1 Kings 7
7
Solomon Builds His Palace
1Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years to complete the construction.
2One of Solomon’s buildings was called the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.#7:2 Hebrew 100 cubits [46 meters] long, 50 cubits [23 meters] wide, and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] high. There were four rows of cedar pillars, and great cedar beams rested on the pillars. 3The hall had a cedar roof. Above the beams on the pillars were forty-five side rooms,#7:3 Or 45 rafters, or 45 beams, or 45 pillars. The architectural details in 7:2-6 can be interpreted in many different ways. arranged in three tiers of fifteen each. 4On each end of the long hall were three rows of windows facing each other. 5All the doorways and doorposts#7:5 Greek version reads windows. had rectangular frames and were arranged in sets of three, facing each other.
6Solomon also built the Hall of Pillars, which was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide.#7:6 Hebrew 50 cubits [23 meters] long and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] wide. There was a porch in front, along with a canopy supported by pillars.
7Solomon also built the throne room, known as the Hall of Justice, where he sat to hear legal matters. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.#7:7 As in Syriac version and Latin Vulgate; Hebrew reads from floor to floor. 8Solomon’s living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall, and they were constructed the same way. He also built similar living quarters for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
9From foundation to eaves, all these buildings were built from huge blocks of high-quality stone, cut with saws and trimmed to exact measure on all sides. 10Some of the huge foundation stones were 15 feet long, and some were 12 feet#7:10 Hebrew 10 cubits [4.6 meters] . . . 8 cubits [3.7 meters]. long. 11The blocks of high-quality stone used in the walls were also cut to measure, and cedar beams were also used. 12The walls of the great courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone, just like the walls of the inner courtyard of the Lord’s Temple with its entry room.
Furnishings for the Temple
13King Solomon then asked for a man named Huram#7:13 Hebrew Hiram (also in 7:40, 45); compare 2 Chr 2:13. This is not the same person mentioned in 5:1. to come from Tyre. 14He was half Israelite, since his mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a craftsman in bronze from Tyre. Huram was extremely skillful and talented in any work in bronze, and he came to do all the metal work for King Solomon.
15Huram cast two bronze pillars, each 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference.#7:15 Hebrew 18 cubits [8.3 meters] tall and 12 cubits [5.5 meters] in circumference. 16For the tops of the pillars he cast bronze capitals, each 7-1/2 feet#7:16 Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters]. tall. 17Each capital was decorated with seven sets of latticework and interwoven chains. 18He also encircled the latticework with two rows of pomegranates to decorate the capitals over the pillars. 19The capitals on the columns inside the entry room were shaped like water lilies, and they were six feet#7:19 Hebrew 4 cubits [1.8 meters]; also in 7:38. tall. 20The capitals on the two pillars had 200 pomegranates in two rows around them, beside the rounded surface next to the latticework. 21Huram set the pillars at the entrance of the Temple, one toward the south and one toward the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz.#7:21 Jakin probably means “he establishes”; Boaz probably means “in him is strength.” 22The capitals on the pillars were shaped like water lilies. And so the work on the pillars was finished.
23Then Huram cast a great round basin, 15 feet across from rim to rim, called the Sea. It was 7-1/2 feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference.#7:23 Hebrew 10 cubits [4.6 meters] across. . . . 5 cubits [2.3 meters] deep and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] in circumference. 24It was encircled just below its rim by two rows of decorative gourds. There were about six gourds per foot#7:24 Or 20 gourds per meter; Hebrew reads 10 per cubit. all the way around, and they were cast as part of the basin.
25The Sea was placed on a base of twelve bronze oxen,#7:25 Hebrew 12 oxen; compare 2 Kgs 16:17, which specifies bronze oxen. all facing outward. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east, and the Sea rested on them. 26The walls of the Sea were about three inches#7:26a Hebrew a handbreadth [8 centimeters]. thick, and its rim flared out like a cup and resembled a water lily blossom. It could hold about 11,000 gallons#7:26b Hebrew 2,000 baths [42 kiloliters]. of water.
