All these are all the buildings mentioned in verses 1-8. Many modern versions make this clear in translation.

Costly stones: As in 1 Kgs 5.17, costly renders a Hebrew adjective that often refers to something rare, expensive, or valuable. In this context, however, the meaning is not that these were some special kind of rare stone. Rather, these stones required the work of many men to dig them from the ground and shape them. In this sense they were costly. New Jerusalem Bible calls them “special stones,” Anchor Bible says “quality stone,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “choice stones.” Since these stones were limestone and not precious gemstones, translators should avoid a rendering that will suggest that these were costly stones such as diamonds, rubies, or some other valuable gemstones.

Hewn according to measure means that the stones were cut into the necessary sizes. Some other renderings of this phrase are “carefully cut” (New Century Version) and “cut to exact shape and measure” (Knox).

Sawed with saws, back and forth: Even though the sides of the stones inside the building were going to be covered with cedar panels, these stones were cut and shaped on all sides. This phrase is rendered by New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh as “smooth on all sides.” Anchor Bible provides another helpful model as follows: “smoothed with a smoothing tool, inside and out.” The difficulty here is that the exact nature of the tool translated saws is not certain.

The English word coping is a technical term of architecture that refers to the covering over a wall, usually with a sloping top. This translates a Hebrew technical term whose exact meaning is not known. The context, however, suggests something at the top of the buildings like “coping” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “eaves” (Good News Translation, Gray). However, not all scholars accept this understanding; and on the basis of similarities with an ancient non-Hebrew text, they claim that this Hebrew noun refers to wooden beams on top of the stone foundation, on which the building was then constructed. This is the basis for the translations “bonding course” (New American Bible) and “framework” (De Vries).

And from the court of the house of the LORD to the great court: The Revised Standard Version translation is based on a correction of the Hebrew text on the basis of verse 12. The Revised English Bible rendering “and from the court of the house as far as the great court” is also a proposed correction of the Hebrew. New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible omit these words altogether, considering them to be a later addition taken from the end of verse 12.

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text, which reads “and from outside to the great court” (so New Revised Standard Version, Anchor Bible). It is not clear, however, exactly what the Masoretic Text means. Perhaps the meaning is correctly expressed by New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which reads “and all the way out to the great courtyard.” Or perhaps the intended sense is that the stones mentioned here were also used to construct the wall around the great court (so Good News Translation; see verse 12). For the last half of this verse, Bible en français courant says “They were used from the foundation to the roof, and in the exterior constructions, for the walls of the great court” (similarly Parole de Vie).

The great court refers to the palace court. A wall surrounded the entire palace complex of buildings (see the comments on 1 Kgs 6.36).

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 .