So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men of Gebal did the hewing: The Hebrew word rendered builders can be used to refer to specialized activities, so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “masons” because of the context. In some languages a more general expression such as “construction workers” (NET Bible) may be used.

Gebal was an ancient Phoenician coastal city located about 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of modern-day Beirut. Its name today is Jubail, but it is known in ancient Greek literature by the name “Byblos.” The people of Gebal imported papyrus reeds from Egypt and made paper from the reeds. From this the city received the name “Byblos,” which means “book.”

In addition to the literal translation the men of Gebal (New International Version, Revised Standard Version), modern translations give a variety of translations, such as “the Gebalites” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible), “the Giblites” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “men from the city of Byblos” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Contemporary English Version retains the name “Gebal” in the text and then explains in a footnote that it was “later known as Byblos.” If the name of this city is already known in its Greek form in the receptor language, it may be wise to follow the model of Good News Translation. But if the city is not known, then it may be better to transliterate the Hebrew form of the name.

The first part of this verse in Hebrew literally reads “And did the hewing Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalim.” With a slight change in a couple of letters in the Hebrew word rendered “and the Gebalim,” some interpreters suggest that the Hebrew originally contained a form of the verb gabal, which has the technical sense of “to square off” or “to give edges.” On this basis De Vries translates this part of the verse as follows: “And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did the shaping and gave them edges” (similarly Gray). This is an attractive suggestion, but translators should follow the Masoretic Text rather than a “correction” with no direct textual evidence.

Did the hewing is “shaped the blocks” (Revised English Bible).

A more literal rendering of the whole verse than that in Revised Standard Version reads:

• And they did the hewing Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites, and they prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

It is possible, and probably preferable, to take the last half of this verse as a summary of the entire chapter and not just a summary of the first half of this verse. The first pronoun “they” will then refer only to masons, that is, to those men who worked on the stones. The second pronoun “they” will then refer to all of the men involved in the work, both those working on stone and those working on lumber. Compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which follows this interpretation:

• Solomon’s masons, Hiram’s masons, and the men of Gebal shaped them. Thus the timber and the stones for building the house were made ready.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .