1 Kings 5:17

Complete Jewish Bible

"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.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

Hebrew Names Version
The king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.

King James Version
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

English Standard Version
At the king's command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

New Century Version
King Solomon commanded them to cut large blocks of fine stone to be used for the foundation of the Temple.

New English Translation
By royal order they supplied large valuable stones in order to build the temple's foundation with chiseled stone.

Amplified Bible
The king gave orders, and they quarried great stones, valuable stones, to lay the foundation of the house (temple) with cut stones.

New American Standard Bible
Then the king issued orders, and they quarried large stones, valuable stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the King commanded them, and they brought great stones and costly stones to make the foundation of the house, euen hewed stones.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, precious stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones.

Contemporary English Version
He ordered the workers to cut and shape large blocks of good stone for the foundation of the temple.

Darby Translation
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

Easy-to-Read Version
King Solomon commanded them to cut large, expensive stones for the foundation of the Temple.

George Lamsa Translation
And the king commanded and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones to complete the house.

Good News Translation
At King Solomon's command they cut fine large stones for the foundation of the Temple.

Lexham English Bible
When the king commanded, they quarried great stones and precious stones to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones.

Literal Translation
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, quarried stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And ye kynge commaunded, that they shulde breake out greate and costly stones, namely frestone, for the foundacion of the house.

American Standard Version
And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone.

Bible in Basic English
By the king's orders great stones, stones of high price, were cut out, so that the base of the house might be made of squared stone.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the king commaunded them to bring great stones, costly stones, & hewed stones, for the foundatio of the house.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of my feet.

King James Version (1611)
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

English Revised Version
And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone.

Berean Standard Bible
And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the kyng comaundide, that thei schulden take greete stonys, `and preciouse stonys, in to the foundement of the temple, and that thei schulden make tho square;

Young's Literal Translation
And the king commandeth, and they bring great stones, precious stone, to lay the foundation of the house, hewn stones;

Update Bible Version
And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, [and] hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

World English Bible
The king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.

New King James Version
And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. [fn]

New Living Translation
At the king's command, they quarried large blocks of high-quality stone and shaped them to make the foundation of the Temple.

New Life Bible
Then as the king told them, they cut out large stones of much worth for the house of God to be built on.

New Revised Standard
At the king's command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones, to found the house with hewn stones.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the king commanded that they should bring great stones, costly stones, for the foundation of the temple, and should square them:

Revised Standard Version
At the king's command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones.

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

costly stones: 1 Kings 6:7, 1 Kings 7:9, 1 Chronicles 22:2, Isaiah 28:16, 1 Corinthians 3:11, 1 Corinthians 3:12, 1 Peter 2:6, 1 Peter 2:7, Revelation 21:14-21

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 12:12 - masons Proverbs 24:27 - General Isaiah 54:11 - I will lay

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the king commanded, and they brought great stones,.... Not in quality, but in quantity, large stones, fit to lay in the foundation; strong, and durable against all the injuries of time, as Josephus says i:

costly stones; not what are commonly called precious stones, as gems, pearls, c. but stones of value, as marble, porphyry, c.

[and] hewed stones not rough as they were taken out of the quarry, but hewed, and made smooth:

to lay the foundation of the house which, though out of sight, was to be laid with goodly stones for the magnificence of the building; so the church of Christ, its foundation is said to be laid even with sapphires and other precious stones, see Isaiah 54:11.

i Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Some of these “great, hewed (no and) stones,” are probably still to be seen in the place where they were set by Solomon’s builders, at the southwestern angle of the wall of the Haram area in the modern Jerusalem. The largest found so far is 38 ft. 9 in. long, and weighs about 100 tons.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 5:17. Great stones — Stones of very large dimensions.

Costly stones — Stones that cost much labour and time to cut them out of the rock.

Hewed stones — Everywhere squared and polished.