1 Kings 7
1 Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace.
They also built a palace for Solomon, but it required 13 years to build it.
2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width was fifty cubits, and its height was thirty cubits. The palace was built with four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on 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 The house was roofed with cedar that rested on beams. Those beams were supported by pillars. There were forty-five beams, fifteen in a row.
[To support the roof] there were cedar beams that connected the rows of pillars.
4 There were beams in three rows, and each window was opposite another window in three sets.
On each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows.
5 All the doors and posts were made square with beams, and window was opposite window in three sets.
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 There was a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front and pillars and a roof.
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 Solomon built the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the hall of justice. 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 Solomon's house in which he was to live, in another courtyard within the palace grounds, was similarly designed. He also built a house like this for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken as a wife.
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 These buildings were adorned with costly hewn stones, precisely measured and cut with a saw and smoothed on all sides. These stones were used from the foundation to the stones on top, and also on the outside to 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 The foundation was constructed with very large, costly stones of eight and ten cubits in length.
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 were costly hewn stones precisely 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 surrounding the palace had three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams like the courtyard of the temple of Yahweh and the temple portico.
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 King Solomon sent for Huram and brought him 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 Huram was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali; his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to do great work with bronze. He came to King Solomon to work with bronze for the king.
15 Huram fashioned the 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 made two capitals of polished bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of each capital 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 Checker latticework and wreaths of chain work for the capitals decorated the top of the pillars, seven for each capital.
Then he made bronze wreaths of chains to decorate the top part of each pillar.
18 So Huram made two rows of pomegranates around the top of each pillar to decorate their capitals.
He also made bronze [figures that resembled] pomegranates. He put two rows of pomegranates over the top parts of each pillar.
19 The capitals on the tops of the portico pillars were decorated with lilies, four cubits high.
The top part over each pillar was shaped like a lily. Each [lily leaf] was six feet tall.
20 The capitals on these two pillars also included, close to their very top, two hundred pomegranates in rows all around.
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 He raised up the pillars at the temple portico. The pillar on the right was named Jakin, and the pillar on the left was 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 On the top of the pillars were decorations like lilies. The fashioning of the pillars was done in this way.
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 Huram made the round sea of cast metal, ten cubits from brim to brim. Its height was five cubits, and the sea was 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 Under the brim encircling the sea were gourds, ten in each cubit, cast in one piece with “The Sea,” when that basin 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 “The Sea” 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 on top of them, and all their hindquarters were toward the inside.
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 The sea was as thick as the width of a hand, and its brim was forged like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. The sea held two thousand baths of water.
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 Huram made the ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long and four cubits wide, and the height was three cubits.
Huram also made ten bronze carts. Each was six feet long and six feet wide and 4-1/2 feet tall.
28 The work of the stands was like this. They had panels that stood between frames,
[On the sides of the carts] there were panels which were set in frames.
29 and on the panels and on the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hammered 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 Every stand had four bronze wheels and axles, and its four corners had supports beneath for the basin. The supports were cast with wreaths on the side of each one.
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 was round like a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide, and was within a crown that rose up a cubit. On the opening were engravings, and their panels 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 The four wheels were underneath the panels, and the axles of the wheels and their housings were in the stand. The height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
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 forged like chariot wheels. Their housings, rims, spokes, and hubs were all 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 There were four handles at the four corners of each stand, forged into the stand 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 In the top of the stands there was a round band half a cubit deep, and on the top of the stand its supports and panels were attached.
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 On the surfaces of the supports and on the panels Huram engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees that covered the space available, and they were surrounded by wreaths.
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 He made the ten stands in this manner. All of them were cast in the same molds, and they had one size, and the same 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 Huram made ten basins of bronze. One basin could hold forty baths of water. Each basin was four cubits across and there was one basin on each of 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 made five stands on the south-facing side of the temple and five on the north-facing side of the temple. He set “The Sea” on the east corner, facing toward the south 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 Huram made the basins and the shovels and the sprinkling bowls. Then he finished all the work that he did for King Solomon in the temple of Yahweh:
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 bowl-like capitals that were on top of the two pillars, and the two sets of decorative latticework to cover the two bowl like capitals that were on 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 He made the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of decorative latticework (two rows of pomegranates for each set of latticework to cover the two bowl-like capitals that were on 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, and the ten basins on the stands.
the ten carts; the ten basins;
44 He made the large basin called “The Sea” with its twelve oxen under it;
the big tank; the twelve [statues of] oxen on whose backs the tank was placed;
45 also the pots, shovels, basins, and all the other implements. Huram made them out of polished bronze, for King Solomon, for the temple of Yahweh.
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 cast them in the plain of the Jordan, 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 Solomon did not weigh all the utensils because there were too many to weigh, because the weight of the bronze could not be measured.
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 had made all the furnishings that were in the temple of Yahweh out of gold: the golden altar and the table on which the bread of the presence was to be placed;
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, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner room, were of pure gold, and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs were 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 Solomon also had made the cups, lamp trimmers, basins, spoons, and incense burners, all of which were made of pure gold; he had sockets of gold made for the doors of the inner room (which was the most holy place), and 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 In this way, all the work that King Solomon directed for the house of Yahweh was finished. So Solomon brought in the things that were set apart by David, his father, and the silver, the gold, and the furnishings, and put them into the storerooms of the house of Yahweh.
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.
