Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt: The word Pharaoh is an Egyptian word that originally meant “Great House” and designated the royal palace complex. Later the word was applied to the Egyptian king himself by metonymy. By the time of Solomon, Pharaoh was used to refer to the reigning king of Egypt and had become a synonym for the word king. In view of the danger that readers will understand this term as a proper name, translators are advised either to translate the meaning (“king of Egypt”) rather than transliterating the form (so Good News Translation) or to make clear in the translation that Pharaoh is a title (so Parole de Vie, which says “Solomon became the son-in-law of the Pharaoh, king of Egypt”). This is possible in cases where definite articles exist, but is more difficult in those languages that lack the definite article or where definite articles are used with person’s names.
The Hebrew verb rendered made a marriage alliance sometimes means “to intermarry.” Here it means “to become a son-in-law,” and Chouraqui says “Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh….” In this context Revised Standard Version correctly expresses the sense as that of entering into an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. The idea of making an alliance by marriage may be difficult to express in some languages. Some possible models are the following: “Solomon married the daughter of the king of Egypt and because of their union he [or, his kingdom] came to be allied with Egypt” or “Solomon made a agreement with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter” (New Century Version). Translators are advised to avoid a rendering like that of New International Version (“Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter”), which seems to give the impression that the alliance and the marriage were two completely separate events.
The text does not indicate whether or not Pharaoh had other daughters, but it seems likely that he would have had many wives and many children. If a translation such as “his daughter” will suggest in the receptor language that he had one daughter only, then a translation such as “one of his daughters” (Parole de Vie) may be preferred.
The Hebrew text says that Solomon took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, leaving implicit that she lived there. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh adds this information within square brackets as follows: “He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David [to live there].”
For the city of David, see the comments on 1 Kgs 2.10.
Instead of continuing the sentence with the word until …, it will be advisable in certain languages to begin a new sentence at this point. It might read “She stayed there until….”
His own house and the house of the LORD refer respectively to the royal palace and the Temple.
The wall around Jerusalem is literally “the wall of Jerusalem round about.” The city of Jerusalem was a fortified city with a wall that enclosed the entire city. The size and extent of the wall that Solomon had built is uncertain. Archaeological evidence from this period, however, indicates that fortified cities had solid walls made of stone or brick built on a stone foundation. Their width averaged between two and seven meters (six to twenty-three feet). Rectangular or slightly rounded towers were built at strategic locations around the wall for defense. The wall built by King Hezekiah near the end of the eighth century B.C. was seven meters (twenty-three feet) thick and eight meters (twenty-six feet) high.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .