11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:

“Because the Lord loves(A) his people, he has made you their king.”

12 And Hiram added:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!(B) He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

13 “I am sending you Huram-Abi,(C) a man of great skill, 14 whose mother was from Dan(D) and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained(E) to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue(F) and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

15 “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil(G) and wine he promised, 16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.(H) You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners(I) residing in Israel, after the census(J) his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. 18 He assigned(K) 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

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11 Tyre’s King Huram replied in a letter that he sent to Solomon:

The Lord must love his people Israel because he has made you their king! 12 Bless the Lord, Israel’s God, who made heaven and earth. He gave King David a wise son who possesses the knowledge and understanding to build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself. 13 I’m sending you a skilled and experienced craftsman, Huram-abi, 14 whose mother is from the tribe of Dan and whose father is from Tyre. He’s skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, as well as purple, violet, and crimson yarn, and fine linen. He can do any kind of engraving and make any design given to him with the assistance of your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my master, your father David. 15 So once my master sends the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he has promised, 16 we will cut as much timber as you need from Lebanon and bring it by raft on the sea to you at Joppa, where you can take it up to Jerusalem.

17 Then Solomon counted all the immigrants in the land of Israel, as his father David had done, and the total was 153,600. 18 He made 70,000 of these immigrants laborers, 80,000 of them stonecutters in the highlands, and 3,600 of them supervisors to keep the people working.

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