2 Chronicles 2-3

Darby Translation

2 And Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom.

² And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand stone-masons in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to superintend them.

³ And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein [so do for me].

⁴ Behold, I build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God to dedicate it to him, to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual arrangement [of the shewbread], and for the morning and evening burnt-offerings [and] on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God. This is [an ordinance] for ever to Israel.

⁵ And the house that I will build is great; for great is our God above all gods.

⁶ But who is able to build him a house, seeing the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to burn sacrifice before him?

⁷ And now send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and experienced in carving, besides the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

⁸ Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants are experienced in cutting timber in Lebanon; and behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,

⁹ even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house that I build shall be great and wonderful.

¹⁰ And behold, I will give to thy servants the hewers that fell timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

¹¹ And Huram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Jehovah loved his people, he made thee king over them.

¹² And Huram said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom.

¹³ And now, I send a skilful man, endued with understanding, Huram Abi,

¹⁴ the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and whose father was a man of Tyre, experienced in working in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in byssus, and in crimson, and for doing any manner of engraving, and for inventing every device which shall be put to him, besides thy skilful men, and the skilful men of my lord David thy father.

¹⁵ And now the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants.

¹⁶ And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee [in] floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.

¹⁷ And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the account that David his father had taken of them, and there were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.

¹⁸ And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand to be stone-masons in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people to work.

3 And Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where he appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

² And he began to build on the second of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

³ And this was Solomon's foundation for the construction of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

⁴ And the porch which was in front was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, and the height was a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

⁵ And the greater house he boarded with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set on it palm-trees and chains.

⁶ And he overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

⁷ And he covered the house, the beams, the threshold, and its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.

⁸ And he made the house of the most holy place, the length of which was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he covered it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

⁹ And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he covered the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰ And in the house of the most holy place he made two cherubim of image work, and they overlaid them with gold.

¹¹ And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing of five cubits touched the wing of the other cherub.

¹² And the wing of the other cherub of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits joining the wing of the other cherub.

¹³ The wings of these cherubim spread forth were twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

¹⁴ And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and byssus, and made cherubim upon it.

¹⁵ And before the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits long; and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

¹⁶ And he made chains [as] in the oracle, and he put them on the top of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

¹⁷ And he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.