Solomon Builds his Palace
1 Solomon had been building his own house for thirteen years, and then he finished his entire house. 2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was 150 feet, its width 75 feet, and its height 45 feet, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3 It was covered with cedar above, over the 45 beams that rested on the pillars, fifteen per row. 4 There were beams in three rows, and each window was facing another window in three rows. 5 All the doors and posts were made rectangular with frames, and each window was facing another window in three rows.
6 He made the porch of pillars. Its length was 75 feet and its width 45 feet, with a hall before them, and pillars and a threshold before them.
7 He made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the Hall of Judgment, and it was covered with cedar from floor to rafters.
8 His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the hall, was of similar work. He also made a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this hall.
9 All these were built with costly, cut stones, cut according to measurements, sawed with saws, inside and outside, from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.
10 The foundation was of great, costly stones, twelve and fifteen feet in length. 11 Above were costly stones, cut according to measurements, and cedar wood. 12 The great court around had three sections of cut stone, and a section of cedar beams, like the inner court of the Lord’s house and the hall of the house.
The Work of Hiram
13 King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him out of Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze, and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to do every work of bronze. He came to king Solomon and performed all his work.
15 Hiram fashioned the two pillars of bronze, each 27 feet high and a line of eighteen feet encircled either of them. 16 He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was 7½ feet, and the height of the other capital was 7½ feet. 17 There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars, and there were two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, and he did the same for the other capital.
19 The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the hall were of lily work, six feet. 20 There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were 200 pomegranates in rows around the other capital. 21 He set up the pillars at the temple hall. He set up the right pillar and called it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar, and called it Boaz. 22 On the top of the pillars was lily work, so the work of the pillars was finished.
The Sea of Cast Metal
23 Hiram made the molten sea of fifteen feet from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was 7½ feet, and a line of 45 feet encircled it. 24 Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it, ten every 18 inches, encircling the sea. The buds were cast in two rows when it was cast. 25 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. 26 It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 12,000 gallons.
The Ten Bases
27 He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was six feet, six feet in width, and 4½ feet in height. 28 The work of the bases was like this: they had panels, and there were panels between the ledges; 29 and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
30 Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin with wreaths at the side of each. 31 Its mouth within the capital and above was 18 inches. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, eighteen inches, and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were underneath the panels and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was 27 inches. 33 The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal.
34 There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. 35 In the top of the base there was a round band nine inches high, and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. 36 On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. 37 He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had the same casting, measurement, and shape.
The Ten Bronze Basins
38 He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained 40 baths, and every basin was six feet, and on every one of the ten bases one basin. 39 He set the bases, five 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 eastward and toward the south.
The Vessels
40 Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in the house of the Lord: 41 the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, 42 the 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars, 43 the ten bases, the ten basins on the bases, 44 the one sea, the twelve oxen under the sea, 45 the pots, the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of the Lord, were of burnished bronze. 46 The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.
48 Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; 49 and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50 the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.
51 Thus all the work that king Solomon did in the house of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.