1 Then Solomon resolved to build a house for the Name of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Inhabitant} and a house for his kingdom {malkut: royal dominion}.
2 And Solomon counted seventy thousand men as carriers {sabbal: load-bearers} and eighty thousand men as stonecutters in the hill country {bahar: upland region} and three thousand six hundred overseers over them.
3 And Solomon sent to Huram, king of Tyre, saying, “Just as you did for my father David {avi: royal predecessor} and sent him cedars {arazim: prized timber} to build him a house to dwell in, so deal with me as well.”
4 Behold, I am building a house for the Name of the LORD my God {YHWH Elohai, Worship Center}, to dedicate it to Him, to burn fragrant incense {ketoret: aromatic offering} before Him, to arrange the showbread regularly, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on Sabbaths, New Moons, and the appointed festivals of the LORD our God; this shall be a perpetual ordinance for Israel.
5 And the house which I am building {boneh: ongoing construction} will be great, because our God {Eloheinu, Supreme Above All} is greater than all other gods.
6 But who has the strength {koach: full capacity} to build a house for Him {YHWH, Supreme Creator}, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? And who am I that I should build a house for Him except to burn incense before Him?
7 And now, send me a man skilled{chacham: expert craftsman} to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, purple, crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave designs, to work with the skilled men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father prepared{hechin: appointed for the task}.
8 And send me cedar, cypress, and algum {algummim: rare wood} timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants {avdecha: skilled cutters} know how to cut timber from Lebanon; and behold, my servants will be with your servants.
9 And prepare wood {etzim: timbers for construction} for me in abundance, for the house which I am building is great and extraordinary {hafle: surpassing in splendor}.
10 And behold, I will give to the woodcutters, the tree-fellers, for your servants, twenty thousand cors of crushed wheat {chittim: staple grain} as food, and twenty thousand cors of barley, and twenty thousand baths {batim: liquid measure} of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
11 Huram, king of Tyre, replied in writing to Solomon, “Because of the love of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Keeper} for his people {ammo: national assembly}, He has made you king over them.”
12 And Huram said, “Blessed be the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Initiator}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, National Guardian}, who made the heavens and the earth, who has given to King David a wise son skilled in insight {sechel: tactical insight} and discerning understanding {binah: judicious discernment}, who will build a house for the LORD and a palace for his kingdom.”
13 And now I have sent to you a man skilled {khakam: endowed with technical aptitude} in understanding, Huram-abi {Huram-abi: master craftsman}.
14 A son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre {tsori: Tyrian artisan}, knowledgeable in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stones, and wood, with purple, blue, fine linen, and crimson, and in engraving every kind of carving and in devising any design that may be given to him, together with your wise men and the wise men of my lord, David {David: royal ancestor} your father.
15 And now let the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord {adoni: honored master} said, be sent to his servants {avadav: working attendants}.
16 And we will cut trees from Lebanon {ha-levanon: famed cedar forests} according to all your needs and bring them to you in rafts by sea to Joppa {yafo: primary ancient port city}, and you shall transport them up to Jerusalem.
17 And Solomon {Shlomo: Wise King} counted all the men, the foreigners who were in the land of Israel after the census {sfar: official count} which his father David had conducted, and they were found to be 153,600.
18 And he appointed from among them seventy thousand burden-bearers {sabal: load carriers} and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers {menatztzim: supervisors} to direct the people in their work.