The most sacred Bible, whiche is the Holy Scripture conteyning the Old and New Testament / translated into English, and newly recognised with great diligence after most faythful exemplars, by Rychard Taverner.

¶ Salomon sendeth to Hiram the kynge of Tyr∣for wood and workemen.

CAP. II.

ANd Salomon determined to buyld an [ A] house for the name of the Lorde, & an house for his kyngdome: and tolde out threskore and ten thousand men to beare bur¦dens and foure skore thousand to hewe in the mountayne, and thre thousande and sixe hun∣dred to ouerse them.

* 1.1And Salomon sente to Hiram kynge of Tire sayenge: As thou dyddest deale with Da¦uid my father and dyddest sende him Cedar wodde, to buylde him an house to dwell in, euen so deale with me now: that I may buyld an house for the name of the Lorde my God, to consecrate it to him to burne swete odoures and to set shewbred before him perpetually, & for burntsacrifice mornynge and euenynge, & on the Saboth dayes, and the first daye of eue¦ry new moone, and in the solemne feastes of y^e Lorde our God, so to continew euer in Israel. And the house whiche I buylde is greate: for great is our God aboue all goddes: So that who can be hable to buyld him an house: whē [ B] that heauen,* 1.2 neyther heauen aboue all hea∣uens is hable to receyue him, what am I then that I shoulde buylde him an house? naye, but to burne sacrifice before him: sende me nowe therfore a connyng man to worke in golde, sil¦uer, brasse, yron, scarlet, cremosyn, and Iacinct coloure, and that can skyll to graue, to be w^t the connynge men that are with me in Iuda and Ierusalem, whiche Dauid my father dyd prepare. And sende me also Cedar trees, firre trees and* 1.3 Algume trees out of Libanon. For I wote well thy seruauntes can skyll to hewe tymbre in Liban••••. And loo, my men shalbe with thyne, that they may prepare me tymbre ynough. For the house which I buyld is great and wonderfull. And beholde, I sent for thy seruauntes the cutters and hewers of tymbre twenty thousande quarters of where, and twentye thousande quarters of barleye, and twentye thousande bathes of wyne, and twenty thousand bathes of oyle.

And Hiram kynge of Tire answered in wry¦tynge

and sent to Salomon: because the Lorde loueth his people, he hathe made the kynge ouer them. And Hiram sayde moreouer: blessed be the Lorde God of Israell, whiche hath made both heuen and erth, that he hath gyuen Dauid the kynge a wyse sonne y^t hath discrecion and vnderstandynge, to buylde an house for the Lord, and an other for his king∣dome. And nowe I haue sent a wyse man and [ D] a man of vnderstandynge called Hiram Abi, & is the sonne of a woman of the daughters of Dan (how be it his father was a Titian) and he can skylle to worke in golde, syluer, brasse, yron, stone, tymbre, scarlet, Iacinct, bylie, and cremosin: and graue all maner of grauinges, and to fynde all maner sotle worke that shal∣be set before hym, with thy cunnynge men, & with the connynge men of my Lorde Dauid thy father. And nowe the wheat, barley, oyle and wyne whiche my Lorde hath sayde, lette him sende his seruauntes. And we wyll cutte wood out of Lybane, as moche as thou shalt nede and wyll brynge it to the in shyppes, by see to porte Iabo: and thence thou mayste ca∣rye them to Ierusalem. And Salomon nom∣bred all the straungers that were in the lande of Israel, after the tyme his father Dauid had nombred them. And they were founde an hun¦dred and .liij. thousande and sixe hundred. And he set .lxx. thousande of them to beare bur¦thens, and .lxxx. thousande to hew in the moū¦tayne, and thre thousande and sixe hundred to encourage and to set the people a worcke.

Notes

• * 1.1

  iii. Regū .v. a.
• * 1.2

  ☜
• * 1.3

  Some rede Coral or Bra¦syll.