Gebalites

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

1Ki_5:18 R.V., in KJV incorrectly rendered, after the Targum, “stone-squarers,” but marg. “Giblites”), the inhabitants of Gebal (2).

gē´bal-īts (הגּבלים, ha-gibhlīm):

Inhabitants of Gebal (which see). According to the present text of Jos_13:5, “the land of the Gebalites” was given to Israel as part of its future territory. But it was never occupied by the Israelites. Septuagint, however, has a very different reading, indicating an early corruption of the text. Perhaps with many modern scholars it is better to read “to the borders of the Gebalites.”

In 1Ki_5:18 the King James Version translates this word “stone-squarers,” the King James Version margin gives “Giblites,” and the Revised Version (British and American) “Gebalites,” as workmen who, with the men of Solomon and of Hiram, fashioned the stones for the temple. Here also the text is doubtful, and some by a slight change would read: “and made a border for them” (i.e. for the stones). In Eze_27:9 the men of Gebal are described as the “calkers” of the ships of Tyre and Sidon.