1 Kings - Chapter 7

The palace and the temple

^{1 ①} Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace. ²He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon which measured one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. It was built on three rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars. ³It had a cedar ceiling above the beams that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row. ⁴There were three window frames at either end, each window corresponding to another opposite it. ⁵All the doorways and windows had square frames and each window corresponded to the one opposite it.

⁶The Hall of Pillars measured fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. It had a porch in front with pillars and a canopy over them. ⁷The Hall of the Throne where Solomon was to pronounce judgment, that is, the Hall of Judgment, was finished with cedar from floor to rafters.

⁸His own house, where he was to live, and which was in the other court behind the hall, was built in like manner. Solomon also made a house similar to this for Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage.

⁹All these were made of costly stones, hewn according to measure, sawn on their inner and outer faces even from the foundation to the coping, and from the court of Yahweh’s House to the big court.

¹⁰The foundation was of huge, costly stones of eighty and ten cubits. ¹¹Above were costly stones, hewn according to measure, and cedar wood. ¹²The great court was surrounded by a wall of hewn stones and a course of cedar beams, like the interior court of Yahweh’s House and its vestibule.

¹³King Solomon sent for and brought from Tyre, Hiram, ¹⁴who was the son of a widow of Naphtali’s tribe. His father was from Tyre and an artisan in bronze-work, and he himself was very knowledgeable and skilled in all kinds of bronze-work. Hiram came and did all the work that Solomon asked of him.

¹⁵He cast two brazen pillars, both of which measured eighteen cubits high and had a circumference of twelve cubits. Both were hollow and measured four fingers in thickness. ¹⁶He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars, both measuring five cubits high. ¹⁷He also made two pieces of network with a chainlike mesh for each of the capitals on top of the pillars. ¹⁸Likewise, he made pomegranates arranged in two rows encircling each piece of network to cover each capital on top of the pillars. ¹⁹The capitals on top of the pillars in the vestibule had a lotus design measuring four cubits. ²⁰They were on the two pillars above the nodes and beside the network, encircled by two hundred pomegranates arranged in two rows.

^{21 ②} Hiram set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; one to the right called Yakin, and one to the left called Boaz. ²²In this way the work on the pillars was completed.

²³Hiram then cast the great round bowl called the “Sea,” measuring ten cubits from one brim to the opposite; it was five cubits high and had a circumference of thirty cubits. ²⁴Under its brim, it was encircled with gourds, ten for each cubit, arranged in two rows and cast along with the Sea. ²⁵This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches towards the center. ²⁶It was a handbreadth in thickness, its brim resembling a cup or a lily flower, and had a capacity of two thousand baths.

²⁷Hiram also made ten brazen stands, each measuring four cubits long, four cubits wide and three cubits high; ²⁸and this was how the stands were constructed: they had framed panels ²⁹on which were lions, oxen and cherubim. On the frames above and below the lions and oxen were wreaths in relief. ³⁰Each stand had four brazen wheels and axles; its four feet had shoulderings under the basin. ³¹Its mouth measured one and a half cubits from where the shoulderings met the top; its mouth was round like a rest for a vessel; and on the mouth there were engravings, too. The crosspieces, however, were rectangular, not round. ³²The four wheels were below the panels; their axles being one piece with the stands. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high. ³³The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.
The four legs of each stand had cast braces supporting a basin and had wreaths on each side. ³⁴These four braces, extending to the corners of each stand, were of one piece with the stand.

³⁵On top of the stand was a round band half a cubit high, with supports and panels which were of one piece with the stand. This was topped by a crown one cubit high within which was a rounded opening, the way a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. Its opening had carvings and its panels were square and not round. ³⁶On the surface of its supports, as also on its panels, and wherever there was space, were carvings of cherubim, lions and palm trees, with wreaths all around. ³⁷This was how the ten stands were made – all of them with the same cast, same measurement, and same form.

³⁸Hiram also made ten brazen basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits. There was a basin for each of the ten stands. ³⁹He placed five of the stands on the south side of the House, and five on the north side. The Sea he placed at the southeast corner of the temple.

⁴⁰Hiram also made the bowls, shovels and basins, and thereby finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon on Yahweh’s House. ⁴¹Hence, two pillars, two bowls on the capitals at the top of the pillars, ⁴²four hundred pomegranates for two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals at the top of the pillars, ⁴³ten stands, ten basins on the stands, ⁴⁴the Sea, and twelve oxen underneath the Sea.

⁴⁵Now the bowls, shovels and basins – all these vessels which Hiram made in Yahweh’s House for King Solomon – were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶The king had them cast in the plain of Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷Solomon left all the vessels unweighed since there were so many of them. And so the weight of the bronze was not known.

⁴⁸So Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s House: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of Presence, ⁴⁹the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold; ⁵⁰the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans of pure gold; and the golden hinges for both the doors of the innermost part of the House, the Most Holy Place, and the doors of the Sanctuary of the House.

⁵¹When all the work that King Solomon did on Yahweh’s House was completed, he brought in the things which David his father had dedicated – the silver, the gold, and the vessels – and stored them in the treasures of Yahweh’s House.