6
But who is so powerful as to build him a house, seeing the heavens and heavens of the heavens cannot contain him? Who
am I then that I should build him a house, except to burn incense before him?
7
Send me now, therefore, a wise man who knows how to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that knows how to engrave figures with the craftsmen that
are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David, my father, provided.
8
Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and pine trees, out of Lebanon, for I know that thy slaves are skillful at cutting timber in Lebanon, and, behold, my slaves
shall be with thy slaves
9
to prepare me timber in abundance, for the house which I am about to build
shall be great and wonderful.
10
And, behold, I will give to thy slaves, the hewers that 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
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.