Bible Strands
1 Kings 4:33
He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Solomon instructs visiting dignitaries and foreign kings at the height of his reign, immediately after cataloging his literary output. He addresses an international audience that has gathered specifically to hear his renowned wisdom.
The words — וַ/יְדַבֵּר (va/y.da.Ber) translates literally as "and he spoke," while עַל־ הָ/עֵצִים ('al- ha./'e.Tzim) means "on the trees." These terms anchor his instructional activity to the physical creation.
The thread — The cedar of Lebanon recurs as a symbol of scale in 2 Kings 19:23 and Psalms 92:12, while hyssop functions as a ritual cleanser in Psalms 51:7. The verse maps the full breadth of the natural world by juxtaposing these extremes alongside animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of a deliberate pedagogical scope, moving from the grandest tree to the smallest wall plant and across every animal class. This comprehensive demonstration of observable creation directly prompts the foreign kings to travel and listen, as recorded in 1 Kings 4:34.
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 he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 19:23 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
- Psalms 51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- Psalms 92:12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
- Exodus 12:22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning.
- Numbers 19:18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.
- Numbers 24:6 They spread out like palm groves, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes the LORD has planted, like cedars beside the waters.
- Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people,