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1 Kings 5:13–18 — Solomon’s Labor Force. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

This, though a very light form of task work, was felt as a great oppression, and was the chief cause of the revolt of the ten tribes at Solomon's death 1 Kings 12:4

Barnes and Cambridge are read side by side here deliberately: the same six verses look like a mild rotation to one and like the seed of the schism to the other.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The men selected had to give their labour. Such compulsory service has been a not unusual demand of Oriental monarchs

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Thus exceptionally introduced at first for the special service of God, it may have been the beginning of what was hereafter an oppressive despotism over the Israelites themselves.

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Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ šə·lō·mōh way·ya·‘al mas way·hî ham·mas šə·lō·šîm ’e·lep̄ ’îš mik·kāl yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word11 · parsed

הַמֶּ֧לֶךְham·me·leḵThen KingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

וַיַּ֨עַלway·ya·‘alconscriptedH5927

√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ʻâlâh, to ascend (Hifil: to cause to go up) The causative of the ordinary verb of pilgrimage and of offering (one “goes up” to Jerusalem, and a burnt offering is an ʻōlāh, what goes up). Here the king, not the LORD, is the one who makes Israel go up, and the destination is Lebanon rather than Zion. K&D reject the registry sense (in tabulas referre) and read ascendere fecit. ⚙ The narrator has chosen a verb that will not let the reader forget who is moving whom.

מַ֖סmasa labor forceH4522

√ maç — properly, a burden (as causing to faint), iNounmasculine singular

maç, a burden as causing to faint The unit’s governing noun, repeated four times in six verses (vv. 13 twice, 14, and again in 1 Kings 9:15). Its root idea is not wages or service but a load laid on. Barnes reads it as the first time Israelites themselves were put to forced labor, and traces the revolt of the ten tribes to it; Cambridge, citing Josephus, insists the burden was light; K&D distinguishes it sharply from the ʻebed mas of the Canaanites. The word itself does not settle the dispute, and the brief’s sources do not agree.

וַיְהִ֣יway·hî. . .H1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

הַמַּ֔סham·masH4522

√ maç — properly, a burden (as causing to faint), iArticleNounmasculine singular

The article on הַמַּס makes the second occurrence definite: the levy just raised is now the levy, a standing institution with a name and an officer over it (v. 14).

שְׁלֹשִׁ֥יםšə·lō·šîmof 30,000H7970

√ shᵉlôwshîym — thirtyNumbercommon plural

אֶ֖לֶף’e·lep̄. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular

אִֽישׁ׃’îšmenH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular

מִכָּל־mik·kālfrom allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

kôl, the whole With the preposition, “out of the whole of Israel.” The totality is the point: no tribe is exempt from the burden laid on for the house.

יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

Yisrâʼêl Ellicott notes the tension with 1 Kings 9:22, where Solomon makes no bondmen of the children of Israel, and judges that this exceptional levy, introduced for the special service of God, may have become the seed of a later despotism over Israel itself.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-he-caused-to-go-up the-king Solomon a-levy from-all-Israel; and-was the-levy thirty thousand man.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּ֨עַל וַיַּעַל (way·ya·‘al, Hifil of ʻâlâh, H5927) is not a bureaucratic word at all. BSB’s “conscripted” is an interpretation of a causative verb whose plain sense is “he made to go up.” K&D insist the Hifil here is not in tabulas referre (to enter on a register) but ascendere fecit: the king made men go up, and Lebanon is the height they went up to. The English loses the physical motion that the next verse depends on.
מַ֖ס מַס (mas, H4522) is glossed by Strong’s as “properly, a burden (as causing to faint).” BSB’s neutral “labor force” drains the word of its weight; the older renderings keep “levy” or “tribute of men” (so Pulpit, marg.). It is the same noun used of the Canaanite serfs in Joshua 17:13 and Judges 1:28, which is precisely why K&D has to argue at length that Israel’s mas is a different thing from the ʻebed mas of 1 Kings 9:21.
מִכָּל־ מִכָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל (mik·kāl yiś·rā·’êl, H3605 + H3478) is “from all Israel,” not “from all the land.” K&D make the point expressly against Ewald: the phrase names the whole nation, not the whole territory. The levy reaches into every tribe, which is why the grievance in 1 Kings 12:4 is national.
אִֽישׁ׃ אִישׁ (’îš, H376) stands in the singular after the numeral, the normal Hebrew idiom; BSB’s “men” is correct but hides that the text counts by the individual man. Thirty thousand times one man, each taken out of a household.

He sent them to Lebanon in monthly shifts of 10,000 men, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yiš·lā·ḥêm lə·ḇā·nō·w·nāh ba·ḥō·ḏeš ḥă·lî·p̄ō·wṯ ‘ă·śe·reṯ ’ă·lā·p̄îm yih·yū ḥō·ḏeš ḇal·lə·ḇā·nō·wn šə·na·yim ḥo·ḏā·šîm bə·ḇê·ṯōw wa·’ă·ḏō·nî·rām ‘al- ham·mas

Word by word15 · parsed

וַיִּשְׁלָחֵ֣םway·yiš·lā·ḥêmHe sent themH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural

shâlach, to send away, for, or out The suffixed Qal consecutive binds the men to the king’s hand: he sent them. The verb of dispatch follows the verb of raising, and the same root will later be used of prophets and of the sending away of a people.

לְבָנ֗וֹנָהlə·ḇā·nō·w·nāhto LebanonH3844

√ Lᵉbânôwn — Lebanon, a mountain range in PalestineNounproperfeminine singularthird person feminine singular

בַּחֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ba·ḥō·ḏešin monthlyH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

חֲלִיפ֔וֹתḥă·lî·p̄ō·wṯshiftsH2487

√ chălîyphâh — alternationNounfeminine plural

chălîyphâh, alternation A relatively uncommon noun (11 verses). Cambridge is precise: it is the word for changes of raiment, so the picture is of garments exchanged rather than gangs rostered. ⚙ The rotation is exactly what the commentators weigh in opposite directions: JFB reads it as the prudent concession that reconciled Israel to forced labor, Pulpit as proof that four months in twelve was no great hardship, Barnes as a light form of task work that was nevertheless felt as great oppression.

עֲשֶׂ֨רֶת‘ă·śe·reṯof 10,000 [men]H6235

√ ʻeser — ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits)Numbermasculine singular construct

אֲלָפִ֤ים’ă·lā·p̄îm. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine plural

יִהְי֣וּyih·yūso that they would spendH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

חֹ֚דֶשׁḥō·ḏešone monthH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonNounmasculine singular

chôdesh, the new moon The word for month is the word for the renewing moon; the cycle of the rotation is measured by the same calendar that measures the festivals. One month out, two months back.

