1 Kings 7
1 And Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
They also built a palace for Solomon, but it required 13 years to build it.
2 For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
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 And it was covered with cedar above over the forty and five beams, that were upon the pillars; fifteen in a row.
[To support the roof] there were cedar beams that connected the rows of pillars.
4 And there were prospects in three rows, and light was over against light in three ranks.
On each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows.
5 And all the doors and posts were square in prospect: and light was over against light in three ranks.
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 And he made the porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and thick beams before them.
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 And he made the porch of the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.
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 his house where he might dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, (whom Solomon had taken to wife, ) like unto this porch.
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 were of costly stones, even of hewn stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside unto the great court.
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 And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
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 And above were costly stones, even hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.
On top of the foundation stones were other blocks of stone that were cut according to the sizes they needed, and cedar beams.
12 And the great court round about had three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the porch of the house.
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 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of 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 woman of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning, to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.
15 For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about.
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 And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits.
He also made two bronze caps to be put on top of the pillars. Each cap was 7-1/2 feet tall.
17 There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
Then he made bronze wreaths of chains to decorate the top part of each pillar.
18 So he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars: and so did he for the other chapiter.
He also made bronze [figures that resembled] pomegranates. He put two rows of pomegranates over the top parts of each pillar.
19 And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.
The top part over each pillar was shaped like a lily. Each [lily leaf] was six feet tall.
20 And there were chapiters above also upon the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
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 And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof 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 upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
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 And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.
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 And under the brim of it round about there were knops which did compass it, for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about: the knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
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 It stood upon 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 upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.
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 And it was an handbreadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held 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 And he made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
Huram also made ten bronze carts. Each was six feet long and six feet wide and 4-1/2 feet tall.
28 And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders; and there were borders between the ledges:
[On the sides of the carts] there were panels which were set in frames.
29 and on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a pedestal above: and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging 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 And every base had four brasen wheels, and axles of brass: and the four feet thereof had undersetters: beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the side of each.
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 And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: and the mouth thereof was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings, and their borders were foursquare, 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 And the four wheels were underneath the borders; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
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 And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.
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 And there were four undersetters at the four corners of each base: the undersetters thereof were of the base itself.
At the top corners of each cart there were handles. These were cast in the same mold as the rest of the cart.
35 And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the stays thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
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 And on the plates of the stays thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubim, lions, and palm tress, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about.
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 After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.
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 And he made ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
Huram also made ten bronze basins, one for each cart. Each basin was six feet across and held 200 gallons [of water].
39 And he set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.
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 And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he wrought 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, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of 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 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon 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 and the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases;
the ten carts; the ten basins;
44 and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea;
the big tank; the twelve [statues of] oxen on whose backs the tank was placed;
45 and the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of the LORD, were of burnished brass.
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 In the Plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground 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 And Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed], because they were exceeding many: the weight of the brass could not be found out.
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 And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the shewbread was, of gold;
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 and the candlesticks, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;
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 and the cups, and the snuffers, and basons, and the spoons, and the firepans, 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, [to wit], of the temple, of gold.
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 Thus all the work that king Solomon wrought in the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, [even] the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put 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.
