1 Kings
Chapter Seven
1 ¶ But Solomon took
thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house.
2 He also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred
cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows
of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars.
3 And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars,
fifteen to a row.
4 There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite
window in three tiers.
5 And all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames; and window was
opposite window in three tiers.
6 He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width
thirty cubits; and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy
was in front of them.
7 Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge;
and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.
8 And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship.
Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had
taken as wife.
9 All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and
out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great
court.
10 The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some
eight cubits.
11 And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar wood.
12 The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of
cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the LORD and the vestibule
of the temple.
13 ¶ Now King Solomon sent and brought Huram from Tyre.
14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was
a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; he was filled with wisdom and understanding
and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon
and did all his work.
15 And he cast two pillars of bronze, each one eighteen cubits high, and a line
of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each.
16 Then he made two capitals of cast bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars.
The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital
was five cubits.
17 He made a lattice network, with wreaths of chainwork, for the capitals which
were on top of the pillars: seven chains for one capital and seven for the other
capital.
18 So he made the pillars, and two rows of pomegranates above the network all
around to cover the capitals that were on top; and thus he did for the other
capital.
19 The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were in the shape
of lilies, four cubits.
20 The capitals on the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex
surface which was next to the network; and there were two hundred such pomegranates
in rows on each of the capitals all around.
21 Then he set up the pillars by the vestibule of the temple; he set up the
pillar on the right and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on
the left and called its name Boaz.
22 The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. So the work of the pillars
was finished.
23 And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other;
it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits
measured its circumference.
24 Below its brim were ornamental buds encircling it all around, ten to a cubit,
all the way around the Sea. The ornamental buds were cast in two rows when it
was cast.
25 It stood on twelve oxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward
the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east;
the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward.
26 It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup,
like a lily blossom. It contained two thousand baths.
27 He also made ten carts of bronze; four cubits was the length of each cart,
four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.
28 And this was the design of the carts: They had panels, and the panels were
between frames;
29 on the panels that were between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim.
And on the frames was a pedestal on top. Below the lions and oxen were wreaths
of plaited work.
30 Every cart had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and its four feet
had supports. Under the laver were supports of cast bronze beside each wreath.
31 Its opening inside the crown at the top was one cubit in diameter; and the
opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, one and a half cubits in outside
diameter; and also on the opening were engravings, but the panels were square,
not round.
32 Under the panels were the four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were joined
to the cart. The height of a wheel was one and a half cubits.
33 The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel;
their axle pins, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast bronze.
34 And there were four supports at the four corners of each cart; its supports
were part of the cart itself.
35 On the top of the cart, at the height of half a cubit, it was perfectly round.
And on the top of the cart, its flanges and its panels were of the same casting.
36 On the plates of its flanges and on its panels he engraved cherubim, lions,
and palm trees, wherever there was a clear space on each, with wreaths all around.
37 Thus he made the ten carts. All of them were of the same mold, one measure,
and one shape.
38 Then he made ten lavers of bronze; each laver contained forty baths, and
each laver was four cubits. On each of the ten carts was a laver.
39 And he put five carts 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, toward the
southeast.
40 Huram made the lavers and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing
all the work that he was to do for King Solomon for the house of the LORD:
41 the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two
pillars; the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals which were on
top of the pillars;
42 four hundred pomegranates for the two networks (two rows of pomegranates
for each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of
the pillars);
43 the ten carts, and ten lavers on the carts;
44 one Sea, and twelve oxen under the Sea;
45 the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. All these articles which Huram made
for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze.
46 In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth
and Zaretan.
47 And Solomon did not weigh all the articles, because there were so many; the
weight of the bronze was not determined.
48 ¶ Thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the LORD:
the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread;
49 the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left
in front of the inner sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers
of gold;
50 the basins, the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure
gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner room (the Most
Holy Place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
51 So all the work that King Solomon had done for the house of the LORD was
finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated:
the silver and the gold and the furnishings. He put them in the treasuries of
the house of the LORD.
Go to Chapter Eight
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