1 Kings 7
1 Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.
They also built a palace for Solomon, but it required 13 years to build it.
2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.
One of the buildings they constructed was [a] large [ceremonial hall]. It was called the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It was supported/held up by four rows of pillars of [wood from] cedar [trees]. There were 15 pillars in each row. There were cedar beams across each row.
3 The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.
[To support the roof] there were cedar beams that connected the rows of pillars.
4 There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers.
On each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows.
5 All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.
All the windows and doorways had rectangular frames. The windows along the long wall on one side faced the windows on the other side.
6 Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.
They also built another building called the Hall of Pillars. It was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. It had a covered porch [whose roof was] supported by pillars.
7 In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.
Then they made a building called the Hall of the Throne. It was also called the Hall of Judgment. That was where Solomon decided/judged concerning people’s disputes. The walls were covered with cedar boards, from the floor to the rafters.
8 And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
In the courtyard behind the Hall of Judgment they built a house for Solomon to live in that was made like the other buildings. They also built the same kind of house for his wife, who was the daughter of the king of Egypt.
9 All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.
All of those buildings and the walls around the palace courtyard were made from costly blocks of stone, from the foundations up to the eaves. The stones were cut [at the quarry], according to the sizes that were needed, and the sides of the stones were shaped by cutting/smoothing them with saws.
10 The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long and some eight cubits long.
The foundations were also made from huge blocks of stone [that were prepared at the quarry]. Some of them were twelve feet long and some were fifteen feet long.
11 Above these were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.
On top of the foundation stones were other blocks of stone that were cut according to the sizes they needed, and cedar beams.
12 The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.
The palace courtyard, the inner courtyard in front of the temple, and the entrance room of the temple had walls made by putting down three layers of cut stones between each layer of cedar beams.
13 Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre.
There was a man who lived in Tyre [city] whose name was Huram. He knew how to make very nice things from bronze. His father had also lived in Tyre and had also been very skilled at making things from bronze, but Huram’s father was no longer living. His mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram was very wise and intelligent and was very skilled at making things from bronze. Solomon invited him to come [to Jerusalem and supervise] all the work of making things from bronze, and Huram agreed.
14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
15 He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.
He made two bronze pillars. Each one was 27 feet tall and 18 feet around. Each was hollow, and the walls of the pillars were 3 in./7.4 cm. thick.
16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high.
He also made two bronze caps to be put on top of the pillars. Each cap was 7-1/2 feet tall.
17 For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.
Then he made bronze wreaths of chains to decorate the top part of each pillar.
18 Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars.
He also made bronze [figures that resembled] pomegranates. He put two rows of pomegranates over the top parts of each pillar.
19 And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.
The top part over each pillar was shaped like a lily. Each [lily leaf] was six feet tall.
20 On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.
These top parts were placed on a bowl-shaped section around which was draped the wreaths of chains. He made 200 [figures that represented] pomegranates and put them in two rows around the top/head of each pillar.
21 Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.
His [helpers] set up the pillars in front of the entrance of the temple. The pillar on the south side was named Jakin, and the pillar on the north side was named Boaz.
22 And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.
The bronze top parts that were shaped like lilies were placed on top of the pillars. So Huram and his helpers finished making the bronze pillars.
23 He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.
Huram also constructed a very large round bronze tank that was made of metal and cast [in a clay mold]. It was 7-1/2 ft./2.3 meters high, 30 feet/9 meters across/wide, and 45 feet/13.5 meters around it.
24 Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
Around the outer edge of the rim of the tank were two rows of gourds that were made of bronze. [But] the gourds [were not cast separately; they] were cast in the same mold as the rest of the tank. For each foot of length around the rim of the tank there were six [figures of] gourds.
25 The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.
Huram [also cast] twelve [bronze statues of] oxen. He placed them to face outward. He placed three of them to face north, three to face west, three to face south, and three to face east. His helpers put the bronze tank on the backs of [the statues of] the oxen.
26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.
