1 Kings 7

1But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

2He built also 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.

3And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.footnote a

4And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.footnote b

5And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.footnote c

6And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.footnote d

7Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.footnote e

8And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

9All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.

10And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.

11And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.

12And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house.

13And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.footnote f

14He was a widow’s son 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.footnote g

15For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.footnote h

16And 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:

17And 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.

18And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.

19And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.

20And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.

21And he set up the pillars in 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.footnote ifootnote j

22And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

23And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.footnote k

24And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

25It 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 above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

26And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

27And he made 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.

28And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:

29And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.

30And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.

31And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.

32And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.footnote l

33And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.

34And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.

35And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.

36For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.footnote m

37After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.

38Then made he 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.

39And he put five bases 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 over against the south.footnote n

40And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:footnote o

41The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;

42And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars;footnote p

43And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;

44And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

45And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.footnote q

46In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.footnote r

47And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.footnote sfootnote t

48And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,

49And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

50And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.footnote u

51So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.footnote v

Solomon’s Palace Complex

1Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

2He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high,footnote a with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

3The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row. 4There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers. 5All the doorwaysfootnote b had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.

6Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide,footnote c with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

7In 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.footnote d

8And 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.

9All 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. 10The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits longfootnote e and some eight cubits long.footnote f 11Above these were costly stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

12The 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 Pillars and Capitals

13Now King Solomon sent to bring Huramfootnote g from Tyre. 14He 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.

15He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.footnote h 16He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high.footnote i 17For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.footnote j

18Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars. 19And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.footnote k 20On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

21Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin,footnote l and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.footnote m 22And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

The Molten Sea

23He 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.footnote n 24Below 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.

25The 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. 26It was a handbreadth thick,footnote o and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.footnote p

The Ten Bronze Stands

27In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.footnote q

28This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights, 29and 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.

30Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side. 31The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep,footnote r with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide.footnote s And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round.

32There 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. 33The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

34Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand. 35At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high.footnote t The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.

36He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around. 37In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.

The Ten Bronze Basins

38He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty bathsfootnote u and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

39He 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.

Completion of the Bronze Works

40Additionally, Huram made the pots,footnote v shovels, and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD:

41the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars;
the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;

42the 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);

43the ten stands;
the ten basins on the stands;

44the Sea;
the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

45and 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. 46The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.footnote w 47Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

48Solomon 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;

49the 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;

50the 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 Placefootnote x) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

51So 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.