Solomon’s Workforce

¹³ Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel;^(A) the labor force numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent ten thousand to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains,^{(B) 16} not including his thirty-three hundred^[a] deputies^(C) in charge of the work. They supervised the people doing the work.

³⁸ In his eleventh year in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month,^[a] the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification.^(A) So he built it in seven years.^(B)

Contributions for Building the Temple

29 Then King David said to all the assembly, “My son Solomon—God has chosen him alone—is young and inexperienced. The task is great^(A) because the building will not be built for a human but for the Lord God.^{(B) 2} So to the best of my ability I’ve made provision for the house of my God:^(C) gold for the gold articles, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx, stones for mounting,^[a] antimony,^[b](D) stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and a great quantity of marble. ³ Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the house of my God over and above all that I’ve provided for the holy house: ⁴ 100 tons^[c](E) of gold (gold of Ophir^(F)) and 250 tons^[d] of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings, ⁵ the gold for the gold work and the silver for the silver, for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now who will volunteer to consecrate himself to the Lord today?”

⁶ Then the leaders of the households, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds,^(G) and the officials in charge of the king’s work^(H) gave willingly. ⁷ For the service of God’s house they gave 185 tons^[e] of gold and 10,000 gold coins,^[f](I) 375 tons^[g] of silver, 675 tons^[h] of bronze, and 4,000 tons^[i] of iron. ⁸ Whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the Lord’s house under the care of Jehiel^(J) the Gershonite.

Temple Foundation Completed

¹⁰ When the builders had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph,^(A) holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the Lord, as King David of Israel had instructed.^{(B) 11} They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord: “For he is good; his faithful love to Israel endures forever.”^(C) Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid.^(D)

¹² But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple,^(E) but many others shouted joyfully. ¹³ The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the^[a] weeping,^(F) because the people were shouting so loudly. And the sound was heard far away.

¹⁰ For who despises the day of small things?^(A) These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone^[a] in Zerubbabel’s hand.”^(B)