1 Kings 9 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: MT 9:28
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
1 Kings 9
The gift of a house and the call to perseverance
Editorial Christian reading: the warning prevents the building’s glory from becoming a guarantee independent of faithfulness.
9:1–9a | The divine appearance, promise, and warning
Greek 9:9a is a separate marriage notice following the warning.
Verse MT 9:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:1
When Solomon had finished building YHWH’s house, the king’s house, and everything Solomon desired and wished to do,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:1
When Solomon had finished building the Lord’s house, the king’s house, and every undertaking Solomon wished to carry out,
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew repeats the language of desire; Greek names undertakings. Both introduce the appearance after completion of the royal building projects.
Verse MT 9:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:2
YHWH appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:2
the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared at Gibeon.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The second appearance and reference to Gibeon agree. Greek does not repeat to him in the comparison, without changing the recipient.
Verse MT 9:3 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:3
YHWH said to him, “I have heard your prayer and supplication which you made before Me. I have consecrated this house you built, to put My name there forever; My eyes and My heart shall be there always.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:3
The Lord said to him, “I have heard the voice of your prayer and supplication which you made before Me. I have done for you according to your whole prayer. I have consecrated this house you built, to put My name there forever; My eyes shall be there and My heart always.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds voice and an explicit statement of having acted according to the whole prayer. Both retain the consecrated house, enduring name, eyes, and heart; the following conditional warnings remain part of the same address.
Verse MT 9:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:4
As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing all I commanded you, and keep My statutes and judgments,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:4
As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with holiness of heart and uprightness, doing all I commanded him, and keep My ordinances and commandments,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has commanded you, Greek commanded him, referring back to David. Integrity and holiness reflect the respective heart descriptions; the two legal lists also differ. The condition remains explicit in both.
Verse MT 9:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:5
then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised concerning your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on Israel’s throne.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:5
then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I told your father David, saying, ‘A man ruling in Israel shall not be removed from you.’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew’s final assurance names Israel’s throne; Greek names a ruling man. The two removal idioms express dynastic continuity, subject to the preceding condition.
Verse MT 9:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:6
But if you and your sons indeed turn away from following Me and do not keep My commandments and statutes which I set before you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:6
But if you and your children indeed turn away from Me and do not keep My commandments and ordinances which Moses set before you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew explicitly attributes setting the commands before the people to God, Greek to Moses. Hebrew sons and Greek children differ in form. Both preserve the emphatic turning and the prohibited worship.
Verse MT 9:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:7
then I will cut Israel off from the land I gave them, and send away from My presence the house I consecrated for My name. Israel shall become a proverb and a taunt among all the peoples.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:7
then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and cast away from My presence this house I consecrated for My name. Israel shall become a disappearance and a subject of talk among all the peoples.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek aphanismos names disappearance or obliteration where Hebrew has a proverb; its talk term differs from taunt. The unusual Greek result is retained rather than reduced to the Hebrew pair. Both warnings concern land and consecrated house.
Verse MT 9:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:8
This house shall be conspicuous: everyone passing by it will be appalled and hiss, saying, ‘Why has YHWH done this to this land and this house?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:8
As for this lofty house, everyone passing through it will be astonished and hiss, saying, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land and this house?’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew’s shall be high is rendered conspicuous provisionally; Greek has a descriptive lofty. Neither main text replaces high with ruins by conjecture. Passing by and passing through reflect the different prepositions.
Verse MT 9:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:9
They will say, ‘Because they forsook YHWH their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, took hold of other gods, bowed down to them, and served them; therefore YHWH brought all this calamity upon them.’”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:9
They will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, took hold of foreign gods, bowed down to them, and served them; therefore the Lord brought this calamity upon them.’”
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds the house of slavery and has foreign gods where Hebrew has other gods. Hebrew expressly includes all this calamity. The causal answer is retained as the speech’s explanation rather than recast as a general claim about later communities.
Verse 9:24 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
No MT counterpart
[No Hebrew counterpart at this location; compare 9:24.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:9a
Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to his house, which he had built for himself in those days.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek inserts this relocation before the twenty-year and city-gift notices. It expressly names Solomon as the acting subject and describes his house built for himself, unlike Hebrew 24’s her house built for her.
The reach and cost of Solomon’s works
Editorial reading: building, labor, and trade are examined within the same account of royal responsibility.
9:10–14 | Hiram’s cities and gold
Verse MT 9:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:10
At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the two houses, YHWH’s house and the king’s house—
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:10
During the twenty years in which Solomon built the two houses, the Lord’s house and the king’s house,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew marks the end of the twenty years; Greek gives the period in which the building and following assistance took place. Both preserve the two-house identification.
Verse MT 9:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:11
Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar timber, cypress timber, and gold, according to all his desire—King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:11
Hiram king of Tyre assisted Solomon with cedar timber, pine timber, gold, and everything he desired. Then the king gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has the uncertain berosh timber, here cypress, and Greek pine. Hebrew repeats Solomon in the gift clause; Greek has the king. Both preserve the twenty-city grant without inventing a sale price or loan contract.
Verse MT 9:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:12
Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, and they were not right in his eyes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:12
Hiram came out from Tyre and went to Galilee to see the cities Solomon had given him, and they did not please him.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek explicitly adds the journey to Galilee. Hebrew retains an eyes-of-the-observer idiom; Greek states displeasure directly.
