Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
ULTBut from the sons of Israel Solomon did not give a servant, for they were the men of warfare and his servants and his commanders and his third men and the commanders of his chariotry and his horsemen.
USTBut Solomon did not force any Israelite people to become slaves. Some of them became soldiers, servants, officials, army officers, commanders of his chariot forces, and men who rode on his horses.
BSBBut Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they [were] his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry.
OEBBut of the Israelites Solomon made no bondmen, for they were the warriors and his servants, his generals, his captains, his officer over his chariots, and his horsemen.
WEBBEBut of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
NETSolomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews; the Israelites served as his soldiers, attendants, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.
LSVAnd Solomon has not appointed a servant out of the sons of Israel, for they [are] the men of war, and his servants, and his heads, and his captains, and the heads of his chariots, and his horsemen.
FBVBut Solomon did not enslave any of the Israelites. They were his soldiers, officials, commanders, captains, chariot commanders, and horsemen.
T4TBut Solomon did not force any Israeli people to become slaves. Some Israelis became soldiers and army officers and commanders and drivers of his chariots and soldiers who rode on horses.
BBEBut Solomon did not put the children of Israel to forced work; they were the men of war, his servants, his captains, and his chiefs, captains of his war-carriages and of his horsemen.
JPSBut of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
ASVBut of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
DRABut of the children of Israel Solomon made not any to be bondmen, but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and captains, and overseers of the chariots and horses.
YLTAnd out of the sons of Israel Solomon hath not appointed a servant, for they [are] the men of war, and his servants, and his heads, and his captains, and the heads of his chariots, and his horsemen.
DrbyBut of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen; but they were men of war, and his servants, and his chiefs, and his captains, and captains of his chariots, and his horsemen.
RVBut of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants: but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
SLTAnd of the sons of Israel, Solomon gave not to serve, for they were men of war, and his servants and his chiefs, and his warriors, and chiefs of chariots, and his horsemen.
WbstrBut of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bond-men: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.
KJB-1769But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.
GnvaBut of the children of Israel did Salomon make no bondmen: but they were men of warre and his seruants, and his princes, and his captaines, and rulers of his charets and his horsemen. (But of the children of Israel did Salomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and his horsemen. )
ClVgDe filiis autem Israël non constituit Salomon servire quemquam, sed erant viri bellatores, et ministri ejus, et principes, et duces, et præfecti curruum et equorum. (From/About to_the_children however Israel not/no established Salomon slavesrewhichquam, but they_were men warstores, and ministers his, and leaders, and leaders, and beforefecticurruum and of_horses. )
Solomon made no forced laborers of the people of Israel
(Some words not found in UHB: and,of,sons_of Yisrael not he/it_gave Shəlomoh/(Solomon) slaves that/for/because/then/when they men_of the,war and,servants_of,his and,commanders_of,his and,captains_of,his and,commanders_of chariots_of,his and,cavalry_of,his )
Alternate translation: “Solomon did not force the people of Israel to labor”
Near the beginning of Solomon’s reign, the Lord promised to bless him with great wisdom, riches, and honor (1 Kings 3:2-15), and the fulfillment of this promise led to great fame for Solomon throughout the Near East. Humanly speaking, Solomon had been set up for immense success by his father David, who passed on to him a powerful kingdom that stretched from the tip of the Red Sea to the Euphrates River (2 Samuel 8-10; 1 Chronicles 18-19; 2 Chronicles 8). During Solomon’s reign Israel controlled all land routes leading from Egypt and the Red Sea to the Aramean and Hittite nations to the north, and they also controlled the northern terminus of the great Incense Route leading from the peoples of southwest Arabia to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea at Gaza. Solomon appears to have capitalized on his strategic control over travel and shipping throughout the region by setting up a very lucrative international arms dealership, through which he paired chariots bought from Egypt with horses bought from Kue (the term sometimes translated as “Egypt” should probably be translated “Muzur,” a district near Kue) and sold them to the kings of the Hittites and Arameans. Solomon also likely gained immense wealth from very productive copper mines at Punon, Timna, and elsewhere (see “Southern Arabah Valley” map). All this won him great renown among all the rulers of the Near East, including the queen of Sheba, who traveled over a thousand miles to see for herself Solomon’s great wisdom and splendor. She brought with her luxurious gifts from her land, including spices, precious stones, and gold, which she may have obtained from nearby Ophir. Solomon also arranged for King Hiram of Tyre to provide him with cedar timbers from Lebanon to build the Temple of the Lord and his royal palace (2 Chronicles 2). The logs were bound into rafts, floated down to Joppa, and then disassembled and hauled up to Jerusalem. Solomon also launched ships to sail to faraway lands during his reign and bring back riches and exotic goods. Scholars have proposed various locations for the exact destination of the ships, and some have struggled to reconcile what can seem like confusion on the part of the biblical writers over the term Tarshish. But a careful reading of the biblical accounts indicates that there were probably two separate fleets of ships: the fleet of Hiram and Solomon’s fleet of ships of Tarshish. Both fleets are separately mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22, and the phrase “at sea with” may simply indicate that they were sailing at the same time but not necessarily together. Also, the list of goods brought back by Hiram’s fleet is somewhat different than the list of goods brought back by Solomon’s fleet (compare 1 Kings 10:11, 22; 2 Chronicles 8:17-18; 9:10, 21). Likewise, the wording of 2 Chronicles 8:17-18 is that Hiram “sent to [Solomon] by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea,” but the implication seems to be that the ships remained Hiram’s, not Solomon’s, whereas the other fleet of ships of Tarshish appears to have belonged to Solomon, though the ships were manned by Hiram’s men as well (2 Chronicles 9:21). Thus, Hiram’s fleet set sail from Ezion-geber, traveled the length of the Red Sea, and acquired gold from Ophir. Solomon’s fleet, on the other hand, could have sailed either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea, since the term ships of Tarshish seems to have been used at times to indicate a class of trading or refinery ships rather than a specific destination (see article for “Tarshish” map). It is also possible, however, that the term Tarshish referred to the ships’ actual destination, which during Solomon’s reign appears to have been located in the far western Mediterranean Sea. This is supported by isotopic studies of silver found in Israel during Solomon’s time, which have traced the source to Tharros on the island of Sardinia. This also fits well with the length of time given for the voyage of Solomon’s fleet, which returned every three years with their exotic goods.
