteem, nor will they suffer them to be killed on any account k. There are various sorts of apes, some more like to goats, others to dogs, others to lions, and some to other animals, as Philostorgius l relates; and who also says the sphinx is one sort of them, and which he describes on his own sight of it as resembling mankind in many things, and as a very subtle animal; and so Solinus m reckons such among apes; but what come nearest in name and sound to the "kuphim" of Solomon here are those Pliny n calls "cephi", whose fore feet he says are like the hands of men, and their hinder feet like the feet and thighs of men; and Strabo o describes a creature found in Ethiopia, called by him "ceipus" or "cepus", which has a face like a satyr, and the rest of it is between a dog and a bear. There is a creature called "cebus" by Aristotle p, and is described as having a tail, and all the rest like a man; according to Ludolf q, "cephus" is the "orangoutang" of the Indians. The word for peacocks should rather be rendered "parrots", so Junius; which are well known to come from India r, and from thence only, according to Pausanias s; Vartomannus t says, that at Calecut there are parrots of sundry colours, as green and purple, and others of mixed colours, and such a multitude of them, that men are appointed to keep them from the rice in the fields, as we keep crows from corn; and that they are of a small price, one is sold for two pence, or half a souse; and the number of them may be accounted for, because the Brachmans, the priests, reckon them sacred, and therefore the Indians eat them not u. Curtius w designs these, when he says, in India are birds, which are taught to imitate man's voice; and Solinus x says, that India only produces the green parrot, that is, the East Indies, the West Indies not being then discovered; though some y think they were, and that it was thither Solomon's navy went: certain it is there are parrots of various colours in the West Indies, which P. Martyr of Angleria frequently makes mention of in his Decades. Huetius z derives the Hebrew word here used from תכה, which he says signifies to "join" or "adhere" to anything, as these birds will; cling to, and hang by their bills and nails on a branch of a tree, c. so that they are not easily separated from it the word is used in

Deuteronomy 33:3 and, according to some, in this sense. But, after all, if it should be insisted on, as it is by many, that "peacocks" are meant, these also are found in India. Alexander the great first saw them in this country, which so amazed him, that he threatened to punish those severely that should kill any of them a. Vartomannus b makes mention of them as in great numbers in some parts of India; and they are caught and sold at an easy rate at Surat c, and make part both of their game, and of their grand entertainments d; Aeianus e often speaks of them as in India in great numbers, and in great esteem.

s Geograph. l. 3. p. 104. t De Situ Orbis, l. 2. c. 6. u Hist. l. 1. in principio. w Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 23. 1. x Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. sect. 2. y Navigat. l. 6. c. 22. z Ludolf. Ethiop. Hist. l. 1. c. 10. a Eliac. 1. p. 308, 309. Vid. Plin. l. 8. c. 3. Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 4. c. 21. & 7. 2. & 11. 37. & 14. 5. Varro apud Schindler. Lexic Pentaglott. col. 1905. b Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 121. So Polybius, Hist. l. 5. c Hist. l. 8. c. 9. d Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 9. e "India mittit ebur". Georgic. l. 1. ver. 57. f "---Non aurum et ebur Indicum". Carmin. l. 1. Ode 31. ινδογενους

ελεφαντος Manetho. Apotelesm. ver. 297. & l. 4. ver. 149. Philo. de Praemiis, p. 924. g Manasseh Spes Israelis, sect. 2. p. 21. Ortel. Thesaur. Geograh. Varrerius de Ophyra. h Geograph. l. 15. p. 480. i Navigat. l. 5. c. 20. k Ovington's Voyage to Sarat, p. 360, 361, 596. l Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 11. m Polyhist. c. 40. n Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 19. o Ut supra, (Geograph.) l. 17. p. 559. p Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 8, 9. q Ethiop. Hist. l. 1. c. 10. r Aelian. de Animal. l. 16. c. 2. "Psittacus eois ales mihi missus ab India". Ovid. Amor. l. 2. Eleg. 6. s Corinthiaca, sive, l. 2. p. 136. t Ut supra. (Navigat. l. 5. c. 20.) u Aelian de Animal. l. 13. c. 18. w Ut supra. (Hist. l. 8. c. 9.) x Polyhistor. c. 65. y Erasm. Schmid. de America Orat. ad. Calc. Pindari, p. 261. Vatablus in loc. & in c. 9. 28. Hornius de Gent. Americ. l. 2. c. 6, 7, 8. z De Navigat. Solomon. c. 7. sect. 6. a Aelian. ut supra, (de Animal. l. 16. c. 2.) & l. 5. c. 21. Curtii Hist. l. 9. c. 1. b Navigat. l. 6. c. 7. c Ovington's Voyage to Surat, p. 268, 269. d lbid. p. 398. e De Animal. l. 11. c. 33. & l. 13, 18. & l. 16. c. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This is given as the reason of the great plentifulness of silver in the time of Solomon. The “navy of Tharshish” (not the same as the navy of Ophir, 1 Kings 9:26) must therefore have imported very large quantities of that metal. Tharshish, or Tartessus, in Spain, had the richest silver mines known in the ancient world, and had a good deal of gold also; apes and ivory were produced by the opposite coast of Africa; and, if north Africa did not produce “peacocks,” which is uncertain, she may have produced the birds called here “tukkiyim,” which some translate “parrots,” others “guinea-fowl” - the latter being a purely African bird. The etymology of the Hebrew words here rendered “ivory,” “apes,” and “peacocks,” is uncertain; but even if of Indian origin, the Jews may have derived their first knowledge of ivory, apes, and peacocks, through nations which traded with India, and may thus have got the words into their language long before the time of Solomon. The names once fixed would be retained, whatever the quarter from where the things were procured afterward.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 10:22. A navy of Tharshish — For probable conjectures concerning this place, and the three years' voyage, see at the end of this and the preceding chapter. 1 Kings 10:29; "1 Kings 9:28".

Apes — קפים kophim; probably a species of monkey rather than ape.