cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (Source: Don Slager)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 7:10

Costly stones, huge stones: New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh calls them “huge blocks of choice stone.” Regarding the adjective costly in this context, see the comments on the previous verse.

Stones of eight and ten cubits: Regarding cubits, see the comments on 1 Kgs 6.2. Good News Translation again uses “feet” as the unit of measure. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy renders the size of the stones as “some four and a half meters long and others three meters and sixty centimeters long.” Bible en français courant rounds this off to “four and five meters long.” The Hebrew does not indicate in this verse whether these measurements refer to the height, width, or length of the stone blocks. Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy all understand these figures to refer to stones cut to two different lengths. But it is also possible to understand the sense to be “ten cubits long and eight cubits high” (so De Vries in his commentary, but not his translation).

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 .