Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 22:2
So David gave orders to gather the foreigners in the land of Israel, from whom he appointed stonecutters to prepare finished stones for building the house of God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David issues a command to his officials and successors to organize labor immediately after designating Jerusalem as the temple site. This directive occurs during his preparatory phase before Solomon begins construction.
The words — The Hebrew גֵרִים (gerim) translates literally to "sojourners" or "foreign residents," denoting non-Israelites dwelling within the territory. David specifically targets this demographic to serve as the workforce for quarrying and dressing stone.
The thread — This mobilization of foreign labor parallels the quarrying orders in 1 Kings 5:17 and the census-based numbering of non-Israelites in 2 Chronicles 2:17. It also connects to the policy regarding the remaining Canaanite nations detailed in 1 Kings 9:20.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that temple construction relies on organized human labor and state resources rather than spontaneous divine intervention alone. It requires the reader to account for how political authority and demographic management serve religious architecture.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 5:17 And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.
- 1 Kings 9:20 As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)—
- 2 Chronicles 2:17 Solomon numbered all the foreign men in the land of Israel following the census his father David had conducted, and there were found to be 153,600 in all.
- 2 Samuel 5:11 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.
- 1 Kings 6:7 The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
- 1 Kings 7:9 All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.
- 2 Kings 12:12 masons, and stonecutters. They also purchased timber and dressed stone to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and they paid the other expenses of the temple repairs.
- 2 Kings 22:6 to the carpenters, builders, and masons—to buy timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.
- 1 Chronicles 14:1 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs, stonemasons, and carpenters, to build a palace for him.
- 2 Chronicles 8:7 As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (these people were not Israelites)—