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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 2:8 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ec 2:8	Strong Concordance	I gathered [03664] me also silver [03701] and gold [02091], and the peculiar treasure [05459] of kings [04428] and of the provinces [04082]: I gat [06213] me men singers [07891] and women singers [07891], and the delights [08588] of the sons [01121] of men [0120], as musical instruments [07705] [07705], and that of all sorts.
	King James	I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
(Kg1 10:27; Ch2 1:15; Ch2 9:20). peculiar treasure of kings and . . . provinces--contributed by them, as tributary to him (Kg1 4:21, Kg1 4:24); a poor substitute for the wisdom whose "gain is better than fine gold" (Pro 3:14-15). singers--so David (Sa2 19:35). musical instruments . . . of all sorts--introduced at banquets (Isa 5:12; Amo 6:5-6); rather, "a princess and princesses," from an Arabic root. One regular wife, or queen (Est 1:9); Pharaoh's daughter (Kg1 3:1); other secondary wives, "princesses," distinct from the "concubines" (Kg1 11:3; Psa 45:10; Sol 6:8) [WEISS, GESENIUS]. Had these been omitted, the enumeration would be incomplete.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

(Kg1 10:27; Ch2 1:15; Ch2 9:20).

peculiar treasure of kings and . . . provinces--contributed by them, as tributary to him (Kg1 4:21, Kg1 4:24); a poor substitute for the wisdom whose "gain is better than fine gold" (Pro 3:14-15).

singers--so David (Sa2 19:35).

