¹¹ King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar trees and carpenters and masons who built David a house.^(A)

David Established at Jerusalem

14 King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs and masons and carpenters to build a house for him.^(A)

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,

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.

⁴ I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself;^{(A) 5} I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.^{(B) 6} I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, many concubines.^[a](C)

⁹ So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.^{(D) 10} Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure from all my toil, and this was my reward from all my toil.^{(E) 11} Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.^(F)

Solomon’s Palace and Other Buildings

7 Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.^(A)

² He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.^{(B) 3} It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars. ⁴ There were window frames in the three rows, facing each other in the three rows. ⁵ All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.

⁶ He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars and a canopy in front of them.

⁷ He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.^[a](C)

⁸ His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.^(D)

⁹ All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping and from outside to the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits. ¹¹ There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedarwood. ¹² The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the Lord and the vestibule of the house.^(E)

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.”^{(A) 10} So Hiram supplied Solomon’s every need for timber of cedar and cypress.

² the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.”^(A)