2 Chronicles 2
Lexham English Bible
Solomon Petitions the King of Tyre
2 [a] And Solomon planned to build a house for the name of Yahweh and a royal palace for himself.[b] 2 And Solomon assigned seventy thousand men to bear burdens[c] and eighty thousand quarriers[d] in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred men to supervise them. 3 And Solomon sent word to Huram[e] king of Tyre, saying, “As you have dealt with David my father and sent cedar to him to build for himself a house in which to live, please deal with me. 4 Look, I am building a house for the name of Yahweh my God to dedicate to him, to offer sweet spices of incense before him, and for the regular rows of bread, and burnt offerings for mornings, evenings, Sabbaths, and new moon festivals, and for appointed feasts of Yahweh our God which are everlasting for Israel. 5 And the house that I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. 6 Now who indeed has adequate strength to build a house for him? For the heavens and the highest heavens[f] are not able to contain him. Now who am I that I would build a house for him, except to burn incense before him? 7 So then, send to me skilled men to work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue fabric, knowledgeable in engraving, with the skilled men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father has established. 8 Send me trees of cedar, cypress, and algum from Lebanon, for I myself know that your servants are knowledgeable in cutting the trees of Lebanon. Now see, my servants will be with your servants 9 to prepare trees in abundance for me, for the house that I am building will be great and wonderful. 10 Now see, I will provide twenty thousand dry measures of crushed wheat, twenty thousand dry measures of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil to the woodcarvers and those who cut timber.”
11 Then Huram[g] king of Tyre answered in a letter, and he sent word to Solomon: “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.” 12 Then Huram[h] said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has made the heavens and the earth, who has given to King David a wise son knowing discretion and understanding, who will build for Yahweh a house and a royal palace for himself. 13 So now I have sent a skilled man, knowledgeable and with understanding: my master[i] Huram, 14 a son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, knowledgeable for working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and with purple, blue, and crimson fabric, and with fine linen, for engraving any engraving and devising any plan that is given to him, with your skilled men and the skilled men of my lord David your father. 15 Now as for the wheat, barley, oil, and wine that my lord mentioned, let him send that to his servants. 16 And we ourselves will cut trees from Lebanon according to all your need, and we will bring them to you on rafts over the sea to Joppa, so that you may bring them up to Jerusalem.”
17 Then Solomon counted all the resident alien men who were in the land of Israel after the census that David his father had taken of them. And there were found one hundred and fifty-three thousand. 18 And he appointed from them seventy thousand to bear burdens,[j] eighty thousand to quarry[k] in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 2:1 2 Chronicles 2:1–18 in the English Bible is 1:18–2:17 in the Hebrew Bible
- 2 Chronicles 2:1 Literally “house for his kingdom”
- 2 Chronicles 2:2 Literally “carriers”
- 2 Chronicles 2:2 Literally “stone craftsmen”
- 2 Chronicles 2:3 This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have “Hiram”
- 2 Chronicles 2:6 Literally “the heavens of the heavens”
- 2 Chronicles 2:11 This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have “Hiram”
- 2 Chronicles 2:12 This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have “Hiram”
- 2 Chronicles 2:13 Or “my father”
- 2 Chronicles 2:18 Literally “carriers”
- 2 Chronicles 2:18 Literally “stone craftsmen”
2 Chronicles 2
New Living Translation
Preparations for Building the Temple
2 [a]Solomon decided to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord, and also a royal palace for himself. 2 [b]He enlisted a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 men to quarry stone in the hill country, and 3,600 foremen.
3 Solomon also sent this message to King Hiram[c] at Tyre:
“Send me cedar logs as you did for my father, David, when he was building his palace. 4 I am about to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God. It will be a place set apart to burn fragrant incense before him, to display the special sacrificial bread, and to sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon celebrations, and at the other appointed festivals of the Lord our God. He has commanded Israel to do these things forever.
5 “This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?
7 “So send me a master craftsman who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as with purple, scarlet, and blue cloth. He must be a skilled engraver who can work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father, David.
8 “Also send me cedar, cypress, and red sandalwood[d] logs from Lebanon, for I know that your men are without equal at cutting timber in Lebanon. I will send my men to help them. 9 An immense amount of timber will be needed, for the Temple I am going to build will be very large and magnificent. 10 In payment for your woodcutters, I will send 100,000 bushels of crushed wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley,[e] 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil.[f]”
11 King Hiram sent this letter of reply to Solomon:
“It is because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king! 12 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, gifted with skill and understanding, who will build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13 “I am sending you a master craftsman named Huram-abi, who is extremely talented. 14 His mother is from the tribe of Dan in Israel, and his father is from Tyre. He is skillful at making things from gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and he also works with stone and wood. He can work with purple, blue, and scarlet cloth and fine linen. He is also an engraver and can follow any design given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father.
15 “Send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine that my lord has mentioned. 16 We will cut whatever timber you need from the Lebanon mountains and will float the logs in rafts down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[g] to Joppa. From there you can transport the logs up to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon took a census of all foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father had taken, and he counted 153,600. 18 He assigned 70,000 of them as common laborers, 80,000 as quarry workers in the hill country, and 3,600 as foremen.
Footnotes
- 2:1 Verse 2:1 is numbered 1:18 in Hebrew text.
- 2:2 Verses 2:2-18 are numbered 2:1-17 in Hebrew text.
- 2:3 Hebrew Huram, a variant spelling of Hiram; also in 2:11.
- 2:8 Or juniper; Hebrew reads algum, perhaps a variant spelling of almug; compare 9:10-11 and parallel text at 1 Kgs 10:11-12.
- 2:10a Hebrew 20,000 cors [4,400 kiloliters] of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley.
- 2:10b Hebrew 20,000 baths [420 kiloliters] of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.
- 2:16 Hebrew the sea.
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