1 Kings 5:15

15 Solomon had 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stonecutters in the highlands.

1 Kings 5:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:15

And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens,
&c.] Seventy thousand to carry the stones from the mountains out of which they were dug, and which were near Jerusalem, to the city; these were strangers in Israel, as were those that follow:

and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains:
eighty thousand that dug the stones out of the quarries, and squared them; these, with the others, made 150,000, see ( 2 Chronicles 2:17 ) ; according to Jacob Leon ^F7, the number of workmen at the temple for seven years was 163,600, and some make them more.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 3. p. 14.

1 Kings 5:15 In-Context

13 King Solomon called up a work gang of thirty thousand workers from all over Israel.

14 He sent ten thousand to work in Lebanon each month. Then they would spend two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the work gang.

15 Solomon had 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stonecutters in the highlands.

16 This doesn't include Solomon's 3,300 supervisors in charge of the work, who had oversight over the laborers.

17 At the king's command, they quarried huge stones of the finest quality in order to lay the temple's foundation with carefully cut stone.