בַלְּבָנ֔וֹןḇal·lə·ḇā·nō·wnin LebanonH3844

√ Lᵉbânôwn — Lebanon, a mountain range in PalestinePreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular

שְׁנַ֥יִםšə·na·yim[and] twoH8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoNumbermd

חֳדָשִׁ֖יםḥo·ḏā·šîmmonthsH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonNounmasculine plural

בְּבֵית֑וֹbə·ḇê·ṯōwat homeH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

bayith, a house The hinge word of the unit. Here it is the workman’s own house; in vv. 17 and 18 it is the house being founded. ⚙ The text quietly sets a man’s house and God’s house in the same sentence economy, and it is the king who decides the ratio between them.

וַאֲדֹנִירָ֖םwa·’ă·ḏō·nî·rāmAnd Adoniram [was]H141

√ ʼĂdônîyrâm — Adoniram, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

ʼĂdônîyrâm, Adoniram A name occurring in only two verses (here and 1 Kings 4:6), where he is already the officer over the mas in Solomon’s cabinet list. Cambridge notes that Josephus calls him Adoram. ⚙ The reader who follows the name forward meets him again at 1 Kings 12:18, stoned to death by the very tribes this levy taxed: the man over the burden is the first casualty when the burden is refused.

עַל־‘al-in chargeH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הַמַּֽס׃סham·masof the forced laborH4522

√ maç — properly, a burden (as causing to faint), iArticleNounmasculine singular

The third occurrence of מַס in two verses. The narrator will not let the word go.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-he-sent-them Lebanon-ward ten thousand in-the-month in-relays: a-month they-would-be in-the-Lebanon, two months in-his-house; and-Adoniram was over the-levy.”

Where the English smooths the original

חֲלִיפ֔וֹת חֲלִיפוֹת (ḥă·lî·p̄ōwṯ, H2487) is rendered “shifts” by BSB, but Strong’s root gloss is simply “alternation,” and Cambridge points out that this is the word used of changes of raiment. The image is of one set exchanged for another, not of an industrial rota. Pulpit renders it flatly as “changes.”
לְבָנ֗וֹנָה לְבָנוֹנָה (lə·ḇā·nōw·nāh, H3844) carries the directional he: “to Lebanon-ward.” BSB’s “to Lebanon” is right in sense but drops the vector of the ending, which answers the causative “made to go up” of v. 13: he raised them, and the raising had a direction.
בְּבֵית֑וֹ בְּבֵיתוֹ (bə·ḇê·ṯōw, H1004) is “in his house,” the same noun bayith that in vv. 17 and 18 means the house of the LORD. BSB’s “at home” is idiomatic but severs the link: the men are two months in his house so that one month may be spent toward the house. Gill notes that the arrangement kept them from being overworked.
עַל־ עַל (‘al, H5921) is Strong’s “above, over, upon, or against, yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect.” BSB’s “in charge of” is a managerial phrase; the Hebrew simply sets Adoniram over the burden, with the downward pressure the preposition implies.

Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

liš·lō·mōh way·hî šiḇ·‘îm ’e·lep̄ nō·śê sab·bāl ū·šə·mō·nîm ’e·lep̄ ḥō·ṣêḇ bā·hār

Word by word10 · parsed

לִשְׁלֹמֹ֛הliš·lō·mōhSolomonH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וַיְהִ֧יway·hîhadH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

hâyâh, to exist, to be With the preposition of possession (“and there was to Solomon”), Hebrew’s ordinary way of saying had. The construction is the same one that counts a man’s flocks; here it counts men.

שִׁבְעִ֥יםšiḇ·‘îm70,000 {}H7657

√ shibʻîym — seventyNumbercommon plural

אֶ֖לֶף’e·lep̄. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular

נֹשֵׂ֣אnō·śêportersH5375

√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

nâsâʼ, to lift, in a great variety of applications One of the widest verbs in the language: it lifts stones, lifts the head of a prisoner, lifts up the face in blessing, and bears away guilt. Set as a participle beside the rare noun çabbâl, it makes a phrase that is almost tautologous in Hebrew and almost untranslatable in English: bearers bearing a burden.

סַבָּ֑לsab·bāl. . .H5449

√ çabbâl — a porterNounmasculine singular

çabbâl, a porter Rare (five verses). The Verifier finds it again only in temple-repair and wall-building contexts, 2 Chronicles 34:13 and Nehemiah 4:10. ⚙ Whenever Scripture builds or rebuilds the house, this small word for the man under the load comes back with it.

וּשְׁמֹנִ֥יםū·šə·mō·nîmand 80,000 {}H8084

√ shᵉmônîym — eighty, also eightiethConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural

אֶ֖לֶף’e·lep̄. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular

חֹצֵ֥בḥō·ṣêḇstonecuttersH2672

√ châtsab — to cut or carve (wood, stone or other material)Nounmasculine singular

châtsab, to cut or carve (wood, stone or other material) Strong’s own gloss admits both materials, and the commentators divide: K&D holds for stone on the ground that v. 18 speaks of masons’ work and that the verb is used of wood only at Isaiah 10:15, while Pulpit holds for wood on the ground of “in the mountain.” Cambridge adds that the LXX nearly always renders the participle latomoi, stonecutters. ⚙ We record the division rather than resolve it.

בָּהָֽר׃bā·hārin the mountainsH2022

√ har — a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

Definite and singular. Pulpit: “the mountain” must be Lebanon, and he doubts stone would be shipped so far when it abounded at Jerusalem.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-there-was to-Solomon seventy thousand bearing burden, and-eighty thousand hewing in-the-mountain.”

