The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

All of these buildings were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard.

The foundation was made of large, costly stones 12 and 15 feet long.

The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year in the month of Ziv.

During his reign, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn, he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest, he set up its gates, according to the word of the Lord He had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.

So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple’s construction.