Bible Strands
1 Kings 9:16
Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records a prior military campaign to explain how Gezer came under Solomon's control before his rebuilding project.
The words — The text highlights גֶּ֙זֶר֙ (ge.zer, "Gezer") and וַ/יִּשְׂרְפָ֣/הּ (va/i.yis.re.Fa/h, "he had burned it") to document Pharaoh's complete destruction of the city before transferring it.
The thread — This event connects to Solomon's political alliance through marriage in 1 Kings 3:1, echoes the incomplete conquest recorded in Joshua 16:10, and directly precedes Solomon's reconstruction efforts in 1 Kings 9:17.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge the political and territorial arrangements that enabled Solomon's building projects, noting the contrast between Pharaoh's destruction and Solomon's restoration of the same city.
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
For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 3:1 Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.
- Joshua 16:10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.
- 1 Kings 7:8 And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
- 1 Kings 9:24 As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.