1 Kings 4 · a question people ask
Forty thousand stalls, or four thousand?
1 Kings says, "Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen" (4:26). 2 Chronicles says, "Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen" (2 Chronicles 9:25). The Hebrew word for stalls is the same in both verses, and so is the number of horsemen. Later 1 Kings counts the chariots: "He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen" (10:26), and 2 Chronicles 1:14 gives the same numbers. These notes quote both counts of the stalls and don't try to make them agree. Chapter 4 makes no comment on the horses. Moses' law had said of a king, "he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses" (Deuteronomy 17:16), and 1 Kings later says, "The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt" (10:28).
The verses
“Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.”
“Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.”
“Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He kept them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.”
“Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.”