2 Chronicles 2

1 And Solomon gathered seventy thousand men, and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, and the taskmasters over them were three thousand six hundred. [a]

2 And Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with my father David, and sent him cedars to build himself a house to live in — 3 look, I am his son, and I am building a house for the name of the Lord my God, to make it holy to him: to burn incense before him, and to set out the loaves before him continually, and to bring up whole burnt offerings continually, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths and at the new moons and at the feasts of the Lord our God. This is for Israel forever. [b] † 4 And the house that I am building is great, because our God is great beyond all gods. [c]

5 And who will have the strength to build him a house? For heaven, and the heaven of heaven, cannot bear his glory. And who am I, to build him a house — except to burn incense before him? [d] † 6 And now send me a man who is wise and knows how to work in gold and in silver and in bronze and in iron, and in purple and in scarlet and in blue, and who knows how to cut engravings, to work with the skilled men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David provided. [e]

7 And send me cedar wood, and juniper, and pine, from Lebanon, for I know that your slaves know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And look, your servants, together with my servants, 8 will go to make ready timber for me in abundance, for the house I am building is to be great and glorious. 9 And look — for the workmen who cut the timber I have given wheat for food, as gifts to your servants: 120,000 bushels of it, and 120,000 bushels of barley, and about 120,000 gallons of wine, and about 120,000 gallons of olive oil.” [f]

10 And Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, and sent word to Solomon: “Because the Lord loved his people, he set you over them as king.” 11 And Hiram said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, one who knows understanding and knowledge, who will build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.

12 And now I have sent you a man who is wise and knows understanding — Hiram, my father, [g] 13 (his mother was one of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre) — a man who knows how to work in gold and in silver, in bronze and in iron, in stone and in wood, and to weave in purple and in blue and in fine linen and in scarlet, and to cut engravings, and to think out any design that is given him, together with your skilled men and the skilled men of David my lord, your father.

14 And now let my lord send to his servants the wheat and the barley and the olive oil and the wine that he spoke of. 15 And we will cut timber from Lebanon, as much as you need, and bring it to you on rafts by sea to Joppa, and you will bring it up to Jerusalem.”

16 And Solomon gathered all the men who were newcomers in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them, and there were found 153,600. [h] 17 And he made of them seventy thousand carriers of loads, and eighty thousand stonecutters, and three thousand six hundred work-drivers over the people. [i]