2 Chronicles 2
1 Solomon ordered the building of a Temple to honor the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
And Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom.
2 He allocated 70,000 men as laborers, 80,000 as stone cutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as foremen.
And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand stone-masons in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to superintend them.
3 Solomon sent a message to Hiram, king of Tyre, telling him,
And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein [so do for me].
4 “Please do as you did with my father David when you sent him cedar timber for him to build a palace to live in. I'm about to start building a Temple to honor the Lord my God, dedicated to him, where he will be offered sweet-smelling incense, where the showbread will be always set out in rows, and where burnt offerings will be made every morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon festivals, and at the feasts of the Lord our God—this to be done forever in Israel.
Behold, I build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God to dedicate it to him, to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual arrangement [of the shewbread], and for the morning and evening burnt-offerings [and] on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God. This is [an ordinance] for ever to Israel.
5 This Temple I am about to build must be impressive, because our God is greater than all gods.
And the house that I will build is great; for great is our God above all gods.
6 But who can build a Temple for him to live in, for the heavens, even highest heaven, cannot contain him, and who am I that I should dare to build him a house, except to burn incense to him?
But who is able to build him a house, seeing the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to burn sacrifice before him?
7 So please send me a master craftsman who is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron; and in purple, scarlet, and blue fabrics. He must also know how to engrave, working together with my expert craftsmen from Judea and Jerusalem provided by my father David.
And now send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and experienced in carving, besides the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
8 Also send me cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your workers are skillful in cutting down the trees of Lebanon. I will send men to help your workers
Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants are experienced in cutting timber in Lebanon; and behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
9 to produce a large quantity of timber because the Temple I'm building will be really large and very impressive.
even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house that I build shall be great and wonderful.
10 I will pay your workers, the wood-cutters, 20,000 cors of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”
And behold, I will give to thy servants the hewers that fell timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
11 King Hiram of Tyre responded to Solomon by letter: “It's because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king.”
And Huram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Jehovah loved his people, he made thee king over them.
12 Hiram went on, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son with insight and understanding who is going to build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
And Huram said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom.
13 I'm sending you Hiram-Abi, a master craftsman who knows and understands what he's doing.
And now, I send a skilful man, endued with understanding, Huram Abi,
14 His mother is from the tribe of Dan and his father is from Tyre. He's an expert in working with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson fabric, and fine linen. He can do all kinds of engraving and can make any design he's given. He'll work with your craftsmen and with the craftsmen of my lord, your father David.
the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and whose father was a man of Tyre, experienced in working in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in byssus, and in crimson, and for doing any manner of engraving, and for inventing every device which shall be put to him, besides thy skilful men, and the skilful men of my lord David thy father.
15 Now my lord, please send to us his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he spoke about.
And now the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants.
16 We will cut all timber you need from Lebanon and take it to you by sea in rafts to Joppa. From there you can transport it to Jerusalem.”
And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee [in] floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.
17 Solomon had a census taken of all the foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father David had conducted, and found there were 153,600.
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the account that David his father had taken of them, and there were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.
18 He allocated 70,000 as laborers, 80,000 as stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as foremen.
And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand to be stone-masons in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people to work.
