Chapter 7

Solomon’s Palace.^{[a] 1} Now Solomon took thirteen years to completely finish building his own palace. ² He built the palace out of Lebanon wood. It was one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. It was built upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams stretching out upon the pillars. ³ It was roofed with cedar that lay over the beams that rested on the pillars. There were forty-five beams, fifteen in a row. ⁴ Its windows were set high in the wall in sets of three, each set facing the other. ⁵ All of the doorways and windows had rectangular frames, with the windows facing each other in sets of three.

⁶ He made a hall of pillars. It was fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front of it with other pillars and covered over by a canopy.

⁷ There was a throne room, the hall of justice, where he would sit in judgment. He covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. ⁸ The palace in which he lived had another court inside the hall which had the same design. Solomon also built another palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter whom he wed.

⁹ All of these, from the outside to the great courtyard, and from the foundations to the eaves, were built with costly stone that had been trimmed with saws on the inside and outside edges. ¹⁰ The foundations were laid with costly stones that were quite large, some being ten cubits and some eight cubits. ¹¹ Above these were costly stone, cut to measure, and cedar beams.

¹² The great courtyard was surrounded by three layers of cut stone and one layer of cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord and its porch.

^13 [b]King Solomon brought back Hiram from Tyre. ¹⁴ His mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a craftsman from Tyre who worked in bronze. He was wise and knowledgeable and a skilled craftsman with all varieties of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all of his work.

¹⁵ He cast two bronze pillars, each of them measured eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.^{[c] 16} He also cast two bronze capitals to be set on the top of the pillars. Each of the capitals was five cubits high. ¹⁷ A network of chains decorated the capitals on top of the pillars, seven on each of the capitals. ¹⁸ He made two rows of pomegranates which covered the network upon the capitals on top of the pillars. He did this on each of the capitals. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars that were in the porch were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. ²⁰ Upon each of the capitals of the two pillars, on the outwardly curved surface between the network, there were two rows of pomegranates, two hundred in all. ²¹ He erected the pillars in the porch of the temple. He erected the pillar on the right and called it Jachin, and he erected the pillar on the left and called it Boaz. ²² On the top of the pillars there was lily work. Thus, the work on the pillars was completed.

²³ Then he made a molten sea, ten cubits from one edge to the other. It was five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference. ²⁴ Under the brim of its circumference there were gourds, ten to a cubit. There were two rows of gourds all around the sea, the gourds having been cast when the rest of it was cast. ²⁵ It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea rested upon them, and their hindquarters were on the inside. ²⁶ It was a handsbreath thick, and its brim was like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He also made ten bronze carts. Each cart was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²⁸ This is how the carts were made. They had panels, and the panels were set in frames. ²⁹ There were lions, oxen, and cherubim on the panels between the frames. On the top of the frames was a stand. Below the lions and the oxen there were embossed wreaths.

³⁰ Each cart had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. There were supports for a basin at the four corners. The supports were cast with wreaths on either side. ³¹ The opening at the top of the cart was one cubit, and the opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, and it was one and a half cubits deep. There were carvings around the opening. The panels of the cart were square and not round.

³² The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles for the wheels were attached to the cart. Each wheel was one and a half cubits high. ³³ The wheels were made like chariot wheels, with axles, rims, spokes, and hubs, all of which were made from cast metal.

³⁴ Each cart had four handles, one on each corner, the handles being one piece with the cart. ³⁵ There was a circular band a half a cubit high at the top of the cart. The supports and the panels were attached to the top of the cart. ³⁶ He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surface of the supports and the panels wherever he could, with wreaths all around them.

³⁷ This is how he made the ten carts. They were all cast from one mold, so they were the same size and shape. ³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins. Each basin held forty baths and was four cubits across. There was one basin for each of the ten carts.

³⁹ He placed five of the stands at the right side of the temple, and five of the stands on the left side of the temple. He placed the sea on the right side of the temple, toward the southeast.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made basins, and shovels, and bowls. Thus Hiram completed all of the work that he was doing for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the top of the two pillars, the two networks that covered the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the two pillars, ⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each of the networks that covered the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars,^{[d] 43} the ten carts, and the ten basins upon the carts, ⁴⁴ one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea, ⁴⁵ the pots, the shovels, and the basins.

All of the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were made from bright bronze. ⁴⁶ The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground that lie between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon did not weigh any of these utensils because there were too many of them; the weight of the bronze used in them was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all of the furnishings that were in the temple of the Lord: the golden altar; the golden table upon which they laid the shewbread; ⁴⁹ the lampstands made of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left side; the flower work, the lamps, and the tongs, all made of gold; ⁵⁰ the bowls, the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, the spoons, and the censors, all made from pure gold; and the golden hinges for the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the main part of the temple.

⁵¹ When King Solomon had completed all of the work on the temple of the Lord, Solomon brought in the things that David, his father, had dedicated: the silver, the gold, and the furnishings. He placed them in the treasury of the temple of the Lord.