2 Chronicles 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
Preparations for Building the Temple
2 Solomon said that he would build a temple for the Name of the Lord and a palace for his kingdom.[a] 2 He assigned seventy thousand men to transport materials, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the hills, and thirty-six hundred to supervise them.
Solomon’s Letter
3 Solomon sent this message to Huram[b] king of Tyre:
Send me cedar as you did for my father David, when you sent him cedar to build a house for himself to live in.
4 I am building a house for the Name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for the continual arrangement of bread, for burnt offerings in the morning and evening, for the sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is to be a permanent regulation for Israel.
5 The house that I am building will be great, because our God is greater than all the gods. 6 But who is able to build a house for him? The heavens, even the highest heaven,[c] cannot contain him. Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to send incense and sacrifices up in smoke before him?
7 Now send me a man who is skillful at working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as with purple, crimson, and blue material, and who is trained in engraving. He will work with the skilled craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
8 Send me cedar, fir, and algum[d] timber from Lebanon, because I know that your servants know how to cut timber from Lebanon. Look, my servants will work with your servants 9 to prepare lumber for me in abundance because the house which I am building will be great and wonderful.
10 To support the lumberjacks who work for you, I have set aside one hundred twenty thousand bushels[e] of crushed wheat, and one hundred twenty thousand bushels of barley, one hundred twenty thousand gallons[f] of wine, and one hundred twenty thousand gallons of olive oil.
Huram’s Reply
11 Huram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon which said:
Because of the love of the Lord for his people, he has made you king over them.
12 Huram also said:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth. He has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
13 Now I have sent a skilled man who has expertise, Huram Abi, 14 the son of a woman from among the daughters of Dan. His father is a man from Tyre. He is skillful at working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and with purple, blue, and crimson material and fine white linen. He is qualified to do all the engraving and to execute every design which is given to him, together with your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord David, your father.
15 Now let my lord Solomon send the wheat, barley, oil, and wine that he promised to us, his servants. 16 We will cut timber from Lebanon according to all your needs and will ship it to you at Joppa, as rafts upon the sea. You can then transport it up to Jerusalem.
17 Solomon took a census of all the male aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, after the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600.
18 Out of that number he designated 70,000 to transport materials, 80,000 to quarry stone in the hills, and 3600 overseers to make the people work.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 2:1 English chapter 2 starts at Hebrew 1:18. Therefore, in chapter 2 the English verse numbers are all one number higher than the corresponding Hebrew verse numbers.
- 2 Chronicles 2:3 Also called Hiram in 1 Kings
- 2 Chronicles 2:6 That is, the dwelling of God, which lies beyond the heavens where the birds fly and where the stars run their courses
- 2 Chronicles 2:8 Perhaps the same as almug in 1 Kings 10:11, but that wood was from the Red Sea region. If this is a form of sandalwood, it may be from a source along the Mediterranean Sea, on the north coast of Africa.
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 Literally twenty thousand cors. The value of the various ancient measures of volume is uncertain.
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 Literally twenty thousand baths
2 Chronicles 2
Living Bible
2 Solomon now decided that the time had come to build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself. 2 This required a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, and 3,600 foremen. 3 Solomon sent an ambassador to King Hiram at Tyre, requesting shipments of cedar lumber such as Hiram had supplied to David when he was building his palace.
4 “I am about to build a temple for the Lord my God,” Solomon told Hiram. “It will be a place where I can burn incense and sweet spices before God, and display the special sacrificial bread, and sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, and on the Sabbaths, and at the new moon celebration and other regular festivals of the Lord our God. For God wants Israel always to celebrate these special occasions. 5 It is going to be a wonderful temple because he is a great God, greater than any other. 6 But who can ever build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heaven would be beautiful enough! And who am I to be allowed to build a temple for God? But it will be a place to worship him.[a]
7 “So send me skilled craftsmen—goldsmiths and silversmiths, brass and iron workers; and send me weavers to make purple, crimson, and blue cloth; and skilled engravers to work beside the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father David. 8 Also send me cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees from the forests of Lebanon, for your men are without equal as lumbermen, and I will send my men to help them. 9 An immense amount of lumber will be needed, for the temple I am going to build will be large and incredibly beautiful. 10 As to the financial arrangements, I will pay your men 20,000 sacks of crushed wheat, 20,000 barrels of barley, 20,000 barrels of wine, and 20,000 barrels of olive oil.”
11 King Hiram replied to King Solomon: “It is because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king! 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who made the heavens and the earth and who has given to David such a wise, intelligent, and understanding son to build God’s Temple and a royal palace for himself.
13 “I am sending you a master craftsman—my famous Huramabi! He is a brilliant man, 14 the son of a Jewish woman from Dan in Israel; his father is from here in Tyre. He is a skillful goldsmith and silversmith, and also does exquisite work with brass and iron and knows all about stonework, carpentry, and weaving; and he is an expert in the dyeing of purple and blue linen and crimson cloth. He is an engraver besides, and an inventor! He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father. 15 So send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine you mentioned, 16 and we will begin cutting wood from the Lebanon mountains, as much as you need, and bring it to you in log floats across the sea to Joppa, and from there you can take them inland to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon now took a census of all foreigners in the country (just as his father David had done) and found that there were 153,600 of them. 18 He indentured 70,000 as common laborers, 80,000 as loggers, and 3,600 as foremen.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 2:6 a place to worship him, literally, “a place to burn incense before him.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.