Preparations for Building the Temple
1
Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the LORD
and a royal palace for himself.
2
He conscripted seventy thousand men as carriers and eiththy thousand
as stonecutters in the hills and thirty-six hundred as formen over them.
3
Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of Tyre: "Send me cedar logs
as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace live in.
4
Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God
and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him,
for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings
every morning and evening and on Sabbaths and New Moons and at
the appointed feast of the LORD our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.
5
"The temple I am going to build will be great,
because our God is greater than all other gods.
6
But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens,
even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build
a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrificed before him?
7
"Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron,
and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving,
to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled craftsmen, whom my father
David provided.
8
"Send me also cedar, pine and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that
your men are skilled in cutting timber there. My men will work with yours
9
to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build
must be large and magnificent.
10
I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors
of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine
and twewnty thousand baths of olive oil."
11
Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:
"Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you their king."
12
And Hiram added:
"Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!
He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment,
who will build a temple for the LORD and a palace for himself.
13
"I am sending you Huram-Abi, a man of great skill,
14
whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained
to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple
and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of
engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your
craftsmen and with those of my lord, David your father.
15
"Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil
and wine he promised,
16
and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float
them in rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem."
17
Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were in Israel,
after the census his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600.
18
He assigned 70,000 of the to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters
in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.
