7 Solomon was building his own house [a]thirteen years, and he finished all of it.
2 He built also the Forest of Lebanon House; its length was a hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
3 And it was covered with cedar above the side chambers that were upon the forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row.
4 There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers.
5 All the doorways and windows were square cut, and window was opposite window in three tiers.
6 He also made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front, and pillars and a cornice before them.
7 He made the porch for the throne where he was to judge, the Porch of Judgment; it was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.
8 His house where he was to dwell had another court behind the Porch of Judgment of similar work. Solomon also made a house like this porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
9 All were of costly stones hewn according to measure, sawed with saws back and front, even from foundation to coping, and from the outside to the great court.
10 The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones of eight and ten cubits.
11 And above were costly stones hewn according to measure, and cedar timbers.
12 Also the great encircling court had three courses of hewn stone and a course of cedar beams, like was around the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.
13 King Solomon brought Hiram from 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. He was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill to do any kind of work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and did all his [bronze] work.
15 He fashioned the two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference.
16 He made two capitals of molten bronze to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of each capital was five cubits.
17 Nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork for the capitals were on the tops of the pillars, seven for each capital.
18 So Hiram made the pillars. There were two rows of pomegranates encircling each network to cover the capitals that were upon the top.
19 The capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work [design], four cubits.
20 The capitals were upon the two pillars and also above the rounded projection beside the network. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows round about, and so with the other capital.
21 Hiram set up the pillars of the porch of the temple; he set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin [he will establish], and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz [in strength].
22 On the tops of the pillars was lily work [design]. So the work of the pillars was finished.
23 He made a round molten Sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, five cubits high and thirty cubits in circumference.(A)
24 Under its brim were gourds encircling the Sea, ten to a cubit; the gourds were in two rows, cast in one piece with it.
25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their rears pointed inward.
26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held 2,000 baths [Hebrew liquid measurement].
27 Hiram made ten bronze bases [for the lavers]; their length and breadth were four cubits, and the height three cubits.
28 This is the way the bases were made: they had panels between the ledges.
29 On the panels between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a pedestal above. Beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
30 And every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a laver. Beneath the laver the supports were cast, with wreaths at the side of each.
31 Its mouth within the capital projected upward a cubit, and its mouth was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. Also upon its mouth were carvings, and their borders were square, not round.
32 Under the borders were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were one piece with the base. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
33 The wheels were made like a chariot wheel: their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.
34 There were four supports to the four corners of each base; the supports were part of the base itself.
35 On the top of the base there was a circular elevation half a cubit high, and on the top of the base its stays and panels were of one piece with it.
36 And on the surface of its stays and its panels Hiram carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about.
37 Thus he made the ten bases. They all had one casting, one measure, and one form.
38 Then he made ten lavers of bronze; each laver held forty baths and measured four cubits, and there was one laver on each of the ten bases.
39 He put the bases five on the south side of the house and five on the north side; and he set the Sea at the southeast corner of the house.
40 Hiram made the lavers, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord:
41 The two pillars; and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the two pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls;
42 And the 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the pillars;
43 The ten bases and the ten lavers on the bases;
44 One Sea, and the twelve oxen under it;
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 In the Jordan plain the king cast them, in clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were so many; the weight of the bronze was not found out.
48 Solomon made all the other vessels of the Lord’s house: the [incense] altar of gold; the table of gold for the showbread;
49 The lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the Holy of Holies; with the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold;
50 The cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, firepans—of pure gold; and the hinges of gold for the doors of the innermost room, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the Holy Place.
51 So all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was completed. 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
- 1 Kings 7:1 Solomon built God’s house first, then his own. That his took much longer is no reflection on Solomon, for David had made every possible preparation for building the temple, greatly reducing the time needed to finish it (I Chron. 22:2-5). David even left for Solomon plans and patterns for the temple and loyal friends eager to help (I Kings 5:1; I Chron. 28:14-19).