The weight of the nails was one shekel to fifty shekels of gold: For the weight of a shekel, see the comments on 2 Chr 1.17. Fifty shekels was the equivalent of about “More than a pound” (Contemporary English Version) or “twenty ounces” (Good News Translation), that is, one and a quarter pounds or about six-tenths of a kilogram. Bible en français courant expresses the metric equivalent as “five hundred grams,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “a half kilo.”

The precise sense of this clause is uncertain. According to the interpretation followed in Revised Standard Version, the ratio of the weight of the nails to that of the gold was one shekel of nails to fifty shekels of gold. Others understand the Hebrew to mean that all of the nails used had a combined weight of 20 ounces of gold. But 20 ounces is too little for the combined weight of all the nails that would have been needed since the gold leaf on the walls weighed around 25 tons, but this is the impression given by the Good News Translation rendering (also Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous). However, 20 ounces is also too much for the weight of one nail. According to the Septuagint, each nail weighed fifty shekels of gold. Peregrino follows this interpretation by saying “The nails, which were made of gold, weighed each one a half kilo.” But other interpretations of the Hebrew are also possible. Reina-Valera revisada says “The gold nails weighed from one to fifty shekels.”

A number of translations are ambiguous as to how this clause is to be understood. Compare the following: “The weight of the gold for the nails was fifty shekels” (Dillard) and “The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold” (New Revised Standard Version; similarly New American Bible, Osty-Trinquet). It is not clear in these translations whether each nail weighed fifty shekels, or whether all of the nails together weighed that amount.

Since gold is relatively soft, it seems unlikely that the nails were made of gold. More likely, gold leaf was used to cover the heads of the nails. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text here and says the meaning is “the weight for the nails (= to cover the nails) was fifty shekels of gold.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a good model for this meaning, saying “For the gold-plating of the nails, a half kilo was needed.” Compare also Contemporary English Version, which says “More than a pound of gold was used to cover the heads of the nails.” This seems quite reasonable since only the heads would be visible when the work was completed.

And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold: The meaning of the Hebrew expression rendered upper chambers is not clear. The following interpretations have been suggested:

• (1) Many versions take the Hebrew as referring to “upper rooms” in the Temple on the sides of the Temple (see 1 Kgs 6.5-6, 8-10; 1 Chr 28.11). Following this interpretation, Contemporary English Version has “The walls of the small storage rooms were also covered with gold.”

• (2) Some interpreters think that the writer was referring to upper rooms within the Most Holy Place, but this seems unlikely since no other passage in the Old Testament refers to such rooms there.

• (3) But another interpretation is also possible. According to 1 Kgs 6.20, the Most Holy Place was 20 cubits high. And according to the Masoretic Text of 1 Kgs 6.2, the Temple was 30 cubits high. This seems to suggest that either (a) the Most Holy Place was raised 10 cubits from the ground and that steps led up into it, or (b) there was an empty space of 10 cubits between the ceiling of the Most Holy Place and the ceiling of the Temple. Translators will find drawings of the Temple in some commentaries and biblical dictionaries that have steps leading up to the Most Holy Place. Other drawings, based on the second interpretation, show a loft, or empty space, above the Most Holy Place. If there was an empty space of 10 cubits between the ceiling of the Most Holy Place and the ceiling of the Temple, it may have been this place that was overlaid … with gold. This seems to be the basis for the La Bible du Semeur rendering, which reads “He also had the ceilings covered with gold” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, El libro del Pueblo de Dios).

The implied subject of the verb overlaid is Solomon, but as in other such cases he almost certainly did not do the work himself. Rather, he had this work done by others. So in some languages it will be necessary to say “he had the upper chambers overlaid with gold” or to use a causative verb form.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .