The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Kings 07
1 Solomon was building his own house
thirteen years, and he finished all his
house.
2 For he built the House of the Forest
of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred
cubits,† its width fifty cubits, and its height
thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars,
with cedar beams on the pillars.
3 It was covered with cedar above over
the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row.
4 There were beams in three rows,
and window was facing window in three
ranks.
5 All the doors and posts were made
square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks.
6 He made the hall of pillars. Its length
was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits,
with a porch before them, and pillars and
a threshold before them.
7 He made the porch of the throne where
he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from
floor to floor.
8 His house where he was to dwell, the
other court within the porch, was of the
same construction. He made also a house
for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon
had taken as wife), like this porch.
9 All these were of costly stones, even
of stone cut according to measure, sawed
with saws, inside and outside, even from
the foundation to the coping, and so on the
outside to the great court.
10 The foundation was of costly stones,
even great stones, stones of ten cubits and
stones of eight cubits.
11 Above were costly stones, even cut
stone, according to measure, and cedar
wood.
12 The great court around had three
courses of cut stone with a course of cedar
beams, like the inner court of Yahweh’s
house and the porch of the house.
13 King Solomon sent and brought Hiram
out of Tyre.
14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe
of Naphtali, and his father was a man of
Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled
with wisdom and understanding and skill
to work all works in bronze. He came to
King Solomon and performed all his work.
15 For he fashioned the two pillars of
bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and
a line of twelve cubits encircled either of
them.
16 He made two capitals of molten
bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The
height of the one capital was five cubits,
and the height of the other capital was five
cubits.
17 There were nets of checker work and
wreaths of chain work for the capitals
which were on the top of the pillars: seven
for the one capital, and seven for the other
capital.
18 So he made the pillars; and there were
two rows of pomegranates around the one
network, to cover the capitals that were on
the top of the pillars; and he did so for the
other capital.
19 The capitals that were on the top ofthe
pillars in the porch were of lily work, four
cubits.
20 There were capitals above also on the
two pillars, close by the belly which was
beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the
other capital.
21 He set up the pillars at the porch of the
temple. He setupthe rightpillar andcalled
its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar
and called its name Boaz.
22 On the tops ofthe pillars was lily work.
So the work of the pillars was finished.
23 He made the molten sea ten cubits
from brim to brim, round in shape. Its
height was five cubits; and a line of thirty
cubits encircled it.
24 Under its brim around there were
buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two
rows, cast when it was cast.
25 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking
toward the west, and three looking toward
the south, and three looking toward the
east; and the sea was set on them above,
and all their hindquarters were inward.
26 It was a hand width thick. Its brim
was worked like the brim of a cup, like the
flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
27 He made the ten bases of bronze. The
length of one base was four cubits, four
cubits its width, and three cubits its height.
28 The work of the bases was like this:
they had panels; and there were panels
between the ledges;
29 and on the panels that were between
the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim;
and on the ledges there was a pedestal
above; and beneath the lions and oxen
were wreaths of hanging work.
30 Every base had four bronze wheels
and axles of bronze; and its four feet had
supports. The supports were cast beneath
the basin, with wreaths at the side of each.
31 Its opening within the capital and
above was a cubit. Its opening was round
like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a
half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not
round.
32 The four wheels were underneath the
panels; and the axles of the wheels were in
the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit
and half a cubit.
33 The work of the wheels was like the
work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all
of cast metal.
34 There were four supports at the four
corners of each base. Its supports were of
the base itself.
35 In the top of the base there was a
round band half a cubit high; and on the
top of the base its supports and its panels
were the same.
36 On the plates of its supports and on its
panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and
palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths
all around.
37 He made the ten bases in this way: all
of them had one casting, one measure, and
one form.
38 He made ten basins of bronze. One
basin contained forty baths.‡ Every basin
measured four cubits. One basin was on
every one of the ten bases.
39 He set the bases, five on the right side
of the house and five on the left side of the
house. He set the sea on the right side of
the house eastward and toward the south.
40 Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and
the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the
work that he worked for King Solomon in
Yahweh’s house:
41 the two pillars; the two bowls of the
capitals that were on the top of the pillars;
the two networks to cover the two bowls
of the capitals that were on the top of the
pillars;
42 the four hundred pomegranates
for the two networks; two rows of
pomegranates for each network, to cover
the two bowls of the capitals that were on
the pillars;
43 the ten bases; the ten basins on the
bases;
44 the one sea; the twelve oxen under the
sea;
45 the pots; the shovels; and the basins.
All of these vessels, which Hiram made for
King Solomon in Yahweh’s house, were of
burnished bronze.
46 The king cast them in the plain of the
Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of
them. The weight of the bronze could not
be determined.
48 Solomon made all the vessels that
were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar
and the table that the show bread was on,
of gold;
49 and the lamp stands, five on the right
side and five on the left, in front of the
inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the
flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;
50 the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the
spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold;
and the hinges, both for the doors of the
inner house, the most holy place, and for
the doors of the house, of the temple, of
gold.
51 Thus all the work that King Solomon
did in Yahweh’s house was finished.
Solomon brought in the things which
David his father had dedicated—the silver,
the gold, and the vessels—and put them in
the treasuries of Yahweh’s house.