1 Kings 7
7
Solomon's Palace Is Built
1Solomon's palace took 13 years to build.
2-3Forest Hall was the largest room in the palace. It was 44 meters long, 22 meters wide, and 13.5 meters high, and was lined with cedar from Lebanon. It had 4 rows of cedar pillars, 15 in a row, and they held up 45 cedar beams. The ceiling was covered with cedar. 4Three rows of windows on each side faced each other, 5and there were three doors on each side near the front of the hall.
6Pillar Hall was 22 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. A covered porch supported by pillars went all the way across the front of the hall.
7Solomon's throne was in Justice Hall, where he judged cases. This hall was completely lined with cedar.
8 #
1 K 3.1. The section of the palace where Solomon lived was behind Justice Hall and looked exactly like it. He had a similar place built for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt.
9From the foundation all the way to the top, these buildings and the courtyard were made out of the best stones#7.9 From … best stones: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. carefully cut to size, then smoothed on every side with saws. 10The foundation stones were huge, good stones—some of them four and a half meters long and others three and a half meters long. 11The cedar beams and other stones that had been cut to size were on top of these foundation stones. 12The walls around the palace courtyard were made out of three layers of cut stones with one layer of cedar beams, just like the front porch and the inner courtyard of the temple.
Hiram Makes the Bronze Furnishings
(2 Chronicles 3.15-17; 4.1-10)
13-14Hiram was a skilled bronze worker from the city of Tyre.#7.13,14 Hiram … city of Tyre: This is not the same person as “King Hiram of Tyre” (see 5.1). His father was now dead, but he also had been a bronze worker from Tyre, and his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali.
King Solomon asked Hiram to come to Jerusalem and make the bronze furnishings to use for worship in the Lord's temple, and he agreed to do it.
15Hiram made two bronze columns eight meters tall and almost two meters across. 16For the top of each column, he also made a bronze cap just over two meters high. 17The caps were decorated with seven rows of designs that looked like chains,#7.17 seven rows … chains: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. 18with two rows of designs that looked like pomegranates.#7.18 pomegranates: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 18. A pomegranate is a bright red fruit that looks like an apple. In ancient times, it was a symbol of life.
19The caps for the columns of the porch were almost two meters high and were shaped like lilies.#7.19 lilies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 19.
20The chain designs on the caps were right above the rounded tops of the two columns, and there were 200 pomegranates in rows around each cap. 21Hiram placed the two columns on each side of the main door of the temple. The column on the south side was called Jachin,#7.21 Jachin: Or “He makes secure.” and the one on the north was called Boaz.#7.21 Boaz: Or “He is strong.”
22The lily-shaped caps were on top of the columns.
This completed the work on the columns.
23Hiram also made a large bowl called the Sea. It was just over two meters deep, about 4.5 meters across, and 13.5 meters around. 24Two rows of bronze gourds were around the outer edge of the bowl, ten gourds to every 45 centimeters. 25The bowl itself sat on top of twelve bronze bulls with three bulls facing outward in each of four directions. 26The sides of the bowl were 75 millimeters thick, and its rim was like a cup that curved outward like flower petals. The bowl held about 40,000 liters.
27Hiram made ten movable bronze stands, each one over a meter high, almost two meters long, and almost two meters wide. 28-29The sides were made with panels attached to frames decorated with flower designs. The panels themselves were decorated with figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures. 30-31Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles and a round frame 68 centimeters across, held up by four supports 45 centimeters high. A small bowl rested in the frame. The supports were decorated with flower designs, and the frame with carvings.
The side panels of the stands were square, 32and the wheels and axles were underneath them. The wheels were about 68 centimeters high 33and looked like chariot wheels. The axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were made out of bronze.
34-35Around the top of each stand was a 22-centimeter strip, and there were four braces#7.34,35 braces: Or “handles.” attached to the corners of each stand. The panels and the supports were attached to the stands, 36and the stands were decorated with flower designs and figures of lions, palm trees, and winged creatures. 37Hiram made the ten bronze stands from the same mold, so they were exactly the same size and shape.
