1 Kings 2:35
The Greek Solomon miscellanies (2:35a–o, 2:46a–l)
After 2:35 and again after 2:46, the Greek 3 Kingdoms adds long summaries about Solomon: his wisdom, his provisions, his wife Pharaoh's daughter, his building works and his officials. Much of it repeats or rearranges material found later in the Hebrew (chapters 3–5 and 9–10). In the library's Greek the additions are merged into verses 35 and 46.
Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Unknown (debated)
Original Kings
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint, 3 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Et Salomon, fils de David, régna en Jérusalem sur Israël et sur Juda; le Seigneur doua Salomon d'une grande intelligence, d'une grande sagesse…
And Solomon son of David reigned in Jerusalem over Israel and Judah; the Lord endowed Solomon with great understanding, great wisdom…
Verse 35 continues with the plus. Verse 46 in the library's Greek is about 1,800 characters long, including Solomon's provisions and the building of "Thermé (Palmyre)" in the desert. The lettered numbering (35a–o, 46a–l) comes from modern Greek editions and is not in the library's text. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
et Sadoc sacerdotem posuit pro Abiathar.
Ends at Zadok, like the Hebrew.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וְאֶת־צָדוֹק הַכֹּהֵן נָתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ תַּחַת אֶבְיָתָר
and Zadok the priest the king put in the place of Abiathar
No miscellany.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar.
What changed, and why
Scholars describe these sections as "miscellanies" that gather Solomon traditions into one place. Some think they reflect a Hebrew text arranged differently; others see a Greek or Hebrew reworking, comparable to rewritten texts at Qumran. They are not mistakes; they are a different presentation of the book.
What the evidence shows
- The library's Greek has long additions in 2:35 and 2:46.
- The additions repeat material found elsewhere in the Hebrew.
Source: E. Tov, "3 Kingdoms Compared with Similar Rewritten Compositions" (2007) ↗
- They come from an older Hebrew edition.
Sources
- E. Tov, "3 Kingdoms Compared with Similar Rewritten Compositions" (2007) ↗
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- A Throne Secured →David charges Solomon to keep the law, and to deal with Joab and Shimei. David dies. Adonijah asks, through Bathsheba, for Abishag as wife; Solomon has him killed. Abiathar is banished to Anathoth; Joab, clinging to the altar, is struck down there; Shimei breaks his parole and is executed. "And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon."
- How 1 Kings Came to Us →1 Kings is the first half of the Hebrew book of Kings, one of the Former Prophets. It names its sources: the Book of the Acts of Solomon and the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah, none of which survive. Kings was edited as part of a history from Joshua to Kings. Three Qumran scrolls preserve fragments. The Greek 3 Kingdoms is unusually different: material moved, expanded and, in places, told twice.