27Huram also made ten bronze water carts, each 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4-1/2 feet tall.#7:27 Hebrew 4 cubits [1.8 meters] long, 4 cubits wide, and 3 cubits [1.4 meters] high. 28They were constructed with side panels braced with crossbars. 29Both the panels and the crossbars were decorated with carved lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above and below the lions and oxen were wreath decorations. 30Each of these carts had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. There were supporting posts for the bronze basins at the corners of the carts; these supports were decorated on each side with carvings of wreaths. 31The top of each cart had a rounded frame for the basin. It projected 1-1/2 feet#7:31a Hebrew a cubit [46 centimeters]. above the cart’s top like a round pedestal, and its opening was 2-1/4 feet#7:31b Hebrew 1-1/2 cubits [69 centimeters]; also in 7:32. across; it was decorated on the outside with carvings of wreaths. The panels of the carts were square, not round. 32Under the panels were four wheels that were connected to axles that had been cast as one unit with the cart. The wheels were 2-1/4 feet in diameter 33and were similar to chariot wheels. The axles, spokes, rims, and hubs were all cast from molten bronze.
34There were handles at each of the four corners of the carts, and these, too, were cast as one unit with the cart. 35Around the top of each cart was a rim nine inches wide.#7:35 Hebrew half a cubit wide [23 centimeters]. The corner supports and side panels were cast as one unit with the cart. 36Carvings of cherubim, lions, and palm trees decorated the panels and corner supports wherever there was room, and there were wreaths all around. 37All ten water carts were the same size and were made alike, for each was cast from the same mold.
38Huram also made ten smaller bronze basins, one for each cart. Each basin was six feet across and could hold 220 gallons#7:38 Hebrew 40 baths [840 liters]. of water. 39He set five water carts on the south side of the Temple and five on the north side. The great bronze basin called the Sea was placed near the southeast corner of the Temple. 40He also made the necessary washbasins, shovels, and bowls.
So at last Huram completed everything King Solomon had assigned him to make for the Temple of the Lord:
41the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two networks of interwoven chains that decorated the capitals;
42the 400 pomegranates that hung from the chains on the capitals (two rows of pomegranates for each of the chain networks that decorated the capitals on top of the pillars);
43the ten water carts holding the ten basins;
44the Sea and the twelve oxen under it;
45the ash buckets, the shovels, and the bowls.
Huram made all these things of burnished bronze for the Temple of the Lord, just as King Solomon had directed. 46The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. 47Solomon did not weigh all these things because there were so many; the weight of the bronze could not be measured.
48Solomon also made all the furnishings of the Temple of the Lord:
the gold altar;
the gold table for the Bread of the Presence;
49the lampstands of solid gold, five on the south and five on the north, in front of the Most Holy Place;
the flower decorations, lamps, and tongs—all of gold;
50the small bowls, lamp snuffers, bowls, ladles, and incense burners—all of solid gold;
the doors for the entrances to the Most Holy Place and the main room of the Temple, with their fronts overlaid with gold.
51So King Solomon finished all his work on the Temple of the Lord. Then he brought all the gifts his father, David, had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the various articles—and he stored them in the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple.
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M'lakhim Alef (1 Ki) 7
7
1Shlomo built a palace for himself, taking thirteen years to finish it. 2For he built the House of the L’vanon Forest 175 feet long, eighty-seven-and-a-half feet wide and fifty-two-and-a-half feet high, on four rows of cedar posts, with cedar beams on the posts. 3It had a roof made of cedar and supported by beams lying on forty-five posts, fifteen in a row. 4There were three rows of window openings, placed so that the windows on facing walls were opposite each other at all three levels. 5All the doors and doorways were rectangular and opposite each other at all three levels.
6He made the columned hall eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and fifty-two-and-a-half feet wide, with a columned, corniced porch in front of it.
7He made the Hall of the Throne his place for dispensing justice, that is, the Hall of Judgment; it was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.
8His own living quarters, in the other courtyard, set back from the Hall, were similarly designed. He also made a house like this Hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Shlomo had taken as his wife.
9All these buildings were made of expensive stone blocks, cut to measure and finished by saws on the inner surfaces as well as the outer ones. These stones were used from the foundation to the eaves and outward from the buildings all the way to the Great Courtyard. 10The foundation was of expensive stone blocks, very large ones — stones fourteen to eighteen feet long. 11Above these were costly stones, cut to measure, and cedar-wood. 12The surrounding Great Courtyard had three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams like the inner courtyard of the house of Adonai and the courtyard by the hall of the house.