38 #
Ex 30.17-21. Hiram also made ten small bronze bowls, one for each stand. The bowls were almost two meters across and could hold about 800 liters.
39He put five stands on the south side of the temple, five stands on the north side, and the large bowl at the southeast corner of the temple.
40Hiram made pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls.
A List of Everything inside the Temple
(2 Chronicles 4.11—5.1)
This is a list of the bronze items that Hiram made for the Lord's temple: 41two columns; two bowl-shaped caps for the tops of the columns; two chain designs on the caps; 42400 pomegranates#7.42 pomegranates: A pomegranate is a bright red fruit that looks like an apple. In ancient times, it was a symbol of life. for the chain designs; 43ten movable stands; ten small bowls for the stands; 44a large bowl; twelve bulls that held up the bowl; 45pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls.
Hiram made these bronze things for Solomon 46near the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan by pouring melted bronze into clay molds.
47There were so many bronze things that Solomon never bothered to weigh them, and no one ever knew how much bronze was used.
48 #
Ex 30.1-3;
Ex 25.23-30. Solomon gave orders to make the following temple furnishings out of gold: the altar; the table that held the sacred loaves of bread;#7.48 sacred loaves of bread: This bread was offered to the Lord and was a symbol of the Lord's presence in the temple. It was put out on a special table, and was replaced with fresh bread each week (see Leviticus 24.5-9). 49#Ex 25.31-40. ten lampstands that went in front of the most holy place; flower designs; lamps and tongs; 50cups, lamp snuffers, and small sprinkling bowls; dishes for incense; fire pans; and the hinges for the doors to the most holy place and the main room of the temple.
51 #
2 S 8.11; 1 Ch 18.11. After the Lord's temple was finished, Solomon put into its storage rooms everything that his father David had dedicated to the Lord, including the gold and the silver.
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1 Kings 7: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 7
7
1 Now Solomon built his own house for thirteen years, and he brought it to perfection.
2 And he built the house from the forest of Lebanon: one hundred cubits in length, and fifty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height, with four walkways between columns of cedar. For he had hewn the cedar trees into columns.
3 And he clothed the entire vaulted room with panels of cedar. And it was supported by forty-five columns. Now one row held fifteen columns,
4 each positioned opposite another,
5 and looking toward one another, with equal spacing between the columns. And above the columns there were square beams equal in all things.
6 And he made a portico of columns, fifty cubits in length and thirty cubits in width, and another portico, facing the greater portico, with columns and with crossbeams upon the columns.
7 He also made the portico of the throne, in which is the tribunal. And he overlaid it with cedar wood, from the floor even to the summit.
8 And in the midst of the portico, there was a small house, where he would sit in judgment, similar in workmanship. He also made a house for the daughter of Pharaoh (whom Solomon had taken as wife) of the same work and type as this portico.
9 All was of precious stones, which had been sawed by a particular standard and measure, as much within as without, from the foundation even to the summit of the walls, and outside even to the great atrium.
10 Now the foundations were of precious stones: great stones of eight or ten cubits.
11 And above these, there were precious stones, of equal measure, which had been cut in a manner similar to boards of cedar.
12 And the great atrium was round, with three rows of cut stones and one row of cut cedar, even as it also was in the interior atrium of the house of the Lord, and in the portico of the house.
13 And king Solomon sent and brought Hiram of Tyre,
14 the son of a widowed woman, from the tribe of Naphtali, whose father was a Tyrian, an artisan in brass, and full of wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge in order to form every work of brass. And when he had gone to king Solomon, he wrought all his work.
15 And he cast two columns of brass. Each column was eighteen cubits in height, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed both columns.
16 Also, he made two heads of molten brass, which would be set upon the tops of the columns: one head was five cubits in height, and the other head was five cubits in height.
17 And there was something like a network of chains, woven together in a wonderful manner. Both heads of the columns were cast, and seven rows of little nets traversed one head, and seven little nets were on the other head.
18 And he finished the columns with two rows all around each network, so that these covered the heads, which were at the top, with pomegranates. And he did in like manner to the second head.
