(1 Kings 5:1–6)
1
And Solomon says to build a house for the Name of YHWH, and a house for his kingdom,
2
and Solomon numbers seventy thousand men bearing burden, and eighty thousand men hewing in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers over them.
3
And Solomon sends to Huram king of Tyre, saying, “When you have dealt with my father David, then you send cedars to him to build a house for him to dwell in;
4
behold, I am building a house for the Name of my God YHWH, to sanctify [it] to Him, to make incense before Him, incense of spices, and a continual arrangement, and burnt-offerings at morning and at evening, at Sabbaths, and at new moons, and at appointed times of our God YHWH; this [is] on Israel for all time.
5
And the house that I am building [is] great, for our God [is] greater than all gods;
6
and who retains strength to build a house for Him, since the heavens, even the heavens of the heavens, do not contain Him? And who [am] I that I build a house for Him, except to make incense before Him?
7
And now, send a wise man to me to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and knowing to engrave engravings with the wise men who [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David prepared;
8
and send to me cedar-trees, firs, and algums from Lebanon, for I have known that your servants know to cut down trees of Lebanon, and behold, my servants [are] with your servants,
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even to prepare trees in abundance for me, for the house that I am building [is] great and wonderful.
10
And behold, I have given to your servants, to hewers, to those cutting the trees, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand cors of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
Hiram’s Reply to Solomon
(1 Kings 5:7–12)
11
And Huram king of Tyre answers in writing, and sends [it] to Solomon: “In the love of YHWH for His people, He has set you [as] king over them.”
12
And Huram says, “Blessed [is] YHWH, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, who has given a wise son to David the king, knowing wisdom and understanding, who builds a house for YHWH, and a house for his kingdom.
13
And now, I have sent a wise man having understanding, of [my] father Huram
14
(son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father a man of Tyre), knowing to work in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stones, and in wood, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, and to engrave any engraving, and to devise any invention that is given to him, with your wise men, and the wise men of my lord, your father David.
15
And now, the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, as my lord said, let him send to his servants,
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and we cut trees out of Lebanon, according to all your need, and bring them to you—floats by sea, to Joppa, and you take them up to Jerusalem.”
17
And Solomon numbers all the men, the sojourners who [are] in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which his father David numbered them, and they are found [to be] one hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred;
18
and he makes from them seventy thousand burden-bearers, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers, to cause the people to work.
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