1 Kings 5:12-18

12 And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two of them made a treaty.

13 King Solomon raised a levy of forced labor out of all Israel; and the levy numbered thirty thousand men.

14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in relays; they would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoni'ram was in charge of the levy.

15 Solomon also had seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand hewers of stone in the hill country,

16 besides Solomon's three thousand three hundred chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

17 At the king's command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gebal did the hewing and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

1 Kings 5:12-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 5

This chapter relates Solomon's preparation for building the temple: on Hiram, king of Tyre, sending a congratulatory letter to him, he returned another to him, signifying his intention to build an house for God, and requesting him to supply him with timber, and men to work it, 1Ki 5:1-6; to which Hiram readily agreed, and sent him cedar and fir, and Solomon in return sent him food for his household; and things went on very amicably between them, 1Ki 5:7-12; the chapter concludes with an account of Solomon's workmen, where, how, and in what they were employed, 1Ki 5:13-18.