2 Chronicles 2
1 Then Solomon gave word to build a house for the Name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.
Solomon ordered that a temple should be built where Yahweh would be worshiped and also that a palace should be built for himself.
2 And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men to hew in the mountain, —and, to oversee them, three thousand six hundred.
He selected 70,000 men to carry the building supplies and 80,000 men to cut stones [(from quarries/walls of rock) in] the hills. He also chose 3,600 men to supervise them.
3 And Solomon sent unto 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 in,
Solomon sent this message to King Hiram of Tyre [city]: “[Many years ago] when my father David was building his palace, you sent to him cedar logs. Will you send me cedar logs, too?
4 lo! I, am about to build a house for the Name of Yahweh my God, to hallow unto him—to burn before him sweet incense, and for a continual setting in array, and to offer ascending-sacrifices morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the appointed feasts of Yahweh our God, -age-abiding, is this [law] for Israel.
“We are about to build a temple where we will worship Yahweh our God. We want to dedicate it to be a place where we will burn fragrant incense to [honor] him, and a place to put loaves of sacred bread, and for making sacrifices every morning and every evening and every Sabbath day, and to celebrate on the day of every new moon and at other special religious festivals to [honor] Yahweh our God. We want to do those things forever, like Yahweh has commanded.
5 And, the house which I am about to build, [must be] great, —for great is our God, above all gods.
[We want] this temple [to] be a great temple, because our God is greater than all other gods.
6 But who is able to build unto him a house? for, the heavens, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain him, —who then am, I, that I should build unto him a house, though only to burn incense before him?
But no one can really build a temple that would be big enough for God [to live in], because even the highest heavens are not big enough for him. And I am worthy only to build a place where we can burn sacrifices to him.
7 Now, therefore, send me a wise man, to work in gold and in silver and in bronze and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and skilful to execute gravings, —with the wise men who are with me, in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David did provide.
Therefore, please send me a man who knows well how to make things from gold and silver and bronze and iron, and to make things from purple and red and blue cloth. He should also know well how to engrave designs. I want him to work in Jerusalem and in other places in Judah with my skilled craftsmen, the ones whom my father David appointed.
8 And send me—timbers of cedar, cypress and sandal-wood, out of the Lebanon, for, I, know that, thy servants, are skilful, to cut the timbers of Lebanon, —and lo! my servants shall be with thy servants:
I know that your workers are skilled in cutting timber, so also please send me cedar logs, pine logs, and juniper logs from the Lebanon mountains. My workers will work with your workers.
9 yea to prepare me timbers in abundance, —for, the house which I am about to build, [must be] great and most wonderful.
In that way, those workers will provide me with plenty of lumber. [We will need plenty, ] because I want the temple that we will build to be large and beautiful.
10 And lo! for the hewers that cut the timbers, have I given wheat as food for thy servants, twenty thousand measures, and barley, twenty thousand measures, and wine, twenty thousand baths, and oil, twenty thousand baths.
I will pay your workers, the men who cut the logs, 100,000 bushels of ground wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil.”
11 Then answered Huram king of Tyre, in writing, which he sent unto Solomon, —Because Yahweh hath loved his people, hath he set thee over them as king.
[When] Hiram [received that message, he] replied by sending this message to Solomon: “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has appointed you to be their king.”
12 And Huram said, Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, —who hath given, unto David the king, a wise son, skilled in prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.
[And Hiram added, ] “Praise Yahweh, the God to whom the Israeli people belong, the one who created the sky and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, one who is very smart/intelligent and who has good skill and understanding. He wants to build a temple for Yahweh and a palace for himself.
13 Now, therefore, have I sent a wise man, skilled in understanding, pertaining to Huram my father:
“I will be sending to you Huram-Abi, a man who is very skilled.
14 son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre, skilled to work in gold and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stones and in timber, in purple, in blue and in fine white linen, and in crimson, and to grave any manner of graving, and to devise any manner of device that may be given to him, with thy wise men, and the wise men of my lord David thy father.
His mother was from the tribe of Dan, and his father was from [here in] Tyre. He is very able to make things from gold and silver and bronze and iron and stone and wood, but he also makes nice things from purple and blue and red cloth, and he does all kinds of engraving. He can make things using any design/pattern that you give to him. He will work with your craftsmen, and the craftsmen who did work for your father, King David.
15 Now, therefore, the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, whereof my lord hath spoken, let him send unto his servants;
“Now please send us the wheat and barley and olive oil and wine that you promised to send to us.
16 and, we, will cut down timbers out of the Lebanon, according to all thy need, and will bring them unto thee in floats, upon the sea to Joppa, —and, thou, shalt fetch them up to Jerusalem.
When you do that, my workers will cut from trees in the Lebanon mountains all the logs that you need [and bring them down to the sea]. Then we will [tie the logs together to] form rafts with them, and float them in the sea to Joppa [city]. From there, you [can arrange for] them [to be] taken up to Jerusalem.
17 So Solomon numbered all the men that were sojourners, who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering, wherewith David his father had numbered them, —and they were found to be—a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.
Solomon told his workers to count all the people from other countries who were living in Israel, similar to what his father David had done. There were 153,600 of them.
18 And he made up from among them—seventy thousand, to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew in the mountain, —and three thousand and six hundred, as overseers, to keep the people at work.
Solomon assigned 70,000 of them to carry materials, and 80,000 to cut stone [from quarries in] the hills, and 3,600 of them to supervise the others and be sure that they worked steadily.
