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2 Chronicles 2-5
21st Century King James Version
2 Chronicles 2-5
21st Century King James Version
2 And Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
2 And Solomon counted out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and hree thousand and six hundred to oversee them.
3 And Solomon sent to Hiram, the king of Tyre, saying, “As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to uild him a house to dwell therein, even so deal with me.
4 Behold, I build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for he continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn easts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.
5 And the house which I build is great, for great is our God above all gods.
6 But who is able to build Him a house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I hould build Him a house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him?
7 Send me now therefore a man skillful to work in gold and in silver, and in brass and in iron, and in purple and crimson and lue, and who can expertly engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants have skill to cut timber in ebanon. And behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
9 even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.
10 And behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty housand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
11 Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon: “Because the Lord hath loved His people, He hath ade thee king over them.”
12 Hiram said moreover: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise on, endued with prudence and understanding, who might build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
13 “And now I have sent a skillful man, endued with understanding, Hiramabi
14 (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skillful to work in gold and in silver, in rass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to engrave any manner of ngraving and to figure out every design which shall be put to him, with thy skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord avid thy father.
15 Now therefore, the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his ervants;
16 and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee as rafts by sea to Joppa, and hou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.”
17 And Solomon numbered all the strangers who were in the land of Israel, according to the numbering wherewith David his father ad numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.
18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, nd three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people to work.
3 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his ather, in the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 And he began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
3 Now these are the measurements which Solomon instructed for the building of the house of God: The length by cubits, according o the ancient measure, was threescore cubits and the breadth twenty cubits.
4 And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, nd the height was a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
5 And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold and set thereon palm trees and chains.
6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
7 He overlaid also the house — the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof — with gold, and engraved herubims on the walls.
8 And he made the most holy house: the length thereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the readth thereof twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work and overlaid them with gold.
11 And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of he house, and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.
12 And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing was five cubits lso, joining to the wing of the other cherub.
13 The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces faced nward.
14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.
15 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them as five cubits.
16 And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made a hundred pomegranates, and put hem on the chains.
17 And he raised up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and called the name of that n the right hand Jachin [that is, He shall establish], and the name of that on the left Boaz [that is, In it is strength].
4 Moreover he made an altar of brass: twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits he height thereof.
2 Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line f thirty cubits did compass it round about.
3 And under it was the similitude of oxen, which compassed it round about, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two ows of oxen were cast when it was cast.
4 It stood upon twelve oxen: three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the outh, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
5 And the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and t received and held three thousand baths.
6 He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them. Such things as they offered or the burnt offering they washed in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
7 And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to their form and set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on he left.
8 He made also ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred asins of gold.
9 Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with rass.
10 And he set the sea on the right side of the east end toward the south.
11 And Hiram made the pots and the shovels and the basins. And Hiram finished the work that he was to do for King Solomon for he house of God,
12 to wit: the two pillars, and the globes and the capitals which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two wreaths to over the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars;
13 and four hundred pomegranates on the two wreaths, two rows of pomegranates on each wreath to cover the two globes of the apitals which were upon the pillars.
14 He made also bases, and lavers made he upon the bases;
15 one sea and twelve oxen under it.
16 The pots also, and the shovels and the fleshhooks and all their instruments, did Hiramabi make for King Solomon for the ouse of the Lord of bright brass.
17 In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.
18 Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, for the weight of the brass could not be found out.
19 And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also and the tables whereon the showbread as set;
20 moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn according to the manner before the oracle, of pure gold;
21 and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs made he of gold, and that of perfect gold;
22 and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the censers, of pure gold; and the entry of the house, the inner oors thereof for the Most Holy Place and the doors of the house of the temple were of gold.
5 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in all the things that David is father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments put he among the treasures of the house of God.
2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of srael, unto Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the City of David, which is Zion.
3 Therefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month.
4 And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.
5 And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the abernacle; these did the priests and the Levites bring up.
6 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and xen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the Most oly Place, even under the wings of the cherubims.
8 For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof bove.
9 And they drew out the staves of the ark so that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark in front of the oracle; but hey were not seen outside. And they are there unto this day.
10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tablets which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with he children of Israel when they came out of Egypt.
11 And it came to pass when the priests had come out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present were sanctified nd did not then wait by course),
12 also the Levites who were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being rrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and wenty priests sounding with trumpets—
13 it came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever,” that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord,
14 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.
2 Chronicles 2-5
New International Version
2 Chronicles 2-5
New International Version
Preparations for Building the Temple(A)
2 [a]Solomon gave orders to build a temple(B) for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.(C) 2 He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them.(D)
3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b](E) king of Tyre:
“Send me cedar logs(F) as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. 4 Now I am about to build a temple(G) for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense(H) before him, for setting out the consecrated bread(I) regularly, and for making burnt offerings(J) every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths,(K) at the New Moons(L) and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.
5 “The temple I am going to build will be great,(M) because our God is greater than all other gods.(N) 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?(O) Who then am I(P) to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
7 “Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers,(Q) whom my father David provided.