Where the English smooths the original

נֹשֵׂ֣א נֹשֵׂא (nō·śê, H5375) is a Qal participle, “bearing / lifting,” not a job title. BSB’s noun “porters” freezes into a class what the Hebrew keeps as an action: these are men who are, right now, lifting. The same root elsewhere carries sin, iniquity and the ark.
סַבָּ֑ל סַבָּל (sab·bāl, H5449, “a porter”) is a rare noun, occurring in only five verses. BSB folds the participle and the noun together into the single word “porters,” but the Hebrew has a doubled expression, bearers of burden, and the noun itself will reappear at 2 Chronicles 34:13 and Nehemiah 4:10.
חֹצֵ֥ב חֹצֵב (ḥō·ṣêḇ, H2672) is “one cutting.” BSB’s “stonecutters” supplies the object. K&D defends that supply from usage (the verb is mostly used of quarrying stone), but Pulpit argues from the phrase “in the mountain” that woodcutters may be meant, and cites Gesenius for both. The Hebrew itself names no material.
בָּהָֽר׃ בָּהָר (bā·hār, H2022) is singular with the article: “in the mountain,” not “in the mountains.” Pulpit takes the definite singular to mean Lebanon specifically, and rests part of his woodcutting argument on it. BSB’s plural erases the argument.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The root-sense of the verb, which is ‘to trample on,’ or ‘break down,’ gives the idea that the ruling was after the fashion of taskmasters

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

cannot be the chief of the overlookers, i.e., the head inspectors, as there is no allusion made to subordinate inspectors, and the number given is much too large for head inspectors

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

seems to imply that they were, like the overseers of Israel in the Egyptian bondage ( Exodus 5:14-15 ), taken from the subject races

Ellicott's comparison to Exodus is an inference from the Chronicles total, not a claim the Hebrew of this verse makes; we mark it as his reading.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

And so there were 3600 commissioned for the work, but only 3300 employed at one time; and therefore both computations may fairly stand together

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not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lə·ḇaḏ liš·lō·mōh ’ă·šer šə·lō·šeṯ ’ă·lā·p̄îm ū·šə·lōš mê·’ō·wṯ miś·śā·rê han·niṣ·ṣā·ḇîm ‘al- ham·mə·lā·ḵāh hā·rō·ḏîm bā·‘ām hā·‘ō·śîm bam·mə·lā·ḵāh

Word by word15 · parsed

לְ֠בַדlə·ḇaḏnot includingH905

√ bad — properly, separationPrepositionNounmasculine singular construct

bad, properly separation A bookkeeping word that opens a bookkeeping problem: everything after it is outside the totals of v. 15, and the totals are where Kings and Chronicles diverge.

לִשְׁלֹמֹה֙liš·lō·mōhhisH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁתšə·lō·šeṯ3,300 {}H7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumbermasculine singular construct

אֲלָפִ֖ים’ă·lā·p̄îm. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine plural

וּשְׁלֹ֣שׁū·šə·lōš. . .H7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct

מֵא֑וֹתmê·’ō·wṯ. . .H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

מִשָּׂרֵ֨יmiś·śā·rêforemenH8269

√ sar — a head person (of any rank or class)Preposition-mNounmasculine plural construct

sar, a head person of any rank or class The ordinary word for prince or captain, here in construct with the participle that follows. Whether these are princes who were overseers (K&D, Vatablus) or the chiefs set over a body of overseers (Poole, Gill) is precisely what the numbers in Chronicles turn on.

הַנִּצָּבִ֤יםhan·niṣ·ṣā·ḇîm. . .H5324

√ nâtsab — to station, in various applications (literally or figuratively)ArticleVerbNifalParticiplemasculine plural

nâtsab, to station (Nifal participle) Those who have been set, posted, made to stand. K&D argues from the sheer size of the number that these cannot be head inspectors, since no subordinate inspectors are ever mentioned and 3,300 is far too many for a top tier.

עַל־‘al-. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הַמְּלָאכָ֔הham·mə·lā·ḵāh. . .H4399

√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iArticleNounfeminine singular

mᵉlâʼkâh, properly deputyship, hence work, business Twice in this verse, framing the overseers: over the work, doing in the work. The noun is not raw toil (ʻămāl) but commissioned business, the same word used of the craftsmanship of the tabernacle. ⚙ The vocabulary keeps insisting this is a delegated task, even while the participle between the two occurrences says the delegation was enforced by treading.

הָרֹדִ֣יםhā·rō·ḏîmwho supervisedH7287

√ râdâh — to tread down, iArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

râdâh, to tread down, to have dominion The verb of Genesis 1:28 (have dominion over the creatures) and of Psalm 110:2 (rule in the midst of thine enemies) is here turned upon Israel’s own people by Israel’s own king. Cambridge names the root sense as trampling and reads it as taskmastery; Ellicott, comparing 2 Chronicles 2:18, suspects the overseers themselves were drawn from the subject races, like the overseers of Israel in the Egyptian bondage of Exodus 5:14-15. ⚙ That comparison is the theological sting of the verse, and it is Ellicott’s, not ours.

בָּעָ֔םbā·‘āmthe workersH5971

√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

הָעֹשִׂ֖יםhā·‘ō·śîm. . .H6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

ʻâsâh, to do or make The participle of the broadest verb of making, used here of the laborers and, in Genesis 1, of God. The people doing the work are, in the plainest Hebrew sense, makers.

בַּמְּלָאכָֽה׃bam·mə·lā·ḵāh. . .H4399

√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iPreposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“Apart-from the-chiefs-of Solomon’s stationed-ones who were over the-work: three thousand and-three hundred, the-ones-treading-down on the-people, the-ones-doing in-the-work.”

Where the English smooths the original

לְ֠בַד לְבַד (lə·ḇaḏ, H905) is from a root meaning “separation.” BSB’s “not including” is an accountant’s phrase; K&D renders it “beside, i.e., without reckoning.” The word sets these 3,300 apart from the 150,000 just counted, which is exactly what the arithmetic of 2 Chronicles 2:18 makes contested.
הַנִּצָּבִ֤ים הַנִּצָּבִים (han·niṣ·ṣā·ḇîm, H5324) is a Nifal participle of nâtsab, “to station,” so “the ones stationed / set in place.” BSB’s “foremen” collapses a construct chain, śārê han·niṣ·ṣāḇîm, chiefs of the stationed ones. K&D, following Vatablus, takes the second term as defining the first: principes qui praefecti erant.
הָרֹדִ֣ים הָרֹדִים (hā·rō·ḏîm, H7287) is BSB’s mild “who supervised,” but Strong’s root gloss is “to tread down,” and Cambridge says outright that the root sense of trampling or breaking down gives the idea that the ruling was after the fashion of taskmasters. The same verb is used of dominion in Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 110:2. English “supervised” is the softest possible reading of a hard word.
בָּעָ֔ם בָּעָם (bā·‘ām, H5971) is “the people,” the covenant word for Israel as a congregated unit, not BSB’s “the workers.” The overseers tread down not a workforce but the people. The translation’s choice is defensible (Pulpit and Cambridge both take the laborers here as the resident aliens), but the Hebrew noun is the loaded one.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The verb is used most frequently of pulling up tent pegs when removing a tent

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

were necessary, not so much for “the foundation” of the Temple itself, which was small, but for the substructure of the area, formed into a square on the irregular summit of Mount Moriah

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

hewed stones—or neatly polished, as the Hebrew word signifies (Ex 20:25). Both Jewish and Tyrian builders were employed in hewing these great stones

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

where they could not afterward be seen; and therefore that this was done, is mentioned only as a point of magnificence, except it was intended for a type or mystical signification of the preciousness of Christ, who is the foundation of the true temple, the church of God

Poole offers the christological reading as an alternative to bare magnificence, and hedges it with 'except it was intended'; we keep his hedge.

