¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father; for Hiram had always been a friend to David.

²And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

³You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, in the face of the war that surrounded him, until Yahweh put them under the soles of my feet.

⁴And now Yahweh my God has given me rest round about; there is no adversary, and there is no evil misfortune.

⁵And see, I intend to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, just as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying: Your son, whom I will put in your place on your throne, he will build the house for my name.

⁶And now, command that they cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and my servants will be with your servants; and the wages of your servants I will give you, according to all that you say. For you know that among us there is no one who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.

⁷And when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said: Blessed be Yahweh today, who has given David a wise son over this great people.

⁸And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have heard what you sent to me; I will do all that you desire regarding the cedar wood and the cypress wood.

⁹My servants will bring them down from the Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them rafts on the sea to the place that you will send to me, and there I will break them up, and you will carry them away; and you will do my delight, giving food to my household.

¹⁰And Hiram was giving Solomon cedar wood and cypress wood, all that he desired.

¹¹And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty cors of beaten oil; thus Solomon would give Hiram year by year.

¹²And Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon, just as he had spoken to him; and there was wholeness between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them cut a covenant.

¹³And King Solomon brought up a labor gang from all Israel; and the labor gang was thirty thousand men.

¹⁴And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in relays: a month they would be in Lebanon, two months in his house; and Adoniram was over the labor gang.

¹⁵And Solomon had seventy thousand carriers of burdens and eighty thousand stone-cutters in the hill country;

¹⁶apart from the chiefs of Solomon's deputies who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who were doing the work.

¹⁷And the king commanded, and they pulled out great stones, precious stones, to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones.

¹⁸And the builders of Solomon and the builders of Hiram and the Gebalites hewed them into shape, and they prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.