Old Testament
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
New Testament
1 Kings 5
Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple
51Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon because he heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father's place, and because Hiram had been a dear friend of David all his days.[]
2Solomon sent the following message to Hiram:
3You know that my father David was not able to build a house for the Name of the Lord his God, because of the wars that swirled around him until the Lord put his enemies under the soles of his feet. 4But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. I have no adversary and face no dangerous situations. 5Listen to this! I intend to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord told my father, “Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, will build the house for my Name.” 6Now give the order to cut cedar logs for me from Lebanon. My servants will work with your servants, and I will reimburse you whatever you specify as the pay for your servants, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut lumber like the Sidonians.
7When Hiram heard Solomon's words, he was very happy and he said:
Blessed be the Lord this day because he has given David a wise son to rule over this great people.
8So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
I have heard the message you sent me. I will provide all the cedar and fir logs that you desire. 9My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will put them into the sea as rafts and float them to the place that you tell me. Then we will dismantle them there, and you can transport them up from there. In exchange, you will provide all the food I desire for my palace.
10So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and fir that he desired. 11In return, Solomon gave Hiram one hundred twenty thousand bushels[] of wheat as provisions for his palace and one hundred twenty thousand gallons[] of beaten[] olive oil. Solomon gave this amount to Hiram every year. 12The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon just as he had promised him, so there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty.
13King Solomon drafted a labor force from all over Israel. It numbered thirty thousand men. 14He sent ten thousand men per month to Lebanon in shifts. They would spend one month in Lebanon. Then for two months they would be at home. Adoniram was in charge of this forced labor. 15Solomon had seventy thousand men to transport materials and eighty thousand men to quarry stones in the mountains, 16not counting the officials who were overseeing the work for Solomon. There were thirty-three hundred men supervising the people who were doing the work. 17The king gave a command, and they quarried large, high-quality stones to serve as a foundation for the temple building, which was made of trimmed stones. 18Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men from Gebal[] cut and prepared the wood and stones to construct the temple building.[]
Footnotes
- 5:1 The chapter division is different in the Hebrew text. English 4:21–34 equals Hebrew 5:1–14. English 5:1–18 equals Hebrew 5:15–32.
- 5:11 Literally twenty thousand cors. The values of the ancient measures of volume are uncertain.
- 5:11 Literally twenty thousand baths
- 5:11 It is assumed that oil from beaten olives is the highest grade olive oil from the first crushing of the olives, which was done by hand, not by a mechanical press.
- 5:18 A Phoenician city, also called Byblos
- 5:18 Literally the house or the building. The temple building is often called the house in Kings and Chronicles. The temple building, that is, the sanctuary proper, must be distinguished from the temple complex with its courtyards and side buildings. Both terms, the house of the Lord and the temple, may refer to the sanctuary itself or to the entire complex, depending on the context.