musical instruments . . . of all sorts--introduced at banquets (Isa 5:12; Amo 6:5-6); rather, "a princess and princesses," from an Arabic root. One regular wife, or queen (Est 1:9); Pharaoh's daughter (Kg1 3:1); other secondary wives, "princesses," distinct from the "concubines" (Kg1 11:3; Psa 45:10; Sol 6:8) [WEISS, GESENIUS]. Had these been omitted, the enumeration would be incomplete.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Kings - Both tributary Kg1 10:15 and independent Kg1 5:1; Kg1 9:14; Kg1 10:2; the "provinces" probably correspond to the kingdoms mentioned in Kg1 4:21. As musical ... sorts - Rather, Many women (compare Kg1 11:1-3).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
"I heaped up for myself also silver and gold, and the peculiar property of kings and of countries; I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the children of men: mistress and mistresses." The verb כּנשׁ כּנס, συνάγειν, is common to all Semitic dialects (also the to Assyr.), and especially peculiar to the more recent Heb., which forms from it the name of the religious community συναγωγή, כּנסת; it is used here of that which is brought together merely for the purpose of possession. Segūllah (from sagal, Targ., to make oneself possess), properly possession, and that something which specially and peculiarly belongs to one as his property; the word is here meant collect., as at Ch1 29:3 : that which only kings and individual countries possess. The interchange of melachim, which is without the article, with the determ. hammedinoth, is arbitrary: something special, such as that which a king possesses, the specialities which countries possess, - one country this, and another that. The hammedinoth are certainly not exclusively the regions embraced within the dominion of Solomon (Zckl.), as, according to Est 1:1, the Persian kingdom was divided into 127 medinoth. Solomon had a fleet which went to Ophir, was in a friendly relation with the royal house of Tyre, the metropolis of many colonies, and ruled over a widely-extended kingdom, bound by commerce with Central Asia and Africa. - His desires had thus ample opportunity to stretch beyond the limits of his own kingdom, and facilities enough for procuring the peculiar natural and artistic productions which other lands could boast of. Medinah is, first of all, a country, not as a territory, but as under one government (cf. Ecc 5:7); in the later philosophical language it is the Heb. word for the Greek πολιτεία; in the passage before us, medinoth is, however, not different from ארצות. From the singing men and singing women who come into view here, not as appertaining to the temple service (vid., the Targ.), with which no singing women were connected, but as connected with the festivities of the court (Sa2 19:36; cf. Isa 5:12), advance is made to shiddah veshiddoth; and since these are designated by the preceding ותענגות (not ותענגּות) bene hāādam, especially as objects and means of earthly pleasure, and since, according to Heb 2:7, sexual love is the fairest and the most pleasant, in a word, the most attractive of all earthly delights (Solomon's luxus, also here contradicting the law of the king, Deu 17:17, came to a height, according to Kg1 11:3, after the example of Oriental rulers, in a harem of not fewer than one thousand women, princesses and concubines), of necessity, the expression shiddah veshiddoth must denote a multitude of women whom the king possessed for his own pleasure. Cup-bearers, male and female (Syr., lxx), cannot at all be understood, for although it may be said that the enumeration thus connects itself with the before-named בּיּין, yet this class of female attendants are not numbered among the highest human pleasures; besides, with such an explanation one must read שׁרה ושׁדות, and, in addition, שׁדא (to throw, to pour to, or pour out), to which this Heb. שׁדה may correspond, is nowhere used of the pouring out of wine. Rather might שׁדה, like שדא, hydria, be the name of a vessel from which one pours out anything, according to which Aq. translates by κυλίκιον καὶ κυλίκια, Symmachus, after Jerome, by mensurarum (read mensarum) (Note: Thus, according to Vallarsi, a Cod. Vat. and Cod. Palat. of the first hand.) species et appositioines, and Jerome, scyphos et urceos in ministerio ad vina fundenda; but this word for kelē mashkēh, Kg1 10:21 (= Ch2 9:20), is not found. Also the Targ., which translates by dimasaya uvē venavan, public baths (δημόσια), and balneae, vindicates this translation by referring the word to the verb שׁדא, "with pipes which pour out (דּשׁרין) tepid water, and pipes which pour out hot water." But this explanation is imaginary; שׁדּה occurs in the Mishna, Mikwaoth (of plunge-baths) Ecc 6:5, but there it denotes a chest which, when it swims in the water, makes the plunge-bath unsuitable. Such an untenable conceit also is the translation suggested by Kimchi, כלי זמר, according to which the Event. σύστεεμα καὶ συστήματα (in a musical sense: concentus), and Luther: "all kinds of musical instruments;" the word has not this meaning; Orelli, Sanchuniathon, p. 33, combines therewith Σιδών, according to the Phoenician myth, the inventress of the artistic song. The explanation by Kimchi is headed, "Splendour of every kind;" Ewald, Elster, and Zckler find therein a general expression, following taanugoth: great heap and heaps = in great abundance [die Hlle und Flle]. But the synon. of כבוד, "splendour," is not שׁד, but עז; and that שׁדד, like עצם, is referred to a great number, is without proof. Thus shiddah veshiddoth will denote something definite; besides, "a large number" finds its expression in the climactic union of words. In the Jerus. Talm. Taanith Ecc 4:5, shiddah must, according to the gloss, be the name of a chariot, although the subject there is not that of motion forward, or moving quickly; it is there announced that Schn, not far from Sepphoris, a place famed also for its pottery, formerly possessed 80 such shiddoth wholly of metal. The very same word is explained by Rashi, Baba kamma ix. 3, Shabbath 120a, Erubin 30b, Gittin 8b, 68a, Chagiga 25a, and elsewhere, of a carriage of wood, and especially of a chariot for women and distinguished persons. The combination of the synonyms, shiddah uthivah umigdal, does not in itself mean more than a chest; and Rashi himself explains, Kethuboth 65a, quolphi dashidah of the lock of a chest (argaz); and the author of Aruch knows no other meaning than that of a repository such as a chest. But in passages such as Gittin 8b, the shiddah is mentioned as a means of transport; it is to all appearance a chest going on wheels, moved forward by means of wheels, but on that very account not a state-chariot. Rashi's tradition cannot be verified. Bttcher, in the Neue Aehrenlese, adduces for comparison the Syr. Shydlo, which, according to Castelli, signifies navis magna, corbita, arca; but from a merchant ship and a portable chest, it is a great way to a lady's palanquin. He translates: palanquin and palinquins = one consignment to the harem after another. Gesen., according to Rdiger, Thes. 1365b, thinks that women are to be understood; for he compares the Arab. z'ynat, which signifies a women's carriage, and then the woman herself (cf. our Frauenzimmer, women's apartment, women, like Odaliske, from the Turk. oda, apartment). But this all stands or falls with that gloss of Rashi's: 'agalah lemerkavoth nashim usarim. Meanwhile, of all the explanations as yet advanced, this last of splendid coaches, palanquins is the best; for it may certainly be supposed that the words shiddah veshiddoth are meant of women. Aben Ezra explains on this supposition, shiddoth = shevuyoth, females captured in war; but unwarrantably, because as yet Solomon had not been engaged in war; others (vid., Pinsker's Zur Gesch. des Karaismus, p. 296), recently Bullock, connect it with shadim, in the sense of (Arab.) nahidah (a maiden with swelling breast); Knobel explains after shadad, to barricade, to shut up, occlusa, the female held in custody (cf. bethulah, the separated one, virgin, from bathal, cogn. badal); Hitzig, "cushions," "bolsters," from shanad, which, like (Arab.) firash, λέχος, is then transferred to the juncta toro. Nothing of all that is satisfactory. The Babyl. Gemara, Gittin 68a, glosses ותען וגו by "reservoirs and baths," and then further says that in the west (Palestine) they say שׁדּתא, chests (according to Rashi: chariots); but that here in this country (i.e., in Babylon) they translate shiddah veshiddoth by shēdah veshēdathin, which is then explained, "demons and demonesses," which Solomon had made subservient to him. (Note: A demon, and generally a superhuman being, is called, as in Heb. שׁד, so in the Babyl.-Assyr. sîdu, vid., Norris' Assyrian Dictionary, II p. 668; cf. Schrader, in the Jena. Lit. Zeit. 1874, p. 218f., according to which sîdu, with alap, is the usual name of Adar formed like an ox.) This haggadic-mytholog. interpretation is, linguistically at least, on the right track. A demon is not so named from fluttering or moving to and fro (Levy, Schnhak), for there is no evidence in the Semitic langauge of the existence of a verb שוד, to flee; also not from a verb sadad, which must correspond to the Heb. השׁתחוה, in the sense of to adore (Oppert's Inscription du palais de Khorsabad, 1863, p. 96); for this meaning is more than doubtful, and, besides, שׁד is an active, and not a passive idea-much rather שׁד, Assyr. sîd, Arab. sayyid, signifies the mighty, from שׁוּד, to force, Psa 91:6. (Note: Vid., Friedrich Delitzsch's Assyr. Theirnamen, p. 37.) In the Arab. (cf. the Spanish Cid) it is uniformly the name of a lord, as subduing, ruling, mastering (sabid), and the fem. sayyidat, of a lady, whence the vulgar Arab. sitti = my lady, and sîdi = my lord. Since שׁדד means the same as שׁוד, and in Heb. is more commonly used than it, so also the fem. form שׁדּה is possible, so much the more as it may have originated from שׁדה, 5 שׁיד = שׁד, by a sharpening contraction, like סגּים, from סיגים (Olsh. 83c), perhaps intentionally to make שׁדה, a demoness, and the name of a lady (donna = domina) unlike. Accordingly we translate, with Gesen. and Meyer in their Handwrt.: "lady and ladies;" for we take shiddoth as a name of the ladies of the harem, like shēglath (Assyr. saklâti) and lehhenath in the book of Daniel, on which Ahron b. Joseph the Karaite remarks: shedah hinqaroth shagal. The connection expressing an innumerable quantity, and at the same time the greatest diversity, is different from the genitival dor dorim, generation of generations, i.e., lasting through all generations, Psa 72:5, from the permutative heightening the idea: rahham rahhamathaim, one damsel, two damsels, Jdg 5:30, and from that formed by placing together the two gram. genders, comprehending every species of the generic conception: mash'ēn umash'enah, Isa 3:3 (vid., comm. l.c., and Ewald, 172b). Also the words cited by Ewald (Syr.), rogo urogo, "all possible pleasures" (Cureton's Spicil. p. 10), do not altogether accord with this passage for they heighten, like meod meod, by the repetition of the same expression. But similar is the Arab. scheme, mal wamwal, "possession and possessions," i.e., exceeding great riches, where the collective idea, in itself according by its indetermination free scope to the imagination, is multiplied by the plur. being further added. After Koheleth has enumerated all that he had provided for the purpose of gratifying his lusts, but without losing himself therein, he draws the conclusion, which on this occasion also shows a perceptible deficit.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

