Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains,
Parallel translations
- WEB Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;
- KJV And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains;
- BSB Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,
- NASB Now Solomon had seventy thousand porters, and eighty thousand stonemasons in the mountains,
- NLT Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers, 80,000 quarry workers in the hill country,
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 had seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills. An enormous workforce quarried and hauled materials.
Overview
These vast numbers convey the scale of the temple project and the labor it demanded. The stonecutters prepared the great stones in the mountains for the foundation and walls. The immense effort reflects the honor given to God's house, while also reminding readers of the heavy demands placed on the people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Kgs 9:20–22As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel;
- 2 Chr 2:17–18Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
- Ezra 2:58All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two.
- Neh 7:60All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two.
- Neh 7:57The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida,
- 2 Chr 8:7–9As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 5:15 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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