1 Kings 7

1Solomon was building his own palace for thirteen years, and then he finished the whole of it. 2He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon about 150 feet long, about 75 feet wide and about 45 feet high. It stood on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams laid on the pillars. 3It was roofed with cedar above the side rooms that rested on the pillars, forty-five rooms, fifteen in each row. 4There were window frames in three rows, and window faced window in three tiers. 5All the doorways and doorposts had square frames, and in front, window faced window in three tiers. 6He made the Hall of Pillars about 75 feet long and about 45 feet wide. There was a porch in front of it, and pillars with a canopy in front of that. 7He made the Hall of the Throne, where he was to judge, the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling. 8His own house where he was to live, in the other courtyard further in from the hall, was built the same way. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. 9All these buildings were made of costly stones, cut to size and sawn on their inner and outer faces, from the foundation up to the top course, and from the outside as far as the great courtyard. 10The foundations were laid with costly stones, large stones, some measuring about 15 feet and some about 12 feet. 11Above them were costly stones cut to size, and cedar beams. 12The great courtyard had walls all around of three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the house of the LORD and the porch of the house.

13King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him from Tyre. 14He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Hiram was full of wisdom, understanding and knowledge for doing every kind of work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work. 15He cast the two bronze pillars. Each pillar was about 27 feet high, and it took a line of about 18 feet to go around it. 16He also made two capitals of cast bronze for the tops of the pillars. One capital was about 7 1/2 feet high, and the other capital was about 7 1/2 feet high. 17There were nets of lattice work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for one capital and seven for the other. 18He made the pomegranates in two rows all around on the one network, to cover the capitals on top of the pillars, and he did the same for the other capital. 19The capitals on top of the pillars at the porch were lily work, about 6 feet high. 20The capitals on the two pillars were also above, close to the rounded part beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around, on the other capital as well. 21He erected the pillars at the temple porch. The pillar on the right he set up and named Jachin, and the pillar on the left he set up and named Boaz. 22On top of the pillars was lily work. So the work on the pillars was finished. 23He made the Sea of cast metal. It was round, about 15 feet from brim to brim and about 7 1/2 feet high, and it took a line of about 45 feet to measure around it. 24Under its brim, gourds went all around it, ten to every 18 inches, encircling the Sea. The gourds were in two rows, cast in one piece with it. 25It stood on twelve oxen: three faced north, three west, three south and three east. The Sea was set on top of them, and their hindquarters were all toward the center. 26It was about 3 inches thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held about 12,000 gallons.

27He also made ten bronze stands. Each stand was about 6 feet long, about 6 feet wide and about 4 1/2 feet high. 28This is how the stands were made: they had panels, and the panels were set between crossbars. 29On the panels between the crossbars were lions, oxen and cherubim. On the crossbars there was a base above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast to sit beneath the basin, and each had wreaths at its side. 31Its opening, within the crown, rose about 18 inches upward. The opening was round, made like a pedestal, about 27 inches across. There were carvings on its opening, and the panels were square, not round. 32The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were fixed to the stand. Each wheel was about 27 inches high. 33The wheels were made the way chariot wheels are made: axles, rims, spokes and hubs, all of cast metal. 34There were four supports at the four corners of each stand, and the supports were part of the stand itself. 35At the top of the stand was a round band about 9 inches high, and at the top of the stand its brackets and panels were one piece with it. 36On the surfaces of its brackets and on its panels he engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees, as each had space, with wreaths all around. 37This is how he made the ten stands. All of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same shape.

38He made ten bronze basins. Each basin held about 240 gallons and measured about 6 feet across, with one basin on each of the ten stands. 39He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side. He put the Sea on the south side of the house, at the southeast corner.

40Hiram also made the basins, the shovels and the sprinkling bowls. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD: 41the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two networks covering the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars; 42the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, in two rows on each network, covering the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars; 43the ten stands, with the ten basins on the stands; 44the one Sea, with the twelve oxen under the Sea; 45and the pots, the shovels and the sprinkling bowls. All these things that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze. 46The king cast them in the clay ground of the Jordan plain, between Succoth and Zarethan. 47Solomon left all these things unweighed because there were so very many of them; the weight of the bronze was never found out. 48Solomon also made all the furnishings of the house of the LORD: the altar of gold; the table of gold for the bread of the Presence; 49the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps and the tongs of gold; 50the cups, the wick trimmers, the sprinkling bowls, the dishes and the firepans of pure gold; and the gold sockets for the inner house doors, those of the most holy place, and for the doors to the main hall of the temple.

51So all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. Then Solomon brought in the things his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold and the vessels, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.