"I heaped up for myself also silver and gold, and the peculiar property of kings and of countries; I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the children of men: mistress and mistresses." The verb כּנשׁ כּנס, συνάγειν, is common to all Semitic dialects (also the to Assyr.), and especially peculiar to the more recent Heb., which forms from it the name of the religious community συναγωγή, כּנסת; it is used here of that which is brought together merely for the purpose of possession. Segūllah (from sagal, Targ., to make oneself possess), properly possession, and that something which specially and peculiarly belongs to one as his property; the word is here meant collect., as at Ch1 29:3 : that which only kings and individual countries possess. The interchange of melachim, which is without the article, with the determ. hammedinoth, is arbitrary: something special, such as that which a king possesses, the specialities which countries possess, - one country this, and another that. The hammedinoth are certainly not exclusively the regions embraced within the dominion of Solomon (Zckl.), as, according to Est 1:1, the Persian kingdom was divided into 127 medinoth. Solomon had a fleet which went to Ophir, was in a friendly relation with the royal house of Tyre, the metropolis of many colonies, and ruled over a widely-extended kingdom, bound by commerce with Central Asia and Africa. - His desires had thus ample opportunity to stretch beyond the limits of his own kingdom, and facilities enough for procuring the peculiar natural and artistic productions which other lands could boast of. Medinah is, first of all, a country, not as a territory, but as under one government (cf. Ecc 5:7); in the later philosophical language it is the Heb. word for the Greek πολιτεία; in the passage before us, medinoth is, however, not different from ארצות.