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And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ham·me·leḵ way·ṣaw way·yas·si·‘ū gə·ḏō·lō·wṯ yə·qā·rō·wṯ ’ă·ḇā·nîm lə·yas·sêḏ hab·bā·yiṯ ’aḇ·nê ḡā·zîṯ ’ă·ḇā·nîm

Word by word11 · parsed

הַמֶּ֡לֶךְham·me·leḵAnd the kingH4428

√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular

וַיְצַ֣וway·ṣawcommanded themH6680

√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

tsâvâh, intensively to constitute, enjoin (Piel) The Piel of command, the verb used of God’s charge to Moses and of a dying man setting his house in order. The king commands; the stones move. ⚙ The unit’s whole grammar runs downhill from this verb: command, tear up, found, prepare.

וַיַּסִּעוּ֩way·yas·si·‘ūto quarryH5265

√ nâçaʻ — properly, to pull up, especially the tent-pins, iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

nâçaʻ, to pull up, especially the tent-pins The wilderness verb. Israel journeyed through the desert by this word, pulling up stakes stage by stage. Here the same verb pulls stone out of the mountain so that the wandering tent may be replaced by a fixed house. ⚙ That the settling of the house is described with the verb of striking camp is a quiet irony of the Hebrew that no English rendering preserves; the sources note only the lexical difficulty, not this resonance, so weigh it as ours.

גְּדֹל֜וֹתgə·ḏō·lō·wṯlargeH1419

√ gâdôwl — great (in any sense)Adjectivefeminine plural

יְקָר֛וֹתyə·qā·rō·wṯcostlyH3368

√ yâqâr — valuable (objectively or subjectively)Adjectivefeminine plural

yâqâr, valuable, objectively or subjectively The word for what is precious: jewels in 1 Kings 10:2, and in Isaiah 28:16 the precious corner stone. Ellicott observes that such stones were needed less for the small house itself than for the vast substructure of the platform on Moriah; Barnes reports that stones of this era survive at the southwestern angle of the Haram wall, the largest about 38 feet 9 inches long.

אֲבָנִ֨ים’ă·ḇā·nîmstonesH68

√ ʼeben — a stoneNounfeminine plural

ʼeben, a stone Three times in this verse (great, costly, hewn), and again in v. 18: the repetition is the verse’s whole rhetoric, and the noun is feminine plural against a masculine house. ⚙ ʼeben is one of the load-bearing words of the canon, carrying the stone of stumbling, the stone set up as witness at Shechem, the stone the builders refused (Psalm 118:22), and the tried foundation stone of Isaiah 28:16 that Peter applies to Christ. Here it is simply raw material, hauled and squared, and the commentators who find Christ in the foundation (Poole, Benson, Gill, Henry) are reading the later uses back onto this one, which is a legitimate canonical move and should be named as such rather than treated as the plain sense of 1 Kings.

לְיַסֵּ֥דlə·yas·sêḏto lay the foundationH3245

√ yâçad — to set (literally or figuratively)Preposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

yâçad, to set, to found (Piel) The intensive stem of founding. Poole notes that these stones were laid where they could never afterward be seen, so that their costliness is either pure magnificence or a type of the preciousness of Christ, the foundation of the true temple (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Corinthians 3:11). Benson and Gill draw the same line, adding Isaiah 54:11. ⚙ The Hebrew supplies the verb; the typology is theirs, and it is old.

הַבָּ֖יִתhab·bā·yiṯof the templeH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcArticleNounmasculine singular

אַבְנֵ֥י’aḇ·nê. . .H68

√ ʼeben — a stoneNounfeminine plural construct

גָזִֽית׃ḡā·zîṯwith dressedH1496

√ gâzîyth — something cut, iNounfeminine singular

gâzîyth, something cut Hewn or squared stone, a word of only eleven verses. It returns at 1 Kings 7:9-11 for Solomon’s palace and at 1 Chronicles 22:2, where David sets masons to hew wrought stones for the house before Solomon ever begins. Exodus 20:25 forbids hewn stone for an altar; nothing forbids it for a foundation, and the narrator uses it freely here.

אֲבָנִ֧ים’ă·ḇā·nîmstonesH68

√ ʼeben — a stoneNounfeminine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-commanded the-king, and-they-tore-up great stones, costly stones, to-found the-house with-stones-of hewing.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּסִּעוּ֩ וַיַּסִּעוּ (way·yas·si·‘ū, Hifil of nâçaʻ, H5265) is Strong’s “properly, to pull up, especially the tent-pins.” BSB’s “to quarry” and the AV’s “they brought” are both interpretations. Cambridge says the verb is hardly found with the bare sense of bringing, and that the Targum’s “hew out” fits here and at Ecclesiastes 10:9; Pulpit agrees, citing Gesenius. The picture underneath is of pulling something up out of its place, as a nomad pulls up his tent pegs.
יְקָר֛וֹת יְקָרוֹת (yə·qā·rōwṯ, H3368) means “valuable, precious,” objectively or subjectively. BSB’s “costly” is fair, but K&D expressly rejects Thenius’s “heavy” as a superfluous remark (large stones are heavy by definition) and glosses qui multa pecunia constabant; Cambridge suggests the value lay in the care taken in selecting and working them.
לְיַסֵּ֥ד לְיַסֵּד (lə·yas·sêḏ, Piel infinitive of yâçad, H3245) is intensive: not merely “to lay a foundation” but to establish, found, fix. It is the verb behind the noun in Isaiah 28:16, the tried foundation stone, a connection Poole, Benson and Gill all draw at this verse.
גָזִֽית׃ גָזִית (ḡā·zîṯ, H1496) is a noun, “something cut,” not the adjective BSB’s “dressed stones” suggests. Cambridge notes there is no conjunction in the Hebrew and that the word order requires “to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone,” which is what the RV adopted. BSB has in effect followed Cambridge’s correction without saying so.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

The Hebrew word is Giblim, which some say were excellent masons

The Geneva entries in this brief are mostly bare verse text; this marginal note (f) is the one substantive gloss Geneva offers in the unit.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

According to Ezekiel 27:9 , the Giblites (Byblians) were experienced in the art of shipbuilding, and therefore were probably skilful builders generally

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

which latter were an emblem of the Gentiles concerned in the building of the spiritual temple, the church of Christ, Zechariah 6:15

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

The temple was chiefly built by the riches and labour of Gentiles, which typified their being called into the church

Henry's note is a single comment on the whole span 5:10-18, which is why it recurs under every verse of this unit in the brief; we cite it once, here, where the Gentile builders are actually named.

