Discovery Box1 Kings 5:12-18 
Context5:12 So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. And Hiram and Solomon were at peace and made a treaty. 1
5:13 King Solomon conscripted 2 work crews 3 from throughout Israel, 30,000 men in all. 5:14 He sent them to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 men per month. They worked in Lebanon for one month, and then spent two months at home. Adoniram was supervisor of 4 the work crews. 5:15 Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers 5 and 80,000 stonecutters 6 in the hills, 5:16 besides 3,300 7 officials who supervised the workers. 8 5:17 By royal order 9 they supplied large valuable stones in order to build the temple’s foundation with chiseled stone. 5:18 Solomon’s and Hiram’s construction workers, 10 along with men from Byblos, 11 did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple. 12
1 tn Heb “a covenant,” referring to a formal peace treaty or alliance.
2 tn Heb “raised up.”
3 sn Work crews. This Hebrew word (מַס, mas) refers to a group of laborers conscripted for royal or public service.
4 tn Heb “was over.”
5 tn Heb “carriers of loads.”
6 tn Heb “cutters” (probably of stones).
7 tc Some Greek
8 tn Heb “besides thirty-three hundred from the officials of Solomon’s governors who were over the work, the ones ruling over the people, the ones doing the work.”
9 tn Heb “and the king commanded.”
10 tn Heb “builders.”
11 tn Heb “the Gebalites.” The reading is problematic and some emend to a verb form meaning, “set the borders.”
12 tc The LXX includes the words “for three years.”
