1 Kings 7
7
Solomon Builds His Palace
1But it took Solomon 13 years to finish constructing his palace and the other buildings related to it. 2He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long. It was 75 feet wide. And it was 45 feet high. It had four rows of cedar columns. They held up beautiful cedar beams. 3Above the beams was a roof made out of cedar boards. It rested on the columns. There were three rows of beams with 15 in each row. The total number of beams was 45. 4The windows of the palace were placed high up in the walls. They were in groups of three. And they faced each other. 5All the doorways had frames shaped like rectangles. They were in front. They were in groups of three. And they faced each other.
6Solomon made a covered area. It was 75 feet long. And it was 45 feet wide. Its roof was held up by columns. In front of it was a porch. In front of that were pillars and a roof that went out beyond them.
7Solomon built the throne hall. It was called the Hall of Justice. That’s where he would serve as judge. He covered the hall with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. 8The palace where he would live was set farther back. Its plan was something like the plan for the hall. Solomon had married Pharaoh’s daughter. He made a palace for her. It was like the hall.
9All those buildings were made out of blocks of good quality stone. They were cut to the right size. They were made smooth on their back and front sides. Those stones were used for the outside of each building and for the large courtyard. They were also used from the foundations up to the roofs. 10Large blocks of good quality stone were used for the foundations. Some were 15 feet long. Others were 12 feet long. 11The walls above them were made out of good quality stones. The stones were cut to the right size. On top of them was a layer of cedar beams. 12The large courtyard had a wall around it. The first three layers of the wall were made out of blocks of stone. The top layer was made out of beautiful cedar wood. The same thing was done with the inside courtyard of the Lord’s temple and its porch.
More Facts About the Temple
13King Solomon sent messengers to Tyre. He wanted them to bring Huram back with them. 14Huram’s mother was a widow. She was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram’s father was from Tyre. He was skilled in working with bronze. Huram also had great skill, knowledge and understanding in working with bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all the work he was asked to do.
15Huram made two bronze pillars. Each of them was 27 feet high. And each was 18 feet around. 16Each pillar had a decorated top made out of bronze. Each top was seven and a half feet high. 17Chains that were linked together hung down from the tops of the pillars. There were seven chains for each top. 18Huram made two rows of pomegranates. They circled the chains. The pomegranates decorated the tops of the pillars. Huram did the same thing for each pillar. 19The tops on the pillars of the porch were shaped like lilies. The lilies were 6 feet high. 20On the tops of both pillars were 200 pomegranates. They were in rows all around the tops. They were above the part that was shaped like a bowl. And they were next to the chains. 21Huram set the pillars up at the temple porch. The pillar on the south he named Jakin. The one on the north he named Boaz. 22The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished.
23Huram made a huge metal bowl for washing. Its shape was round. It measured 15 feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high. And it was 45 feet around. 24Below the rim there was a circle of gourds around the bowl. In every 18 inches around the bowl there were ten gourds. The gourds were arranged in two rows. They were made as part of the bowl itself.
25The huge bowl stood on 12 bulls. Three of them faced north. Three faced west. Three faced south. And three faced east. The bowl rested on top of the bulls. Their rear ends were toward the center. 26The bowl was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup. The rim was shaped like the bloom of a lily. The bowl held 12,000 gallons of water.
27Huram also made ten stands out of bronze. They could be moved around. Each stand was six feet long. It was six feet wide. And it was four and a half feet high. 28Here is how the stands were made. They had sides that were joined to posts. 29On the sides between the posts were lions, bulls and cherubim. They were also on all of the posts. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths made out of hammered metal. 30Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Each stand had a bowl that rested on four supports. The stand had wreaths on each side. 31There was a round opening on the inside of each stand. The opening had a frame 18 inches deep. The sides were 27 inches high from the top of the opening to the bottom of the base. There was carving around the opening. The sides of the stands were square, not round. 32The four wheels were under the sides. The axles of the wheels were connected to the stand. Each wheel was 27 inches across. 33The wheels were made like chariot wheels. All the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were made out of metal.
34Each stand had four handles on it. There was one on each corner. They came out from the stand. 35At the top of the stand there was a round band. It was nine inches deep. The sides and supports were connected to the top of the stand. 36Huram carved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the sides of the stands. He also carved them on the surfaces of the supports. His carving covered every open space. He had also carved wreaths all around. 37That’s how he made the ten stands. All of them were made in the same molds. And they had the same size and shape.
38Then Huram made ten bronze bowls. Each one held 240 gallons. The bowls measured six feet across. There was one bowl for each of the ten stands. 39He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple. He placed the other five on the north side. He put the huge bowl on the south side. It was at the southeast corner of the temple. 40He also made the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work he had started for King Solomon. Here’s what he made for the Lord’s temple.
41He made the two pillars.
He made the two tops for the pillars. The tops were shaped like bowls.
He made the two sets of chains that were linked together. They decorated the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars.
42He made the 400 pomegranates for the two sets of chains. There were two rows of pomegranates for each chain. They decorated the bowl-shaped tops of the pillars.
43He made the ten stands with their ten bowls.
44He made the huge bowl. He made the 12 bulls that were under it.
45He made the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
Huram made all those objects for King Solomon for the Lord’s temple. He made them out of bronze. Then he shined them up. 46The king had made them in clay molds. It was done on the plain of the Jordan River between Sukkoth and Zarethan. 47Solomon didn’t weigh any of those things. There were too many of them to weigh. No one even tried to weigh the bronze they were made out of.
48Solomon also made everything in the Lord’s temple.
He made the golden altar.
He made the golden table for the holy bread.
