Solomon's Palace Is Built
7 Solomon's palace took 13 years to build.
2-3 Forest 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. 4 Three rows of windows on each side faced each other, 5 and there were three doors on each side near the front of the hall.
6 Pillar 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.
7 Solomon's throne was in Justice Hall, where he judged cases. This hall was completely lined with cedar.
8 (A) 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.
9 From the foundation all the way to the top, these buildings and the courtyard were made out of the best stones[a] carefully cut to size, then smoothed on every side with saws. 10 The foundation stones were huge, good stones—some of them four and a half meters long and others three and a half meters long. 11 The cedar beams and other stones that had been cut to size were on top of these foundation stones. 12 The 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)
13-14 Hiram was a skilled bronze worker from the city of Tyre.[b] 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.
15 Hiram made two bronze columns eight meters tall and almost two meters across. 16 For the top of each column, he also made a bronze cap just over two meters high. 17 The caps were decorated with seven rows of designs that looked like chains,[c] 18 with two rows of designs that looked like pomegranates.[d]
19 The caps for the columns of the porch were almost two meters high and were shaped like lilies.[e]
20 The 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. 21 Hiram placed the two columns on each side of the main door of the temple. The column on the south side was called Jachin,[f] and the one on the north was called Boaz.[g]
22 The lily-shaped caps were on top of the columns.
This completed the work on the columns.
23 Hiram 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. 24 Two rows of bronze gourds were around the outer edge of the bowl, ten gourds to every 45 centimeters. 25 The bowl itself sat on top of twelve bronze bulls with three bulls facing outward in each of four directions. 26 The 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.
27 Hiram made ten movable bronze stands, each one over a meter high, almost two meters long, and almost two meters wide. 28-29 The 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. 30-31 Each 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, 32 and the wheels and axles were underneath them. The wheels were about 68 centimeters high 33 and looked like chariot wheels. The axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were made out of bronze.
34-35 Around the top of each stand was a 22-centimeter strip, and there were four braces[h] attached to the corners of each stand. The panels and the supports were attached to the stands, 36 and the stands were decorated with flower designs and figures of lions, palm trees, and winged creatures. 37 Hiram made the ten bronze stands from the same mold, so they were exactly the same size and shape.
38 (B) Hiram also made ten small bronze bowls, one for each stand. The bowls were almost two meters across and could hold about 800 liters.
39 He 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.
40 Hiram 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: 41 two columns; two bowl-shaped caps for the tops of the columns; two chain designs on the caps; 42 400 pomegranates[i] for the chain designs; 43 ten movable stands; ten small bowls for the stands; 44 a large bowl; twelve bulls that held up the bowl; 45 pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls.
Hiram made these bronze things for Solomon 46 near the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan by pouring melted bronze into clay molds.
47 There were so many bronze things that Solomon never bothered to weigh them, and no one ever knew how much bronze was used.
48 (C) Solomon gave orders to make the following temple furnishings out of gold: the altar; the table that held the sacred loaves of bread;[j] 49 (D) ten lampstands that went in front of the most holy place; flower designs; lamps and tongs; 50 cups, 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 (E) 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.
Footnotes
- 7.9 From … best stones: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 7.13,14 Hiram … city of Tyre: This is not the same person as “King Hiram of Tyre” (see 5.1).
- 7.17 seven rows … chains: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 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.
- 7.19 lilies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 19.
- 7.21 Jachin: Or “He makes secure.”
- 7.21 Boaz: Or “He is strong.”
- 7.34,35 braces: Or “handles.”
- 7.42 pomegranates: A pomegranate is a bright red fruit that looks like an apple. In ancient times, it was a symbol of life.
- 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).