6
“So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
7
When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”
8
So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs.
9
My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”
10
In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted,
11
and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.
12
The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
13
King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men.
14
He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
15
Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills,
16
as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers.