Bible Strands
1 Kings 4:26
Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator outlines Solomon’s administrative and military infrastructure during a period of national security and monthly provisioning.
The words — The Hebrew אֻרְוֹת (ur.Vot) denotes "stalls" or "chariot stalls," and סוּסִים (su.Sim) translates directly to "horses."
The thread — This logistical inventory parallels the parallel accounts in 2 Chronicles 1:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:25, while contrasting with David’s captured war materiel recorded in 2 Samuel 8:4.
Why it lands — The text first records a precise tally of chariot stalls and horses. The reader must evaluate how centralized military logistics operates alongside the agrarian peace described in the immediate context.
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 had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 8:4 David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.
- 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 10:25 Year after year, each visitor would bring his tribute: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
- Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.