From the singing men and singing women who come into view here, not as appertaining to the temple service (vid., the Targ.), with which no singing women were connected, but as connected with the festivities of the court (Sa2 19:36; cf. Isa 5:12), advance is made to shiddah veshiddoth; and since these are designated by the preceding ותענגות (not ותענגּות) bene hāādam, especially as objects and means of earthly pleasure, and since, according to Heb 2:7, sexual love is the fairest and the most pleasant, in a word, the most attractive of all earthly delights (Solomon's luxus, also here contradicting the law of the king, Deu 17:17, came to a height, according to Kg1 11:3, after the example of Oriental rulers, in a harem of not fewer than one thousand women, princesses and concubines), of necessity, the expression shiddah veshiddoth must denote a multitude of women whom the king possessed for his own pleasure. Cup-bearers, male and female (Syr., lxx), cannot at all be understood, for although it may be said that the enumeration thus connects itself with the before-named בּיּין, yet this class of female attendants are not numbered among the highest human pleasures; besides, with such an explanation one must read שׁרה ושׁדות, and, in addition, שׁדא (to throw, to pour to, or pour out), to which this Heb. שׁדה may correspond, is nowhere used of the pouring out of wine. Rather might שׁדה, like שדא, hydria, be the name of a vessel from which one pours out anything, according to which Aq. translates by κυλίκιον καὶ κυλίκια, Symmachus, after Jerome, by mensurarum (read mensarum)

(Note: Thus, according to Vallarsi, a Cod. Vat. and Cod. Palat. of the first hand.)

species et appositioines, and Jerome, scyphos et urceos in ministerio ad vina fundenda; but this word for kelē mashkēh, Kg1 10:21 (= Ch2 9:20), is not found. Also the Targ., which translates by dimasaya uvē venavan, public baths (δημόσια), and balneae, vindicates this translation by referring the word to the verb שׁדא, "with pipes which pour out (דּשׁרין) tepid water, and pipes which pour out hot water." But this explanation is imaginary; שׁדּה occurs in the Mishna, Mikwaoth (of plunge-baths) Ecc 6:5, but there it denotes a chest which, when it swims in the water, makes the plunge-bath unsuitable. Such an untenable conceit also is the translation suggested by Kimchi, כלי זמר, according to which the Event. σύστεεμα καὶ συστήματα (in a musical sense: concentus), and Luther: "all kinds of musical instruments;" the word has not this meaning; Orelli, Sanchuniathon, p. 33, combines therewith Σιδών, according to the Phoenician myth, the inventress of the artistic song. The explanation by Kimchi is headed, "Splendour of every kind;" Ewald, Elster, and Zckler find therein a general expression, following taanugoth: great heap and heaps = in great abundance [die Hlle und Flle]. But the synon. of כבוד, "splendour," is not שׁד, but עז; and that שׁדד, like עצם, is referred to a great number, is without proof. Thus shiddah veshiddoth will denote something definite; besides, "a large number" finds its expression in the climactic union of words. In the Jerus. Talm. Taanith Ecc 4:5, shiddah must, according to the gloss, be the name of a chariot, although the subject there is not that of motion forward, or moving quickly; it is there announced that Schn, not far from Sepphoris, a place famed also for its pottery, formerly possessed 80 such shiddoth wholly of metal. The very same word is explained by Rashi, Baba kamma ix. 3, Shabbath 120a, Erubin 30b, Gittin 8b, 68a, Chagiga 25a, and elsewhere, of a carriage of wood, and especially of a chariot for women and distinguished persons. The combination of the synonyms, shiddah uthivah umigdal, does not in itself mean more than a chest; and Rashi himself explains, Kethuboth 65a, quolphi dashidah of the lock of a chest (argaz); and the author of Aruch knows no other meaning than that of a repository such as a chest. But in passages such as Gittin 8b, the shiddah is mentioned as a means of transport; it is to all appearance a chest going on wheels, moved forward by means of wheels, but on that very account not a state-chariot. Rashi's tradition cannot be verified.