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So Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šə·lō·mōh bō·nê ḥî·rō·wm ū·ḇō·nê wə·hag·giḇ·lîm way·yip̄·sə·lū way·yā·ḵî·nū hā·‘ê·ṣîm wə·hā·’ă·ḇā·nîm liḇ·nō·wṯ hab·bā·yiṯ

Word by word11 · parsed

שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhSo Solomon’sH8010

√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular

בֹּנֵ֧יbō·nêH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

bânâh, to build A Qal participle in construct: “the builders of Solomon.” The root appears three times in this single verse (twice as participle, once as the closing infinitive “to build”), sealing the unit.

חִיר֖וֹםḥî·rō·wmand Hiram’sH2438

√ Chîyrâm — Chiram or Chirom, the name of two TyriansNounpropermasculine singular

וּבֹנֵ֥יū·ḇō·nêbuildersH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

וְהַגִּבְלִ֑יםwə·hag·giḇ·lîmalong with the GebalitesH1382

√ Giblîy — a Gebalite, or inhabitant of GebalConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural

Giblîy, a Gebalite, inhabitant of Gebal A name found in only two verses of the Hebrew Bible: here and Joshua 13:5, where the land of the Gebalites is listed among the territory that remained to be possessed. Cambridge marshals the LXX (Biblioi) and the Vulgate against the Targum to establish the proper name; K&D notes from Ezekiel 27:9 that Gebalites were the shipwrights of Phoenicia and so likely skilled builders generally. ⚙ Men from land Israel never took are the ones dressing the stones of Israel’s temple.

וַֽיִּפְסְל֞וּway·yip̄·sə·lūquarried the stoneH6458

√ pâçal — to carve, whether wood or stoneConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

pâçal, to carve, whether wood or stone A rare verb (six verses), and its company is extraordinary: it is used of Moses hewing the second pair of tablets (Exodus 34:1, 34:4; Deuteronomy 10:1, 10:3) and of the craftsman who carves an idol (Habakkuk 2:18, whence the noun pesel, graven image). ⚙ The same act of cutting can produce the tablets of the covenant, the stones of the house, or a god that cannot speak. The verb is morally neutral; everything depends on what is being made and at whose command.

וַיָּכִ֛ינוּway·yā·ḵî·nūand preparedH3559

√ kûwn — properly, to be erect (iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

kûwn, properly to be erect (Hifil: to establish) More than “prepared.” This is the root of God’s promise to David that He would establish the throne of his kingdom forever, and of the establishing of the mountain of the LORD’s house in Isaiah 2:2. Here Phoenician and Israelite hands together establish the timber and the stones. ⚙ The text lets a workmen’s verb and a covenant verb be the same word.

הָעֵצִ֥יםhā·‘ê·ṣîmthe timberH6086

√ ʻêts — a tree (from its firmness)ArticleNounmasculine plural

ʻêts, a tree, from its firmness Plural with the article: the timbers, Lebanon’s cedar. Named before the stones, in the order in which they were felled and floated.

וְהָאֲבָנִ֖יםwə·hā·’ă·ḇā·nîmand stoneH68

√ ʼeben — a stoneConjunctive waw, ArticleNounfeminine plural

לִבְנ֥וֹתliḇ·nō·wṯfor the constructionH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

bânâh, to build (infinitive construct) The purpose clause that closes the whole negotiation with Hiram: all of it, levy and rotation and quarry and Gebalite skill, is in order to build the house.

הַבָּֽיִת׃פhab·bā·yiṯof the templeH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcArticleNounmasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-they-carved the-builders-of Solomon and-the-builders-of Hiram and-the-Gebalites; and-they-made-ready the-timbers and-the-stones to-build the-house.”

Where the English smooths the original

וַֽיִּפְסְל֞וּ וַיִּפְסְלוּ (way·yip̄·sə·lū, H6458) is BSB’s “quarried the stone,” but the root pâçal means “to carve, whether wood or stone,” and it is rare (six verses). K&D argues the object is not the squared stones of v. 17 but the trees and stones named after the next verb. The English supplies “the stone”; the Hebrew leaves the object to follow.
וְהַגִּבְלִ֑ים וְהַגִּבְלִים (wə·hag·giḇ·lîm, H1382) is a gentilic, “the Gebalites,” men of Gebal (Greek Byblos), not the AV’s “stone squarers,” which Cambridge traces to the Targum’s rendering “masons.” Ellicott calls that a curious gloss on a proper name. K&D takes the waw as explanatory, “even the Giblites,” making them the skilled core of Hiram’s builders; Pulpit doubts that and keeps them a distinct group.
וַיָּכִ֛ינוּ וַיָּכִינוּ (way·yā·ḵî·nū, Hifil of kûwn, H3559) is “they made ready / established.” Strong’s root sense is “properly, to be erect,” hence to set firm. BSB’s “prepared” is thin: the causative of this root is the verb used of establishing a throne and a kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13), the very promise under which this house is being built.
הַבָּֽיִת׃פ הַבָּיִת (hab·bā·yiṯ, H1004) is simply “the house,” as in v. 17; BSB supplies “the temple.” The supply is correct and traditional, but it hides the pun the Hebrew has been running since v. 14, where each man spent two months in his house.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The verb that makes men go up — 5:13-14

