Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 King Solomon decided to build a temple where the Lord would be worshiped, and also to build a palace for himself.
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Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.
2 He put 70,000 men to work transporting materials, and 80,000 to work cutting stone in the hill country. There were 3,600 others responsible for supervising the work.
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Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.
3 Solomon sent a message to King Hiram of Tyre: "Do business with me as you did with my father, King David, when you sold him cedar logs for building his palace.
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Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As you did deal with David my father, and did send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein, [even so deal with me].
4 I am building a temple to honor the Lord my God. It will be a holy place where my people and I will worship him by burning incense of fragrant spices, where we will present offerings of sacred bread to him continuously, and where we will offer burnt offerings every morning and evening, as well as on Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other holy days honoring the Lord our God. He has commanded Israel to do this forever.
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Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is [an ordinance] forever to Israel.
5 I intend to build a great temple, because our God is greater than any other god.
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The house which I build is great; for great is our God above all gods.
6 Yet no one can really build a temple for God, because even all the vastness of heaven cannot contain him. How then can I build a temple that would be anything more than a place to burn incense to God?
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But who is able to build him a house, seeing heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain him? who am I then, that I should build him a house, save only to burn incense before him?
7 Now send me a man with skill in engraving, in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in making blue, purple, and red cloth. He will work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David selected.
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Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave [all manner of] engravings, [to be] with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.
8 I know how skillful your lumbermen are, so send me cedar, cypress, and juniper logs from Lebanon. I am ready to send my men to assist yours
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Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and, behold, my servants shall be with your servants,
9 in preparing large quantities of timber, because this temple I intend to build will be large and magnificent.
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even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.
10 As provisions for your lumbermen, I will send you 100,000 bushels of wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil."
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Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut 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 King Hiram sent Solomon a letter in reply. He wrote, "Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.
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Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.
12 Praise the Lord God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, full of understanding and skill, who now plans to build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.
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Huram said moreover, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.
13 I am sending you a wise and skillful master metalworker named Huram.
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Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father's,
14 His mother was a member of the tribe of Dan and his father was a native of Tyre. He knows how to make things out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood. He can work with blue, purple, and red cloth, and with linen. He can do all sorts of engraving and can follow any design suggested to him. Let him work with your skilled workers and with those who worked for your father, King David.
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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 brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any manner of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be [a place] appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.
15 So now send us the wheat, barley, wine, and olive oil that you promised.
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Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants:
16 In the mountains of Lebanon we will cut down all the cedars you need, tie them together in rafts, and float them by sea as far as Joppa. From there you can take them to Jerusalem."
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and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.
17 King Solomon took a census of all the foreigners living in the land of Israel, similar to the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 resident foreigners.
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Solomon numbered all the sojourners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
18 He assigned 70,000 of them to transport materials and 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and appointed 3,600 supervisors to make sure the work was done.
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He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.