1Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram loved David all his days.2Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:3You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars that surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.4But now the LORD my God has given me rest on all sides; there is no satan and no evil occurrence.5And now I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, just as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, "The son whom I will give in your place on your throne, he will build the house for my name."6Now command and let them cut cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants, and the wages of your servants I will give to you as all that you say, for you know that there is no man among us who knows to cut timber like the Sidonians.7And when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, "Blessed be the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."8Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard what you sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning cedars and cypresses."9My servants will go down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make rafts of them at sea to the place that you send to me, and I will break them up there, and you will carry them, and you will do my desire to give bread for my house.10And Hiram gave Solomon all the cedars and cypresses he desired.11Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty cors of pressed oil. In this way Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.12And the LORD gave wisdom to Solomon as he had spoken to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them cut a covenant.13King Solomon levied a forced labor force from all Israel, and the forced labor force was thirty thousand men.14And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by turns: a month they would be in Lebanon, two months at home. And Adoniram was over the forced labor.15And Solomon had seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains.16apart from the overseers of Solomon's officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred who ruled over the people doing the work.17And the king commanded, and they carried great stones, precious stones, to lay the foundation of the house—cut stones.18And Solomon's men and Hiram's men, together with the Gebalites, quarried and prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.