2 Chronicles 2

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple

1 Then Solomon *1 Kin. 5:5determined to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal house for himself. 2 *1 Kin. 5:15, 16; 2 Chr. 2:18Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

3 Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying:

*1 Chr. 14:1As you have dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in, sodealwithme.4 Behold, *2 Chr. 2:1I am building a temple for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, *Ex. 30:7to burn before Him sweet incense, for *Ex. 25:30; Lev. 24:8the continual showbread, for *Ex. 29:38–42the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the *Num. 28:3, 9–11Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the Lord our God. This isanordinance forever to Israel.

5 And the temple which I build willbe great, for *Ps. 135:5; (1 Cor. 8:5, 6)our God is greater than all gods. 6 *1 Kin. 8:27; 2 Chr. 6:18; Is. 66:1But 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?

7 Therefore 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, *1 Chr. 22:15whom David my father provided. 8 *1 Kin. 5:6Also 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 willbe with your servants, 9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the temple which I am about to build shallbe great and wonderful.

10 *1 Kin. 5:11And 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.

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

*1 Kin. 10:9; 2 Chr. 9:8Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.

12 Hiram also said:

*1 Kin. 5:7Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, *Gen. 1; 2; Acts 4:24; 14:15; Rev. 10:6who made heaven and earth, for He has given King David a wise son, endowed with prudence and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal house for himself!

13 And now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Huram my master craftsman14 *1 Kin. 7:13, 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.

15 Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which *2 Chr. 2:10my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants.16 *1 Kin. 5:8, 9And we will cut wood from Lebanon, as much as you need; we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, and you will carry it up to Jerusalem.

17 *1 Kin. 5:13; 2 Chr. 8:7, 8Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census in which *1 Chr. 22:2David his father had numbered them; and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred. 18 And he made *2 Chr. 2:2seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.