11. Hiram sent his answer back to Solomon:I know that the Lord must love his people, because he has chosen you to be their king.
12. Praise the Lord God of Israel who made heaven and earth! He has given David a son who is not only wise and clever, but who has the knowledge to build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.
13. I am sending Huram Abi to you. He is very bright.
14. His mother was from the Israelite tribe of Dan, and his father was from Tyre. Not only is Huram an expert at working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, but he can also make coloured cloth and fine linen. And he can carve anything if you give him a pattern to follow. He can help your workers and those hired by your father King David.
15. Go ahead and send the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine you promised to pay my workers.
16. I will tell them to start cutting down trees in Lebanon. They will cut as many as you need, then tie them together into rafts, and float them down along the coast to Joppa. Your workers can take them to Jerusalem from there.
17. Solomon counted all the foreigners who were living in Israel, just as his father David had done when he was king, and the total was 153,600.
18. He assigned 70,000 of them to carry building supplies and 80,000 of them to cut stone from the hills. He chose 3,600 others to supervise the workers and to make sure the work was completed.