^5:2Solomon then sent this message to Hiram: ^5:3“You know that my father David was unable to build a temple to honor the Lord⁴ his God, for he was busy fighting battles on all fronts while the Lord subdued his enemies.⁵^5:4But now the Lord my God has made me secure on all fronts; there is no adversary or dangerous threat. ^5:5So I have decided⁶ to build a temple to honor the Lord⁷ my God, as the Lord instructed my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, is the one who will build a temple to honor me.’⁸^5:6So now order some cedars of Lebanon to be cut for me. My servants will work with your servants. I will pay your servants whatever you say is appropriate, for you know that we have no one among us who knows how to cut down trees like the Sidonians.”

^5:7When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was very happy. He said, “The Lord is worthy of praise today because he⁹ has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” ^5:8Hiram then sent this message to Solomon: “I received¹⁰ the message you sent to me. I will give you all the cedars and evergreens you need.¹¹^5:9My servants will bring the timber down from Lebanon to the sea. I will send it by sea in raft-like bundles to the place you designate.¹² There I will separate the logs¹³ and you can carry them away. In exchange you will supply the food I need for my royal court.”¹⁴

^5:10So Hiram supplied the cedars and evergreens Solomon needed,¹⁵^5:11and Solomon supplied Hiram annually with 20,000 cors¹⁶ of wheat as provision for his royal court,¹⁷ as well as 20,000 baths¹⁸ of pure¹⁹ olive oil.²⁰

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Footnotes

4 Heb “a house for the name of the Lord.” The word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.
5 Heb “because of the battles which surrounded him until the Lord placed them under the soles of his feet.”
6 Heb “Look, I am saying.”
7 Heb “a house for the name of the Lord.” The word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.
8 Heb “a house for my name.” The word “name” sometimes refers to one’s reputation or honor. The “name” of the Lord sometimes designates the Lord himself, being indistinguishable from the proper name.
9 Or “Blessed be the Lord today, who.…”
10 Heb “heard.”
11 Heb “I will satisfy all your desire with respect to cedar wood and with respect to the wood of evergreens.”
12 Heb “I will place them [on? as?] rafts in the sea to the place where you designate to me.” This may mean he would send them by raft, or that he would tie them in raft-like bundles, and have ships tow them down to an Israelite port.
13 Heb “smash them,” i.e., untie the bundles.
14 Heb “as for you, you will satisfy my desire by giving food for my house.”
15 Heb “and Hiram gave to Solomon cedar wood and the wood of evergreens, all his desire.”
16 As a unit of dry measure a cor was roughly equivalent to six bushels.
17 Heb “his house.”
18 The Hebrew text has “twenty cors,” but the ancient Greek version and the parallel text in 2 Chr 2:10 read “twenty thousand baths.” A bath was a liquid measure equivalent to almost six gallons.
19 Or “pressed.”
20 Heb “and Solomon supplied Hiram with twenty thousand cors of wheat … pure olive oil. So Solomon would give to Hiram year by year.”