The unit opens with a causative: וַיַּעַל, he made to go up. K&D fixes the sense against the alternative, insisting the Hifil is not the registry idiom (in tabulas referre) but ascendere fecit, and that the levy is taken from the whole nation, not the whole territory, against Ewald. What goes up is a מַס, a word Strong’s glosses as a burden that causes to faint. From that single noun the commentators split cleanly. Barnes holds this was the first time Israelites themselves bore forced labor, prophesied at 1 Samuel 8:16 and paid for at 1 Kings 12:4. Ellicott grants the burden was far from onerous yet suspects it became the seed of a later despotism over Israel, and reads 1 Kings 9:22 as the standing rule this verse breaks. Cambridge, calculating from the census of 2 Samuel 24:9, puts the levy at rather more than two per cent of the fighting men and cites Josephus that Solomon made the work painless. K&D goes furthest in Israel’s defense, distinguishing mas from the ʻebed mas of 1 Kings 9:21 and quoting Thenius that these were free Israelites, probably not even unpaid. JFB alone names the political mechanism: the rotation itself, two months home in three, is what kept so great a stretch of arbitrary power from breaking into opposition. ⚙ Note what the text does and does not say. It records the arrangement and names the officer, Adoniram, over the burden, and it says nothing at all about whether the arrangement was just. The narrator’s reticence is why eleven commentators can read the same six verses and hand back five verdicts.

ii. Bearers, hewers, and the word for treading — 5:15-16

Verse 15 counts by participles, not job titles: men bearing (נֹשֵׂא) a burden, men hewing (חֹצֵב) in the mountain. What they hewed is genuinely disputed in the brief’s own sources: K&D argues for stone from the usage of châtsab and from the masons’ work of v. 18, while Pulpit argues for wood from the definite singular “the mountain,” which he takes to be Lebanon, and doubts stone was shipped so far when it abounded at Jerusalem; Cambridge notes the LXX almost always makes the participle latomoi, stonecutters. Pulpit and Cambridge agree, with 2 Chronicles 2:17 behind them, that these 150,000 were resident aliens rather than Israelites. Then v. 16 lets one word out of the bag. The overseers are participles of רָדָה, and Cambridge states the root sense plainly: to trample on, to break down, so that the ruling was after the fashion of taskmasters. Ellicott, reasoning from the 3,600 of 2 Chronicles 2:18, suspects the overseers themselves were drawn from the subject races, exactly like the overseers set over Israel in the Egyptian bondage of Exodus 5:14-15. K&D, Poole, Gill and Pulpit spend their space instead on reconciling 3,300 with 3,600, and reach a real harmony: 3,300 plus 550 in 1 Kings 9:23 equals 3,600 plus 250 in 2 Chronicles 8:10, the one book classing by rank and the other by race. ⚙ The reconciliation is careful and probably right, and it also functions as a way of not looking at Ellicott’s comparison. We record both.

iii. Tent pegs pulled up to found a house — 5:17-18

The king commands (Piel of tsâvâh) and the stones are וַיַּסִּעוּ, a Hifil of the verb for pulling up tent pins. Cambridge points out that this verb is hardly ever a bare word for bringing, and that the Targum’s “hew out” fits here and at Ecclesiastes 10:9; Pulpit and Gesenius agree on quarrying. The stones are yâqâr, precious: K&D refuses Thenius’s “heavy” as a superfluous remark about large stones and glosses the word as costly, qui multa pecunia constabant; Cambridge locates the costliness in the care of selection and working; Ellicott explains why such stones were needed at all, not for the small house but for the vast substructure squaring off the irregular summit of Moriah; Barnes reports that the largest surviving block runs 38 feet 9 inches and about a hundred tons, and JFB adds that the bevelled stones still visible in the temple substructures are, in the judgment of competent observers, these very foundation stones. Poole, Benson and Gill all pause on the same oddity: all this expense was buried where no one would ever see it, which Poole says is either pure magnificence or a type of the preciousness of Christ the foundation (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Corinthians 3:11), and which Benson turns into a rule for the hidden part of religion. Verse 18 then names the hands: Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites, whom Ellicott, Poole, Cambridge, Barnes and Geneva together rescue from the AV’s “stone squarers” and restore to their proper name, men of Gebal, the Byblos of the Greeks. ⚙ And the verb of their work, פָּסַל, is the rare verb Moses uses to hew the second tablets and Habakkuk uses of a carved idol. Foreign chisels, the same motion in every case; the difference lies entirely in what is being cut and for whom.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Reading these six verses alone, under Scripture and open to correction: the passage is built out of two vocabularies that should not fit together. One is the vocabulary of the sanctuary. ʻâlâh is what you do toward Zion and what an offering does on the altar; yâçad founds; kûwn is the verb of an established throne; bayith is the house of the LORD; mᵉlâʼkâh is the commissioned craft of the tabernacle. The other is the vocabulary of Egypt. maç is a load that makes men faint; çabbâl is the man under it; râdâh is treading down. Scripture sets them in one paragraph without comment. Ellicott and Cambridge both reach for Egypt on their own (Ellicott to Exodus 5:14-15, Cambridge to the warning of 1 Samuel 8:16 that a king would take), and Barnes traces the line forward to the schism of 1 Kings 12:4, where the first thing the tribes ask of Rehoboam is relief from exactly this yoke and the first man they kill is exactly this Adoniram. ⚙ Our fallible reading is that the narrator is not praising the arrangement and not condemning it either; he is laying a charge in the foundation. The house is real, the wisdom of 5:12 is real, the glory is real, and the same book will report that it was financed by a burden the nation could not finally carry. The temple is therefore both genuinely God’s dwelling and, in the manner of its building, a standing argument that no house made with quarried stone and conscripted shoulders can be the final one. Hebrews 3:3-4 and Acts 7:47-50 will make that argument explicit; here it is only in the grammar, and we offer that as a reading to be tested, not as a fact.

Not Scripture, a fallible reading offered for testing: the same chisel cuts the tablets of the covenant and the idol that cannot speak; the house is judged by whose command moved the hand.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Adoniram, the man over the burden verbal / quotation: confirmed

The officer named at the end of v. 14 is already in Solomon’s cabinet at 1 Kings 4:6, where the same construction sets him over the same מַס. The Verifier records the shared lexemes; Cambridge notes Josephus calls him Adoram. The same word for the levy recurs at 1 Kings 9:15, which Poole and Benson both cite to argue that this one levy served the temple, Solomon’s own house, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer alike. ⚙ The thread runs on into 1 Kings 12:18, beyond the Verifier’s candidate list, where Adoniram is stoned by the tribes; we name that as a canonical observation, not as a computed basis.

1 Kings 4:6 · 1 Kings 9:15

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H4522 maç (in 22 vv) and H141 ʼĂdônîyrâm (in only 2 vv). H141 is maximally rare, occurring in Scripture only at 1 Kings 4:6 and here, so the verbal link is secure; 1 Kings 9:15 shares H4522 maç and H8010 Shᵉlômôh. This is a shared-lexeme link within one book, not a quotation.

