2 Chronicles 2
2
Preparations for Building the Temple
1 # 2:1 Verse 2:1 is numbered 1:18 in Hebrew text. Solomon decided to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord, and also a royal palace for himself. 2#2:2 Verses 2:2-18 are numbered 2:1-17 in Hebrew text.He enlisted a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 men to quarry stone in the hill country, and 3,600 foremen.
3Solomon also sent this message to King Hiram#2:3 Hebrew Huram, a variant spelling of Hiram; also in 2:11. at Tyre:
“Send me cedar logs as you did for my father, David, when he was building his palace. 4I am about to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God. It will be a place set apart to burn fragrant incense before him, to display the special sacrificial bread, and to sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon celebrations, and at the other appointed festivals of the Lord our God. He has commanded Israel to do these things forever.
5“This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods. 6But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?
7“So send me a master craftsman who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as with purple, scarlet, and blue cloth. He must be a skilled engraver who can work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father, David.
8“Also send me cedar, cypress, and red sandalwood#2:8 Or juniper; Hebrew reads algum, perhaps a variant spelling of almug; compare 9:10-11 and parallel text at 1 Kgs 10:11-12. logs from Lebanon, for I know that your men are without equal at cutting timber in Lebanon. I will send my men to help them. 9An immense amount of timber will be needed, for the Temple I am going to build will be very large and magnificent. 10In payment for your woodcutters, I will send 100,000 bushels of crushed wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley,#2:10a Hebrew 20,000 cors [4,400 kiloliters] of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley. 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil.#2:10b Hebrew 20,000 baths [420 kiloliters] of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”
11King Hiram sent this letter of reply to Solomon:
“It is because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king! 12Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, gifted with skill and understanding, who will build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13“I am sending you a master craftsman named Huram-abi, who is extremely talented. 14His mother is from the tribe of Dan in Israel, and his father is from Tyre. He is skillful at making things from gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and he also works with stone and wood. He can work with purple, blue, and scarlet cloth and fine linen. He is also an engraver and can follow any design given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father.
15“Send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine that my lord has mentioned. 16We will cut whatever timber you need from the Lebanon mountains and will float the logs in rafts down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea#2:16 Hebrew the sea. to Joppa. From there you can transport the logs up to Jerusalem.”
17Solomon took a census of all foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father had taken, and he counted 153,600. 18He assigned 70,000 of them as common laborers, 80,000 as quarry workers in the hill country, and 3,600 as foremen.
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2 Chronicles 2: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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2 Paralipomenon 2
2
1And Solomon determined to build a house to the name of the Lord, and a palace for himself.
2And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
3He sent also to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As thou didst with David my father, and didst send him cedars, to build him a house, in which he dwelt:
4So do with me: that I may build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him, and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever, which are commanded for Israel.
5For the house which I desire to build is great: for our God is great above all gods.
6Who then can be able to build him a worthy house? If heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: who am I that I should be able to build him a house? But to this end only, that incense may be burnt before him.
7Send me therefore a skilful man, that knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, in purple, in scarlet and in blue, and that hath skill in engraving, with the artificers, which I have with me in Judea and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
8Send me also cedars, and fir-trees, and pine-trees from Libanus: for I know that thy servants are skilful in cutting timber in Libanus. And my servants shall be with thy servants,
9To provide me timber in abundance. For the house which I desire to build is to be exceeding great, and glorious.
10And I will give thy servants the workmen that are to cut down the trees, for their food, twenty thousand cores of wheat, and as many cores of barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.
11And Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon, saying: Because the Lord hath loved his people, therefore he hath made thee king over them.
12And he added, saying: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to king David a wise and knowing son, endued with understanding and prudence, to build a house to the Lord, and a palace for himself.
13I therefore have sent thee my father, Hiram, a wise and most skilful man,
14The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a Tyrian, who knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in timber, in purple also, and violet, and silk and scarlet: and who knoweth to grave all sort of graving, and to devise ingeniously all that there may be need of in the work with thy artificers, and with the artificers of my lord David thy father.
15The wheat therefore, and the barley and the oil, and the wine, which thou, my lord, hast promised, send to thy servants.
16And we will cut down as many trees out of Libanus, as thou shalt want, and will convey them in floats by sea to Joppe: and it will be thy part to bring them thence to Jerusalem.
17And Solomon numbered all the proselytes in the land of Israel, after the numbering which David his father had made: and they were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.
18And he set seventy thousand of them to carry burdens on their shoulders: and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains: and three thousand and six hundred to be overseers of the work of the people.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.