Passage

1 Chronicles 22.2

Book: 1 Chronicles · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

Then David said, This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.

2. And David commanded to gather together the sojourners that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4. and cedar - trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar - trees in abundance to David. (1 Chronicles 22:1-4, ASV)

WEB

Then David said, “This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

2. David gave orders to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut dressed stones to build God’s house.

David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4. and cedar trees without number, for the Sidonians and the people of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David. (1 Chronicles 22:1-4, WEB)

KJV

Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.

2. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4. Also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. (1 Chronicles 22:1-4, KJV)

YLT

And David saith, 'This is the house of Jehovah God, and this the altar for burnt-offering for Israel.'

2. And David saith to gather the sojourners who [are] in the land of Israel, and appointeth hewers to hew hewn-stones to build a house of God.

And iron in abundance for nails for leaves of the gates, and for couplings, hath David prepared, and brass in abundance, there is no weighing. 4. And cedar-trees even without number, for the Zidonians and the Tyrians brought in cedar-trees in abundance to David. (1 Chronicles 22:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: narrator (the Chronicler)
Audience: the restored community in the Persian province of Yehud, rebuilding around temple and priesthood with no king of their own
Location: Jerusalem, at the temple site
Time period: events of David's reign, c. 1010-970 BC, narrated by a writer working after the return from Babylon, commonly placed c. 400 BC

Theological reading

David's preparation of materials for a temple he would not build. The workers are the gerim, the resident foreigners in the land, and the verse is sometimes cited as evidence of forced labor under David comparable to Solomon's levy in 1 Kings 9:20-21.

The text here says only that he gathered them and set masons to work, without describing the terms, so a confident verdict in either direction goes past the evidence. What can be said is that the ger holds a protected legal status in the Torah, with repeated commands to love him, judge him impartially, pay him his wages, and include him in Sabbath rest and in the festivals (Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 24:14-15, Deuteronomy 16:11). Any reading of this verse has to be squared with that legal background rather than read straight off the practice of neighboring monarchies._

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.