1 Kings 5:18

and the stonesquarers The text of A.V. is due to the Targum, which translates by -masons". But the margin of A. V. suggests that the word is not a common but a proper noun and gives -Giblites" as in Ezekiel 27:9. This is certainly a much more natural combination, than to class along with the men of Solomon and the men of Hiram, the stone squarers as of a different order. In Ezekiel the men of Gebal are spoken of as skilled in caulking ships, and they were not improbably able handicraftsmen in other branches. Josephus gives us no help. He speaks merely of -workmen whom Hiram sent." But the Vulgate reads -Giblii" as a proper name and in many MSS. Bibliior Byblii. In the Vatican LXX. the verse is left out, but the Alexandrine gives καὶ οἱ Βίβλιοι. Now Gebal was a Phœnician city not far from the sea coast, to the north of Berytus (Beyrout). The Greeks called it Byblos, but the name is found also spelt Βίβλος (Zosim. i. 58; Ezekiel 27:9. LXX.). Thus the LXX. supports the proper name, which, to keep clear that it means the people of Gebal, we ought to write -the Gebalites." This has been adopted by R.V.