1 Kings 5

¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father; for Hiram had always loved David.

²And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

³You know David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of the LORD his God, on account of the war that surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.

⁴And now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is no adversary and no bad occurrence.

⁵And now, behold I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying: Your son whom I will set on your throne in your place — he shall build the house for my name.

⁶And now, command, and let them cut for me cedars from Lebanon; and my servants shall be with your servants, and the wages of your servants I will give you according to whatever you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.

⁷And when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, 'Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given David a wise son over this great people.'

⁸And Hiram sent to Solomon saying: I have heard what you sent to me — I will do all your desire in cedar timber and in cypress timber.

⁹My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will set them as rafts on the sea to the place that you designate to me, and I will untie them there; and you will carry them up, and you will fulfill my desire by providing food for my household.

¹⁰And Hiram was giving to Solomon cedar timbers and cypress timbers — all his desire.

¹¹And Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as provision for his household, and twenty cors of beaten oil; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

¹²And the LORD gave wisdom to Solomon as he had spoken to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them cut a covenant.

¹³And King Solomon levied forced labor from all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men.

¹⁴And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, in shifts: one month they would be in Lebanon, two months at his home. And Adoniram was over the forced labor.

¹⁵And Solomon had seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand hewers in the hills.

¹⁶besides the officials of Solomon's supervisors who were over the work — three thousand three hundred — ruling over the people who did the work.

¹⁷And the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, precious stones, to lay the foundation of the house — hewn stones.

¹⁸And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites shaped stone, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.