49He made the pure gold lampstands. There were five on the right and five on the left. They were in front of the Most Holy Room.
He made the gold flowers. He made the gold lamps and tongs.
50He made the bowls, wick cutters, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and shallow cups for burning incense. All of them were made out of pure gold.
He made the gold bases for the doors of the inside room. That’s the Most Holy Room. He also made gold bases for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
51King Solomon finished all the work for the Lord’s temple. Then he brought in the things his father David had set apart for the Lord. They included the silver and gold and all the other things for the Lord’s temple. Solomon placed them with the other treasures that were there.
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1 Kings 7
7
Solomon’s Palace Built
1#1Ki 9:10; 2Ch 8:1Solomon was building his own house for thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2#1Ki 10:17; 2Ch 9:16He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits, and its width was fifty cubits, and its height was thirty cubits,#About 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high, or 45 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high. built on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams upon the pillars. 3It was covered with cedar over the top of the beams, which sat upon forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. 4There were window frames in three rows and window opposite window in three tiers. 5All the doors and posts were rectangular with the openings facing each other in three tiers.
6He made a porch of pillars with a length of fifty cubits and a breadth of thirty cubits.#About 75 feet long and 45 feet wide, or 23 meters long and 14 meters wide. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.
7#Ps 122:5; Pr 20:8Then he made a porch for the throne, from which he would judge, and called it the Hall of Judgment. It was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. 8#1Ki 3:1; 2Ch 8:11His own house where he lived, in the other court back of the hall, was similar in style. Solomon also made a house like this for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as a wife.
9All these were built with costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inside and outside, from the foundation up to the coping, throughout the outside toward the great court. 10The foundation was of large, costly stones, stones of ten#About 15 feet, or 4.5 meters; and in v. 23. and eight#About 12 feet, or 3.6 meters. cubits in size. 11Above were costly stones cut to size, along with cedars. 12#1Ki 6:36The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewed stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.
The Furnishings of the Temple
2Ch 4:2–5:1
13#2Ch 4:11Now King Solomon sent and called Huram out of Tyre. 14#2Ch 2:14; 4:16He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre who worked in bronze, and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to make all sorts of items in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.
15#Jer 52:21; 1Ki 7:21He cast two pillars of bronze eighteen cubits high each and twelve cubits#About 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, or 8.1 meters high and 5.4 meters in circumference. in circumference. 16He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits,#About 15 pounds, or 6.9 kilograms; and in v. 29. and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17He made lattices of checker work with wreaths of chainwork for the capitals on top of the pillars: seven for one capital and seven for the other. 18Likewise he made pomegranates in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same for the other capital. 19The capitals that were on top of the pillars in the porch were four cubits#About 6 feet, or 1.8 meters; and in v. 38. high and in the shape of lilies. 20#2Ch 3:16; 4:13The capitals on top of the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital. 21#2Ch 3:17; 1Ki 6:3He set up the pillars in the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called it Jakin, and he set up the left pillar and called it Boaz. 22The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. This completed the work on the pillars.
23#2Ki 25:13; 2Ch 4:2He made a cast metal sea, ten cubits from one side to the other. It was round and had a height of five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits#About 45 feet, or 14 meters. encircled it. 24#1Ki 6:18; 2Ch 4:3Under the brim all the way around there were gourds, ten in a cubit. When it was cast, the gourds were placed in two rows going all the way around it.
25#Jer 52:20; 2Ch 4:4–5It stood on top of twelve oxen with three facing north, three facing toward the west, three facing toward the south, and three facing toward the east. The sea was set on them, and their hindquarters were turned inward. 26#2Ch 4:5It was a hand-breadth#About 3 inches, or 7.5 centimeters. thick, and the brim was made similar to the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.#About 12,000 gallons, or 44,000 liters.
27#2Ch 4:14; 2Ki 25:13He made ten stands out of bronze, each measuring four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.#About 6 feet long and wide and 41/2 feet high, or 1.8 meters long and wide and 1.4 meters high. 28The work of the stands looked like this: They had panels, and the panels were set in the frames. 29And on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. 30Every stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each. 31Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half deep.#About 21/4 feet, or 68 centimeters; and in v. 32. At its opening there were engravings, and its panels were four-sided, not round. 32Underneath the panels were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were joined to the stand, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. 33The wheels worked like chariot wheels in that their axles and rims and spokes and hubs were all cast metal.
34There were four supports for the four corners of each stand, and the supports were part of one piece with the stand itself. 35On the top of the stand, there was a round band half a cubit#About 9 inches, or 23 centimeters. high, and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it. 36On the surface of its stays and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around. 37In this way he made the ten stands, with them all having the same shape, measure, and size.
38Then he made ten basins of bronze, with each basin able to hold forty baths,#About 240 gallons, or 880 liters. each being four cubits. Upon every one of the ten stands sat one basin. 39He put five stands on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast. 40#2Ch 4:11–16Huram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins.
So Huram finished all the work in making items for King Solomon for use in the house of the Lord: 41the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the two pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; 42#1Ki 7:20and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43the ten stands and ten basins on the stands; 44one sea and twelve oxen under the sea; 45#Ex 27:3; 38:3the pots, the shovels, and the basins.
All these vessels that Huram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze. 46#Jos 3:16; Ge 33:17In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Sukkoth and Zarethan. 47#1Ch 22:14; 22:3Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because there were so many. The weight of the bronze was also never measured.
48#Ex 37:10–16; 2Ch 4:8Solomon made all the vessels that were needed for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, the table of gold on which was showbread, 49#2Ch 4:7the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, fire pans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.
51#2Ch 5:1All the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the cups—and he put them among the treasures of the house of the Lord.
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