They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
They gave ... meat ... drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon. They opened negotiations with the Tyrians for workman, as well as for timber, on the same terms, and with the same views, as Solomon had done (1 Kings 5:11; 2 Chronicles 2:15-16).
According to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. This grant does not refer to cedar wood, which Cyrus could not give-for the Phoenicians, taking advantage of the revolution at Babylonia, to which they had been tributary, had at this time asserted their national freedom-but to a money allowance given from the exchequer to the Jews, to help toward the rebuilding of the temple (cf. Ezra 6:4).