1 Kings 5:17

17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple.

1 Kings 5:17 in Other Translations

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

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

17 At the king’s command, they quarried large blocks of high-quality stone and shaped them to make the foundation of the Temple.

17 Following the king's orders, they quarried huge blocks of the best stone - dressed stone for the foundation of The Temple.

17 The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

1 Kings 5:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:17

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 ^F9:

costly stones;
not what are commonly called precious stones, as gems, pearls 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 ) ( Revelation 21:19 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.

1 Kings 5:17 In-Context

15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills,

16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers.

17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple.

18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 6:7
• 2. 1 Chronicles 22:2