The Second Book of the Chronicles

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- Chapter 2 -

(1 Kings 5:1–6)

Solomon decided that a temple should be built where Yahweh would be worshiped, and also that he would build a palace for himself.

He commanded seventy thousand men to carry the building supplies and eighty thousand men to cut stones from quarries in the hills. He also chose 3,600 men to supervise them.

Solomon sent this message to King Hiram of the city of Tyre: “Many years ago when my father David was building his palace, you sent him cedar logs. Will you send me cedar logs, too?

We are about to build a temple to set it apart for Yahweh, to burn for him incense made from fragrant spices, to always display before him the bread, and to burn animal offerings every morning and evening and day of rest, as well as at every new moon and on the other special festivals to honor Yahweh our God. We want to do these things forever, as Yahweh has commanded.

We want this temple to be a great temple, because our God is greater than all other gods.

But no one can build a place for God to live in, since even the heavens and the earth are not big enough for him. I myself am not worthy to build him a house, except as a place to offer sacrifices to him.

Therefore, please send me someone who is very good at making things from gold and silver and bronze and iron, and at making things from purple and red and blue cloth. He should also know well how to engrave designs. I want him to work in Jerusalem and in other places in Judah with my skilled craftsmen, the ones whom my father David appointed.

I know that your workers are skilled in cutting timber, so also please send me cedar logs, pine logs, and algum from the Lebanon mountains. My workers will work with your workers.

In that way, they will provide me with plenty of lumber. We will need plenty, because I want the temple that we will build to be large and beautiful.

I will pay to your workers, the men who cut the logs, 4,400 kiloliters of ground wheat, 4,400 kiloliters of barley, and 440 kiloliters of wine, and 440 kiloliters of olive oil.”

Hiram’s Reply to Solomon

(1 Kings 5:7–12)

When Hiram received this message, he replied by sending a message back to Solomon: “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has appointed you to be their king.

Let everyone praise Yahweh, the God to whom the Israelite people belong, the one who created the sky and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, one who is very intelligent and who has good skill and understanding. He wants to build a temple for Yahweh and a palace for himself.

I will send to you Huram-Abi, one of my skilled craftsmen.

His mother was from the tribe of Dan, and his father was from here in Tyre. He is able to make things from gold and silver and bronze and iron and stone and wood, but he also makes nice things from purple and blue and red cloth, and he does all kinds of engraving. He can make things using any design that you give to him. He will work with your craftsmen, and the craftsmen who did work for your father, King David.

Now please send us the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine that you promised to send to us.

When you do that, my workers will cut in the Lebanon mountains all the logs that you need and bring them down to the sea. Then we will tie the logs together to form rafts with them, and float them in the sea to the city of Joppa. From there, you can arrange for men to take them up to Jerusalem.”

Solomon told his workers to count all the people from other countries who were living in Israel, similar to what his father David had done. There were 153,600 of them.

Solomon assigned seventy thousand of them to carry materials, and eighty thousand to cut stone from quarries in the hills, and 3,600 of them to supervise the others and be sure that they worked steadily.

(1 Kings 5:1–6)

Now Solomon decided to build a house for the LORD’s name, and a house for his kingdom.

Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.

Behold,(a) I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, to burn before him incense of sweet spices, for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

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

But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

“Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants,

even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand cors(b) of beaten wheat, twenty thousand baths(c) of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”

Hiram’s Reply to Solomon

(1 Kings 5:7–12)

Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”

Huram continued, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who would build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.

Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Huram-abi,(d)

the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre. He is skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to devise any device, that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

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

and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you need. We will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa; then you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”

Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to assign the people their work.

Footnotes

(a)2:4 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.

(b)2:10 1 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 liters or 6 bushels, so 20,000 cors of wheat would weigh about 545 metric tons

(c)2:10 1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters or 2.4 pecks. 20,000 baths of barley would weigh about 262 metric tons.

(d)2:13 or, Huram, my father