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2 Chronicles 2
21st Century King James Version
2 Chronicles 2
21st Century King James Version
2 And Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
2 And Solomon counted out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and hree thousand and six hundred to oversee them.
3 And Solomon sent to Hiram, the king of Tyre, saying, “As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to uild him a house to dwell therein, even so deal with me.
4 Behold, I build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for he continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn easts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.
5 And the house which I build is great, for great is our God above all gods.
6 But who is able to build Him a house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I hould build Him a house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him?
7 Send me now therefore a man skillful to work in gold and in silver, and in brass and in iron, and in purple and crimson and lue, and who can expertly engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants have skill to cut timber in ebanon. And behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
9 even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.
10 And behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty housand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
11 Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon: “Because the Lord hath loved His people, He hath ade thee king over them.”
12 Hiram said moreover: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise on, endued with prudence and understanding, who might build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
13 “And now I have sent a skillful man, endued with understanding, Hiramabi
14 (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skillful to work in gold and in silver, in rass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to engrave any manner of ngraving and to figure out every design which shall be put to him, with thy skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord avid thy father.
15 Now therefore, the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his ervants;
16 and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee as rafts by sea to Joppa, and hou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.”
17 And Solomon numbered all the strangers who were in the land of Israel, according to the numbering wherewith David his father ad numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.
18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, nd three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people to work.
2 Chronicles 2
New International Version
2 Chronicles 2
New International Version
Preparations for Building the Temple(A)
2 [a]Solomon gave orders to build a temple(B) for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.(C) 2 He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them.(D)
3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b](E) king of Tyre:
“Send me cedar logs(F) as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. 4 Now I am about to build a temple(G) for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense(H) before him, for setting out the consecrated bread(I) regularly, and for making burnt offerings(J) every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths,(K) at the New Moons(L) and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.
5 “The temple I am going to build will be great,(M) because our God is greater than all other gods.(N) 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?(O) Who then am I(P) to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
7 “Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers,(Q) whom my father David provided.
8 “Send me also cedar, juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours 9 to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent. 10 I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors[e] of barley, twenty thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.(R)”
11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:
“Because the Lord loves(S) his people, he has made you their king.”
12 And Hiram added:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!(T) He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.
13 “I am sending you Huram-Abi,(U) a man of great skill, 14 whose mother was from Dan(V) and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained(W) to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue(X) and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.
15 “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil(Y) and wine he promised, 16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.(Z) You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners(AA) residing in Israel, after the census(AB) his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. 18 He assigned(AC) 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1 is numbered 1:18, and 2:2-18 is numbered 2:1-17.
- 2 Chronicles 2:3 Hebrew Huram, a variant of Hiram; also in verses 11 and 12
- 2 Chronicles 2:8 Probably a variant of almug
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, probably about 3,600 tons or about 3,200 metric tons of wheat
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, probably about 3,000 tons or about 2,700 metric tons of barley
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, about 120,000 gallons or about 440,000 liters
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.
New International Version (NIV) 
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