2 Chronicles 4
International Children’s Bible
Things for the Temple
4 Solomon made a bronze altar. It was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide and 15 feet tall. 2 Then Solomon used melted bronze to make a large bowl, which was called the Sea. It was round and measured 15 feet across from edge to edge. It was over 7 feet tall, and it measured 45 feet around. 3 There were carvings of bulls under the rim of the bowl. There were 10 bulls in every 1½ feet. They were put in two rows around the bowl when it was made.
4 The bowl rested on 12 statues of bulls. Three bulls faced north, 3 faced west, 3 faced south and 3 faced east. The bowl was on top of them. They faced outward from the center of the bowl. 5 The bowl was 3 inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup. It looked like a lily blossom. It could hold about 17,500 gallons.
6 Solomon made 10 smaller bowls. He put 5 of them on the south side. And he put 5 of them on the north. They were to be used to wash the animals for the burnt offerings. But the large bowl was to be used by the priests for washing.
7 Solomon made 10 lampstands of gold, following the plans for them. He put them in the Temple. He put 5 on the south side and 5 on the north.
8 Solomon made 10 tables and put them in the Temple. He put 5 on the south side and 5 on the north. And he used gold to make 100 other bowls.
9 Solomon also made the priests’ courtyard and the large courtyard. He made the doors that opened to the courtyard and covered them with bronze. 10 Then he put the large bowl on the south side. He put it in the Temple’s southeast corner.
11 He made the pots, shovels and bowls. So Huram finished his work for King Solomon on the Temple of God. He had made these things:
12 two pillars;
two large bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars;
two nets to cover the two large bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars;
13 400 pomegranates for the two nets (there were two rows of pomegranates for each net covering the bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars);
14 the stands with a bowl on each stand;
15 the large bowl with 12 bulls under it;
16 the pots, shovels, forks and all the things to go with them.
All the things Huram-Abi made King Solomon for the Temple of the Lord were made of polished bronze. 17 King Solomon first had these things poured into clay molds. The molds were made in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 18 Solomon had so many things made no one even tried to weigh all the bronze used.
19 Solomon also made all the things for God’s Temple. He made the gold altar. He made tables to hold the bread that shows we are in God’s presence. 20 He made the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold. They were to burn in front of the Most Holy Place as planned. 21 Solomon used pure gold to make the flowers, lamps and tongs. 22 He used pure gold to make the wick trimmers. He used pure gold for the bowls, pans and dishes used to carry coals. He used pure gold to make the doors for the Temple. And he used pure gold for the inside doors for the Most Holy Place and the doors for the main room.
2 Chronicles 4
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Temple Furnishings
4 He made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high.
2 He also made the sea of cast metal. It was round and fifteen feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high and forty-five feet in circumference. 3 Under the rim, figurines of cattle[a] completely encircled it, one every two inches, all the way around the sea. These cattle were in two rows, cast as one piece with the sea. 4 The sea stood on twelve cattle, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center. 5 The sea was three inches[b] thick. Its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held eighteen thousand gallons.[c]
6 He also made ten basins for washing and put five on the south side and five on the north. The pieces of the burnt offering were washed in the basins, but the priests washed in the sea.
7 He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications that had been given for them, and he set them in the outer room of the temple building, five on the south side and five on the north.
8 He made ten tables and placed them in the outer room of the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made one hundred gold sprinkling bowls.
9 He also made the courtyard of the priests and the great enclosure,[d] and he made doors for the enclosure and overlaid them with bronze. 10 He set the sea on the south side of the temple building near its southeast corner.
11 Huram[e] also made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls.
So Huram finished the work that he carried out for King Solomon for God’s house: 12 the two pillars, the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, 13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks (two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the two globe-shaped capitals that were on the pillars). 14 He also made the carts, and he made the basins on the carts, 15 one sea, and the twelve cattle under it. 16 Huram Abi also made the pots, the shovels, the meat hooks,[f] and all the vessels of burnished bronze for King Solomon, for the House of the Lord.
17 The king cast them in clay molds, in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredatha.[g] 18 Solomon made all these vessels in such great quantity that the weight of the bronze was not determined.
19 Solomon made all the furnishings that were in God’s house: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was arranged, 20 and the lampstands with their lamps, which were to burn in front of the inner sanctuary according to the regulations. He made them of pure gold.[h] 21 He also made the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of the purest gold,[i] 22 and the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, the small dishes, and the fire pans[j] of pure gold. For the entrances into the sanctuary, he made the gold inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the gold doors for the front room of the sanctuary.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 4:3 The parallel text in 1 Kings 7:24 reads gourds rather than cattle.
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 Literally a handbreadth
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 Literally three thousand baths. In 1 Kings 7:26, it reads two thousand baths. Perhaps the two passages were using different standards for the bath or rounding off.
- 2 Chronicles 4:9 Not the usual Hebrew word for courtyard, but a special word ‘azarah
- 2 Chronicles 4:11 He is called Hiram in 1 Kings.
- 2 Chronicles 4:16 Or forks
- 2 Chronicles 4:17 Also called Zarethan in 1 Kings 7:46
- 2 Chronicles 4:20 Literally closed gold, also in verse 22. Most translations translate this as pure gold or solid gold, but perhaps it means gold plate in some contexts. The precise distinctions between the various terms for pure gold or solid gold are uncertain.
- 2 Chronicles 4:21 Literally perfection of gold
- 2 Chronicles 4:22 The precise identification of some of these vessels and utensils is uncertain.
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The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.