2 Chronicles 2

1 Solomon ordered the building of a Temple to honor the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

Then Solomon gave word to build a house for the Name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

2 He allocated 70,000 men as laborers, 80,000 as stone cutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as foremen.

And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men to hew in the mountain, —and, to oversee them, three thousand six hundred.

3 Solomon sent a message to Hiram, king of Tyre, telling him,

And Solomon sent unto Huram king of Tyre, saying, —As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell in,

4 “Please do as you did with my father David when you sent him cedar timber for him to build a palace to live in. I'm about to start building a Temple to honor the Lord my God, dedicated to him, where he will be offered sweet-smelling incense, where the showbread will be always set out in rows, and where burnt offerings will be made every morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon festivals, and at the feasts of the Lord our God—this to be done forever in Israel.

lo! I, am about to build a house for the Name of Yahweh my God, to hallow unto him—to burn before him sweet incense, and for a continual setting in array, and to offer ascending-sacrifices morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the appointed feasts of Yahweh our God, -age-abiding, is this [law] for Israel.

5 This Temple I am about to build must be impressive, because our God is greater than all gods.

And, the house which I am about to build, [must be] great, —for great is our God, above all gods.

6 But who can build a Temple for him to live in, for the heavens, even highest heaven, cannot contain him, and who am I that I should dare to build him a house, except to burn incense to him?

But who is able to build unto him a house? for, the heavens, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain him, —who then am, I, that I should build unto him a house, though only to burn incense before him?

7 So please send me a master craftsman who is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron; and in purple, scarlet, and blue fabrics. He must also know how to engrave, working together with my expert craftsmen from Judea and Jerusalem provided by my father David.

Now, therefore, send me a wise man, to work in gold and in silver and in bronze and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and skilful to execute gravings, —with the wise men who are with me, in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David did provide.

8 Also send me cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your workers are skillful in cutting down the trees of Lebanon. I will send men to help your workers

And send me—timbers of cedar, cypress and sandal-wood, out of the Lebanon, for, I, know that, thy servants, are skilful, to cut the timbers of Lebanon, —and lo! my servants shall be with thy servants:

9 to produce a large quantity of timber because the Temple I'm building will be really large and very impressive.

yea to prepare me timbers in abundance, —for, the house which I am about to build, [must be] great and most wonderful.

10 I will pay your workers, the wood-cutters, 20,000 cors of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”

And lo! for the hewers that cut the timbers, have I given wheat as food for thy servants, twenty thousand measures, and barley, twenty thousand measures, and wine, twenty thousand baths, and oil, twenty thousand baths.

11 King Hiram of Tyre responded to Solomon by letter: “It's because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king.”

Then answered Huram king of Tyre, in writing, which he sent unto Solomon, —Because Yahweh hath loved his people, hath he set thee over them as king.

12 Hiram went on, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son with insight and understanding who is going to build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

And Huram said, Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, —who hath given, unto David the king, a wise son, skilled in prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

13 I'm sending you Hiram-Abi, a master craftsman who knows and understands what he's doing.

Now, therefore, have I sent a wise man, skilled in understanding, pertaining to Huram my father:

14 His mother is from the tribe of Dan and his father is from Tyre. He's an expert in working with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson fabric, and fine linen. He can do all kinds of engraving and can make any design he's given. He'll work with your craftsmen and with the craftsmen of my lord, your father David.

son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre, skilled to work in gold and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stones and in timber, in purple, in blue and in fine white linen, and in crimson, and to grave any manner of graving, and to devise any manner of device that may be given to him, with thy wise men, and the wise men of my lord David thy father.

15 Now my lord, please send to us his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he spoke about.

Now, therefore, the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, whereof my lord hath spoken, let him send unto his servants;

16 We will cut all timber you need from Lebanon and take it to you by sea in rafts to Joppa. From there you can transport it to Jerusalem.”

and, we, will cut down timbers out of the Lebanon, according to all thy need, and will bring them unto thee in floats, upon the sea to Joppa, —and, thou, shalt fetch them up to Jerusalem.

17 Solomon had a census taken of all the foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father David had conducted, and found there were 153,600.

So Solomon numbered all the men that were sojourners, who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering, wherewith David his father had numbered them, —and they were found to be—a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.

18 He allocated 70,000 as laborers, 80,000 as stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as foremen.

And he made up from among them—seventy thousand, to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew in the mountain, —and three thousand and six hundred, as overseers, to keep the people at work.