1st Kings Chapter 5 verse 17 Holy Bible
And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone.
read chapter 5 in ASV
By the king's orders great stones, stones of high price, were cut out, so that the base of the house might be made of squared stone.
read chapter 5 in BBE
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
read chapter 5 in DARBY
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
read chapter 5 in KJV
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
read chapter 5 in WBT
The king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.
read chapter 5 in WEB
And the king commandeth, and they bring great stones, precious stone, to lay the foundation of the house, hewn stones;
read chapter 5 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 17. - And the king commanded and they brought [or cut out, quarried (Gesen.), as in Ecclesiastes 10:9; see also ch. 6:7 (Heb.) ] great stones, costly [precious, not heavy, as Thenius. Cf. Psalm 36:8; Psalm 45:9; Esther 1:4 in the Heb.], stones and [omit and. The hewed stones were the great and costly stones] hewed stones [or squared (Isaiah 9:10; cf. 1 Kings 6:36; 1 Kings 7:9; 1 Kings 11:12). We learn from 1 Kings 7:10 that the stones of the foundation of the palace were squared to 8 cubits and 10 cubits] to lay the foundation of the house. [Some of these great squared stones, we can hardly doubt, are found in situ at the present day. The stones at the south-east angle of the walls of the Haram (Mosque of Omar) are "unquestionably of Jewish masonry" (Porter, Handbook, p. 115). "One is 23 2:9 in. long; whilst others vary from 17 to 20 feet in length. Five courses of them are nearly entire" (ib.) As Herod, in rebuilding the edifice, would seem to have had nothing to do with the foundations, we may safely connect these huge blocks with the time of Solomon. It is also probable that some at least of the square pillars, ranged in fifteen rows, and measuring five feet each side, which form the foundations of the Mosque El Aksa, and the supports of the area of the Haram, are of the same date and origin (cf. Ewald, Hist. Israel, 3:233). Porter holds that they are "coeval with the oldest part of the external walls." Many of them, the writer observed, were monoliths. The extensive vaults which they enclose are unquestionably "the subterranean vaults of the temple area" mentioned by Josephus (B.J. 5:3. 1), and the "cavati sub terra montes" of Tacitus. It may be added here that the recent explorations in Jerusalem have brought to light many evidences of Phoenician handiwork.]
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(17) Great stones.--The stones, so emphatically described as "great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones," were necessary, not so much for "the foundation" of the Temple itself, which was small, but for the substructure of the area, formed into a square on the irregular summit of Mount Moriah. In this substructure vast stones are still to be seen, and are referred by many authorities to the age of Solomon. The labour of transport must have been enormous, especially as all were worked beforehand. (See 1Kings 6:7.)
