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2 Chronicles 2:18

in 2 Chronicles 2

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

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

KJV

And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.

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This verse in 2 Chronicles 2

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
And he set threescore and ten thousand of them,.... Which is repeated from 2Ch 2:2, to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of; 70,000 of them bearers of burdens, 80,000 of them hewers of wood, and 3,600 overseers of the workmen, in all 153,600; an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple, the church, Zec 6:15.

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

A commentator

Bede

Of the Temple of Solomon 1.3.4 · Written before 735.

proposed

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 Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Canaan was a fruitful land, that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives; and the temple was a vast building, that found work for so many bands.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

On the numbers, see the 1Ki 5:16 note. To set the people a work - Or, “to set the people to work” - i. e., to compel them to labor. Probably, like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor, these officers carried whips or sticks, with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

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.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Chronicles 2:17:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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

17 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.

  • וַיַּ֨עַשׂand he appointed

    vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times

  • מֵהֶ֜םof them

    mehem

  • שִׁבְעִ֥יםseventy

    shivimH7657 →91 times

  • אֶ֙לֶף֙thousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • סַבָּ֔לburden-bearer[s]

    sabalH5449 →5 times

  • וּשְׁמֹנִ֥יםand eighty

    ushemonimH8084 →38 times

  • אֶ֖לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • חֹצֵ֣בstone-cutter[s]

    chotzevH2672 →25 times

  • בָּהָ֑רin the hill country

    baharH2022 →546 times

  • וּשְׁלֹ֤שֶׁתand three

    usheloshetH7969 →432 times

  • אֲלָפִים֙thousand<s>

    ʾalafimH505 →505 times

  • וְשֵׁ֣שׁand six

    vesheshH8337 →216 times

  • מֵא֔וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • מְנַצְּחִ֖יםoverseers

    menatzechimH5329 →10 times

  • לְהַעֲבִ֥ידto compel to labor

    lehaavidH5647 →288 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעָֽם׃the people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

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

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

1 stop

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

    2 Chronicles 2:2

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

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 5:15–16

      Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,

About 2 Chronicles

Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Chronicles: the study guide →Read 2 Chronicles 2 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Of the Temple of Solomon 1.3.4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Chronicles 2 →