📖WEB · 1 Kings 9:13
What does 1 Kings 9:13 mean?
"He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day."
— 1 Kings 9:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, Yahweh’s house and the king’s house
(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn’t please him.
He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day.
Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build Yahweh’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
Explanation
This verse comes at the end of a brief but telling episode in the account of Solomon's building projects. After King Solomon completed the temple and his own palace, he gave King Hiram of Tyre twenty towns in the region of Galilee. This was payment, or at least partial payment, for the enormous quantities of cedar and cypress timber and the gold Hiram had supplied for Solomon's construction work (1 Kings 9:10-11). When Hiram traveled from Tyre to inspect these towns, he was displeased with what he saw. His question, "What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?", is not a request for information but an expression of disappointment and even mild rebuke. The towns apparently were not valuable or desirable, and Hiram's naming of the region "Cabul"—a term that carries the sense of "good for nothing" or "as nothing" in Hebrew—became a lasting label that, the text notes, persisted "to this day."
The author of 1 Kings, traditionally understood to be drawing on court records and other sources from the era of the divided monarchy, includ
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.