11 Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon:

(A)Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.

12 [a]Hiram also said:

(B)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, (C)who made heaven and earth, for He has given King David a wise son, endowed with prudence and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal house for himself!

13 And now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, [b]Huram my [c]master craftsman 14 (D)(the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson, and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him, with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

15 Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which (E)my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants. 16 (F)And we will cut wood from Lebanon, as much as you need; we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to [d]Joppa, and you will carry it up to Jerusalem.

17 (G)Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census in which (H)David his father had numbered them; and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred. 18 And he made (I)seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.

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