Wikipedia's first sentence called it “tax collecter of king rehoboam”. Today it says “tax collector in the united kingdom of israel for over forty years”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). Nelson and Sons. : Missing or empty |title= ( help ) Adoniram - (Adoram, 1 Kings 12:18), the son of Abda, was the tax collecter of King Rehoboam .1 In the language of the Tanakh , he was "over the tribute," i.e., the levy or forced labor. He was stoned to death by the people of Israel when he came to collect taxes(1 Kings 4:6; 5:14) v t e2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15961783.
The opening as it stood in 2010
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). Nelson and Sons. : Missing or empty |title= ( help ) Adoniram ( , rhyming with Hiram ) ( 1 Kings 4:6 ; 5:14 ; Hebrew, אדונירם, 'my Lord has exalted'; alternate form Adoram , 'the Lord has exalted' ), the son of Abda , was the tax collector In the United Kingdom of Israel for over forty years, from the late years of King David's reign ( 2 Samuel 20:24 ) until the reign of Rehoboam. In the language of the Tanakh , he was "over the tribute," i.e., the levy or forced labor. He was stoned to death by the people of Israel when Rehoboam sent him in an attempt to collect taxes ( 1 Kings 12:18 ).Adoniram appears in Masonic rituals .He was in charge of conscripted timber cutters during the building of King Solomon's temple.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 335500099.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Woodcut depicting the stoning of Adoniram, by Johann Christoph Weigel , 1695. Adoniram ( / æ d ə ˈ n aɪ r ə m / ; 1 Kings 4:6 ; 5:14 ; Hebrew, אדונירם, 'my Lord has exalted'; alternate form, in I Kings 12:18, Adoram , אדורם 'aDORaM 'the Lord has exalted'), the son of Abda , was the tax collector In the United Kingdom of Israel for over forty years, from the late years of King David's reign ( 2 Samuel 20:24 ) until the reign of Rehoboam. In the language of the Tanakh , he was "over the tribute," i.e., the levy or forced labor. He was stoned to death by the people of Israel when Rehoboam sent him in an attempt to collect taxes ( 1 Kings 12:18 ). Adoniram appears in Masonic rituals . He was in charge of conscripted timber cutters during the building of King Solomon's temple.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 557100910.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Woodcut depicting the stoning of Adoniram, by Johann Christoph Weigel , 1695. Adoniram ( / æ d ə ˈ n aɪ r ə m / ; Hebrew, אדונירם, 'my Lord has exalted'; alternate form Adoram , אדורם 'adoram , 'the Lord has exalted'), the son of Abda , was the tax collector in the United Kingdom of Israel for over forty years, from the late years of King David's reign until the reign of Rehoboam . In the language of the Tanakh , he was "over the tribute", i.e. the levy or forced labor. He was in charge of conscripted timber cutters during the building of King Solomon's temple. According to the biblical narrative, he was stoned to death by the people of Israel when Rehoboam sent him in an attempt to collect taxes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 895817733.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Woodcut depicting the stoning of Adoniram, by Johann Christoph Weigel , 1695. Adoniram ( / æ d ə ˈ n aɪ r ə m / ; Hebrew, אדונירם, 'my Lord has exalted'; alternate form Adoram , אדורם 'adoram , 'the Lord has exalted'), the son of Abda , was the tax collector in the United Kingdom of Israel for over forty years, from the late years of King David's reign until the reign of Rehoboam . In the language of the Tanakh , he was "over the tribute", i.e. the levy or forced labor. He was in charge of conscripted timber cutters during the building of King Solomon's temple. According to the biblical narrative, he was stoned to death by the people of Israel when Rehoboam sent him in an attempt to collect taxes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1258428534. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “tax collecter of king rehoboam”. Today it says “tax collector in the united kingdom of israel for over forty years”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
tax collecter of king rehoboam
Now
tax collector in the united kingdom of israel for over forty years
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
