1Solomon decided to build a temple for the name of Yahweh and a royal palace for himself.
2Solomon assigned 70,000 men to carry loads, 80,000 men to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 foremen to supervise them.
3Solomon sent a message to King Huram of Tyre, saying, “Just as you helped my father David by sending him cedar logs to build his palace, please do the same for me.
4Look, I am going to build a temple for Yahweh my God. It will be dedicated to him. We will burn sweet-smelling incense before him, always have the special bread on display, and offer burnt sacrifices morning and evening, on Sabbaths, New Moons, and the designated festivals of Yahweh our God. This is a law for Israel forever.
5The temple I am building will be magnificent, because our God is greater than all other gods.
6But who can really build a house for him? Even heaven and the highest heavens cannot contain him. So who am I to build him a temple, except to burn incense before him?
7Therefore, send me a skilled worker who can craft in gold, silver, bronze, iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, and who knows how to engrave. This person will work with the skilled craftsmen I already have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
8Also, send me cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees from Lebanon, because I know your servants are skilled at cutting timber there. My servants will work alongside your servants,
9to prepare a large amount of timber for me. The temple I am going to build will be grand and wonderful.
10I will give your servants, the lumberjacks who cut the timber, twenty thousand measures of crushed wheat, twenty thousand measures of barley, twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.”
11Then Huram, the king of Tyre, sent a written reply to Solomon, saying, “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.”
12Huram continued, “May Yahweh, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, be praised. He has given King David a wise son, who has good judgment and understanding, and who will build a house for Yahweh and a house for his kingdom.”
13Now I have sent a skilled and understanding man, Hurem-abi,
14whose mother was from the daughters of Dan and whose father was a man of Tyre. He is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, timber, purple, blue, fine linen, and crimson. He can also do any kind of engraving and create any design. He will work alongside your skilled craftsmen and the skilled craftsmen of my lord David, your father.
15So now, please send your servants the wheat, barley, oil, and wine that my lord mentioned.
16We will cut as much wood from Lebanon as you need. We will float it in rafts by sea to Joppa, and you can transport it up to Jerusalem.”
17Solomon counted all the foreigners living in the land of Israel, just as his father David had done. There were 153,600 of them.
18He assigned 70,000 of them to carry supplies, 80,000 to cut stone in the mountains, and 3,600 as supervisors to manage the workers.