8 “Send me also cedar, juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours 9 to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent. 10 I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors[e] of barley, twenty thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.(R)”
11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:
“Because the Lord loves(S) his people, he has made you their king.”
12 And Hiram added:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!(T) He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.
13 “I am sending you Huram-Abi,(U) a man of great skill, 14 whose mother was from Dan(V) and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained(W) to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue(X) and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.
15 “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil(Y) and wine he promised, 16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.(Z) You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners(AA) residing in Israel, after the census(AB) his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. 18 He assigned(AC) 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.
Solomon Builds the Temple(AD)
3 Then Solomon began to build(AE) the temple of the Lord(AF) in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah[g](AG) the Jebusite, the place provided by David. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.(AH)
3 The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide[h](AI) (using the cubit of the old standard). 4 The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits[i] long across the width of the building and twenty[j] cubits high.
He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree(AJ) and chain designs. 6 He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim(AK) on the walls.
8 He built the Most Holy Place,(AL) its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents[k] of fine gold. 9 The gold nails(AM) weighed fifty shekels.[l] He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.
10 For the Most Holy Place he made a pair(AN) of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold. 11 The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits[m] long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim(AO) extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.[n]
14 He made the curtain(AP) of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim(AQ) worked into it.
15 For the front of the temple he made two pillars,(AR) which together were thirty-five cubits[o] long, each with a capital(AS) five cubits high. 16 He made interwoven chains[p](AT) and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates(AU) and attached them to the chains. 17 He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin[q] and the one to the north Boaz.[r]
The Temple’s Furnishings(AV)
4 He made a bronze altar(AW) twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.[s] 2 He made the Sea(AX) of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits[t] high. It took a line of thirty cubits[u] to measure around it. 3 Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit.[v] The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.
4 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east.(AY) The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 5 It was a handbreadth[w] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.[x]
6 He then made ten basins(AZ) for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them the things to be used for the burnt offerings(BA) were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.
7 He made ten gold lampstands(BB) according to the specifications(BC) for them and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.
8 He made ten tables(BD) and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold sprinkling bowls.(BE)
9 He made the courtyard(BF) of the priests, and the large court and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors with bronze. 10 He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.
11 And Huram also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished(BG) the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of God:
12 the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
13 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
14 the stands(BH) with their basins;
15 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;
16 the pots, shovels, meat forks and all related articles.
All the objects that Huram-Abi(BI) made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of polished bronze. 17 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth(BJ) and Zarethan.[y] 18 All these things that Solomon made amounted to so much that the weight of the bronze(BK) could not be calculated.
19 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in God’s temple:
the golden altar;
the tables(BL) on which was the bread of the Presence;
20 the lampstands(BM) of pure gold with their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;
21 the gold floral work and lamps and tongs (they were solid gold);
22 the pure gold wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes(BN) and censers;(BO) and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall.
5 When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished,(BP) he brought in the things his father David had dedicated(BQ)—the silver and gold and all the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple.
The Ark Brought to the Temple(BR)
2 Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark(BS) of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 3 And all the Israelites(BT) came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month.
4 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, 5 and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The Levitical priests(BU) carried them up; 6 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
7 The priests then brought the ark(BV) of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim(BW) spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. 9 These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 10 There was nothing in the ark except(BX) the two tablets(BY) that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
11 The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions.(BZ) 12 All the Levites who were musicians(CA)—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.(CB) 13 The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”(CC)
Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud,(CD) 14 and the priests could not perform(CE) their service because of the cloud,(CF) for the glory(CG) of the Lord filled the temple of God.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1 is numbered 1:18, and 2:2-18 is numbered 2:1-17.
- 2 Chronicles 2:3 Hebrew Huram, a variant of Hiram; also in verses 11 and 12
- 2 Chronicles 2:8 Probably a variant of almug
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, probably about 3,600 tons or about 3,200 metric tons of wheat
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, probably about 3,000 tons or about 2,700 metric tons of barley
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 That is, about 120,000 gallons or about 440,000 liters
- 2 Chronicles 3:1 Hebrew Ornan, a variant of Araunah
- 2 Chronicles 3:3 That is, about 90 feet long and 30 feet wide or about 27 meters long and 9 meters wide
- 2 Chronicles 3:4 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 8, 11 and 13
- 2 Chronicles 3:4 Some Septuagint and Syriac manuscripts; Hebrew and a hundred and twenty
- 2 Chronicles 3:8 That is, about 23 tons or about 21 metric tons
- 2 Chronicles 3:9 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams
- 2 Chronicles 3:11 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verse 15
- 2 Chronicles 3:13 Or facing inward
- 2 Chronicles 3:15 That is, about 53 feet or about 16 meters
- 2 Chronicles 3:16 Or possibly made chains in the inner sanctuary; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Jakin probably means he establishes.
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 Boaz probably means in him is strength.
- 2 Chronicles 4:1 That is, about 30 feet long and wide and 15 feet high or about 9 meters long and wide and 4.5 meters high
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 45 feet or about 14 meters
- 2 Chronicles 4:3 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 18,000 gallons or about 66,000 liters
- 2 Chronicles 4:17 Hebrew Zeredatha, a variant of Zarethan
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
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