13King Shlomo sent for Hiram and brought him from Tzor. 14He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naftali, but his father was from Tzor, a bronze-worker filled with wisdom, understanding and skill for all kinds of bronze craftsmanship. He came to King Shlomo and did all his bronzework. 15He made the two bronze columns, each one thirty-one-and-a-half feet high and twenty-one feet in circumference. 16He made two capitals of melted bronze to set on the tops of the columns; each capital was eight-and-three-quarters feet high; 17he also made checker-work nets and chained wreaths, seven for the top of each capital. 18When he made the columns, he made two rows of pomegranates to put at the top of each column around the netting covering its capital. 19The capitals on the columns in the hall had shapes like lilies and were seven feet high. 20As for the capitals on the two columns, there were 200 pomegranates in rows around each capital near the molding by the netting. 21He erected the columns in the hall of the temple; on erecting the right column he gave it the name “Yakhin,” and on erecting the left column he named it “Bo‘az.” 22On the tops of the columns were shapes like lilies; thus the work of the columns was finished.
23He made the cast metal “Sea” circular, seventeen-and-a-half feet from rim to rim, eight-and-three quarter feet high and fifty-two-and-a-half feet in circumference. 24Under its rim, three hundred gourds encircled it in two rows; they were cast when the Sea was cast. 25It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them. 26It was a handbreadth thick, its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; and its capacity was 11,000 gallons.
27He made ten bronze trolleys, each one seven feet long, seven feet wide, and five-and-a-quarter feet high. 28They were designed with panels that were set between the corner-posts, 29and on the panels between the corner-posts were lions, oxen and k’ruvim. The corner-posts above were similarly designed. Below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hammered work. 30Every trolley had four bronze wheels and bronze axles, and its four legs each had cast supports which were under the basin, with wreaths next to each. 31The opening of the stand into which the basin was inserted was eighteen inches high; the stand was round, resembling a pedestal, and it was two-and-a-half feet in diameter. On the stand were carvings, and the outside was square, not round. 32The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles for the wheels were attached to the trolleys; each wheel was two-and-a-half feet. 33The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all cast metal. 34There were four supports at the four corners of each trolley; the supports were attached to the trolley itself. 35In the top of the trolley was a circular support ten-and-a-half inches high, and the trolley’s corner-posts and panels were attached to its top. 36On the sides of the panels and on its corners he carved k’ruvim, lions and palm trees, according to the amount of space each required, with wreaths surrounding. 37According to this design he made the ten trolleys; all of them were cast from a single mold, so that they had the same size and shape.
38He made ten bronze basins; each basin’s capacity was 220 gallons and had a diameter of seven feet; there was a basin for each of the ten trolleys. 39He arranged five of the trolleys on the right side of the house and five on the left side. The Sea he placed on the right side of the house, toward the southeast.
40Hiram made the ash pots, shovels and sprinkling basins. With that, Hiram completed all the work he had done for King Shlomo in the house of Adonai — 41the two columns, the two moldings of the capitals on top of the columns, the two nettings covering the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns, 42the 400 pomegranates for the two nettings, two rows of pomegranates for each netting, to cover the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns, 43the ten trolleys, the ten basins on the trolleys, 44the one Sea, the twelve oxen under the Sea, 45the ash pots, the shovels and the sprinkling basins. All these articles that Hiram made for King Shlomo in the house of Adonai were of burnished bronze. 46The king cast them in the plain of the Yarden, in the clay ground between Sukkot and Tzartan. 47Shlomo did not weigh any of these objects, because there were so many of them; thus the total weight of the bronze could not be determined.
48Shlomo made all the objects that were inside the house of Adonai: the gold altar; the table of gold on which the showbread was displayed; 49the menorahs — five on the right and five on the left in front of the sanctuary — of pure gold; the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold; 50the cups, snuffers, basins, incense pans and fire pans of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both those for the doors of the inner house, the Especially Holy Place, and those for the doors of the house, that is, of the temple.
51Thus all the work that King Shlomo did in the house of Adonai was finished. After this, Shlomo brought in the gifts which David his father had dedicated — the silver, the gold and the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of the house of Adonai.
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