Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
- KJV And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
- NKJV Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.
- NASB Now King Solomon conscripted forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand men.
- NLT Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon conscripted a labor force of thirty thousand men from all Israel. A large workforce was raised for the building project.
Overview
This levy gathered manpower from across the nation for the temple's construction. While serving a sacred purpose, such forced labor also foreshadows the burdens that would later provoke division (1 Kings 12:4). The verse shows the immense human effort the temple required, and hints at the cost of Solomon's grand projects.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- 1 Kgs 9:15This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
- 1 Kgs 4:6Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 5:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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