Bible Strands
1 Kings 5:15
Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Solomon’s labor allocation for the temple project while the monthly rotation system and supervisory chain are being established. (1 Kings 5:14-16)
The words — The text distinguishes נֹשֵׂא (no.Se', "carriers") and סַבָּ֑ל (sa.Bal, "burden-bearers") to classify the seventy thousand porters separate from the eighty thousand stonecutters.
The thread — The census and deployment of remaining Canaanite laborers reappear in 1 Kings 9:20, 2 Chronicles 2:17, and 2 Chronicles 8:7.
Why it lands — The verse states the raw numbers and organizational structure of the workforce before interpreters examine the ethical or theological implications of forced labor.
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 Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains;
Cross-references
- 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 Chronicles 8:7 As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (these people were not Israelites)—
- Ezra 2:58 The temple servants and descendants of the servants of Solomon numbered 392 in all.
- Nehemiah 7:57 The descendants of the servants of Solomon: the descendants of Sotai, the descendants of Sophereth, the descendants of Perida,
- Nehemiah 7:60 The temple servants and descendants of the servants of Solomon numbered 392 in all.