Solomon left all the vessels unweighed: All the vessels refers to all of the above listed items made of bronze. The Hebrew verb translated left … unweighed is the causative form of a root meaning “to rest.” Most translations give it the meaning “cause to leave untouched” here, in the sense that Solomon did not require any of his servants to weigh these objects of bronze.

The weight of the bronze was not found out: This passive construction may be made active by saying that “no one found out the weight….”

In certain languages the order of the different elements in this verse will be modified so that it will read something like the following:

• No one ever knew how much all these bronze objects weighed because there were so many of them that Solomon did not cause his servants to weigh the bronze objects.

Unlike most other translations, Revised English Bible does not follow the sense division of this verse as expressed in the Masoretic Text. In the Masoretic Text the first part of this verse ends with the words translated so many of them and the word unweighed is implied. But Revised English Bible ends the first half of the verse with the word vessels. Therefore it takes the Hebrew verb at the beginning of this verse to mean “to leave [somewhere]”; that is, the vessels are put in their places in the Temple. The Revised English Bible translation, therefore, says “Solomon put all these objects in their places; so great was the quantity of bronze used in their making that the weight of it was beyond all reckoning.” In this context the Revised English Bible translation makes good sense, but it is more likely that Revised Standard Version and most other similar translations have expressed the intended meaning.

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 .