1 Solomon gave orders to begin building the Temple for Jehovah’s name and a royal palace for himself.

2 He drafted seventy thousand men to carry heavy loads, eighty thousand to quarry stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred foremen.

3 Solomon sent a message to King Hiram of Tyre: »Do business with me as you did with my father, King David, when you sold him cedar logs for building his palace.

4 »I am building a Temple to honor Jehovah my God. It will be a holy place where my people and I will worship him by burning incense of fragrant spices. We will present offerings of sacred bread to him continuously, and we will offer burnt offerings every morning and evening, as well as on Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other holy days honoring Jehovah our God. He has commanded Israel to do this from generation to generation.

5 »I am determined to build a great Temple. This is because our God is greater than all other gods.

6 »No one can really build a Temple for God. This is because even all the vastness of heaven cannot contain him. How then can I build a Temple that would be anything more than a place to burn incense to God?

7 »Send me a man with skill in engraving, in working gold, silver, copper, and iron, and in making blue, purple, and red cloth. He will work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David selected.

8 »I know how skillful your lumbermen are, so send me cedar, cypress, and juniper logs from Lebanon. I am ready to send my men to assist yours.

9 »Prepare large quantities of timber, because this Temple I intend to build will be large and magnificent.

10 »As provisions for your lumbermen, I will send you one hundred thousand bushels of wheat, one hundred thousand bushels of barley, one hundred and ten thousand gallons of wine, and one hundred and ten thousand gallons of olive oil.«

11 King Hiram sent Solomon a letter in reply. He wrote: »Jehovah made you their king because he loves his people.«

12 »Praise Jehovah the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, full of understanding and skill. He now plans to build a Temple for Jehovah and a palace for himself.

13 »I am sending you a wise and skillful master metalworker named Huram Hiram-abi.

14 »He was the son of a woman from the tribe of Dan. His father is a native of Tyre. Huram knows how to work with gold, silver, copper, iron, stone, wood, purple, violet, and dark red cloth, and linen. He also knows how to make all kinds of engravings and follow any set of plans that will be given to him. He can work with your skilled workmen and the skilled workmen of His Majesty David, your father.

15 »Your Majesty may now send the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he promised the workers.

16 »We will cut all the trees for lumber you need in Lebanon. Then we will make rafts out of it and send them to you in Joppa by sea. You can take it from there to Jerusalem.«

17 Solomon counted all the men who were foreigners in the land of Israel, as his father David had counted them. Solomon counted one hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred foreigners.

18 He directed seventy thousand of them carry heavy loads, eighty thousand of them quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred of them supervise the work as foremen.