1 Kings 5:13

Complete Jewish Bible

He could discuss trees, from the cedar in the L'vanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall; he could discuss wild animals, poultry, reptiles and fish.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered thirty thousand men.

Hebrew Names Version
King Shlomo raised a levy out of all Yisra'el; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

King James Version
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

English Standard Version
King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.

New Century Version
King Solomon forced thirty thousand men of Israel to help in this work.

New English Translation
King Solomon conscripted work crews from throughout Israel, 30,000 men in all.

Amplified Bible
King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men.

New American Standard Bible
Now King Solomon conscripted forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand men.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And King Salomon raised a summe out of all Israel, and the summe was thirtie thousand men:

Legacy Standard Bible
And King Solomon raised up forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men.

Contemporary English Version
Solomon ordered thirty thousand people from all over Israel to cut logs for the temple,

Darby Translation
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

Easy-to-Read Version
King Solomon forced 30,000 men of Israel to help in this work.

George Lamsa Translation
And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

Good News Translation
King Solomon drafted 30,000 men as forced labor from all over Israel,

Lexham English Bible
Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor numbered thirty thousand men.

Literal Translation
And King Solomon caused a labor force to go out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Salomon made an outchosynge (of workmen) thorow out all Israel. And ye outchosynge was thirtie thousande me,

American Standard Version
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

Bible in Basic English
Then King Solomon got together men for the forced work through all Israel, thirty thousand men in number;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And king Solomon raysed a summe out of Israel, and the summe was thirtie thousand men:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

King James Version (1611)
And King Solomon raised a leuie out of all Israel, and the leuie was thirtie thousand men.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the king raised a levy out of all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men.

English Revised Version
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

Berean Standard Bible
Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of thirty thousand men from all Israel.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And kyng Salomon chees werk men of al Israel; and the summe was thretti thousynde of men.

Young's Literal Translation
And king Solomon lifteth up a tribute out of all Israel, and the tribute is thirty thousand men,

Update Bible Version
And king Solomon raised slave labor out of all Israel; and the slave labor was thirty thousand men.

Webster's Bible Translation
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

World English Bible
King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

New King James Version
Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.

New Living Translation
Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.

New Life Bible
Now King Solomon made men work for him from all Israel. There were 30,000 men made to work for him.

New Revised Standard
King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And King Solomon raised a labour-band, out of all Israel, - and it came to pass that, the labour-band, was thirty thousand men.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And king Solomon chose workmen out of all Israel, and the levy was of thirty thousand men.

Revised Standard Version
King Solomon raised a levy of forced labor out of all Israel; and the levy numbered thirty thousand men.

THE MESSAGE
King Solomon raised a workforce of thirty thousand men from all over Israel. He sent them in shifts of ten thousand each month to the Lebanon forest; they would work a month in Lebanon and then be at home two months. Adoniram was in charge of the work crew. Solomon also had seventy thousand unskilled workers and another eighty thousand stonecutters up in the hills—plus thirty-three hundred foremen managing the project and supervising the work crews. Following the king's orders, they quarried huge blocks of the best stone—dressed stone for the foundation of The Temple. Solomon and Hiram's construction workers, assisted by the men of Gebal, cut and prepared the timber and stone for building The Temple.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men.

Contextual Overview

¹⁰ Shlomo's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of the people from the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. ¹¹ For he was wiser than everyone — wiser than Eitan the Ezrachi and wiser than Heiman, Kalkol and Darda the sons of Machol; so that his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. ¹² He composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. ¹³ He could discuss trees, from the cedar in the L'vanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall; he could discuss wild animals, poultry, reptiles and fish. ¹⁴ People from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, including kings from all over the earth who had heard of his wisdom. ¹⁵ Hiram king of Tzor sent his servants to Shlomo, because he had heard that they had anointed him king in his father's place, and Hiram had always loved David. ¹⁶ Shlomo returned this message to Hiram: ¹⁷ "You know that David my father wasn't able to build a house for the name of Adonai his God, because of the wars that beset him from every side, until Adonai put his enemies under the soles of my feet. ¹⁸ But now Adonai my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor calamity. So now I intend to build a house for the name of Adonai my God, in keeping with what Adonai said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, will be the one to build the house for my name.' Therefore, order your people to cut down cedar trees from the L'vanon for me. My servants will be with your servants. I will pay your servants according to everything you say; for you know that we have no one among us as skilled in felling trees as the Tzidonim." When Hiram heard Shlomo's message, he was very happy and said, "Blessed be Adonai today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people." Then Hiram sent Shlomo this message: "I have heard the message you sent me, and I will do everything you want concerning cedar logs and cypress logs. My servants will bring them down from the L'vanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to whatever place you tell me and will have them broken up there, and you will receive them. You will compensate me by providing food for my household." So Hiram gave Shlomo all the cedar logs and cypress logs he wanted; and Shlomo gave Hiram 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and a thousand gallons of oil from pressed olives — this is what Shlomo gave Hiram each year. Adonai gave Shlomo wisdom, as he had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Shlomo — the two of them formed an alliance together. King Shlomo conscripted 30,000 men from all Isra'el for forced labor. He sent them to the L'vanon in monthly relays of 10,000; they would stay a month in the L'vanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Shlomo had 70,000 men to carry loads and another 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, besides Shlomo's 3,300 supervisors who were in charge of the people doing the work. The king gave orders; and they quarried large stones, expensive stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stone. Shlomo's and Hiram's builders, along with the men from G'val, worked the stones and prepared the timber and stones for building the house.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

levy: Heb. tribute of men, 1 Kings 4:6

the levy: 1 Kings 9:15

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 5:1 - Hiram 1 Kings 9:21 - levy 2 Chronicles 2:17 - numbered 2 Chronicles 8:8 - to pay Ecclesiastes 5:11 - they

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel,.... Not of money, but of men, as follows:

and the levy was thirty thousand men; for what purpose, and how they were employed, 1 Kings 5:14 shows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A levy out of all Israel - This was, apparently, the first time that the Israelites had been called upon to perform forced labor, though it had been prophesied 1 Samuel 8:16. David had bound to forced service “the strangers” 1 Chronicles 22:2; but hitherto the Israelites had escaped. Solomon now, in connection with his proposed work of building the temple, with the honor of God as an excuse, laid this burden upon them. Out of the 1,300, 000 able-bodied Israelites 2 Samuel 24:9, a band of 30,000 - one in forty-four - was raised, of whom one-third was constantly at work in Lebanon, while two-thirds remained at home, and pursued their usual occupations. This, though a very light form of task work, was felt as a great oppression, and was the chief cause of the revolt of the ten tribes at Solomon’s death 1 Kings 12:4.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 5:13. The levy was thirty thousand men. — We find from the following verse that only ten thousand were employed at once, and those only for one month at a time; and having rested two months, they again resumed their labour. These were the persons over whom Adoniram was superintendent, and were all Israelites.