complete verse (1 Kings 6:33)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 6:33:

  • Kupsabiny: “He also made a door/entrance that led to the Sitting room that had four grooves. The frames to this door/entrance were of olive tree/wood.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “In the same way he made square wood posts of wood of the olive tree for the door of the main room of the temple.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Solomon had- also -made the entrance going-inside the temple with a rectangle doorposts made of olive wood.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They made a rectangular door frame from olive tree wood, and put it between the entrance room and the main room.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 6:33

So also is literally “And thus.” Since the list of things made is beginning to get a little long, the writer probably added the word meaning “thus” or “in this way.” Together with the common Hebrew conjunction, it would mean here “In the same way” as he had the other things made earlier in this chapter. Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible translate this phrase as “Similarly,” and New American Bible begins this verse with “The same was done….”

He made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood: The doors referred to in verses 33 and 34 separated the vestibule at the front of the Temple (verse 3) from the nave. Note that it is the “doorframe” (Good News Translation) that was made of olivewood and not the doors themselves, which were made of cypress wood (verse 34).

In the form of a square: The Revised Standard Version rendering reflects the most common understanding of the Hebrew. The Good News Translation rendering “rectangular” represents the same interpretation (also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh with “having four sides”), but it is doubtful that either correctly translates the meaning of the Hebrew. New Jerusalem Bible renders this “and door jambs with four indented sections” (similarly Bible de Jérusalem), and this is probably the correct understanding (see the comments on verse 31). In agreement with their translations in verse 31, King James Version says here “a fourth part of the wall,” Nouvelle Bible Segond says “a fourth of the dimension of the wall,” and Anchor Bible reads “a fourth (of the wall).” According to this last interpretation, the entrance would have been five cubits wide.

A possible translation of this verse is:

• Similarly, for the entrance to the main room a doorway with four doorframes was made; each one of the frames was set inside of the next larger frame. They were made of olive wood.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Kings 6:33

6:33a In the same way

Solomon constructed the entryway to the house in a similar manner.
-or-
That was the way in which he also had the temple entrance built.

6:33b he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

He made doorposts from olive wood. The entryway stretched across one fourth/quarter of the front wall of the house.
-or-

⌊In the entrance⌋ he had his workers put doorframes made of wood from the wild olive/pine tree. The doorway was one fourth as wide as the temple itself.

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