What the Bible Says About the Meaning of Carpenter

Scripture

⁵⁴ And coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
⁵⁶ And are not his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Matthew 13:54-58

Mark 6:1-6: ¹ He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
² And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?
³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
⁴ And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

1 Kings 5:13-18: ¹³ And King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.
¹⁴ And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
¹⁵ Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country,
¹⁶ besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.
¹⁷ At the king’s command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.
¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

2 Chronicles 2:1-18: ¹ Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal palace for himself.
² And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 to oversee them.
³ And Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: “As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me.
⁴ Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before him, and for the regular arrangement of the showbread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.
⁵ The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.
⁶ But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?
⁷ Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants,
⁸ Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants,
⁹ And who among the wise men of Solomon’s time can interpret the meaning of the king’s words?
¹⁰ And see that you have with you the skilled men, whom I have assigned to work with you in building the house for my name.
¹¹ Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.”
¹² Hiram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
¹³ And now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi,
¹⁴ the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father.
¹⁵ Now therefore the wheat and barley, oil and wine, of which my lord has spoken, let him send to his servants.
¹⁶ And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, so that you may take it up to Jerusalem.”
¹⁷ Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600.
¹⁸ And he set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens and eighty thousand to quarry in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

Exodus 31:1-11: ¹ The Lord said to Moses,
² “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,”
³ and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,
⁴ to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,
⁵ to cut stones for setting, and to carve wood, to work in every craft.
⁶ And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you:
⁷ the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent,
⁸ the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
⁹ It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
¹⁰ the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests,
¹¹ to be skilled, in working stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft.

Exodus 35:30-35: ³⁰ Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
³¹ and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship,
³² to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,
³³ And in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, for work in every skilled craft.
³⁴ And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.
³⁵ He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.

Isaiah 44:12-13: ¹² The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.
¹³ The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.

1 Kings 6:1-38: ¹ In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.
² The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
³ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits.
⁴ And for the house he made windows with recessed frames.
⁵ He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around.
⁶ The lowest storey was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.
⁷ When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
⁸ The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.
⁹ So he built the House and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the House of beams and planks of cedar.
¹⁰ And he built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
¹¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
¹² “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.”
¹³ And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.
¹⁴ So Solomon built the house and finished it.
¹⁵ He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
¹⁶ He also built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.
¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.
¹⁸ The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.
¹⁹ The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.
²¹ So Solomon overlaid the house on the inside with pure gold.
²² And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished. And the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.
²⁴ And five cubits was the length of the wings of the cherubim.
²⁵ The doors for the most holy place were made of olive wood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.
²⁶ The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.
²⁷ He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house.
²⁸ And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
²⁹ Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.
³⁰ He also overlaid the floor of the house with gold, in the inner and outer rooms.
³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.
³² So he built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
³³ So also he made for the entrance to the nave four-sided doorposts of olive wood
³⁴ And the two doors were of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
³⁵ He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.
³⁶ And he built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.
³⁷ In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.
³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

1 Kings 7:13-51: ¹³ And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.
¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.
¹⁵ He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference. It was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers. The second pillar was the same.
¹⁶ He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
¹⁷ There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital.
¹⁸ So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pomegranates. And so he did for the other capital.
¹⁹ So he set the pillars at the entrance of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north.
²⁰ There were capitals on the two pillars, above the rounded projection next to the latticework.
²¹ And he set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz.
²² And on the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.
²³ Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
²⁴ And under the brim of it round about there were knops, compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea all around. The knops were cast in two rows when it was cast.
²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.
²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
²⁷ He made ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
²⁸ And the four wheels were underneath the panels. The axles of the wheels were of one piece with the panels, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
²⁹ And on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Upon the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.
³⁰ And each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.
³¹ Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit from it. Its opening was round, as a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. And also on its opening there were engravings, and their panels were square, not round.
³² And the four wheels were underneath the panels. The axles of the wheels were of one piece with the stands, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
³³ The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.
³⁴ And there were four supports at the four corners of each stand. The supports were of one piece with the stands.
³⁵ He set up the stands on the right side of the house, and when he had set up the sea on the right side of the house, the south side of the house was finished.
³⁶ For on the plates of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.
³⁷ He made the ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
³⁸ He made ten basins of bronze. Each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits, and there was a basin for each of the ten stands.
³⁹ He set the basin between the sea and the landings; at the southeast corner.
⁴⁰ Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord:
⁴¹ The two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;
⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;
⁴³ And the ten stands, and the ten basins on the stands;
⁴⁴ and the one sea, twelve oxen underneath it.
⁴⁵ and the pots, the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze.
⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not ascertained.
⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence,
⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold with their lamps, to burn before the inner sanctuary according to the rule;
⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold; and the sockets of gold, for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple.
⁵¹ Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

Nehemiah 3:1-32: ¹ Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel.
² And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.
³ The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.
⁴ And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. Next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. Next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired.
⁵ And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.
⁶ Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Gate of Yeshanah. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.
⁷ And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River.
⁸ Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
⁹ Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired.
¹⁰ Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah repaired.
¹¹ Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.
¹² And next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.
¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.
¹⁴ And the Dung Gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.
¹⁵ And Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king’s garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.
¹⁶ After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men.
¹⁷ After him the Levites repaired, Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district.
¹⁸ After him their brothers repaired Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah.
¹⁹ Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.
²⁰ After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section, from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.
²¹ After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section, from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.
²² And after him the priests, the men of the surrounding area,
²³ After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, repaired beside his own house.
²⁴ After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress.
²⁵ Palal the son of Uzai repaired opposite the buttress and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard.
²⁶ and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower.
²⁷ After them the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.
²⁸ Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house.
²⁹ After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. And after him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired.
³⁰ After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber.
³¹ After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper chamber of the corner.
³² And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

Acts 18:1-3: ¹ After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
² And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,
³ and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.