1 Kings
Chapter 7
1 Solomon built his own house for thirteen years and he finished the whole house.
2 He also built the Lebanon Forest House; it was 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams on top of the pillars.
3 It was covered with cedar on top of the beams resting on 45 pillars, with 15 pillars in each row.
4 There were windows set in three layers, and each row of windows lined up with the opposite ones.
5 All the doors and posts were shaped like squares, along with the windows, and light matched light in three rows.
6 He built a porch with columns that was fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. This porch was in front, with more columns and a solid beam also in front.
7 He built a covered entry for the throne where he could make decisions, the Hall of Justice, and it had cedar from the floor to the ceiling.
8 His home, where he lived, had another yard inside the entryway, made in the same style. Solomon also built a home for Pharaoh’s daughter, his wife, similar to this entryway.
9 All these stones were expensive, cut to size, and sawn smoothly on the inside and outside, from the foundation to the top, and around the outer courtyard.
10 The foundation was made of expensive, large stones—some ten cubits and some eight cubits long.
11 Above were expensive stones, cut to size, and cedar wood.
12 The large courtyard around it had three layers of cut stones and a layer of cedar wood, for both the inner courtyard of God’s house and the entrance hall.
13 King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre.
14 He was the son of a widow from Naphtali, and his father was from Tyre, skilled in working with brass. He was very wise, knowledgeable, and skilled in all kinds of brass work. He went to King Solomon and did all the work Solomon asked for.
15 He made two brass pillars, each eighteen cubits tall, and a twelve-cubit measuring line could go around each one.
16 He created two brass capitals to put on top of the pillars; each capital was five cubits tall.
17 Mesh nets and chains were made for the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital.
18 He made the columns with two rows of designs around one grate to surround the tops with pomegranates, and he did the same for the other top.
19 The tops of the pillars were decorated with carvings of lilies and were four cubits high in the entrance way.
20 The tops of the two pillars also had pomegranates above, facing the rounded part next to the meshwork. And there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around on the other top.
21 He put the pillars at the temple entrance: he put the right pillar and named it Jachin; he put the left pillar and named it Boaz.
22 On top of the columns was a design of lilies, and so the columns were completed.
23 He made a large metal bowl, ten units across from one edge to the other. It was round and five units tall. A measuring line thirty units long could wrap around it.
24 Under its edge all around there were small round decorations. There were ten per foot, all around the bowl. The decorations were in two rows and were part of the bowl when it was made.
25 It stood on twelve oxen, with three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea rested on top of them, and all their back parts pointed inward.
26 It was as thick as a hand is wide, and its edge looked like the edge of a cup, decorated with lily flowers. It could hold two thousand baths.
27 He made ten brass stands; each one was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
28 The bases were made like this: they had edges, and there were edges between the side supports.
29 On the edges between the layers were lions, oxen, and angels; and on the layers was a stand on top: and under the lions and oxen were special details made of delicate designs.
30 Each base had four bronze wheels and brass plates. The four corners had supports. There were supports cast in bronze under the basin, next to each side attachment.
31 The opening on top of the column, inside the decorative top, was one and a half feet deep; the opening was round, not like the base. The opening also had engravings with square borders, not round.
32 Under the edges were four wheels; the wheel axles were connected to the stand, and each wheel was one and a half cubits tall.
33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels: their parts—the axles, hubs, rims, and spokes—were all cast metal.
34 Each base had four supports at its four corners, and the supports were part of the base itself.
35 The base had a round rim at the top half a cubit high; the top of the base, its edges and sides were all one piece.
36 On its shelves and edges, he carved angels, lions, and palm trees, each in proper size, with designs all around.
37 He made the ten stands in this way: all were made with the same mold, had the same dimensions, and were the same size.
38 He made ten brass washbasins; each basin held forty baths and was four cubits; and on each of the ten stands was one basin.
39 He placed five stands on the right side of the building and five on the left; and he put the large bowl on the right side of the building, facing south and east.
40 Hiram made the washbasins, shovels, and bowls. So Hiram finished all the work he did for King Solomon for God’s house.
41 The two columns, the two tops of the columns, and the two decorations to cover the tops of the columns.
42 And four hundred pomegranates for the two grids, two rows of pomegranates for each grid, to cover the two capitals on top of the pillars.
43 The ten stands and ten washbasins on the stands.
44 One big bowl, and twelve bulls under the bowl.
45 The pots, shovels, and bowls, and all these items that Hiram made for King Solomon for God’s house, were made of shiny brass.
46 The king molded them in the Jordan Valley, in the clay soil between Succoth and Zarthan.
47 Solomon didn’t weigh all the objects because there were too many, and no one knew how much the bronze weighed.
48 Solomon made all the items for God’s house: the gold altar and the gold table for the bread on display.
49 The golden candlesticks, five on the right and five on the left, stood in front of the holy place, along with the golden flowers, lights, and tongs.
50 The bowls, trimmers, basins, spoons, and incense burners were all made of pure gold, as were the gold door hinges for both the doors of the most sacred part and the doors of the main temple.
51 All the work King Solomon did for God’s house was finished. Solomon added what his father David had set aside—silver, gold, and items to God’s house’s treasures.