And Solomon allowed Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat, for provision for his house, and twenty measures of the purest oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram every year.

And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat as food for his household, and twenty measures of beaten oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.

and Solomon hath given to Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat, food for his house, and twenty cors of beaten oil; thus doth Solomon give to Hiram year by year.

And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of grain, as food for his people, and twenty measures of clear oil; this he did every year.

Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty thousand baths of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.

Then Solomon offered to Hiram twenty thousand cor of wheat, as food for his house, and twenty cor of the purest oil. These things Solomon gave as a tribute to Hiram every year.

The number of measures of wheat was considerably less than Solomon's own annual consumption, which exceeded 32,000 cors 1-Kings 4:22; but the small amount of twenty cors of oil, which seems at first sight scarcely to match with the 20,000 cors of wheat, will not appear improbable, if we consider that the oil was to be" pure" - literally "beaten" - i. e., oil extracted from the olives by pounding, and not by means of the press.
Year by year - i. e., during all the years that Solomon was engaged in building and was helped by Hiram.

And Solomon gave Hiram, etc. - The information in this verse of the annual stipend paid to Hiram, is deficient, and must be supplied out of 2-Chronicles 2:10. Here twenty thousand measures of wheat, and twenty measures of pure oil, is all that is promised: there, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, twenty thousand measures of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil, is the stipulation; unless we suppose the first to be for Hiram's own family, the latter for his workmen. Instead of twenty measures of oil, the Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint, have twenty thousand measures, as in Chronicles. In 2 Chron., instead of cors of oil, it is baths. The bath was a measure much less than the cor.

And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household,.... This measure was the Hebrew measure "cor", or "corus", and, according to Bishop Cumberland (e), its contents were 17,477 solid inches; it was equal to ten ephahs, each of which held two gallons and an half, and the cor held seventy five wine gallons five pints, and somewhat more; according to some (f), what it held was equal to six hundred forty eight Roman pounds; so that twenty thousand of them contained 12,960,000 pounds of wheat:
and twenty measures of pure oil; squeezed out of the olives without breaking them; the same kind of measure is here expressed as before, and the quantity answered to 12,960 Roman pounds; another writer (g) reckons a cor to contain 1080 Roman pounds; so that Hiram had every year 21,600 pounds of oil. In 2-Chronicles 2:10, it is twenty thousand baths of oil now not to take notice that the measures are different, a bath was but the tenth part of a cor, reference is had to different things; here the writer relates what was given to Hiram for his own family, there what was given to the workmen, where several other things are mentioned besides these:
thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year: so long as the building lasted, and the workmen were employed; but Abarbinel thinks that he gave it to him as long as he lived, out of his great munificence and liberality.
(e) Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 3. p. 86. (f) Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 517. (g) Van Till in Cantic. Mosis, p. 54.

food to his household--This was an annual supply for the palace, different from that mentioned in 2-Chronicles 2:10, which was for the workmen in the forests.

Measures - Hebrews. twenty cors pure oil; but in 2-Chronicles 2:10, it is twenty thousand baths of oil. To which there is added twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine. Either therefore, first, he speaks of several things. Or, secondly, he speaks there of what Solomon offered: for it runs thus, I will give; and here of what Hiram accepted. Or, thirdly, the barley, and wine, and twenty thousand baths of common oil, mentioned 2-Chronicles 2:10, must be added to the twenty thousand measures of wheat, and the twenty measures of pure oil here expressed, and the whole sum is to be made up from both places; that book of Chronicles being written to supply and compleat the histories of the books of Samuel, and of the Kings. Gave Hiram - Either, first, for sustenance to the workmen, during the years wherein they were employed in the cutting down and hewing of timber. Or, for the yearly support of the king's house, during the said time. Thus by the wise disposal of providence, one country has need of another, and is benefited by another, that there may be a mutual correspondence and dependence, to the glory of God our common Parent.