Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal:

even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, wherewith to overlay the walls of the houses;

Three thousand talents of gold of the gold of Ophir: and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the temple.

Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses with:

Even three thousand talents of gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of the best silver, for plating the walls of the house:

three thousand talents of gold, from the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of highly-refined silver, for the gilding of the walls of the temple;

The numbers here have also suffered to some extent from the carelessness of copyists (compare the 1-Chronicles 22:14 note). The amount of silver is not indeed improbable, since its value would not exceed three millions of our money; but as the gold would probably exceed in value thirty millions, we may suspect an error in the words "three thousand."

[Even] (c) three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses [withal]:
(c) He shows what he had of his own store for the Lord's house.

Even three thousand talents of gold,.... Which, according to Scheuchzer (c), amount to 36,660,000 ducats of gold; and, according to Brerewood (d), to 13,500,000 pounds of our money:
of the gold of Ophir; which was reckoned the best gold; not Ophir in India, which was not known till Solomon's time, but in Arabia, as Bochart (e) has shown; so Eupolemus (f), an Heathen writer, says, that David having built ships at Achan, a city of Arabia, sent miners to Urphe (supposed to be the same with Ophir) in the island of the Red sea, abounding with gold, and from thence fetched it; see Gill on 1Ki 9:28, and that he was able to give so great a sum out of his own substance, Dr. Prideaux (g) thinks, can only be accounted for by his great returns from this traffic; since these 3000 talents, according to him, amounted to 21,600,000 pounds sterling:
and seven thousand talents of refined silver; amounting, according to Scheuchzer (h), to 31,500,000 imperials, or rix dollars; and, according to Brerewood (i), to 2,625,000 pounds of our money:
to overlay the walls of the houses withal; the gold was to overlay the walls of the holy and most holy place, the silver to overlay the walls of the chambers built around the temple.
(c) Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631. (d) De Ponder. & Pret. Vet. Numbers. c. 5. (e) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. col. 140. (f) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447. (g) Connection, par. 1. p. 5, 6. (h) Ut supra. (Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631.) (i) Ut supra. (De Ponder. & Pret. Vet. Numbers. c. 5.)

Gold 3000 talents, i.e., about 13 1/2, or, reckoning according to the royal shekel, 6 3/4 millions of pounds; 7000 talents of silver, circa 2 1/2 or 1 1/4 millions of pounds: see on 1-Chronicles 22:14. Gold of Ophir, i.e., the finest, best gold, corresponding to the pure silver. לטוּח, to overlay the inner walls of the houses with gold and silver leaf. הבּתים as in 1-Chronicles 28:11, the different buildings of the temple. The walls of the holy place and of the most holy, of the porch and of the upper chambers, were overlaid with gold (cf. 2-Chronicles 3:4-6, 2-Chronicles 3:8-9), and probably only the inner walls of the side buildings.

Of Ophir - The best and purest gold. The walls - The walls of the temple with God, and of the rooms adjoining to it, with silver beaten out into plates.