2 Chronicles 2:8-10

2:8 Send me cedars, evergreens, and algum ¹  trees from Lebanon, for I know your servants are adept ²  at cutting down trees in Lebanon. My servants will work with your servants 2:9 to supply me with large quantities of timber, for I am building a great, magnificent temple. 2:10 Look, I will pay your servants who cut the timber 20,000 kors ³  of ground wheat, 20,000 kors of barley, 120,000 gallons ⁴  of wine, and 120,000 gallons of olive oil.”

Ezra 3:7

Preparations for Rebuilding the Temple

3:7 So they provided money ⁵  for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon ⁶  and Tyre, ⁷  so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport ⁸  at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia.

Ezra 6:4

6:4 with three layers of large stones ⁹  and one ¹⁰  layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized ¹¹  by the royal treasury. ¹² 

Zechariah 11:1-2

The History and Future of Judah’s Wicked Kings

11:1 Open your gates, Lebanon,

so that the fire may consume your cedars. ¹³ 

11:2 Howl, fir tree,

because the cedar has fallen;

the majestic trees have been destroyed.

Howl, oaks of Bashan,

because the impenetrable forest has fallen.

¹ tn This is probably a variant name for almug trees; see 9:10-11 and the parallel passage in 1 Kgs 10:11-12; cf. NLT. One or the other probably arose through metathesis of letters.

² tn Heb “know.”

³ sn As a unit of dry measure a kor was roughly equivalent to six bushels (about 220 liters).

⁴ tn Heb “20,000 baths” (also a second time later in this verse). A bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons (about 22 liters), so this was a quantity of about 120,000 gallons (440,000 liters).

⁵ tn Heb “silver.”

⁶ map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁷ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁸ tn Heb “to the sea”

⁹ tn Aram “stones of rolling.”

¹⁰ tc The translation follows the LXX reading חַד (khad, “one”) rather than the MT חֲדַת (khadat, “new”). If the MT reading “new” is understood to mean freshly cut timber that has not yet been seasoned it would seem to be an odd choice for construction material.

¹¹ tn Aram “let be given.”

¹² tn Aram “house.”

¹³ sn In this poetic section, plants and animals provide the imagery for rulers, especially evil ones (cf. respectively Isa 10:33-34; Ezek 31:8; Amos 2:9; Nah 2:12).