And they gave money to hewers of stones and to masons: and meat and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar-trees from Libanus to the sea of Joppe, according to the orders which Cyrus king of the Persians had given them.
And he commanded to gather together all the proselytes of the land of Israel, and out of them he appointed stonecutters to hew stones and polish them, to build the house of God.
Now when David was dwelling in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet: Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under skins.
Give orders therefore that thy servants cut me down cedar-trees out of Libanus: and let my servants be with thy servants. And I will give thee the hire of thy servants whatsoever thou wilt ask: for thou knowest how there is not among my people a man that has skill to hew wood like to the Sidonians.
And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon: for he heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father. For Hiram had always been David's friend.
And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.