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2 Chronicles 2

Solomon’s preparations for the temple join costly, organized work with the confession that no building can contain Israel’s God.

Solomon prepares to build a temple for YHWH’s name and a palace for his kingdom. He writes to Huram, king of Tyre, requesting timber and a skilled craftsman, and explains the worship the temple will serve. His letter pairs plans for a great building with the confession that heaven cannot contain God. Huram agrees to supply help and praises Israel’s God. The account closes with Solomon assigning resident foreigners to carry burdens, cut stone, and oversee the work.

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1Now Solomon decided to build a house for the LORD’s name, and a house for his kingdom.
2Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
3Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.
4Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, to burn before him incense of sweet spices, for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.
5“The house which I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.
6But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?
7“Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
8“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants,
9even to prepare timber in abundance for me; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.
10Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, twenty thousand baths of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
11Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”
12Huram continued, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who would build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.
14the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre. He is skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to devise any device, that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.
15“Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants;
16and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you need. We will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa; then you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”
17Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
18He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to assign the people their work.
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Key verses
2 Chronicles 2:5Solomon grounds the temple’s planned greatness in God’s supremacy, making the building’s scale a statement about whom Israel worships.
2 Chronicles 2:6Solomon acknowledges that even heaven cannot contain God, setting a clear limit on what his temple can accomplish.
2 Chronicles 2:4The temple’s purpose takes concrete form in incense, bread, and offerings ordered around Israel’s daily and appointed worship.
Where this chapter reaches

The exchange with Tyre shares its building project and timber arrangements with 1 Kings, while the incense, bread, and offerings connect with worship commands in Exodus. Solomon’s confession that heaven cannot contain God shares with Isaiah and Acts the declaration that God exceeds any dwelling humans can build.

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After reading the whole chapter

How does Solomon’s confession that heaven cannot contain God shape your reading of his ambitious building plans?

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What do you notice about the people and labor required to prepare this place of worship?

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Questions people ask about 2 Chronicles 2

Why did Solomon build a temple if God cannot be contained?

Solomon describes the temple as a house for YHWH’s name, dedicated to the worship God commanded Israel to offer. He acknowledges that even heaven cannot contain God. The building provides a place for incense, bread, and sacrifices; its purpose does not require God to fit within its walls.

Who are Huram and Huram-abi in 2 Chronicles 2?

Huram is the king of Tyre who receives Solomon’s request and agrees to provide timber and skilled help. Huram-abi is the craftsman he sends. His mother is from Dan and his father from Tyre. The text credits him with skill in metalwork, stone, timber, textiles, engraving, and design.

Who were the workers Solomon counted in 2 Chronicles 2?

The closing verses identify them as foreigners living in Israel, counted after an earlier census by David. Solomon assigns 70,000 to carry burdens, 80,000 to cut stone in the mountains, and 3,600 to oversee the work. The chapter records their assignments without describing their consent or working conditions.

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What the Bible says about worship →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).