Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.
Send me now therefore a man cunning to work. Masons and carpenters were not asked for: those whom David had obtained (1 Chronicles 14:1) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem, and had instructed others: but he required a master of works-a person capable, like Bezaleel (Exodus 35:31), of superintending and directing every department; because, as the division of labour was at that time little known or observed, an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience.
That can skill to grave, х wªyodeea` (H3045) lªpateeach (H6605)] - that knows how to engrave. Skill is an obsolete word, superseded by the modern equivalent, skilled, skillful; pituwchiym (H6603), in carved works; `im (H5973) hachakaamiym (H2450), with the cunning (another old English word) men - i:e., the skilled in the mechanical arts. The things specified in which he was to be skilled, relate not to the building, but the furniture of the temple. Iron, which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built, was now, through contact with the coast, plentiful, and much used. The cloths intended for curtains were, from the crimson, or scarlet-red, and hyacinth colours named, evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous. 'The graving' probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework, as well as wood-carving of pomegranates and other ornaments.