1 Kings 5:13-18

5:13 King Solomon conscripted ¹  work crews ²  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 ³  the work crews. 5:15 Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers ⁴  and 80,000 stonecutters ⁵  in the hills, 5:16 besides 3,300 ⁶  officials who supervised the workers. ⁷  5:17 By royal order ⁸  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, ⁹  along with men from Byblos, ¹⁰  did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple. ¹¹ 

[5:13]  ¹ tn Heb “raised up.”

[5:13]  ² sn Work crews. This Hebrew word (מַס, mas) refers to a group of laborers conscripted for royal or public service.

[5:14]  ³ tn Heb “was over.”

[5:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “carriers of loads.”

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

[5:16]  ⁶ tc Some Greek mss of the OT read “3,600”; cf. 2 Chr 2:2, 18 and NLT.

[5:16]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the king commanded.”

[5:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “builders.”

[5:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the Gebalites.” The reading is problematic and some emend to a verb form meaning, “set the borders.”

[5:18]  ¹¹ tc The LXX includes the words “for three years.”