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. 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 that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and thou shalt receive them, and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household."
CEDARS OF LEBANON
So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.
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.
B. THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. And the house was sixty cubits in length, twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height. And the house 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.
And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.
And he built an oracle, even the most holy place, in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he drew chains of gold across before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. Also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold.
And in the eleventh year, in the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.