Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loveth his people, he hath made thee king over them. And it came to pass when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given unto David the king a wise son over this great people, endued with discretion and understanding, that should build ! an house for the Lord and an house for his kingdom. And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard the message which thou hast sent unto me: I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants: and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will make them into rafts to go by sea unto the * place where thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and thou shalt receive and carry them up to Jerusalem; and thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving food for my household. So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire. And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred. And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy. And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains; besides Solomon's chief officers that were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stones. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites did fashion them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

Chronicles, to Joppa. † Chronicles, 36 hundred. Appendix C, Chronicles III, 1, (10).

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of Egypt, then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second day of the month Ziv, which is the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house, and the height an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it with pure gold. I Kings 6:4. And for the house he made windows of fixed lattice work. 5. And against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made side chambers round about: 6. the nethermost story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for on the outside he made rebatements in the wall of the house round about, that the beams should not have hold in the walls of the house. 7. And the house when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry: and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. 8. The door for the middle side-chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle chambers, and out of the middle into the third. 9. So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10. And he built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. II. And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 12. Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgements, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I establish my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father. 13. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14. So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15. And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the