Preparations and Materials for the Temple

5 ^[a]Now King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend to David.^{(A) 2} Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, ³ “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until he^[b] put them under the soles of his feet.^{[c](B) 4} But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune.^{(C) 5} So I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’^{(D) 6} Therefore command that cedars from the Lebanon be cut for me. My servants will join your servants, and I will give you whatever wages you set for your servants, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.” ⁸ Hiram sent word to Solomon, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me; I will fulfill all your needs in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. ⁹ My servants shall bring it down to the sea from the Lebanon; I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will have them broken up there for you to take away. And you shall meet my needs by providing food for my household.”^{(E) 10} So Hiram supplied Solomon’s every need for timber of cedar and cypress. ¹¹ Solomon, in turn, gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household and twenty cors of fine oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.^{(F) 12} So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.^(G)

¹³ King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home;^[d] Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.^{(H) 15} Solomon also had seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country,^{(I) 16} besides Solomon’s three thousand three hundred supervisors who were over the work, having charge of the people who did the work. ¹⁷ At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.^{(J) 18} So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did the stonecutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.