19 Now the heads that were at the top of the columns, in the portico of four cubits, had been fabricated with a work of lilies.
20 And again, there were other heads at the tops of the columns above, in accord with the measure of the column opposite the netting. And there were two hundred of the pomegranates, in rows around the second head.
21 And he stationed the two columns in the portico of the temple. And when he had stationed the column on the right, he called its name Jachin. Similarly, he erected the second column, and he called its name Boaz.
22 And above the tops of the columns, he set a work in the manner of lilies. And the work of the columns was perfected.
23 He also made a molten sea, of ten cubits from brim to brim, rounded on all sides. Its height was five cubits, and a thin rope of thirty cubits wrapped it all around.
24 And a sculpted work under the brim encircled it for ten cubits going around the sea. There were two rows cast of striated sculptures.
25 And it was standing upon twelve oxen, of which three were looking toward the north, and three toward the west, and three toward the south, and three toward the east. And the sea above was over them. And their posteriors were entirely hidden within.
26 And the basin was the thickness of three twelfths. And its brim was like the brim of a chalice, or like the outturned petal of a lily. It contained two thousand baths.
27 And he made ten bases of brass: each base was four cubits in length, and four cubits in width, and three cubits in height.
28 And the work itself of the bases was engraved; and there were sculptures between the junctures.
29 And between the little crowns and the edges, there were lions, and oxen, and cherubim; and similarly in the junctures above. And under the lions and oxen were something like bands of brass hanging down.
30 And each base had four wheels, with axels of brass. And at the four sides were something like little arms, under the cast basin, facing away from one another.
31 Also, the mouth of the interior of the basin was at the top of the head. And what was visible outside was of one cubit all around, and altogether it had one cubit and a half. Now at the corners of the columns were diverse engravings. And the spaces between the columns were square, not round.
32 And the four wheels, which were at the four corners of the base, were joined to one another under the base. The height of one wheel held one cubit and a half.
33 Now these were the kind of wheels such as are often made for a chariot. And their axels, and spokes, and tires, and centers were all cast.
34 And the four little arms, which were at each corner of a base, were cast and joined together as part of the base itself.
35 And at the summit of the base, there was a round stand of one half cubit, fabricated so that the basin could be placed upon it, having its engravings, and various sculptures of its own.
36 He also engraved those plates, which were of brass. And at the corners were cherubim, and lions, and palm trees, standing out, as if in the likeness of a man, so that they seemed not to be engraved, but placed adjacent on all sides.
37 In this manner, he made ten bases with the same casting and measure, and very similar engravings.
38 He also made ten hand basins of brass. One hand basin contained four baths, and was of four cubits. And each basin he set upon a base, which is ten bases.
39 And he stationed the ten bases, five to the right side of the temple, and five to the left. And the sea he placed to the right side of the temple, opposite the east, toward the south.
40 Then Hiram made cooking pots, and trays, and small hooks. And he completed all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord:
41 the two columns, and the two cords of the heads over the tops of the columns, and the two networks which covered the two cords that were above the tops of the columns;
42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two turnings of pomegranates for each network, in order to cover the cords of the heads, which were above the tops of the columns;
43 and the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases;
44 and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea;
45 and the cooking pots, and the trays, and the small hooks. All of the items that Hiram made for king Solomon, for the house of the Lord, were of golden brass.
46 In the open regions near the Jordan, the king cast these, in the clay soil between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 And Solomon positioned all the items. But because of its exceedingly great amount, the brass was not weighed.
48 And Solomon made all the furniture for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, upon which the bread of the presence would be placed;
49 and the gold lampstands, five to the right, and five to the left, opposite the oracle, of pure gold; and likenesses of lily blossoms, with lamps above them, of gold; and gold tongs;
50 and waters pots, and little forks, and bowls, and little mortars, and censers, of the purest gold; and the hinges of the doors, for the interior house of the Holy of Holies and for the doors of the house of the temple, which were of gold.
51 And Solomon perfected all the work that he was doing in the house of the Lord. And he brought in the things that his father David had sanctified: the silver, and the gold, and the vessels. And he stored these in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.
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