The Gebalites: hired from the land never taken verbal / quotation: confirmed

הַגִּבְלִים occurs in only two verses of the Hebrew Bible. The other is Joshua 13:5, in the catalogue of land that remained to be possessed: the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon. Both of this unit’s geographical terms sit in that one verse. Cambridge, Barnes, Ellicott, Poole and Geneva agree the word is the gentilic and not the AV’s “stone squarers”; K&D adds from Ezekiel 27:9 that they were Phoenicia’s shipwrights and so skilled builders. ⚙ What Joshua listed as unconquered, Solomon subcontracts. The temple’s stones are dressed by the hands of the unfinished conquest.

Joshua 13:5

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1382 Giblîy (in only 2 vv, this verse and Joshua 13:5) and H3844 Lᵉbânôwn (in 64 vv). The rarity of H1382 makes the verbal link certain; H3844 Lᵉbânôwn is common and carries no weight on its own. Ezekiel 27:9 is discussed in the body on the commentators' authority (K&D, Cambridge, Gill, Poole) but is deliberately kept out of the badge refs, since no Verifier basis was computed for it.

Hewn by the same verb: the tablets, the house, the idol verbal / quotation: confirmed

פָּסַל (v. 18) is rare, six verses in all. Four of them are the second pair of tablets: “hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first” (Exodus 34:1, 34:4; Deuteronomy 10:1, 10:3), where the Verifier finds pâçal standing with ʼeben and, in Deuteronomy, with ʻêts for the ark of wood, exactly the three-word cluster of this verse. The sixth is Habakkuk 2:18, where the same root produces the graven image that cannot speak. ⚙ The verb itself passes no verdict. Moses cuts stone at God’s command and receives the covenant; foreign craftsmen cut stone at a king’s command and the house is founded; a craftsman cuts at his own command and gets a dumb god. The moral weight lies wholly in the commanding word, which is why v. 17 begins with the king commanding and not with the LORD.

Exodus 34:1 · Exodus 34:4 · Deuteronomy 10:1 · Deuteronomy 10:3 · Habakkuk 2:18

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6458 pâçal (in only 6 vv) across all five refs, joined at Exodus 34:1/34:4 by H68 ʼeben (239 vv) and at Deuteronomy 10:1/10:3 by H68 ʼeben and H6086 ʻêts (288 vv). The rarity of H6458 carries the link; no quotation is claimed in either direction.

The burden-bearer returns whenever the house is repaired verbal / quotation: confirmed

סַבָּל (v. 15) appears in only five verses. Two of the others are 2 Chronicles 34:13, where Josiah’s repair of this same house has its bearers of burdens and its overseers of the mᵉlâʼkâh, and Nehemiah 4:10, where Judah says the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build (bânâh). ⚙ Building, repairing and rebuilding the house each summon the same rare word for the man under the load. Nehemiah is the place where that word finally breaks: the bearers give out. Solomon’s chapter never lets us hear them.

2 Chronicles 34:13 · Nehemiah 4:10

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H5449 çabbâl (in only 5 vv), with H4399 mᵉlâʼkâh (149 vv) also shared at 2 Chronicles 34:13 and H1129 bânâh (344 vv) at Nehemiah 4:10. The rare lexeme is the basis; the thematic reading of it is ours.

Dressed stone: David before, the palace after structural / thematic: confirmed

גָזִית, hewn or squared stone (eleven verses), ties this foundation backward and forward. Backward to 1 Chronicles 22:2, where David gathers the resident aliens and sets masons to hew (châtsab) wrought stones for the house of God before Solomon lifts a finger; Barnes and Pulpit both appeal to that verse to explain who the 150,000 were. Forward to 1 Kings 7:9-11, where the same costly hewn stones, yâqâr and gâzîyth together, go into Solomon’s own palace, and K&D notes from 1 Kings 7:10 that the foundation blocks ran eight and ten cubits. ⚙ Poole and Benson raise the natural question from this: since no second levy is ever recorded, the same quarry and the same shoulders served both houses.

1 Chronicles 22:2 · 1 Kings 7:9 · 1 Kings 7:11

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1496 gâzîyth (in 11 vv) and H68 ʼeben (239 vv) with all three refs, plus H2672 châtsab (22 vv) at 1 Chronicles 22:2 and H3368 yâqâr (35 vv) at 1 Kings 7:9, 7:11. Downgraded from verbal: gâzîyth at 11 verses is uncommon but is standard building vocabulary rather than a rare marker, and the link is a shared construction motif.

The parallel account, and where the numbers will not meet flagged: verify source

2 Chronicles 2:2 and 2:17-18 retell this levy with the same totals of 70,000 and 80,000 but with 3,600 overseers where Kings has 3,300. Cambridge reports that the LXX here reads 3,600 and adds that the work took three years; K&D rejects the easy explanation of copyists confusing numeral letters, on the ground that both books reach an identical grand total (3,300 plus 550 in 1 Kings 9:23; 3,600 plus 250 in 2 Chronicles 8:10, each 3,850), and follows J. H. Michaelis: Chronicles classes by race, Kings by rank. Poole records the alternative, that the extra 300 were a reserve. Gill, Barnes and Pulpit each harmonize differently again. ⚙ We flag rather than adjudicate: the versions differ, the harmonies are reconstructions, and no manuscript decides it.

2 Chronicles 2:2 · 2 Chronicles 2:18 · 1 Kings 9:23

basis: Verifier basis is weak and generic: only H8010 Shᵉlômôh (263 vv), H505 ʼeleph (391 vv) and H7657 shibʻîym (90 vv) are shared, all common. The passages are certainly parallel accounts, but the numeral 3,300 / 3,600 is contested between MT, LXX and Chronicles, and every harmony offered in the brief (K&D, Poole, Gill, Barnes, Pulpit, Ellicott) is a reconstruction. Flagged for the numbers, not for the parallel.

Stones that are living, builders who are Gentiles structural / thematic: confirmed

Henry reads the whole span 5:10-18 as a temple chiefly built by Gentile riches and labour, typifying their call into the church, and closes with the lively stones of 1 Peter 2:5; Gill says the same of the strangers in v. 18 and cites Zechariah 6:15, “they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD.” Ephesians 2:19-22 works the figure in full: strangers and foreigners become fellow citizens, the building fitly framed grows into a holy temple, and the corner stone is Christ. ⚙ The verbal warrant is in the Greek text of the New Testament and cannot be traced by shared Strong’s numbers to the Hebrew of 1 Kings, so this is tiered structurally: a shared motif of foreign hands in the house, picked up independently by Henry and Gill from the commentary tradition.

