1 Kings 7

Solomon spent thirteen years building his own palace and completed the whole palace. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon, about 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams resting on the pillars. It was roofed with cedar above the beams resting on the pillars, forty-five beams in all, fifteen in each row. There were three rows of window frames, with windows facing one another in three tiers. All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, and the windows faced one another in three tiers. He made the Hall of Pillars, about 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. In front was a porch, with pillars and a canopy before it. He made the Hall of the Throne, where he would administer justice, the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. His own residence, in another courtyard farther in from the hall, was built in the same way. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married. All these were built with costly stones, dressed to size and sawn on the inner and outer faces, from the foundation to the coping and outside as far as the great courtyard. The foundation was laid with costly, large stones, some about 15 feet long and others about 12 feet long. Above these were costly stones dressed to size, and cedar timber. The great courtyard had three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams all around, as did the inner courtyard of the house of the LORD and the porch of the house. King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker. He was filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge for doing every kind of work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and carried out all his work. He cast the two bronze pillars. One pillar was about 27 feet high, and a cord about 18 feet long encircled the second pillar. He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars. One capital was about 7.5 feet high, and the second capital was also about 7.5 feet high. There were networks of latticework and cords of chainwork for the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for one capital and seven for the other. He made the pillars, with two rows around the one network to cover the capitals above the pomegranates. He did the same for the second capital. The capitals on top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies and measured about 6 feet. The capitals on the two pillars were also above the rounded part beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the second capital. He erected the pillars at the porch of the main hall. He erected the right pillar and named it Jachin; he erected the left pillar and named it Boaz. The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished. He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, about 15 feet from rim to rim and 7.5 feet high. A cord about 45 feet long encircled it. Gourds encircled it below its rim, ten for about every 18 inches, all the way around the Sea. The gourds were in two rows, cast as one piece with it. It stood on twelve oxen: three facing north, three west, three south, and three east. The Sea rested above them, and all their hindquarters faced inward. It was about 3 inches thick, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held about 11,000 gallons. He made ten bronze stands, each about 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4.5 feet high. This was the construction of the stands: they had panels set between frames. On the panels between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above the frames was a support, and below the lions and oxen were hanging wreaths. Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. Its four corners had supports cast beneath the basin, each beside the wreaths. Its opening rose about 18 inches inside and above the crown. The opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, about 27 inches across. There were carvings around its opening, but its panels were square, not round. The four wheels were below the panels, and the wheel axles were attached to the stand. Each wheel was about 27 inches high. The wheels were made like chariot wheels. Their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast metal. Each stand had four supports at its four corners; its supports were part of the stand itself. At the top of the stand was a circular rim about 9 inches high. The supports and panels on top of the stand were part of it. He carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of its supports and on its panels, according to the space available, with wreaths all around. He made all ten stands in this way. All had the same casting, dimensions, and form. He made ten bronze basins, each holding about 220 gallons and measuring about 6 feet across. There was one basin on each of the ten stands. He placed five stands on the right side of the house and five on its left. He placed the Sea on the right side of the house, toward the east, facing south. Hiram made the basins, shovels, and bowls. So Hiram finished all the work he did for King Solomon for the house of the LORD: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; and the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals above the pillars; the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; the one Sea and the twelve oxen beneath the Sea; and the pots, shovels, and bowls. All these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze. The king had them cast in the clay ground of the Jordan plain, between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because they were so very numerous. The weight of the bronze was not determined. Solomon made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was placed; the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold; the dishes, wick trimmers, bowls, spoons, and firepans of pure gold; and the gold door sockets for the doors of the inner room, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the main hall of the house. So all the work King Solomon did for the house of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver, gold, and utensils—and put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

Rights and attribution