1 Kings 5

Hiram’s Building Materials

5ⁱHiram king of Tyre ^jsent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place, ^kfor Hiram had always been friends with David. ^l

²Solomon sent this message to Hiram: ³“You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of Yahweh his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. ^m4The Lord my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis. ⁿ⁵So I plan to build a temple for the name of Yahweh my God, ^oaccording to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.’ ^p

⁶“Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants’ wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” ^q

⁷When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he greatly rejoiced and said, “May the Lord be praised today! ^rHe has given David a wise son to be over this great people!” ⁸Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, “I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. ⁹My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food.” ^s

¹⁰So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, ¹¹and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels ^tof wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons ^uof oil from crushed olives. ^vSolomon did this for Hiram year after year.

¹²The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. ^wThere was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. ^x

Solomon’s Work Force

¹³Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; ^ythe labor force numbered 30,000 men. ¹⁴He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, ^z16not including his 3,300 ^adeputies ^bin charge of the work. They ruled over the people doing the work. ¹⁷The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones. ^c18So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, ^dalong with the Gebalites, ^equarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple’s construction.