Bttcher, in the Neue Aehrenlese, adduces for comparison the Syr. Shydlo, which, according to Castelli, signifies navis magna, corbita, arca; but from a merchant ship and a portable chest, it is a great way to a lady's palanquin.

He translates: palanquin and palinquins = one consignment to the harem after another. Gesen., according to Rdiger, Thes. 1365b, thinks that women are to be understood; for he compares the Arab. z'ynat, which signifies a women's carriage, and then the woman herself (cf. our Frauenzimmer, women's apartment, women, like Odaliske, from the Turk. oda, apartment). But this all stands or falls with that gloss of Rashi's: 'agalah lemerkavoth nashim usarim. Meanwhile, of all the explanations as yet advanced, this last of splendid coaches, palanquins is the best; for it may certainly be supposed that the words shiddah veshiddoth are meant of women. Aben Ezra explains on this supposition, shiddoth = shevuyoth, females captured in war; but unwarrantably, because as yet Solomon had not been engaged in war; others (vid., Pinsker's Zur Gesch. des Karaismus, p. 296), recently Bullock, connect it with shadim, in the sense of (Arab.) nahidah (a maiden with swelling breast); Knobel explains after shadad, to barricade, to shut up, occlusa, the female held in custody (cf. bethulah, the separated one, virgin, from bathal, cogn. badal); Hitzig, "cushions," "bolsters," from shanad, which, like (Arab.) firash, λέχος, is then transferred to the juncta toro. Nothing of all that is satisfactory. The Babyl. Gemara, Gittin 68a, glosses ותען וגו by "reservoirs and baths," and then further says that in the west (Palestine) they say שׁדּתא, chests (according to Rashi: chariots); but that here in this country (i.e., in Babylon) they translate shiddah veshiddoth by shēdah veshēdathin, which is then explained, "demons and demonesses," which Solomon had made subservient to him.

(Note: A demon, and generally a superhuman being, is called, as in Heb. שׁד, so in the Babyl.-Assyr. sîdu, vid., Norris' Assyrian Dictionary, II p. 668; cf. Schrader, in the Jena. Lit. Zeit. 1874, p. 218f., according to which sîdu, with alap, is the usual name of Adar formed like an ox.)

This haggadic-mytholog. interpretation is, linguistically at least, on the right track. A demon is not so named from fluttering or moving to and fro (Levy, Schnhak), for there is no evidence in the Semitic langauge of the existence of a verb שוד, to flee; also not from a verb sadad, which must correspond to the Heb. השׁתחוה, in the sense of to adore (Oppert's Inscription du palais de Khorsabad, 1863, p. 96); for this meaning is more than doubtful, and, besides, שׁד is an active, and not a passive idea-much rather שׁד, Assyr. sîd, Arab. sayyid, signifies the mighty, from שׁוּד, to force, Psa 91:6.

(Note: Vid., Friedrich Delitzsch's Assyr. Theirnamen, p. 37.)