Verse MT 9:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:13
He said, “What are these cities you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:13
He said, “What are these cities you have given me, my brother?” He called them Boundary, as they are called to this day.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew gives the place name Cabul; Greek uses horion, Boundary. Neither is replaced with a speculative etymology of worthless land. My brother preserves the royal address, not an assertion of biological kinship.
Verse MT 9:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:14
Hiram sent the king a hundred twenty talents of gold.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:14
Hiram brought Solomon a hundred twenty talents of gold
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has sending to the king; Greek bringing to Solomon. The amount agrees. Greek’s sentence continues with and a ship in verse 26; verses 15–25 have no Greek units in this location.
9:15–25 | The levy, building program, and worship
Verse MT 9:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:15
This was the account of the labor levy King Solomon raised to build YHWH’s house, his own house, the Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 2:35c–i and 10:22a.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The checked Greek moves from 14 to 26. Related Greek building notices at 2:35c–i and 10:22a remain in their own sequence, with differing lists and details; they are not duplicated as a replacement chapter section.
Verse MT 9:16 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:16
Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, captured Gezer, and burned it with fire. He killed the Canaanites living in the city and gave it as a parting gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 5:14b.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The earlier Greek conquest-and-gift notice names Mergab and differs in the burning and plural gift wording. Hebrew’s killing and singular city gift remain explicit here. The two accounts are not harmonized.
Verse MT 9:17 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:17
Solomon built Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 2:35i, 5:14b, and 10:22a.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew specifies Lower Beth-horon. The earlier Greek building list names Upper Beth-horon, while its later marriage-gift notice repeats Gezer; no conflated Greek list is supplied here.
Verse MT 9:18 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:18
Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare Baalath in 2:35i.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew follows the traditional read form Tadmor against written Tamar [Q9]. The uncertain relationship of the two place forms is not resolved by identifying an archaeological site. In the land remains despite its compressed geographical sense.
Verse MT 9:19 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:19
all Solomon’s storage cities, his chariot cities, his horsemen’s cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land under his rule.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 10:22a.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew’s complete list and geographical scope are retained. Earlier Greek summaries of Solomon’s building do not supply an exact verse counterpart here. The related Greek notice remains at 10:22a.
Verse MT 9:20 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:20
All the people remaining from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel—
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 10:22b.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The five named peoples and their distinction from Israel introduce the labor policy in the next verse. The ethnicity list is not omitted or replaced with a general labor category. The related Greek notice remains at 10:22b.
Verse MT 9:21 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:21
their descendants who remained after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had been unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, as it remains to this day.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 10:22b.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew preserves both the earlier destruction-ban language and the later compulsory labor. The narrator’s to-this-day statement is retained; the translation supplies no modern justification for either policy. The related Greek notice remains at 10:22b.
Verse MT 9:22 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:22
But Solomon made no slave from the sons of Israel; they were his warriors, servants, officials, officers, chariot commanders, and horsemen.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 10:22c.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Slave and royal servant render the contrasting uses of eved within the verse. The statement is not rewritten to erase the Israelite labor levy in chapter 5 or to invent a detailed reconciliation of labor status. The related Greek notice remains at 10:22c.
Verse MT 9:23 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:23
These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty who supervised the people doing the work.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 2:35h and 5:30.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Hebrew five-hundred-fifty count stands in its own administrative notice. Other overseer totals elsewhere are not treated as interchangeable or resolved by an unsupported personnel hierarchy.
Verse MT 9:24 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:24
Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to her house, which he had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 9:9a.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew has her house built for her and adds the Millo construction. Greek 9a has Solomon bring her to his own house and lacks the Millo clause. The relocation’s agency and ownership pronouns remain distinct.
Verse MT 9:25 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:25
Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for YHWH, and burned incense with it before YHWH. Thus he completed the house.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
No LXX counterpart
[No Greek counterpart at this location; compare 2:35g.]
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew expressly says three times a year; the earlier Greek notice has three offerings in the year. Hebrew’s incense-and-with-it phrase is difficult and remains provisional. The final completion is not silently changed into maintenance or an annual repair program.
9:26–28 | The fleet and the gold of Ophir
Verse MT 9:26 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:26
King Solomon made a fleet at Ezion-geber, near Eloth, on the shore of the Sea of Reeds in the land of Edom.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:26
and a ship, concerning which King Solomon carried out work at Ezion-geber, near Elath, on the shore of the farthest sea in the land of Edom.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek continues Hiram’s bringing in verse 14 with a ship, followed by the difficult hyper hou relative construction; carried out work is provisional. Hebrew directly says Solomon made a fleet. Sea of Reeds preserves Hebrew yam suph; Greek has farthest sea, not Red Sea. The sources’ names and grammar are not harmonized.
Verse MT 9:27 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:27
Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, along with Solomon’s servants.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:27
Hiram sent in the ship men from his attendants, sailors who knew how to ply the sea, along with Solomon’s attendants.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew describes the fleet collectively; Greek has the singular ship and an additional seafaring-action verb. Both retain Hiram’s experienced sailors alongside Solomon’s men.
Verse MT 9:28 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 9:28
They went to Ophir, took four hundred twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 9:28
They went to Sophira, took a hundred twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: The gold totals differ materially: 420 talents in Hebrew, 120 in Greek. The printed Greek destination Sophira is retained alongside Hebrew Ophir. No modern weight or proposed overseas location is substituted.