< 2 Chronicles 2 >
1 And Solomon saith to build a house for the name of Jehovah, 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 numbereth seventy thousand men bearing burden, and eighty thousand men hewing in the mountain, and overseers over them — three thousand and 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 sendeth unto Huram king of Tyre, saying, 'When thou hast dealt with David my father, then thou dost send to him cedars to build for 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 building a house to the name of Jehovah my God, to sanctify [it] to Him, to make perfume before Him, perfume of spices, and a continual arrangement, and burnt-offerings at morning and at evening, at sabbaths, and at new moons, and at appointed seasons of Jehovah our God; to the age this [is] on 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 that I am building [is] great, for greater [is] our God than all gods;
[We want] this temple [to] be a great temple, because our God is greater than all other gods.
6 and who doth retain strength to build to Him a house, for the heavens, even the heavens of the heavens, do not contain Him? and who [am] I that I do build to Him a house, except to make perfume 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 'And now, send to me a wise man to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and knowing to grave gravings with the wise men who [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father prepared;
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 to me cedar-trees, firs, and algums from Lebanon, for I have known that thy servants know to cut down trees of Lebanon, and lo, my servants [are] 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 even to prepare for me trees in abundance, for the house that I am building [is] great and 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, to hewers, to those cutting the trees, I have given beaten wheat to thy servants, cors twenty thousand, and barley, cors twenty thousand, and wine, baths twenty thousand, and oil, baths twenty thousand.'
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 And Huram king of Tyre saith in writing, and sendeth unto Solomon: 'In the love of Jehovah to His people He hath given thee king over them.'
[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 saith, 'Blessed [is] Jehovah, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, knowing wisdom and understanding, who doth build a house for Jehovah, 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 'And now, I have sent a wise man having understanding, of 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, and his father a man of Tyre), knowing to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stones, and in wood, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, and to grave any graving, and to devise any device that is 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 'And, now, the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, as my lord said, let him send to 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 — we cut trees out of Lebanon, according to all thy need, and bring them in to thee — floats by sea, to Joppa, and thou dost take 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 And Solomon numbereth all the men, the sojourners who [are] in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father numbered them, and they are found a hundred and fifty thousand, and 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 maketh of them seventy thousand burden-bearers, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers, to cause the people to 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.