2 Chronicles 2
Who Am I That I Should Build Him a House?
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Solomon Gathers the Workers
2:1Solomon gathered seventy thousand burden-bearing men and eighty thousand quarrymen in the mountain, with three thousand six hundred overseers over them.
The Letter to Chiram King of Tyre
2:2Solomon sent to Chiram king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with my father David and sent him cedars to build himself a house to live in,
2:3look, I his son am building a house for the name of the Lord my God, to consecrate it to Him, to burn incense before Him, with continual presentation and the continual offering of whole burnt offerings morning and evening, on sabbaths, new moons, and the feasts of the Lord our God. This is an everlasting obligation upon Israel.
2:4The house I am building is great, for our God is greater than all the gods.
2:5Who will be able to build Him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heaven cannot bear His glory? Who am I to build Him a house, except to burn incense before Him?
2:6Now send me a wise and knowledgeable man to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, in purple, scarlet, and hyacinth blue, skilled at engraving, with the skilled men with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father prepared.
2:7Send me cedar, juniper, and pine timbers from Lebanon, for I know your slaves know how to cut timber from Lebanon. Look, your servants will be with my servants
2:8and will go to prepare abundant timber for me, for the house I am building is great and glorious.
2:9Look, I give the workers cutting timber grain for food, as gifts to your servants: twenty thousand kors, and twenty thousand kors of barley, twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.”
The Reply of Chiram
2:10Chiram king of Tyre replied in writing and sent it to Solomon: “Because the Lord loves His people, He has appointed you king over them.”
2:11Chiram said, “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who gave King David a wise son, skilled in understanding and knowledge, who will build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
2:12Now I have sent you a wise man, possessing understanding: Chiram, my father,
2:13his mother is from Dan’s daughters, and his father is a Tyrian man. He knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and timber; to weave in purple, hyacinth blue, fine linen, and scarlet; to engrave engravings and devise every design, whatever you give him, with your skilled men and the skilled men of David my lord, your father.
2:14Now let my lord send his servants the grain, barley, oil, and wine of which he spoke.
2:15We will cut timber from Lebanon according to all your need and bring it in rafts to Joppa’s sea. You shall bring it to Jerusalem.”
The Resident Foreigners Numbered
2:16Solomon gathered all the resident foreign men in Israel’s land after the numbering by which David his father had numbered them. They were found to be a hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
2:17He assigned seventy thousand of them as burden bearers, eighty thousand as quarrymen, and three thousand six hundred as taskmasters over the people.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.