Bible Strands
1 Kings 10:26
Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes Solomon’s military consolidation at the peak of his reign, positioned between a report of annual foreign tribute and an account of Jerusalem’s material abundance.
The words — The verb וַ/יֶּאֱסֹ֣ף (va/i.ye.'e.Sof) literally means "and he gathered," marking the systematic collection of 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen for deployment.
The thread — This inventory aligns with the stall and horse counts in 1 Kings 4:26 and 2 Chronicles 9:25, while standing in direct tension with the Deuteronomy 17:16 command prohibiting kings from accumulating many horses or sending people to Egypt for them.
Why it lands — The text first records a factual military buildup before inviting a reader to assess how centralized royal power measures against the explicit covenant boundary on royal military dependence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 9:25 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
- 1 Kings 4:26 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.
- Deuteronomy 17:16 But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’
- 1 Kings 9:19 as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.
- 2 Chronicles 1:14 Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 2:7 Their land is full of silver and gold, with no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, with no limit to their chariots.