2 Chronicles 2
2
Building and dedication of the Jerusalem temple
Solomon asks Hiram to help build the temple
(1 Kings 5.1-12)
1Solomon decided to build a temple where the LORD would be worshipped, and also to build a palace for himself. 2He assigned seventy thousand men to carry building supplies and eighty thousand to cut stone from the hills. And he chose three thousand six hundred men to supervise these workers.
3Solomon sent the following message to King Hiram of Tyre:
Years ago, when my father David was building his palace, you supplied him with cedar logs. Now will you send me supplies? 4I am building a temple where the LORD my God will be worshipped. Sweet-smelling incense will be burnt there, and sacred bread will be offered to him. Worshippers will offer sacrifices to the LORD every morning and evening, every Sabbath, and on the first day of each month, as well as during all our religious festivals. These things will be done for all time, just as the LORD has commanded.
5This will be a great temple, because our God is greater than all other gods. 6No one can ever build a temple large enough for God—even the heavens are too small a place for him to live in! All I can do is build a place where we can offer sacrifices to him.#1 K 8.27; 2 Ch 6.18.
7Send me a worker who can not only carve, but who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as make brightly-coloured cloth. The person you send will work here in Judah and Jerusalem with the skilled workers that my father has already hired.
8I know that you have workers who are experts at cutting timber in Lebanon. So would you please send me some cedar, pine, and juniper logs? My workers will be there to help them, 9because I'll need a lot of timber to build such a large and glorious temple. 10I will pay your woodcutters two thousand tonnes of wheat, the same amount of barley, four hundred thousand litres of wine, and that same amount of olive oil.
11Hiram sent his answer back to Solomon:
I know that the LORD must love his people, because he has chosen you to be their king. 12Praise the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth! He has given David a son who is not only wise and clever, but who has the knowledge to build a temple for the LORD and a palace for himself.
13I am sending Huram Abi to you. He is very bright. 14His mother was from the Israelite tribe of Dan, and his father was from Tyre. Not only is Huram an expert at working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, but he can also make coloured cloth and fine linen. And he can carve anything if you give him a pattern to follow. He can help your workers and those hired by your father King David.
15Go ahead and send the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine you promised to pay my workers. 16I will tell them to start cutting down trees in Lebanon. They will cut as many as you need, then tie them together into rafts, and float them down along the coast to Joppa. Your workers can take them to Jerusalem from there.
Solomon's work force
17Solomon counted all the foreigners who were living in Israel, just as his father David had done when he was king, and the total was 153,600. 18He assigned 70,000 of them to carry building supplies and 80,000 of them to cut stone from the hills. He chose 3,600 others to supervise the workers and to make sure the work was completed.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
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.