In the Arab. (cf. the Spanish Cid) it is uniformly the name of a lord, as subduing, ruling, mastering (sabid), and the fem. sayyidat, of a lady, whence the vulgar Arab. sitti = my lady, and sîdi = my lord. Since שׁדד means the same as שׁוד, and in Heb. is more commonly used than it, so also the fem. form שׁדּה is possible, so much the more as it may have originated from שׁדה, 5 שׁיד = שׁד, by a sharpening contraction, like סגּים, from סיגים (Olsh. 83c), perhaps intentionally to make שׁדה, a demoness, and the name of a lady (donna = domina) unlike. Accordingly we translate, with Gesen. and Meyer in their Handwrt.: "lady and ladies;" for we take shiddoth as a name of the ladies of the harem, like shēglath (Assyr. saklâti) and lehhenath in the book of Daniel, on which Ahron b. Joseph the Karaite remarks: shedah hinqaroth shagal.

The connection expressing an innumerable quantity, and at the same time the greatest diversity, is different from the genitival dor dorim, generation of generations, i.e., lasting through all generations, Psa 72:5, from the permutative heightening the idea: rahham rahhamathaim, one damsel, two damsels, Jdg 5:30, and from that formed by placing together the two gram. genders, comprehending every species of the generic conception: mash'ēn umash'enah, Isa 3:3 (vid., comm. l.c., and Ewald, 172b). Also the words cited by Ewald (Syr.), rogo urogo, "all possible pleasures" (Cureton's Spicil. p. 10), do not altogether accord with this passage for they heighten, like meod meod, by the repetition of the same expression. But similar is the Arab. scheme, mal wamwal, "possession and possessions," i.e., exceeding great riches, where the collective idea, in itself according by its indetermination free scope to the imagination, is multiplied by the plur. being further added.

After Koheleth has enumerated all that he had provided for the purpose of gratifying his lusts, but without losing himself therein, he draws the conclusion, which on this occasion also shows a perceptible deficit.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Peculiar treasure - The greatest jewels and rarities of other kings, which they gave to me, either as a tribute, or by way of present. Of provinces - Which were imposed upon or presented by all the provinces of my dominions.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces - 1. The tares levied off his subjects. 2. The tribute given by the neighboring potentates. Both these make the "peculiar treasure of kings;" taxes and tribute. Men singers and women singers - This includes all instrumental and vocal performers. These may be called the delights of the sons of men. Musical instruments, and that of all sorts - For these seven words, there are only two in the original, שדה ושדות shiddah veshiddoth. These words are acknowledged on all hands to be utterly unknown, if not utterly inexplicable. Some render them male and female captives; others, cups and flagons; others, cooks and confectioners; others, a species of musical compositions derived from a celebrated Phoenician woman named Sido, to whom Sanchoniatha attributes the invention of music. Others, with more probability, wives and concubines; of the former of whom Solomon had seven hundred, and of the latter, three hundred; and if these be not spoken of here, they are not mentioned at all; whereas music, and every thing connected with that, was referred to before. The author of Choheleth paraphrases thus: - "To complete This scene of earthly bliss, how large a span Of that which most delights the sons of men Fell to my portion! What a lovely train Of blooming beauties, by connubial ties, By purchase, or the gifts of neighboring kings, Or spoils of war, made mine." If, after all this, I may add one conjecture, it shall be this; שדה sadeh, in Hebrews is a field, and occurs in various parts of the Bible. שדות sadoth is fields, Sa1 22:7, the points in such a case are of no consideration. May not Solomon be speaking here of farms upon farms, or estates upon estates, which he had added by purchase to the common regal portion? We know that a king of Israel (Ahab) once desired to have a vineyard (Naboth's) which he could not obtain: now, Solomon having spoken before of gardens, orchards, and vineyards, why may he not here speak of supernumerary estates? Perhaps every man who critically examines the place will be dissatisfied, and have a conjecture of his own.

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⁸ There are threescore [08346] queens [04436], and fourscore [08084] concubines [06370], and virgins [05959] without number [04557].

¹⁰ Hearken [08085], O daughter [01323], and consider [07200], and incline [05186] thine ear [0241]; forget [07911] also thine own people [05971], and thy father's [01] house [01004];

³ And he had seven [07651] hundred [03967] wives [0802], princesses [08282], and three [07969] hundred [03967] concubines [06370]: and his wives [0802] turned away [05186] his heart [03820].

