Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
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The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
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Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
And 12 lions were standing there on the six steps, from this side and from that side. It was not made thus for any of the kingdoms.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.
Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
And there stoode twelue lions on the sixe steps on either side: there was not the like made in any kingdome.
And twelve little lions stood upon the six steps on the one side and on the other: there was no such work made in any kingdom.
and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps, on this `side' and on that; it hath not been made so for any kingdom.
and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps, on this [side] and on that; it has not been made so for any kingdom.
Twelve lions stood on the steps, one on each side of each of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any other kingdom.
And 12 lions were standing there on the six steps, from this side and from that side. It was not made thus for any of the kingdoms.
and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. Nothing like it was made in any kingdom.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one on opposite ends of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.
And twelve lions were placed on the one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps; there was not the like made in any kingdom.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
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These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
Shared distinctive vocabulary
הַֽמַּעֲל֖וֹת step H4609 occurs in 40 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Repetition
A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 25 words from the Hebrew and 21 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 15 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Topical passages linked to 1 Kings 10:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
וּשְׁנֵ֧ים עָשָׂ֣ר אֲרָיִ֗ים עֹמְדִ֥ים שָׁ֛ם עַל שֵׁ֥שׁ הַֽמַּעֲל֖וֹת מִזֶּ֣ה וּמִזֶּ֑ה לֹֽא נַעֲשָׂ֥ה כֵ֖ן לְכָל מַמְלָכֽוֹת
Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
World English Bible · Public Domain
καί δώδεκα λέων ἵστημι ἐπί ὁ ἕξ ἀναβαθμός ἔνθεν καί ἔνθεν οὐ γίγνομαι οὕτως πᾶς βασιλεία
and twelve lions standing there on the six steps on either side: it was not so done in any other kingdom.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
וּתְרֵי עֲשַׂר אַרְיְוָן קַיְמִין תַּמָן עַל שִׁתָּא דַרְגִין מִכָּא וּמִכָּא לָא אִתְעֲבַד כֵּן לְכָל מַלְכְּוָתָא:
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
1 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 15 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is maʻălâh (“step”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on 1 Kings 10:20 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.