圣殿的器具

所罗门造了一座铜坛,长九米,宽九米,高四点五米。 他又铸了一个圆形铜海,高二点二五米,直径四点五米,周长十三点五米。 铜海边缘下方有两圈牛的图案,每五十厘米有十头牛,是铸铜海的时候铸上的。 有十二头铜牛驮着铜海,三头向北,三头向西,三头向南,三头向东,牛尾向内。 铜海厚八厘米,边如杯边,又如百合花,容量为六万六千升。 他又造了十个盆,五个放右边,五个放左边,用来清洗献燔祭所用之物。但铜海只供祭司沐浴使用。

他照着所定的式样,造了十个金灯台放在殿里,五个在右边,五个在左边; 又造了十张桌子放在殿里,五个在右边,五个在左边;还造了一百个金碗。 他又建了祭司院、大院及大院的门,门都包上铜。 10 铜海放在殿的右边,就是东南方。

11 户兰又造了盆、铲和碗。他为所罗门王完成了上帝殿里的工作。 12 户兰所制造的有:两根柱子,两个碗状的柱冠,两个装饰柱冠的网子, 13 用来装饰碗状柱冠、安在两个网子上的四百石榴——每个网子上两行; 14 盆座及盆座上的盆; 15 铜海和铜海下面的十二头铜牛; 16 盆、铲、肉叉及耶和华殿里的一切器具。这些都是巧匠户兰用磨亮的铜为所罗门王制造的。 17 这些都是照王的命令,在疏割和撒利但之间的约旦平原用泥模铸成的。 18 所罗门制造的器具极多,铜的重量无法统计。

19 所罗门又造了上帝殿里的金坛和放置供饼的桌子, 20 按规定放在内殿前的纯金的灯台和灯盏, 21 以及纯金的花饰、灯盏、火钳、 22 蜡剪、碗、碟和火鼎。殿门和至圣所的门也是金的。

Solomon’s temple equipment

He[a] also made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high. Then he made a tank of cast metal called the Sea. It was circular in shape, fifteen feet from rim to rim, seven and a half feet high, and forty-five feet in circumference. Under the rim were two rows of oxlike figures completely encircling it, ten every eighteen inches, each cast in its mold. The Sea rested on twelve oxen with their backs toward the center, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea was as thick as the width of a hand. Its rim was shaped like a cup or an open lily blossom. It could hold three thousand baths.[b] He also made ten washbasins and put five on the south and five on the north. The items used for the entirely burned offerings were rinsed in these. The priests washed in the Sea. He made ten gold lampstands as prescribed and put them in the sanctuary, five on the south and five on the north. He also made ten tables and put them in the sanctuary, five on the south and five on the north, as well as a hundred gold bowls. He made the courtyard of the priests and the great courtyard, with doors covered with bronze for the courtyard. 10 He placed the Sea at the southeast corner.

11 Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. So Huram finished all his work on God’s temple for King Solomon:

12 two columns;

two circular capitals on top of the columns;

two networks adorning the two circular capitals on top of the columns;

13 four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, with two rows of pomegranates for each network that adorned the two circular capitals on top of the columns;

14 ten[c] stands with ten[d] basins on them;

15 one Sea;

twelve oxen beneath the Sea;

16 and the pots, the shovels, and the meat forks.

All the things that Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the Lord’s temple were made of polished bronze. 17 The king cast them in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan.[e] 18 Due to the very large number of objects, Solomon didn’t even try to weigh the bronze. 19 Solomon also made all the equipment for God’s temple: the gold altar; the tables for the bread of the presence; 20 the lampstands with their lamps, all of pure gold, to burn before the inner sanctuary as prescribed; 21 the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of pure gold; 22 and the wick trimmers, bowls, ladles, and censers of pure gold. As for the temple entrance, the inner doors to the most holy place as well as the doors to the main hall were made of gold.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 4:1 Solomon or Huram; this ambiguity with the pronoun continues in the following verses, but compare 2 Chron 3:1, 3; 4:11. If Huram is meant, this is a worker whose name is spelled Hiram in 1 Kgs 7:13-14.
  2. 2 Chronicles 4:5 One bath is approximately twenty quarts or five gallons.
  3. 2 Chronicles 4:14 LXX and 1 Kgs 7:43; MT he made
  4. 2 Chronicles 4:14 1 Kgs 7:43; MT he made
  5. 2 Chronicles 4:17 With 1 Kgs 7:46; Heb Zeredah