Bible Strands
1 Kings 11:18
Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men from Paran with them and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Hadad and his companions arriving in Egypt during Solomon’s reign to seek asylum with Pharaoh king of Egypt.
The words — וַ/יָּקֻ֙מוּ֙ (va/i.ya.Ku.mu) denotes "and they arose/set out," marking the departure from Midian, while מִ/מִּדְיָ֔ן (mi./mid.Yan) specifies the geographic origin of the flight.
The thread — The route through Paran echoes the wilderness journeys recorded in Numbers 10:12 and Deuteronomy 1:1, and the location itself appears in Deuteronomy 33:2 as a theophanic site.
Why it lands — It establishes the factual chain of displacement and royal patronage that supplied Hadad with the resources and status required to later challenge Solomon’s dynasty.
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 they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land.
Cross-references
- Numbers 10:12 and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.
- Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
- Deuteronomy 33:2 He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
- Genesis 14:6 and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert.
- Genesis 21:21 And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 25:2 and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
- Genesis 25:4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
- Numbers 22:4 So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,
- Numbers 25:6 Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 25:14 The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.