1 Kings 7
Names of God Bible
The Palace Built in 13 Years
7 Solomon took 13 years to finish building his palace. 2 He built a hall named the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had four rows of cedar pillars supporting cedar beams. 3 The hall was covered with cedar above the side rooms, which were supported by 45 pillars (15 per row).[a] 4 The windows were in three rows facing each other on opposite sides of the palace. 5 All the doors and doorframes were square. There were three doors facing each other on opposite sides of the palace.
6 Solomon made the Hall of Pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. In front of the hall was an entrance hall with pillars.
7 He made the Hall of Justice, where he sat on his throne and served as judge. The hall was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.[b]
8 His own private quarters were in a different location than the Hall of Justice, but they were similar in design. Solomon also built private quarters like this for his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter.
9 From the foundation to the roof, all these buildings, including the large courtyard, were built with high-grade stone blocks. The stone blocks were cut to size and trimmed with saws on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundation was made with large, high-grade stones (some 12 feet long, others 15 feet long). 11 Above the foundation were cedar beams and high-grade stone blocks, which had been cut to size. 12 The large courtyard had three layers of cut stone blocks and a layer of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of Yahweh’s temple and the entrance hall.
The Temple Furnishings(A)
13 King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre. 14 Hiram was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father, a native of Tyre, was a skilled bronze craftsman. Hiram was highly skilled, resourceful, and knowledgeable about all kinds of bronze craftsmanship. He came to King Solomon and did all his bronze work.
15 He made two bronze pillars. Each was 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference. 16 He made two capitals of cast bronze to put on top of the pillars. Each capital was 7½ feet high. 17 He also made seven rows of filigree and chains for each capital. 18 After he made the pillars, he made two rows of decorations around the filigree to cover the capitals which were above the pillars.[c] He made the capitals identical to each other. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the entrance hall were lily-shaped. Each was six feet high. 20 Two hundred pomegranates in rows were directly above the bowl-shaped parts around the filigree on the capitals on both pillars.
21 Hiram set up the pillars in the temple’s entrance hall. He set up the pillar on the right and named it Jachin [He Establishes]. Then he set up the pillar on the left and named it Boaz [In Him Is Strength]. 22 There were lily-shaped capitals at the top of the pillars. He finished the work on the pillars.
23 Hiram made a pool from cast metal. It was 15 feet in diameter. It was round, 7½ feet high, and had a circumference of 45 feet. 24 Under the rim were two rows of gourds all around the 45-foot circumference of the pool. They were cast in metal when the pool was cast. 25 The pool was set on 12 metal bulls. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The pool was set on them, and their hindquarters were toward the center of the pool. 26 The pool was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, shaped like a lily’s bud. It held 12,000 gallons.
27 He made ten bronze stands. Each stand was 6 feet square and 4½ feet high. 28 The stands were made this way: They had side panels set in frames. 29 On the panels set in frames were lions, oxen, and angels.[d] These were also on the frames. Above and below the lions and the cattle were engraved designs. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels on bronze axles and four supports beneath the basin. The supports were made of cast metal with designs on the sides. 31 Each had a 1½-foot-deep opening in the center to the circular frame on top. The opening was round, formed like a pedestal, and was two feet wide. Around the opening there were engravings. But the panels were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles were attached to the stand. Each wheel was two feet high. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels. The axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast metal. 34 The four supports at the four corners of each stand were part of the stand. 35 The top of each stand had a round, nine-inch-high band. Above the stand were supports which were part of the panels. 36 Hiram engraved angels, lions, palm trees, and designs in every available space on the supports and panels. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. All of them were cast in the same mold, identical in size and shape.
38 Hiram also made ten bronze basins. Each basin held 240 gallons. Every basin was six feet wide. There was one basin on each of the ten stands. 39 He put five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north side of the temple. He set the pool on the south side of the temple in the southeast corner. 40 Hiram also made pots, shovels, and bowls.
So Hiram finished all the work for King Solomon on Yahweh’s temple: 41 2 pillars, the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the 2 pillars, and 2 sets of filigree to cover the 2 bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, 42 400 pomegranates for the 2 sets of filigree (2 rows of pomegranates for each filigree to cover the 2 bowl-shaped capitals on the pillars), 43 10 stands and 10 basins on the stands, 44 1 pool, 12 bulls under the pool, 45 pots, shovels, and bowls. Hiram made all these utensils out of polished bronze for Yahweh’s temple at King Solomon’s request. 46 The king cast them in foundries in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all the products unweighed because so much bronze was used. No one tried to determine how much the bronze weighed.
48 Solomon made all the furnishings for Yahweh’s temple: the gold altar, the gold table on which the bread of the presence was placed, 49 lamp stands of pure gold (five on the south side and five on the north in front of the inner room), flowers, lamps, gold tongs, 50 dishes, snuffers, bowls, saucers, incense burners of pure gold, the gold sockets for the doors of the inner room (the most holy place), and the doors of the temple.
51 All the work King Solomon did on Yahweh’s temple was finished. He brought the holy things that had belonged to his father David—the silver, gold, and utensils—and put them in the storerooms of Yahweh’s temple.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 7:3 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
- 1 Kings 7:7 Latin, Syriac; Masoretic Text “floor to floor.”
