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11 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.” 12 Huram continued, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who would build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom. 13 Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Huram-abi,[a] 14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, and in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to devise any device; that there may be a place appointed 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 my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants; 16 and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you need. We will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa; then you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”

17 Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred. 18 He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to assign the people their work.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:13 or, Huram, my father

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:

“Because the Lord loves(A) his people, he has made you their king.”

12 And Hiram added:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!(B) He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

13 “I am sending you Huram-Abi,(C) a man of great skill, 14 whose mother was from Dan(D) and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained(E) to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue(F) and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

15 “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil(G) and wine he promised, 16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.(H) You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners(I) residing in Israel, after the census(J) his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. 18 He assigned(K) 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

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