2 Chronicles, Chapter 2:
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Verses from 2 Chronicles, Chapter 2 of the book of 2 Chronicles of the Bible.
Preparations for the construction of the temple
- 1. Solomon gave orders to build a temple in honor of the name of the Lord and a palace for himself.
- 2. He appointed seventy thousand men as carriers, eighty thousand as stone cutters on the hills, and three thousand and six hundred as foremen.
- 3. Then Solomon sent this message to Hiram, king of Tyre:
- 4. Now I am about to build a temple in honor of the name of the Lord my God, and to dedicate it to him, to burn fragrant incense before it, to present the consecrated bread regularly, and to make burnt offerings every morning and evening in the Saturdays, new moons and the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a perpetual decree for Israel.
- 5. “The temple I will build will be great, for our God is greater than all other gods.
- 6. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens cannot contain him, not even the highest heavens? Who am I, then, to build him a temple, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
- 7. “Therefore send me a man skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, and purple, red, and blue cloth, and skilled in sculpture, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skillful men. artisans, prepared by my father David.
- 8. “Also send me cedar, pine, and juniper wood from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting the wood there. My servants will work with yours.
- 9. to provide me with wood in large quantities, as the temple I am going to build must be large and imposing.
- 10. And I will give as food to your servants, the woodcutters, twenty thousand barrels of wheat, twenty thousand barrels of barley, two thousand barrels of wine and two thousand barrels of oil.”
- 11. Hiram, king of Tire, replied in a letter to Solomon: “The Lord loves his people, and that is why he made you king over them.”
- 12. And he added: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, for he has given King David a wise son, who has understanding and discernment, and who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for you.
- 13. “I am sending you Huram-abi, a man of great skill.
- 14. His mother was from Dan and his father was from Tyre. He was trained to work with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and in purple, blue, and red cloth, in fine linen, and in every kind of carving. He can execute any project given to him. He will work with your artisans and with those of my lord David, your father.
- 15. “Now, my lord, send to your servants the wheat, barley, oil and wine that my lord promised,
- 16. and we will cut down all the timber in Lebanon that is needed, and will float it on rafts across the sea, down to Joppa. From there you can take her to Jerusalem.”
- 17. Solomon took a census of all the foreigners who lived in Israel, as his father David had done; and it turned out that they were one hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.
- 18. He appointed seventy thousand of them to be carriers and eighty thousand to be stone cutters on the hills, with three thousand six hundred foremen to keep the people working.
