myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

1 Kings 8:12–13

Solomon's short poem, moved and longer

In the Hebrew, Solomon's poem "The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness" stands at 8:12–13. In the library's Greek it comes after 8:53, with an extra opening line about the sun. The Greek is commonly reported to end with "Is it not written in the book of the song?", possibly a misreading of "the book of Jashar"; that line is not in the library's text.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

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.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original KingsUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Kings
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 3 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Kings

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 3 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Alors, Salomon parla du temple…; il fit connaître le soleil dans le ciel: Le Seigneur a voulu habiter dans une nuée ténébreuse; bâtis-moi, a-t-il dit, un temple…

    Then Solomon spoke about the temple…; he made the sun known in the sky: The Lord has willed to dwell in a dark cloud; build me, he said, a temple…

    Placed at the end of 8:53; verses 12–13 are empty in the library's Greek. The source-citation line reported in Greek editions is not visible here. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Dominus dixit ut habitaret in nebula.

    At 8:12.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Kings

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    יְהוָה אָמַר לִשְׁכֹּן בָּעֲרָפֶל

    The LORD said He would dwell in thick darkness

    At 8:12.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

What changed, and why

Many scholars think the Greek preserves a fuller form of an old poem contrasting the sun in the sky with the LORD who dwells in darkness. The suggestion that it was quoted from the Book of Jashar rests on reading Greek "song" (Hebrew shir) as a misreading of yashar; this is a hypothesis. The site does not attribute the poem to a lost book.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek places the poem after 8:53 with a line about the sun.
  • Strongly supportedThe Greek cites "the book of the song." Reported; not in the library's text.
  • DisputedThe poem came from the Book of Jashar.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • The Ark and the Glory →At the feast in the seventh month the priests carry the ark into the inner sanctuary beneath the cherubim. It holds nothing but the two stone tablets. A cloud fills the house so that the priests cannot stand to minister. Solomon speaks: "I have surely built thee an house to dwell in." He tells how God chose David and David's son to build it.
  • 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.