And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
Parallel translations
- WEB King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
- BSB Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.
- 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 9:15And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
- 1 Kgs 4:6And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.
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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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