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decided to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, and a royal palace for himself. 2 He conscripted seventy thousand men to carry loads, eighty thousand as stonecutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred as supervisors over them.
3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of Tyre:
As you once sent cedar logs for my father David to build a palace to live in, send me cedar logs too. 4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to Him to burn fragrant incense before Him, for the regular offering of consecrated bread, and for making burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the appointed feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for Israel forever.
5 The temple that I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who is able to build Him a temple, since even heaven and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then that I should build a temple for Him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before Him?
7 Therefore, send me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to join with the craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
8 Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with your servants 9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, because the temple I am building will be great and wonderful. 10 I will give your servants, the woodcutters who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
11 Then Hiram the king of Tyre wrote a letter to Solomon in reply:
Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.
12 Hiram also 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 understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13 I am sending you Huram-abi, a skilled man endowed with understanding, 14 the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father is a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and with purple, blue, and crimson yarn and fine yarn, and to do all kinds of engraving and execute any design that may be given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord, David your father.
15 Now, let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, oil, and wine he promised. 16 We will cut timber from Lebanon, as much as you need, and bring it to you on rafts by sea to Joppa. You can then take it up to Jerusalem.
17 Then Solomon took a census of all the foreign residents who were in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had taken; and there were found to be 153,600. 18 He assigned 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as supervisors to make the people work.