11
Then Hiram, the king of Tyre, answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD has loved his people, he has placed thee as king over them.
12
Hiram said, moreover, Blessed
be the LORD God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to King David a wise son with knowledge, good sense and understanding, that he might build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.
13
And now I have sent a wise man, with knowledge and understanding, of Hiram my father,
14
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, in fine linen, and in crimson; also to engrave any manner of figure and to invent any design which shall be put to him, with thy craftsmen and with the craftsmen of my lord David, thy father.
15
Now, therefore, let my lord send unto his slaves the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which he has spoken of;
16
and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need, and we will bring it to thee in rafts by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt cause it to be carried up to Jerusalem.
17
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that
were in the land of Israel, after David, his father, had already numbered them; and one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred were found.
18
And he set seventy thousand of them
to be bearers of burdens and eighty thousand
to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.