1 Kings 5:13

13 Now ¹King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 * men.

1 Kings 5:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:13

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

11 Solomon then gave Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of beaten oil; thus Solomon would give Hiram year by year.

12 The LORD gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.

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

14 He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays; they were in Lebanon a month and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the forced laborers.

15 Now Solomon had 70,000 transporters , and 80,000 hewers of stone in the mountains,