2 Chronicles 2:17
in 2 Chronicles 2Solomon 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Solomon numbered all the sojourners that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.
KJV
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land, the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out. The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg 1:28, Jdg 1:30, Jdg 1:33, Jdg 1:35, but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul, was (it is clear) due to David, whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses.
This site's exposition
after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them
on 2 Chronicles 2:17-18
Solomon numbers all the strangers in the land, the non-Israelite population left from the peoples Israel had not driven out, matching a count David had already taken of the same group. Kings' parallel account does not name this labor force strangers; Chronicles states it directly, a hundred fifty three thousand six hundred of them set to bear burdens, hew stone in the mountain and oversee the work. Gill reads the number as a picture of Gentiles built into the spiritual temple the church would become, an application he draws from Zechariah 6:15 rather than a claim the text makes for itself.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Now the overseers who were in charge of each operation are the writers of sacred Scripture by whose teaching authority we are instructed in all things as to how best to teach the ignorant and correct the contemptuous, to bear each other's burdens so that …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The strangers - For David had not only numbered his own people, but afterward the strangers, that Solomon might have a true account of them, and employ them about his buildings. Yet Solomon numbered them again, because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since David's numbering.
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And he made of them seventy thousand, etc. The reason he mentions them again and mentions the number is that he interrupted the topic; therefore, he had to repeat it again now.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
22 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּסְפֹּ֣ר | vaiyispor | and he counted | H5608 → | 159 times |
| שְׁלֹמֹ֗ה | shelomoh | Solomon | H8010 → | 291 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָאֲנָשִׁ֤ים | haanashim | the people | H582 → | 566 times |
| הַגֵּירִים֙ | hageirim | the sojourners | H1616 → | |
| אֲשֶׁר֙ | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בְּאֶ֣רֶץ | beeretz | [were] in [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אַחֲרֵ֣י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| הַסְּפָ֔ר | hasefar | the census | H5610 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| סְפָרָ֖ם | sefaram | he had counted them | H5608 → | 159 times |
| דָּוִ֣יד | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| אָבִ֑יו | ʾaviv | father his | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וַיִּמָּצְא֗וּ | vaiyimatzeu | and they were found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| מֵאָ֤ה | meah | one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| וַחֲמִשִּׁים֙ | vachamishim | and fifty | H2572 → | 163 times |
| אֶ֔לֶף | ʾelef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
| וּשְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת | usheloshet | and three | H7969 → | 432 times |
| אֲלָפִ֖ים | ʾalafim | thousand<s> | H505 → | 505 times |
| וְשֵׁ֥שׁ | veshesh | and six | H8337 → | 216 times |
| מֵאֽוֹת׃ | meot | hundred<s> | H3967 → | 581 times |
וַיִּסְפֹּ֣רand he counted
vaiyisporH5608 →159 times
שְׁלֹמֹ֗הSolomon
shelomohH8010 →291 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָאֲנָשִׁ֤יםthe people
haanashimH582 →566 times
הַגֵּירִים֙the sojourners
hageirimH1616 →
אֲשֶׁר֙who
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בְּאֶ֣רֶץ[were] in [the] land of
beeretzH776 →2504 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אַחֲרֵ֣יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
הַסְּפָ֔רthe census
hasefarH5610 →
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
סְפָרָ֖םhe had counted them
sefaramH5608 →159 times
דָּוִ֣ידDavid
davidH1732 →999 times
אָבִ֑יוfather his
ʾavivH1 →1212 times
וַיִּמָּצְא֗וּand they were found
vaiyimatzeuH4672 →455 times
מֵאָ֤הone hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
וַחֲמִשִּׁים֙and fifty
vachamishimH2572 →163 times
אֶ֔לֶףthousand
ʾelefH505 →505 times
וּשְׁלֹ֥שֶׁתand three
usheloshetH7969 →432 times
אֲלָפִ֖יםthousand<s>
ʾalafimH505 →505 times
וְשֵׁ֥שׁand six
vesheshH8337 →216 times
מֵאֽוֹת׃hundred<s>
meotH3967 →581 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach 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
2 Chronicles 2:2So he conscripted 70,000 porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 2:18
Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.
- 1 Kings 5:15–16
Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,
- 2 Chronicles 2:18
Through
1 Chronicles 22:2So 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.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 9:20–21
As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)—
- 1 Kings 5:17–18
And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.
- Ezra 3:7
They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by…
- 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 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.
- 1 Kings 9:20–21
About 2 Chronicles
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Bede, Of the Temple of Solomon 1.3.4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.