2 Chronicles 2

1Solomon decided to build a house for the name of Yahweh and a royal palace for himself.

2Solomon assigned seventy thousand men to carry loads, eighty thousand men to cut stone in the hill country, and 3,600 to supervise them.

3Then Solomon sent word to Hiram king of Tyre: “Deal with me as you dealt with David my father, when you sent him cedar to build himself a house to live in.

4I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God and dedicate it to him, for burning fragrant incense before him, for the regular setting out of the bread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed feasts of Yahweh our God. This is Israel’s duty forever.

5The house I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

6But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build him a house, except as a place to burn incense before him?

7So now send me a man skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn, one who knows how to engrave, to work with the skilled craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

8Also send me cedar, cypress, and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut the timber of Lebanon. My servants will work with your servants

9to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am building will be great and wonderful.

10For your servants, the woodcutters who cut the timber, I will provide twenty thousand kors of crushed wheat, twenty thousand kors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”

11Hiram king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon: “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.”

12Hiram went on to say, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, endowed with insight and understanding, who will build a house for Yahweh and a royal palace for himself.

13Now I am sending you a skilled man endowed with understanding, Huram-abi,

14the son of a woman from the tribe of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre. He knows how to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson yarn and fine linen. He can do any kind of engraving and carry out any design assigned to him, together with your skilled craftsmen and those of my lord David your father.

15Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley, the oil and wine, that he has spoken of,

16and we will cut all the timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa. Then you can take it up to Jerusalem.”

17Solomon counted all the foreigners living in the land of Israel, following the census his father David had taken of them, and they numbered 153,600.

18He made seventy thousand of them carriers, eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, and 3,600 supervisors to keep the people working.