2 Chronicles 2

1 And Solomon ordered to build a house for the name of the Lord, and a house for his royal residence.

Now it was Solomon's purpose to put up a house for the name of the Lord and a house for himself as king.

2 And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and as superintendents over them three thousand and six hundred.

And Solomon had seventy thousand men numbered for transport, and eighty thousand for cutting stone in the mountains, and three thousand, six hundred as overseers.

3 And Solomon sent to Churam the king of Tyre, saying, As thou hast dealt with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein, [even so deal with me].

And Solomon sent to Huram, king of Tyre, saying, As you did for my father David, sending him cedar-trees for the building of his house,

4 Behold, I am building a house to the name of the Lord my God, to sanctify it to him, to burn before him incense of spices, and for the continual rows of show-bread, and for the burnt-offerings at morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new-moons, and on the stated festivals of the Lord our God: this being for ever obligatory on Israel.

See! I am building a house for the name of the Lord my God, to be made holy to him, where perfumes of sweet spices will be burned before him, and the holy bread will be placed at all times, and burned offerings will be offered morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts of the Lord our God. This is a law for ever to Israel.

5 And the house which I am building is great; for greater is our God than all the gods.

And the house which I am building is to be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

6 But who possesseth the power to build him a house? for the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: and who am I then, that I should build him a house, save only to burn incense before him?

But who may have strength enough to make a house for him, seeing that the heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be his resting-place? who am I then to make a house for him? But I am building it only for the burning of perfume before him.

7 And now send me a skilful man to work in gold, and in silver and in copper, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that understandeth how to engrave with the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father hath provided.

So now send me an expert worker in gold and silver and brass and iron? in purple and red and blue, and in the cutting of all sorts of ornament, to be with the expert workmen who are here in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David got together.

8 Send me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and sandal-wood, from the Lebanon; for I know well that thy servants have the skill to cut the trees of Lebanon: and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,

And send me cedar-trees, cypress-trees and sandal-wood from Lebanon, for, to my knowledge, your servants are expert wood-cutters in Lebanon; and my servants will be with yours,

9 Even to prepare for me timber in abundance; for the house which I am building is to be wonderfully great.

To get trees for me in great numbers, for the house which I am building is to be great and a wonder.

10 And, behold, for the hewers that cut the timber will I give unto thy servants twenty thousand cors of threshed wheat, and twenty thousand cors of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

And I will give as food to your servants, the wood-cutters, twenty thousand measures of grain, and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand measures of wine and twenty thousand measures of oil.

11 Then answered Churam the king of Tyre in writing, and he sent it to Solomon, Out of the love of the Lord for his people hath he set thee as king over them.

Then Huram, king of Tyre, sent Solomon an answer in writing, saying, Because of his love for his people the Lord has made you king over them.

12 And Churam said, Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, that hath made the heavens and the earth, who hath given to king David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and understanding, who is to build a house unto the Lord, and a house for royal residence.

And Huram said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, maker of heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, full of wisdom and good sense, to be the builder of a house for the Lord and a house for himself as king.

13 And now have I sent a skilful man, endowed with understanding, namely, Churam-Abi,

And now I am sending you a wise and expert man, Huram who is as my father,

14 The son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, while his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in copper, in iron, in stone, and in wood, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to execute any manner of engraving, and to devise every kind of work of art which may be given to him, together with thy skilful men, and skilful men of my lord David thy father.

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre, an expert worker in gold and silver and brass and iron, in stone and wood, in purple and blue and fair linen and red, trained in the cutting of every sort of ornament and the invention of every sort of design; let him be given a place among your expert workmen and those of my lord, your father David.

15 And now the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, of which my lord hath spoken, let him send unto his servants:

So now let my lord send to his servants the grain and the oil and the wine as my lord has said;

16 And we will truly cut down trees out of the Lebanon, as much as thou mayest need; and we will bring them to thee in boats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry them up to Jerusalem.

And we will have wood cut from Lebanon, as much as you have need of, and will send it to you on flat boats by sea to Joppa, and from there you may take it up to Jerusalem.

17 And Solomon numbered all the strange men that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found to be one hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.

Then Solomon took the number of all the men from strange lands who were living in Israel, as his father David had done; there were a hundred and fifty-three thousand, six hundred.

18 And he made of them seventy thousand bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred superintendents to set the people to work.

Seventy thousand he put to the work of transport, eighty thousand to cutting stone in the mountains, and three thousand, six hundred as overseers to put the people to work.