1 Raja-raja 5:17-18

5:17 By royal order ¹  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, ²  along with men from Byblos, ³  did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple. ⁴ 

1 Raja-raja 6:7

6:7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry ⁵  were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built.

1 Raja-raja 7:9-12

7:9 All of these were built with the best ⁶  stones, chiseled to the right size ⁷  and cut with a saw on all sides, ⁸  from the foundation to the edge of the roof ⁹  and from the outside to the great courtyard. 7:10 The foundation was made of large valuable stones, measuring either 15 feet or 12 feet. ¹⁰  7:11 Above the foundation ¹¹  the best ¹²  stones, chiseled to the right size, ¹³  were used along with cedar. 7:12 Around the great courtyard were three rows of chiseled stones and one row of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple and the hall of the palace. ¹⁴ 

[5:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and the king commanded.”

[5:18]  ² tn Heb “builders.”

[5:18]  ³ tn Heb “the Gebalites.” The reading is problematic and some emend to a verb form meaning, “set the borders.”

[5:18]  ⁴ tc The LXX includes the words “for three years.”

[6:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “finished stone of the quarry,” i.e., stones chiseled and shaped at the time they were taken out of the quarry.

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Or “valuable” (see 5:17).

[7:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to the measurement of chiseled [stone].”

[7:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “inside and out.”

[7:9]  ⁹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word טְפָחוֹת (tÿfakhot) is uncertain, but it is clear that the referent stands in opposition to the foundation.

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits” (it is unclear exactly what dimension is being measured). If both numbers refer to the length of the stones (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT), then perhaps stones of two different sizes were used in some alternating pattern.

[7:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on top,” or “above.”

[7:11]  ¹² tn Or “valuable” (see 5:17).

[7:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to the measurement of chiseled [stone].”

[7:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the porch of the temple.”