2 Crónicas 2

Preparing to build the temple

¹Solomon assigned 70,000 men to carry loads and 80,000 men to cut stone in the hill country, and 3,600 to supervise them.^a

²Solomon sent this message to Huram king of Tyre: “Deal with me as you dealt with my father David, when you supplied him with cedar for building a house to live in. ³I am now going to build a house for the name of the LORD my God and dedicate it to him, for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the bread in rows regularly, and for burnt offerings every morning and evening, on Sabbaths, at new moons and at the appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is a duty Israel is to keep forever. ⁴The house I am building will be great, because our God is great above all gods. ⁵But who is able to build a house for him, when heaven itself, even the highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I, then, to build him a house, except as a place to burn offerings before him? ⁶So now send me a man skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson and blue yarn, who also knows how to engrave. He will work with the skilled craftsmen I have here in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided. ⁷Send me cedar, cypress and algum logs from Lebanon too, for I know that your servants are skilled at cutting the timber of Lebanon. My servants will work with your servants, ⁸to get plenty of timber ready for me, because the house I am going to build will be great and wonderful. ⁹I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, about 120,000 bushels of crushed wheat, about 120,000 bushels of barley, about 120,000 gallons of wine and about 120,000 gallons of oil.”^b

Huram’s reply

¹⁰Huram king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon: “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you their king.” ¹¹Huram also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, maker of heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, full of insight and understanding, who will build a house for the LORD and a royal palace for himself. ¹²I am now sending you a skilled man who has understanding, Huram-abi,^{c 13}the son of a woman from the tribe of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and in purple, blue and crimson yarn and fine linen. He can engrave any kind of design and carry out any plan that is given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and with the craftsmen of my lord David, your father.^{d 14}So now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley, the oil and wine, that he has promised. ¹⁵We will cut all the logs you need from Lebanon and bring them to you as rafts by sea to Joppa. From there you can take them up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁶Solomon took a census of all the outsiders who lived in the land of Israel, after the one his father David had taken, and they came to 153,600. ¹⁷He assigned 70,000 of them to carry loads and 80,000 to cut stone in the hill country, and 3,600 to supervise them and keep the people at work.