¹ And Solomon [08010] made affinity [02859] with Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and took [03947] Pharaoh's [06547] daughter [01323], and brought [0935] her into the city [05892] of David [01732], until he had made an end [03615] of building [01129] his own house [01004], and the house [01004] of the LORD [03068], and the wall [02346] of Jerusalem [03389] round about [05439].

⁹ Also Vashti [02060] the queen [04436] made [06213] a feast [04960] for the women [0802] in the royal [04438] house [01004] which belonged to king [04428] Ahasuerus [0325].

⁵ That chant [06527] to the sound [06310] of the viol [05035], and invent [02803] to themselves instruments [03627] of musick [07892], like David [01732];
⁶ That drink [08354] wine [03196] in bowls [04219], and anoint [04886] themselves with the chief [07225] ointments [08081]: but they are not grieved [02470] for the affliction [07667] of Joseph [03130].

¹² And the harp [03658], and the viol [05035], the tabret [08596], and pipe [02485], and wine [03196], are in their feasts [04960]: but they regard [05027] not the work [06467] of the LORD [03068], neither consider [07200] the operation [04639] of his hands [03027].

³⁵ I am this day [03117] fourscore [08084] years [08141] old [01121]: and can I discern [03045] between good [02896] and evil [07451]? can thy servant [05650] taste [02938] what [0834] I eat [0398] or what [0834] I drink [08354]? can I hear [08085] any more the voice [06963] of singing men [07891] and singing women [07891]? wherefore then should thy servant [05650] be yet a burden [04853] unto my lord [0113] the king [04428]?

¹⁴ For the merchandise [05504] of it is better [02896] than the merchandise [05505] of silver [03701], and the gain [08393] thereof than fine gold [02742].
¹⁵ She is more precious [03368] than rubies [06443]: and all the things thou canst desire [02656] are not to be compared [07737] unto her.

²⁴ For he had dominion [07287] over all the region on this side [05676] the river [05104], from Tiphsah [08607] even to Azzah [05804], over all the kings [04428] on this side [05676] the river [05104]: and he had peace [07965] on all sides [05650] [05676] round about [05439] him.

²¹ And Solomon [08010] reigned [04910] over all kingdoms [04467] from the river [05104] unto the land [0776] of the Philistines [06430], and unto the border [01366] of Egypt [04714]: they brought [05066] presents [04503], and served [05647] Solomon [08010] all the days [03117] of his life [02416].

²⁰ And all the drinking [04945] vessels [03627] of king [04428] Solomon [08010] were of gold [02091], and all the vessels [03627] of the house [01004] of the forest [03293] of Lebanon [03844] were of pure [05462] gold [02091]: none were of silver [03701]; it was not any [03972] thing accounted [02803] of in the days [03117] of Solomon [08010].

¹⁵ And the king [04428] made [05414] silver [03701] and gold [02091] at Jerusalem [03389] as plenteous as stones [068], and cedar trees [0730] made [05414] he as the sycomore trees [08256] that are in the vale [08219] for abundance [07230].

²⁷ And the king [04428] made [05414] silver [03701] to be in Jerusalem [03389] as stones [068], and cedars [0730] made [05414] he to be as the sycomore trees [08256] that are in the vale [08219], for abundance [07230].

¹ But king [04428] Solomon [08010] loved [0157] many [07227] strange [05237] women [0802], together with the daughter [01323] of Pharaoh [06547], women of the Moabites [04125], Ammonites [05984], Edomites [0130], Zidonians [06722], and Hittites [02850];
² Of the nations [01471] concerning which the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto the children [01121] of Israel [03478], Ye shall not go in [0935] to them, neither shall they come in [0935] unto you: for surely [0403] they will turn away [05186] your heart [03824] after [0310] their gods [0430]: Solomon [08010] clave [01692] unto these in love [0157].
³ And he had seven [07651] hundred [03967] wives [0802], princesses [08282], and three [07969] hundred [03967] concubines [06370]: and his wives [0802] turned away [05186] his heart [03820].

