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1 Kings 9:23

in 1 Kings 9

They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

These were the chief officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

KJV

These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

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This verse in 1 Kings 9

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

which were not of the children of Israel

on 1 Kings 9:20-23

The peoples left from Joshua's conquest, Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite and Jebusite, become Solomon's labor force, a tribute of bondservice that Israel itself is spared; Matthew Henry reads it against Genesis 9's word on Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Israelites instead stand as men of war, servants, princes, captains and rulers over chariots and horsemen, and five hundred and fifty chief officers oversee the whole work. Wesley notes the destruction command of Deuteronomy 7:2 had chiefly concerned the generation that entered the land, which is why bondservice rather than conquest meets these descendants generations later.

This site's exposition

550 supervisors over the people

Chronicles divides the overseers differently, with 250 chief officers at 2 Chronicles 8:10 and 3,600 supervisors over the people at 2 Chronicles 2:18. Kings gives 550 here and 3,300 at 5:16. Both books reach the same total of 3,850, and Albert Barnes sends the reader back to 5:16 for the figures.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): Of them he made no bondmen, for they were God's freemen, but he made them soldiers and courtiers, and gave them offices, as he saw them qualified, among his chariots and horsemen, appointing some to support the service of the inferior labourers. Thus he preserved the dignity and liberty of Israel and honoured their relation to God as a kingdom of priests.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

These were the chief of the officers over Solomon's work,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

SOLOMON'S YEARLY SACRIFICES. 24, 25. three times in a year--namely, at the passover, pentecost, and feast of tabernacles (2Ch 8:13; The circumstances mentioned in these two verses form a proper conclusion to the record of his buildings and show that his design in erecting those at Jerusalem was to remedy defects existing at the commencement of his reign (see 1Ki 3:1-4).

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

this is the reason of the levy--A levy refers both to men and money, and the necessity for Solomon making it arose from the many gigantic works he undertook to erect.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

Five hundred and fifty - See 1Ki 5:16 note.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אֵ֣לֶּה׀these

    ʾelehH428 →746 times

  • שָׂרֵ֣י[were] [the] leaders of

    sareiH8269 →421 times

  • הַנִּצָּבִ֗יםthe overseers

    hanitzavimH5324 →75 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • עַל־[were] over

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַמְּלָאכָה֙the work

    hamelakhahH4399 →167 times

  • לִשְׁלֹמֹ֔הof Solomon

    lishlomohH8010 →291 times

  • חֲמִשִּׁ֖יםfifty

    chamishimH2572 →163 times

  • וַחֲמֵ֣שׁand five

    vachameshH2568 →343 times

  • מֵא֑וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • הָרֹדִ֣יםwho ruled

    harodimH7287 →26 times

  • בָּעָ֔םover the people

    baamH5971 →1873 times

  • הָעֹשִׂ֖יםwho were doing

    haosimH6213 →2628 times

  • בַּמְּלָאכָֽה׃<in> the work

    bamelakhahH4399 →167 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

3 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Kings 5:16

    not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 2:2

      So he conscripted 70,000 porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 8:10

    They were also the chief officers for King Solomon: 250 supervisors.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 5:16

      not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.

    • 2 Chronicles 2:18

      Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Kings: the study guide →Read 1 Kings 9 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Kings 9 →