1Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal house for himself.

2Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

3Then Solomon sent to 2:3 Heb. Huram; cf. 1 Kin. 5:1Hiram king of Tyre, saying:

4Behold, I am building a temple for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him 2:4 Lit. incense of spicessweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the 2:4 appointedset feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

5And the temple which I build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

6But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?

7Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver, in bronze and iron, in purple and crimson and blue, who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

8Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and indeed my servants will be with your servants,

9to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the 2:9 Lit. housetemple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

10And indeed I will give to your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber, twenty thousand kors of ground wheat, twenty thousand kors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

11Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon:

122:12 Heb. Huram; cf. 1 Kin. 5:1Hiram also said:

13And now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, 2:13 Hiram, 1 Kin. 7:13Huram my 2:13 Lit. father, 1 Kin. 7:13, 14master craftsman

14(the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson, and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him, with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

15Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants.

16And we will cut wood from Lebanon, as much as you need; we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to 2:16 Heb. JaphoJoppa, and you will carry it up to Jerusalem.

17Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census in which David his father had numbered them; and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.

18And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.