quarries

Sources of construction stone, whether cut from the sides of outcrops or dug from beneath soil layers. The labor involved was immense (1Kgs 5:13-18) for large projects, and sometimes proverbially dangerous (Eccl 10:9). In prosperous times the products were commercially available (2Kgs 12:12; 2Kgs 22:6; 2Chr 34:11). Finishing the product was sometimes done at the quarry site (1Kgs 6:7), whether for economic, religious, or aesthetic reasons, and the labor could be under royal project command as well (2Chr 2:2; 2Chr 2:18).