Bible Strands
1 Kings 5:16
not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator details Solomon’s administrative hierarchy during the temple construction, specifying the oversight layer above the 150,000 mountain laborers.
The words — לְ/בַד (Le./vad) means "apart" or "separately," and מִ/שָּׂרֵ֨י (mi./sa.Rei) translates to "leaders" or "foremen," marking a distinct command tier.
The thread — The supervisor count reappears in 1 Kings 9:23 and 2 Chronicles 2:2, where the recorded numbers differ but the administrative function remains identical.
Why it lands — The text states that 3,300 officials managed the workers, requiring the reader to recognize the organized chain of command that separated oversight from manual 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
Beside the chief of Solomon’s officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 9:23 They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.
- 2 Chronicles 2:2 So he conscripted 70,000 porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.