Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
1 Kings 7
Solomon took thirteen years to build his own house, and he completed all his house. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon: its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. It stood on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. It was roofed with cedar above the side chambers that were upon the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen in each row. There were three rows of windows, with window facing window three times over. All the doorways and doorposts were square in shape, and window faced window three times over. He made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits. A porch was before them, with pillars and a canopy before them. He made the Hall of the Throne, where he would give judgment—the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from floor to floor. His house, where he was to live, was in the other court, behind the hall, and was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken. All these were of costly stones, cut to measure, sawed with saws inside and out, from foundation to coping, and from outside to the great court. The foundations were of costly, large stones—stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. Above were costly stones, cut to measure, and cedar. The great court surrounding them had three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams, as did the inner court of the house of the LORD and the porch of the house.
King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him from Tyre. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. He was filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
He cast the two bronze pillars. Each pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a cord of twelve cubits measured around each pillar. He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. There were latticeworks, netted work, and chains, braided work, for the capitals on the tops of the pillars: seven for one capital and seven for the other capital. He made the pillars, with two rows all around on the one latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; and he did the same for the other capital. The capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the porch were lily work, four cubits high. The capitals on the two pillars also had two hundred pomegranates in rows all around, above and opposite the rounded projection beside the latticework, on the other capital. He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right-hand pillar and named it Jachin. He set up the left-hand pillar and named it Boaz. Lily work was on the tops of the pillars. So the work of the pillars was finished.
He made the Sea, cast in metal, ten cubits from rim to rim, circular all around. It was five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured around it. Below its rim, gourds encircled it all around, ten to a cubit. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. It stood on twelve oxen: three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea was above them, and all their hindquarters faced inward. Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.
He made ten bronze stands. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. This was the construction of the stands: they had panels, and the panels were set between frames. On the panels between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above the frames was a pedestal, and beneath the lions and oxen were descending wreaths. Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. Its four feet had supports; beneath the basin the supports were cast, with wreaths beside each person. Its opening was within a crown that rose one cubit above it. Its opening was round, like the work of a stand, a cubit and a half wide. There were carvings also on its opening, but its panels were square, not round. The four wheels were beneath the panels, and the wheel-axles were attached to the stand. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. The construction of the wheels was like the construction of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast. There were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were part of the stand itself. At the top of the stand was a circular band, half a cubit high. The handles and panels at the top of the stand were part of it. He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the panels of its handles and on its panels, wherever there was space for each, with wreaths all around. In this way he made the ten stands. All were cast alike, of one measure and one form. He made ten bronze basins. Each basin held forty baths and was four cubits across. There was one basin on each of the ten stands. He placed five stands on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house. He placed the Sea on the right side of the house, toward the east, opposite the south.
Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram completed all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on the tops of the pillars; the two latticeworks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals on the tops of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks—two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, covering the two bowl-shaped capitals on the fronts of the pillars; the ten stands and the ten basins upon the stands; the one Sea and the twelve oxen beneath the Sea; the pots, shovels, bowls, and all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD, of burnished bronze. The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in clay molds between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because they were exceedingly many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the gold altar; the gold table on which was the bread of the Presence; the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold; the basins, wick trimmers, bowls, ladles, and firepans of pure gold; and the sockets for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, the temple—of gold. Thus all the work that King Solomon did for the house of the LORD was completed. Solomon brought in the holy gifts of David his father—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.