Daily Bread

Preparations for Building the Temple^(A)

5 ^[a]When Hiram^(B) king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. ² Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

⁷ When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord^(K) today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

⁸ So Hiram sent word to Solomon:

¹⁰ In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, ¹¹ and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors^[b] of wheat as food^(N) for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths^[c][d] of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. ¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom,^(O) just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.^(P)

¹³ King Solomon conscripted laborers^(Q) from all Israel—thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram^(R) was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, ¹⁶ as well as thirty-three hundred^[e] foremen^(S) who supervised the project and directed the workers. ¹⁷ At the king’s command they removed from the quarry^(T) large blocks of high-grade stone^(U) to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. ¹⁸ The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram^(V) and workers from Byblos^(W) cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.