¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, because Hiram was friendly to David at all times. ²And Solomon sent word to Hiram and said, ³“You know how my father David could not build a house to the name of the Lord his God, because of the wars which surrounded him until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. ⁴And now the Lord my God has given me rest round about; there is no adversary, and there is no harmful conflict. ⁵And look, I intend to build a house to the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father when he said, ‘It is your son, whom I will put on your throne in place of you, who will build the house to my name.’ ⁶So now, command that they cut cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants, and I will give you the wages of your servants according to whatever you specify, for you know that among us there is no man who knows how to cut trees like the Sidonians.” ⁷And it came to pass when Hiram heard Solomon's words that he was very pleased, and he said, “Blessed be the Lord today who has given David a wise son over this great people.” ⁸And Hiram sent word to Solomon and said, “I have heard what you sent me. I will carry out all your wishes concerning cedar trees and cypress trees. ⁹My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will have them laid on rafts to go by sea to the place you notify me of, and I will unload them there, and you will take them away, and you will carry out my wish by giving bread to my household.” ¹⁰So Hiram gave Solomon cedar wood and cypress wood – as much as he wanted. ¹¹And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty cors of beaten oil. This is what Solomon gave Hiram year by year. ¹²And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he had said to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant. ¹³And King Solomon raised a workforce with a levy on all Israel, and the workforce consisted of thirty thousand men. ¹⁴And he sent them to Lebanon – ten thousand for a month in shifts. For a month they were in Lebanon and for two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the workforce. ¹⁵And Solomon had seventy thousand burden bearers and eighty thousand hewers at the mountain, ¹⁶besides Solomon's appointed officials who were over the craftsmanship – three thousand three hundred of them – who had authority over the people who carried out the artisanry. ¹⁷And the king gave commandment, and they quarried large stones, and costly stones, so as to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones. ¹⁸And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Giblites carved and prepared the wood and the stones to build the house.