Preparations for Building the Temple

¹King Hiram of Tyre had always been a loyal friend of David. When Hiram learned that David’s son Solomon was the new king of Israel, he sent ambassadors to congratulate him.[#5:1 Verses 5:1-18 are numbered 5:15-32 in Hebrew text.]

²Then Solomon sent this message back to Hiram:

⁷When Hiram received Solomon’s message, he was very pleased and said, “Praise the Lord today for giving David a wise son to be king of the great nation of Israel.”

⁸Then he sent this reply to Solomon:

¹⁰So Hiram supplied as much cedar and cypress timber as Solomon desired.

¹¹In return, Solomon sent him an annual payment of 100,000 bushels of wheat for his household and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil.[#5:11a Hebrew 20,000 cors [4,400 kiloliters].; #5:11b As in Greek version, which reads 20,000 baths [420 kiloliters] (see also 2 Chr 2:10); Hebrew reads 20 cors, about 1,000 gallons or 4.4 kiloliters in volume.]

¹²So the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as he had promised. And Hiram and Solomon made a formal alliance of peace.

¹³Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.

¹⁴He sent them to Lebanon in shifts, 10,000 every month, so that each man would be one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of this labor force.

¹⁵Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers, 80,000 quarry workers in the hill country,

¹⁶and 3,600 foremen to supervise the work.[#5:16 As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 2 Chr 2:2, 18); Hebrew reads 3,300.]

¹⁷At the king’s command, they quarried large blocks of high-quality stone and shaped them to make the foundation of the Temple.

¹⁸Men from the city of Gebal helped Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders prepare the timber and stone for the Temple.