2 Chronicles 9:21

9:21 The king had a fleet of large merchant ships 1  manned by Huram’s men 2  that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet 3  came into port with cargoes of 4  gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 5 

2 Chronicles 8:18

8:18 Huram sent him ships and some of his sailors, men who were well acquainted with the sea. They sailed with Solomon’s men to Ophir, 6  and took from there 450 talents 7  of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

1 tn Heb “for ships belonging to the king were going [to] Tarshish with the servants of Huram.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

2 tn Heb “servants.”

3 tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”

4 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish came carrying.”

5 tn The meaning of this word is unclear; some suggest it refers to “baboons.” NEB has “monkeys,” NASB, NRSV “peacocks,” and NIV “baboons.”

6 tn Heb “and Huram sent to him by the hand of his servants, ships, and servants [who] know the sea, and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir.”

7 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold was 30,285 lbs. (13,770 kg).