ContradictionsReading order 271Bible context 2 min read
How many talents of gold did Hiram send Solomon?
The corresponding voyage accounts differ by thirty talents in the gold delivered to Solomon.
- Textual conflict
- Direct contradiction
- The quoted passages make incompatible claims about the same subject under the same conditions. Little additional inference is needed.
- Importance
- Incidental
- A small detail with little effect on the wider account.
The corresponding Ophir expedition delivers either 420 or 450 gold talents to Solomon in the same unit and transaction.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
The Ophir expedition brings Solomon four hundred twenty gold talents
And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
1 Kings 9:27-28
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:1 Kings 9
The Ophir expedition brings Solomon four hundred fifty gold talents
And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.
2 Chronicles 8:18
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)