And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

1 KINGS 10:21KJV
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1 Kings 10:21 (KJV)

What does 1 Kings 10:21 mean?

1 Kings 10:21 describes the extraordinary wealth associated with King Solomon’s court. Gold was used for drinking vessels and for vessels in the House of the Forest of Lebanon, while silver had become so common that people placed little value on it.

The House of the Forest of Lebanon was a building in Solomon’s royal complex, named for its rows of cedar pillars (1 Kings 7:2). By naming both the king’s drinking vessels and the vessels of that building, the narrator gives a picture of the splendor surrounding Solomon.

The Hebrew behind 1 Kings 10:21

  • “pure” — סָגוּר (sagur): The word can describe fine or choice gold. Here it draws attention to the quality of the gold used for the house’s vessels.
  • “accounted” — חָשַׁב (chashav): This word can mean to consider or regard something. The phrase “nothing accounted of” describes how silver was valued in Solomon’s day, not a claim that silver had ceased to exist.

Why 1 Kings 10:21 matters

  • The verse contrasts two precious metals to show the scale of Solomon’s wealth. Silver, normally valuable, seems insignificant beside the gold described here.
  • The description belongs to an account of wealth reaching Solomon from beyond his kingdom. Just before this verse, 1 Kings 10:19–20 describes his elaborate throne; afterward, verse 22 speaks of goods brought by his ships.
  • The verse’s focus is the royal setting. Its examples are Solomon’s own vessels and those of a building in his complex, so the description does not establish that everyone in his kingdom had the same abundance.

Where else these words appear

“drinking” Hebrew H4945 · used in 7 verses

  • Genesis 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
  • Leviticus 11:34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.
  • Isaiah 32:6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

“nothing” Hebrew H3972 · used in 32 verses

  • Genesis 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
  • 1 Samuel 12:4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand.
  • 2 Samuel 13:2 And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her.

“forest” Hebrew H3293 · used in 58 verses

  • Deuteronomy 19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:
  • Psalms 96:12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
  • Isaiah 56:9 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

“Lebanon” Hebrew H3844 · used in 64 verses

  • Deuteronomy 1:7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
  • 2 Chronicles 2:16 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.
  • Isaiah 33:9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.