The First Book of the Kings

⭑ Berean Study Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 7 -

Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high,(a) with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.

There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers.

All the doorways

(b)

had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.

Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide,(c) with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.(d)

And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.

The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long

(e)

and some eight cubits long.(f)

Above these were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.

The Pillars and Capitals

(2 Chronicles 3:14–17)

Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram (g) from Tyre.

He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.

He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.(h)

He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high.(i)

For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.(j)

Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars.

And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.(k)

On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin,(l) and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.(m)

And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

The Molten Sea

(2 Chronicles 4:1–5)

He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.(n)

Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

It was a handbreadth thick,(o) and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.(p)

The Ten Bronze Stands

In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.(q)

This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights,

and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work.

Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.

The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep,(r) with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide.(s) And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round.

There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.

The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.

At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high.(t) The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.

He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around.

In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.

The Ten Bronze Basins

(2 Chronicles 4:6–8)

He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths

(u)

and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

Completion of the Bronze Works

(2 Chronicles 4:11–18)

Additionally, Huram made the pots,(v) shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD:

the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;

the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars);

the ten stands; the ten basins on the stands;

the Sea; the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. All the articles that Huram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were made of burnished bronze.

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.(w)

Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 4:19–22)

Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;

the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;

the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place (x)) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

Footnotes

(a)7:2 The house was approximately 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high (45.7 meters long, 22.9 meters wide, and 13.7 meters high).

(b)7:5 Literally doorways and doorposts

(d)7:7 Syriac and Vulgate; Hebrew from floor to floor

(e)7:10 10 cubits is approximately 15 feet or 4.6 meters.

(f)7:10 8 cubits is approximately 12 feet or 3.7 meters.

(g)7:13 Hebrew Hiram, a variant of Huram; also in verses 40 and 45; see 2 Chronicles 4:11. Note that this is not Hiram king of Tyre mentioned in 1 Kings 5:1.

(h)7:15 Each pillar was approximately 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference (8.2 meters high and 5.5 meters in circumference).

(i)7:16 5 cubits is approximately 7.5 feet or 2.3 meters.

(j)7:17 Hebrew; LXX one for each capital

(k)7:19 4 cubits is approximately 6 feet or 1.8 meters; also in verse 38.

(l)7:21 Jachin probably means He establishes.

(m)7:21 Boaz probably means in Him is strength.

(n)7:23 The Sea was approximately 15 feet from rim to rim, 7.5 feet in height, and 45 feet in circumference (4.6 meters from rim to rim, 2.3 meters in height, and 13.7 meters in circumference).

(o)7:26 A handbreadth is approximately 2.9 inches or 7.4 centimeters.

(p)7:26 2,000 baths is approximately 11,600 gallons or 44,000 liters; LXX does not include this sentence.

(q)7:27 The stands were approximately 6 feet in length and width, and 4.5 feet high (1.8 meters in length and width, and 1.4 meters high).

(r)7:31 One cubit is approximately 18 inches or 45.7 centimeters.

(s)7:31 A cubit and a half is approximately 2.25 feet or 68.6 centimeters wide; similarly in verse 32.

(t)7:35 Half a cubit is approximately 9 inches or 22.9 centimeters high.

(u)7:38 40 baths is approximately 232 gallons or 880 liters.

(v)7:40 Many Hebrew manuscripts, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate (see also verse 45 and 2 Chronicles 4:11); many other Hebrew manuscripts basins

(w)7:46 Zarethan is a variant of Zeredah; see 2 Chronicles 4:17.

(x)7:50 Or the Holy of Holies

Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits,(a) its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.

It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row.

There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks.

All the doors and posts were made square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks.

He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them.

He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.

His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the same construction. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.

All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of the LORD’s house and the porch of the house.

The Pillars and Capitals

(2 Chronicles 3:14–17)

King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre.

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 work all works in bronze. He came to King Solomon and performed all his work.

For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them.

He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

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.

So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and he did so for the other capital.

The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.

There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital.

He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz.

On the tops of the pillars was lily work. So the work of the pillars was finished.

The Molten Sea

(2 Chronicles 4:1–5)

He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

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.

It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

The Ten Bronze Stands

He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.

The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

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.

Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each.

Its opening within the capital and above was a cubit. Its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not round.

The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal.

There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself.

In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same.

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.

He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

The Ten Bronze Basins

(2 Chronicles 4:6–8)

He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths.(b) Every basin measured four cubits. One basin was on every one of the ten bases.

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.

Completion of the Bronze Works

(2 Chronicles 4:11–18)

Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for King Solomon in the LORD’s house:

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;

the four hundred 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;

the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases;

the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea;

the pots; the shovels; and the basins. All of these vessels, which Hiram made for King Solomon in the LORD’s house, were of burnished bronze.

The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 4:19–22)

Solomon made all the vessels that were in the LORD’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold;

and the lamp stands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

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.

Thus all the work that King Solomon did in the LORD’s house 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 LORD’s house.

Footnotes

(a)7:2 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

(b)7:38 1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters, so 40 baths was about 224 gallons or 840 liters.