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1 Chronicles 22:11–16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Chronicles 22:11–16
Solomon receives law-shaped courage and immense resources
Wisdom to keep the law is asked before the stockpile is recited
Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee. Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel. Be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
Courage is yoked to Torah-shaped governing, not to unquestioning compliance. Prosperity in this charge is faithfulness to the given law, not a prosperity-gospel pledge.
Gold, silver, brass, iron, timber, stone, and workers without number
David says he has prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, a thousand thousand talents of silver, and brass and iron without weight, timber and stone also. Workmen, hewers, and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work, are with Solomon. Of the gold, silver, brass, and iron there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee.
The totals are enormous and may be hyperbolic, textually unstable, or in measures hard to convert. Report them without false precision. They do not promote pressured giving, justify financial bullying, or make the skilled workers vanish into the king's inventory. Credit the cunning men. Preparation is not a script for extracting money from a congregation.
How this should shape us
Give a successor law, courage, and actual resources without turning the inventory into a squeeze on donors. Name the workers. Do not baptize huge round numbers as exact modern budgets or as a promise that giving buys blessing.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Chronicles 22:11–16 in your own words. Include its movement, placement in Chronicles, one Samuel-Kings comparison, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one modern use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The resource totals are enormous and may be hyperbolic, textually unstable, or use measures difficult to convert; they must be reported without false precision.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
1 Chronicles 22:11–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:11–16
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 22:11–16, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of the Chronicler's God, worship, Israel, kingship, retribution, and hope, used only within the stated access limit.
Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles (2009), officially exposed introduction pp. 1–8, worship pp. 156–208, Israel pp. 209–307, kingship pp. 308–383, and redemption pp. 384–394; detailed chapter bodies were not available
Supports: Complete article on genealogical inclusion and exclusion, Davidic legitimation, temple personnel, worship ordering, and discourse of power.
Geyser-Fouché, HTS 79.1 (2023), article 8011, pp. 1–13, especially pp. 3–11
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Supports: Complete Greek-witness translation comparison and introductory controls, used where the Septuagint materially differs without treating a translation as the underlying Greek text.
NETS, 1 Supplements (2009), translator introduction pp. 342–343 and 1 Supplements 22:11–16 within pp. 344–368
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 1 Chronicles 22:11–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:11–16
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 1 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 22:11–16, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph limited access
The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought
Sara Japhet
Eisenbrauns / Penn State University Press, English edition 1989; reprint 2009
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of the Chronicler's God, worship, Israel, kingship, retribution, and hope, used only within the stated access limit.
Exact location: Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles (2009), officially exposed introduction pp. 1–8, worship pp. 156–208, Israel pp. 209–307, kingship pp. 308–383, and redemption pp. 384–394; detailed chapter bodies were not available
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
1 and 2 Chronicles as a Discourse of Power
Ananda Geyser-Fouche
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 79(1), article 8011, pp. 1-13, 2023
Supports: Complete article on genealogical inclusion and exclusion, Davidic legitimation, temple personnel, worship ordering, and discourse of power.
Exact location: Geyser-Fouché, HTS 79.1 (2023), article 8011, pp. 1–13, especially pp. 3–11
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility: Chronicles in Its Ancient Context
Isaac Kalimi
Poznan Theological Studies repository edition, pp. 7-25, 2019 repository edition
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Exact location: Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Open source ↗septuagint translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: 1 Supplements
C. E. V. Nixon
Oxford University Press; International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2009
Supports: Complete Greek-witness translation comparison and introductory controls, used where the Septuagint materially differs without treating a translation as the underlying Greek text.
Exact location: NETS, 1 Supplements (2009), translator introduction pp. 342–343 and 1 Supplements 22:11–16 within pp. 344–368
Open source ↗