2 Chronicles 2:1-10
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.
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
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.