1 Kings 5:12-18

5:12 So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. And Hiram and Solomon were at peace and made a treaty. ¹ 

5:13 King Solomon conscripted ²  work crews ³  from throughout Israel, 30,000 men in all. 5:14 He sent them to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 men per month. They worked in Lebanon for one month, and then spent two months at home. Adoniram was supervisor of ⁴  the work crews. 5:15 Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers ⁵  and 80,000 stonecutters ⁶  in the hills, 5:16 besides 3,300 ⁷  officials who supervised the workers. ⁸  5:17 By royal order ⁹  they supplied large valuable stones in order to build the temple’s foundation with chiseled stone. 5:18 Solomon’s and Hiram’s construction workers, ¹⁰  along with men from Byblos, ¹¹  did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple. ¹² 

[5:12]  ¹ tn Heb “a covenant,” referring to a formal peace treaty or alliance.

[5:13]  ² tn Heb “raised up.”

[5:13]  ³ sn Work crews. This Hebrew word (מַס, mas) refers to a group of laborers conscripted for royal or public service.

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “was over.”

[5:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “carriers of loads.”

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “cutters” (probably of stones).

[5:16]  ⁷ tc Some Greek mss of the OT read “3,600”; cf. 2 Chr 2:2, 18 and NLT.

[5:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “besides thirty-three hundred from the officials of Solomon’s governors who were over the work, the ones ruling over the people, the ones doing the work.”

[5:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the king commanded.”

[5:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “builders.”

[5:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Gebalites.” The reading is problematic and some emend to a verb form meaning, “set the borders.”

[5:18]  ¹² tc The LXX includes the words “for three years.”