1 Kings 5
American Standard Version
5 And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David. 2 And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house for the name of Jehovah his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until Jehovah put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now Jehovah my God hath given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence. 5 And, behold, I purpose to build a house for the name of Jehovah my God, as Jehovah spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build the house for my name. 6 Now therefore command thou that they cut me cedar-trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and I will give thee hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt say: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that knoweth how to cut timber like unto the Sidonians.
7 And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be Jehovah this day, who hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard the message which thou hast sent unto me: I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of [a]fir. 9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and I will make them into rafts to go by sea unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and thou shalt [b]receive them; and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household. 10 So [c]Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire. 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand [d]measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of [e]pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. 12 And Jehovah gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.
13 And king Solomon raised a [f]levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the men subject to taskwork. 15 And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains; 16 besides Solomon’s chief officers that were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bare rule over the people that wrought in the work. 17 And the king commanded, and they [g]hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone. 18 And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did fashion them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 5:8 Or, cypress
- 1 Kings 5:9 Or, carry them away
- 1 Kings 5:10 Hebrew Hirom (and in verse 18).
- 1 Kings 5:11 Hebrew cor.
- 1 Kings 5:11 Or, beaten
- 1 Kings 5:13 Hebrew men subject to taskwork.
- 1 Kings 5:17 Hebrew brought away.
1 Kings 5
EasyEnglish Bible
Solomon prepares to build the temple
5 Hiram was the king of Tyre.[a] He heard that Solomon had become king of Israel after his father David. Hiram had always been a friend of King David, so he sent his men to say ‘hello’ to Solomon. 2 Solomon then sent this message to Hiram:
3 ‘You know that my father David could not build a temple for the Lord his God. This was because he had to fight battles against enemies that were all around Israel. He did that until the Lord helped him to win against all of them. 4 But now the Lord my God has made us safe from danger. No enemy tries to attack us on any of our borders. 5 So I have decided to build a temple to give honour to the Lord my God.[b] The Lord said to my father David, “I will put your son on your throne to rule as king after you. He will build a temple for people to give honour to my name.” 6 So please tell your men to cut down cedar trees in Lebanon for me. We ourselves do not have people who know how to cut wood from trees as well as your men from Sidon. So our men will help your men with the work. And I will pay your workers whatever you decide is right.’[c]
7 Hiram was very happy when he received Solomon's message. He said, ‘Praise the Lord today, because he gave David a wise son to rule over the great nation, Israel.’ 8 Then Hiram sent this message to Solomon:
‘I have received the message that you sent to me. I will give you the wood that you have asked for. I will send you cedar wood and pine wood, as much as you need. 9 My men will take the trees from the hills of Lebanon down to the sea. Then we will tie several trees together like a boat. We will take them on the sea to the place where you want them. There we will undo the ropes so that your men can carry the trees away. You will pay me with enough food to feed the people of my palace.’
10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar trees and pine trees that Solomon asked for. 11 Then Solomon supplied Hiram with 2,000 tons of wheat as food for the people in his palace. He also supplied 450,000 litres of olive oil. Solomon sent this every year to Hiram.
12 The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as he had promised to do. King Hiram and King Solomon made an agreement that their nations would not fight against each other. So there was peace between them.
13 King Solomon commanded 30,000 men from everywhere in Israel to do the work. 14 He sent them to Lebanon in groups of 10,000 men each month. They worked in Lebanon for one month, then they lived at home for two months. Adoniram was the officer who had authority over them. 15 Solomon also had 80,000 men to cut stones in the hills. He had 70,000 men to carry the stones to Jerusalem. 16 He also had 3,300 officers who told the workers what they should do. 17 The king commanded the workers to cut large pieces of stone from the rocks. They cut the best stones into the right shape to build the foundation of the temple. 18 Solomon's men and Hiram's men worked together with men from Gebal.[d] They cut the stones and the wood and they prepared them to build the temple.
Footnotes
- 5:1 Tyre was a city on the coast of Lebanon. Sidon was another big city in Lebanon.
- 5:5 The temple was God's special house in Jerusalem. Until this time there had only been a special tent. God did not let David build it, but now King Solomon could build it. See 1 Chronicles 22:8-9; 2 Samuel 7:12-13.
- 5:6 Lebanon was famous because of its big cedar trees.
- 5:18 ‘Gebal’ or ‘Byblos’
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