What Does 1 Kings 9:11 Mean?
Hiram the king of Tyre had brought Solomon cedar trees and fir trees and gold, according to all his delight. Then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
(Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.THE KEY
“Furnished” is built on a verb of bearing: Hiram carries Solomon’s desired wealth, and Solomon answers that carried provision by placing twenty cities in Hiram’s hands.
THE MEANING
Provision here has weight and direction: Hiram bears cedar, fir, and gold toward Solomon’s desire, and Solomon answers with twenty cities in Galilee. Tyre is Tsor (צֹר, “rock”), and Solomon is Shelomoh (שְׁלֹמֹה), a name echoing shalom (שָׁלוֹם, “wholeness”). The verse speaks now through a concrete exchange: what is carried to another can be met by something placed in that person’s hands.
THE ROOT
נשא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשא
Lift, carry, or bear.
The word rendered “furnished” is nasa, whose basic sense is carrying or bearing. Hiram is pictured as bearing the materials Solomon desires; the cities are the material answer to that support.
ALSO GROWS
massa: A load or burden.
מַשָּׂא
The same root can describe what is carried, making Hiram’s provision tangible as a load borne for another.
nasi: A leader or prince; one elevated.
נָשִׂיא
This branch preserves the root’s sense of being lifted up, extending the image from carrying goods to elevation.
יִתֵּן
yitten root natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
The root behind “gave” also means to set or place. Solomon’s response is not an abstract repayment: he places twenty cities in Hiram’s possession.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the root verb of “gave” here; its range lets giving carry the sense of placing something into another’s hands.
mattanah: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root shows a gift as something concretely given.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שלם
Whole or complete; the family of shalom, wholeness.
“Solomon” in this verse is Shelomoh. Shelomoh’s name echoes shalom, wholeness. That name frames an exchange of resources and land, while the verse leaves open whether the exchange itself achieves wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; also peace.
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar branch makes the wholeness carried in Solomon’s name audible.
shalem: Whole or complete.
שָׁלֵם
This adjective from the same root family clarifies the sense of completeness beneath the name.
THE PATTERN
Provision moves between hands and becomes concrete supply for another.
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should hold the strength to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come from you, and from your hand have we given to you.The living soul of blessing is made fat, and the one who waters is himself watered.But through evenness, that in this present season your overflow may fill their lack, and their overflow may fill your lack, that there may be evenness.THE THREAD
And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to shine upon the earth.The verb translated “set” comes from natan, the same root rendered “gave” here. In both verses the root carries the sense of placing something into position: lights in the heavens, cities in Hiram’s hands.
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