The sides [of the tank] were 3 in./8 cm. thick. The rim was like the rim of a cup. It [curved outward, ] like the petals of a lily. [When the tank was full, ] it held about 10,000 gallons [of water].
27 In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
Huram also made ten bronze carts. Each was six feet long and six feet wide and 4-1/2 feet tall.
28 This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights,
[On the sides of the carts] there were panels which were set in frames.
29 and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work.
On those panels were [bronze figures of] lions, bulls, and winged creatures. Below and above the lions and bulls there were decorations of bronze wreaths.
30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.
Each cart had four bronze wheels and two axles made of bronze. At the top corners of each cart were bronze supports to hold up a basin. On these supports were also decorations of bronze wreaths.
31 The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep, with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide. And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round.
On top of each cart, [under each basin, ] was a frame [that resembled] a circular collar. The top of each circular frame was 18 inches above the top of the cart, and the bottom of it was nine inches below the top of the cart. There were also decorations of bronze wreaths on the frame engraved within square panels.
32 There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.
The wheels were 27 inches high. They were below the panels. The wheels were connected to axles that had been cast in the same mold as the rest of the cart.
33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.
The wheels of the carts were like the wheels of chariots. The axles, the rims, the spokes, and the hubs were all cast [from bronze].
34 Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.
At the top corners of each cart there were handles. These were cast in the same mold as the rest of the cart.
35 At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high. The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.
There was a nine-inch bronze band around the top of each cart. There were braces attached to the corners of each cart. The bands and the braces were cast in the same mold as the rest of the cart.
36 He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around.
The braces and the panels [on the sides of the carts] were also decorated with [figures of] winged creatures, lions, and palm trees, whenever there was space for them, and there were bronze wreaths all around them.
37 In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.
That is how Huram made the ten carts. They [were all cast in the same mold, so they] were all alike: They all were the same size and had the same shape.
38 He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.
Huram also made ten bronze basins, one for each cart. Each basin was six feet across and held 200 gallons [of water].
39 He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.
Huram placed five of the carts on the south side of the temple and five on the north side. He put the big tank at the southeast corner.
40 Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD:
Huram also made pots, shovels [for carrying ashes], and bowls [for carrying the blood of the animals that would be sacrificed]. He completed all the work that King Solomon requested him to do for the temple. [This is a list of the bronze things he made]:
41 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;
the two pillars; the two top parts to be put over the pillars; the two wreaths of chains to decorate the tops of the pillars;
42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars);
the 400 [figures of] pomegranates, in two rows, with 100 in each row, that were placed over the top parts of the pillars;
43 the ten stands; the ten basins on the stands;
the ten carts; the ten basins;
44 the Sea; the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;
the big tank; the twelve [statues of] oxen on whose backs the tank was placed;
45 and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. All the articles that Huram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were made of burnished bronze.
the pots, shovels [for the ashes of the altar], and bowls. Huram [and his workers] made all these things for King Solomon and put them outside the temple. They were all made of polished bronze.
46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.
They made them by pouring melted bronze into the clay molds that Huram had set up near the Jordan [River] Valley, between [the cities of] Succoth and Zarethan.
47 Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.
Solomon did not [tell his workers to] weigh those bronze objects, because there were many items. So no one ever knew what they weighed.
48 Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;
Solomon’s [workers] also made all the gold items for the temple: the altar; the table on which the priests put the sacred bread placed before God;
49 the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;
the ten lampstands [that were put] in front of the Very Holy Place, five on the south side and five on the north side; the [decorations that resembled] flowers; the lamps; the tongs [to grasp the hot coals];
50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place ) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
the cups, the gold lamp wick snuffers, the small lamp bowls, the dishes for incense, the pans [for carrying the hot coals], and the hinges for the doors at the entrance to the Very Holy Place and for the doors at the entrance [to the main room] of the temple. Those things were all made of gold.
51 So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.
So Solomon’s [workers] finished all the work for the temple. Then they placed in the temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to Yahweh—all the silver and gold, and the other valuable items.