Zechariah 6:15 · 1 Peter 2:5 · Ephesians 2:19-22

basis: Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible between the Hebrew of 1 Kings 5:18 and the Greek of 1 Peter or Ephesians; the Verifier offers no basis here and none is claimed. Basis is a shared motif (non-Israelites building the house of God) recorded in the brief by Henry and Gill, with Zechariah 6:15 supplied by Gill. Never to be read as a quotation.

A king takes: the warning and the bill structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge and Barnes both note independently that Samuel had warned the people their king would take their servants and set them to his work (1 Samuel 8:16), and Pulpit says such a levy was predicted there. Barnes then carries the line to 1 Kings 12:4, where the northern tribes ask Rehoboam to lighten the grievous service of his father, and calls this levy the chief cause of the revolt. ⚙ We keep this thread structural. The Verifier supplies no shared-lexeme basis for either reference, and the connection is a narrative and thematic one drawn by the commentators, however natural it feels.

1 Samuel 8:16 · 1 Kings 12:4

basis: No Verifier candidate and no computed shared-lexeme basis; these refs are not in the Verifier's candidate list. The basis is the explicit citation of both passages at this text by Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit, plus the narrative continuity of the maç institution. Tiered structural precisely because no verbal link has been computed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The precious stone buried in the foundation ancient/widely-held

Poole fastens on what the Hebrew leaves unexplained: the great and yâqâr stones were laid where they could never afterward be seen, so that the expense is either sheer magnificence or a type of the preciousness of Christ, the foundation of the true temple, and he names Isaiah 28:16 and 1 Corinthians 3:11. Benson says the same and adds Isaiah 54:11 and Revelation 21:19; Gill adds the sapphire foundations; Henry states it flatly, that Christ who is laid for a foundation is a chosen and precious Stone. The verb of this verse, Piel yâçad (to found, to establish), is the root behind Isaiah’s “I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation,” and 1 Peter 2:6 applies that oracle to Christ by name. ⚙ The line from Solomon’s buried stone to the tried stone of Zion is drawn by the sources, not by us; what we add is the observation that the value of the stone in 1 Kings is a value nobody would ever see, which is the precise shape of the humiliation in which the apostolic reading finds its point.

Isaiah 28:16 · 1 Corinthians 3:11 · 1 Peter 2:6

Gentile hands on the house ancient/widely-held

Henry reads the whole passage as a temple chiefly built by Gentile wealth and labour, and calls that a type of their being called into the church; Gill draws the same conclusion from v. 18 and notes, pointedly, that the number of strangers employed far exceeded the number of Israelites, which he takes to signify the greater number of Gentiles in the gospel church. The Hebrew supports at least the fact: Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites of v. 18 are not Israelites, and Pulpit and Cambridge hold the 150,000 of v. 15 were resident aliens. Zechariah 6:15 promises that those far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and Ephesians 2:19-22 makes strangers and foreigners into the building itself, framed on the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the chief corner stone. ⚙ The typology is old and widely held; its weak point, which we name rather than hide, is that the Gentiles in 1 Kings 5 are conscripted, while those in Ephesians are made fellow citizens. The type is a shadow, and the shadow is darker than the substance.

Zechariah 6:15 · Ephesians 2:19-22 · 1 Peter 2:5

The burden that causes to faint, and the yoke that is easy novel

⚙ This reading is ours and we mark it novel. The governing noun of the unit is maç, a burden that causes to faint (Strong’s), and its rare companion is çabbâl, the man under the load. Over them stand participles of râdâh, which Cambridge glosses as treading down, after the fashion of taskmasters. That is the cost of the first house. When the greater Son of David speaks of the temple of His body (John 2:19-21) and of a house not made with hands (Acts 7:48-50; Hebrews 3:3-4), He gathers His builders with the opposite vocabulary: come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). ⚙ We claim no verbal link: Matthew’s Greek phortion has no lexical relation to Hebrew maç, and none of the brief’s commentators draw this comparison. What we claim is only the structural contrast, that the two houses are built by opposite means, and we offer it to be tested.

Matthew 11:28-30 · John 2:19-21 · Hebrews 3:3-4

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering as given in the brief; commentary quoted verbatim from the public-domain authors named (Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit, Keil & Delitzsch). Known limits of this unit, stated plainly:

1. The material of the hewing in v. 15 is not settled. K&D and the LXX read stone; Pulpit reads wood from the definite singular "the mountain" and cites Gesenius for both senses. Strong's own gloss for châtsab admits wood, stone or other material. We have not decided it.

2. The number of overseers in v. 16 differs between the Masoretic Kings (3,300), the LXX of this verse (3,600 per Cambridge) and 2 Chronicles 2:18 (3,600). The harmony by classification (rank in Kings, race in Chronicles) reaching 3,850 in both books is K&D's, following J. H. Michaelis; Poole's reserve theory and Gill's are alternatives. The thread carrying these refs is flagged for that reason.

3. "The stone squarers" of the AV at v. 18 is a rendering of a proper name, hag·giḇ·lîm. Ellicott, Barnes, Poole, Cambridge, Geneva and K&D all correct it to Gebalites; Cambridge cites the Alexandrine LXX and the Vulgate against the Targum. Whether the waw is explanatory (K&D: even the Giblites, i.e. they are Hiram's builders) or conjunctive (Pulpit: a distinct third party) is undecided here.

4. JFB reports a proposed emendation of the text at v. 18 (Thenius) yielding "did hew them and bevel them"; K&D rejects that conjecture at length as critically unattested, along with Boettcher's alternative. We follow the received consonantal text and record the dispute without adopting either conjecture.

5. Whether this levy was oppression or a light and honourable service is a genuine disagreement among the sources, not a gap in them: Barnes and Ellicott lean one way, Cambridge (with Josephus), Pulpit and K&D (with Thenius) the other, JFB in between. The ⚙ sola reading above takes a position; it is fallible and is marked as such.

6. Threads carrying "verbal" tiers in this unit rest on shared Strong's lexemes computed by the Verifier, not on quotation; the two cross-Testament threads and the Christ readings carry no lexical basis at all and are tiered structural or marked novel accordingly. The reading of Matthew 11:28-30 against maç is ours alone and is labelled novel.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)