² And she came [0935] to Jerusalem [03389] with a very [03966] great [03515] train [02428], with camels [01581] that bare [05375] spices [01314], and very [03966] much [07227] gold [02091], and precious [03368] stones [068]: and when she was come [0935] to Solomon [08010], she communed [01696] with him of all that was in her heart [03824].

¹⁴ And Hiram [02438] sent [07971] to the king [04428] sixscore [03967] [06242] talents [03603] of gold [02091].

¹ And Hiram [02438] king [04428] of Tyre [06865] sent [07971] his servants [05650] unto Solomon [08010]; for he had heard [08085] that they had anointed [04886] him king [04428] in the room of his father [01]: for Hiram [02438] was ever [03117] a lover [0157] of David [01732].

¹⁵ Beside that he had of the merchantmen [0582] [08446], and of the traffick [04536] of the spice merchants [07402], and of all the kings [04428] of Arabia [06153], and of the governors [06346] of the country [0776].

³ The captain [08269] of fifty [02572], and the honourable [05375] man [06440], and the counsellor [03289], and the cunning [02450] artificer [02791], and the eloquent [0995] orator [03908].

³⁰ Have they not sped [04672]? have they not divided [02505] the prey [07998]; to every [07218] man [01397] a damsel [07356] or two [07361]; to Sisera [05516] a prey [07998] of divers colours [06648], a prey [07998] of divers colours [06648] of needlework [07553], of divers colours [06648] of needlework on both sides [07553], meet for the necks [06677] of them that take the spoil [07998]?

⁵ They shall fear [03372] thee as long as [05973] the sun [08121] and moon [03394] endure [06440], throughout all [01755] generations [01755].

⁶ Nor for the pestilence [01698] that walketh [01980] in darkness [0652]; nor for the destruction [06986] that wasteth [07736] at noonday [06672].

⁵ The fool [03684] foldeth [02263] his hands [03027] together [02263], and eateth [0398] his own flesh [01320].

⁵ Moreover he hath not seen [07200] the sun [08121], nor known [03045] any thing: this [02088] hath more rest [05183] than [02088] the other.

²¹ And all king [04428] Solomon's [08010] drinking [04945] vessels [03627] were of gold [02091], and all the vessels [03627] of the house [01004] of the forest [03293] of Lebanon [03844] were of pure [05462] gold [02091]; none were of silver [03701]: it was nothing [03972] accounted [02803] of in the days [03117] of Solomon [08010].

³ And he had seven [07651] hundred [03967] wives [0802], princesses [08282], and three [07969] hundred [03967] concubines [06370]: and his wives [0802] turned away [05186] his heart [03820].

¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply [07235] wives [0802] to himself, that his heart [03824] turn [05493] not away: neither shall he greatly [03966] multiply [07235] to himself silver [03701] and gold [02091].

⁷ Thou madest [1642] him [846] a little [1024] [5100] lower [1642] than [3844] the angels [32]; thou crownedst [4737] him [846] with glory [1391] and [2532] honour [5092], and [2532] didst set [2525] him [846] over [1909] the works [2041] of thy [4675] hands [5495]:

³⁶ Thy servant [05650] will go [05674] a little way [04592] over [05674] Jordan [03383] with the king [04428]: and why should the king [04428] recompense [01580] it me with such a reward [01578]?

⁷ For in the multitude [07230] of dreams [02472] and many [07235] words [01697] there are also divers vanities [01892]: but fear [03372] thou God [0430].

¹ Now it came to pass in the days [03117] of Ahasuerus [0325], (this is Ahasuerus [0325] which reigned [04427], from India [01912] even unto Ethiopia [03568], over an hundred [03967] and seven [07651] and twenty [06242] provinces [04082]:)

³ Moreover, because I have set my affection [07521] to the house [01004] of my God [0430], I have [03426] of mine own proper good [05459], of gold [02091] and silver [03701], which I have given [05414] to the house [01004] of my God [0430], over and above [04605] all that I have prepared [03559] for the holy [06944] house [01004],

⁷ Then Saul [07586] said [0559] unto his servants [05650] that stood [05324] about him, Hear now [08085], ye Benjamites [01145]; will the son [01121] of Jesse [03448] give [05414] every one of you fields [07704] and vineyards [03754], and make [07760] you all captains [08269] of thousands [0505], and captains [08269] of hundreds [03967];