- 1 Kings 7:18 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Greek, Syriac; other Hebrew manuscripts “pomegranates.”
- 1 Kings 7:29 Or “cherubim.”
1 Kings 7
Lexham English Bible
Solomon Continues to Build
7 Solomon built his house over thirteen years, and he finished all of his house.
2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; one hundred cubits its length, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams atop the pillars. 3 It was covered with cedar above, and the supporting beams which were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen to the row. 4 There were three rows of specially designed windows; with window to window three times. 5 All of the doorways and the doorframes had four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times.
6 The hall of pillars he made fifty cubits in its length and thirty cubits in its width, and a porch was in front of them,[a] with pillars and an overhang in front of them.[b] 7 He made the hall of the throne where he would pronounce judgment, the hall of justice, and it was covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.[c] 8 His house where he would live in the next courtyard on the inside of the porch was like this work, and he would make a house like this porch for the daughter of Pharaoh whom Solomon had taken as wife. 9 All of these were of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw on all sides;[d] from the foundation up to the eaves and from the outside up to the great courtyard. 10 The foundation was of precious stones, and large stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits 11 with precious stones above, just the right size,[e] and cedar. 12 The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for both the courtyard of the inner house[f] of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.
13 King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work. 15 He cast the two pillars out of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of the first, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle the second pillar. 16 He made two capitals to place on the tops of the pillars out of molten bronze; the first capital was five cubits in height, and the second capital was five cubits in height. 17 A network of latticework and wreaths of chainwork with small chains were for the capitals which were on top of the pillars; seven for the first capital and seven for the second capital. 18 He also made the pillars with two rows around on the lattice, each to cover the capitals which were on top, out of the pomegranate-shaped ornaments, and thus he did for the second capital as well. 19 And on the capitals which were on top of the pillars in the porch were works of lilies four cubits high. 20 And capitals were on the two pillars above near the bulging section which was beside the lattice, and two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments were in rows all around on the second capital. 21 He set up the pillars for the porch of the main hall; he erected the pillar on the right and called its name Jakin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. 22 On the top of the pillars was a work of lilies; and so the work of the pillars was finished.
23 He also made the molten[g] sea, ten cubits in diameter,[h] and five cubits was its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around. 24 Gourds were under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, which were cast when he cast the metal. 25 The sea was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea was on top of them, with all of their hindquarters turned to the inside. 26 Its thickness was a handbreadth, but its rim was as the work on the brim of a cup, like the bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
27 He made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits in height. 28 Now this was the construction of the stands: there were frames for them and frames between the crossbars, 29 and on the frames which were between the crossbars were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the crossbars both above and beneath the lions and oxen were works of cascading wreaths. 30 There were four bronze wheels for each of the stands, with bronze axles; the four support pedestals for these were under the basin, and the supports were decorated on each side with wreaths. 31 Its opening from the inside of the capital and above was a cubit; its pedestal was a round work of a cubit and a half; moreover, on its opening were the carvings with four-sided frames, not circular. 32 Four of the wheels were underneath the frames, and the axles of the wheels were on the stands. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The construction of the wheel was like the construction of the wheel of the chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their naves were all cast. 34 The four supports were the four corners of each stand, with the stand supporting it. 35 On top of the stand was half a cubit deep, circular all around, and on the top of the stand were its supports and its frames. 36 He engraved on the plates, on its supports, and on its frame cherubim, lions and images of a palm tree, according to the space for each, with wreaths all around. 37 He made the ten stands like this in one cast, with the same measurement and shape for each of them.
38 He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths; each basin was four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea he set on the southeast side of the house.
40 Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work that he was to do[i] for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: 41 the two pillars and the bowls of the capitals which were atop the two pillars, and the two lattice works to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were atop the pillars; 42 and the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the two lattice works, the two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the surface of the pillars; 43 and the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; 44 and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; 45 and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh were polished bronze. 46 The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan with the casting mold set in the ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all of the vessels unweighed because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.
48 Solomon also made all of the vessels which were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the presence; 49 as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs all of gold. 50 The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans were made from beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the most holy place,[j] for the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold. 51 When all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, which he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 7:6 Literally “on their face”
- 1 Kings 7:6 Literally “on their face”
- 1 Kings 7:7 Hebrew “floor,” but other ancient versions have “rafters”
- 1 Kings 7:9 Literally “on the inside and on the outside”
- 1 Kings 7:11 Literally “according to the measurement of dressed stones”
- 1 Kings 7:12 Or “temple”
- 1 Kings 7:23 That is, cast from molten bronze
- 1 Kings 7:23 Literally “from its edge up to its edge, round all around”
- 1 Kings 7:40 Literally “that he did”
- 1 Kings 7:50 Literally “holy of the holiest”
1 Kings 7
King James Version
7 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
2 He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
3 And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.
4 And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.
5 And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.
6 And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.
7 Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.
8 And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.
9 All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.
10 And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
11 And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.
12 And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the Lord, and for the porch of the house.
13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
14 He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.
15 For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.
16 And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:
17 And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
18 And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.
19 And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.
20 And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
22 And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
23 And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
24 And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
27 And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
28 And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:
29 And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.
30 And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.
31 And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.
32 And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
33 And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.
34 And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.
35 And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
36 For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.
37 After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.
38 Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
39 And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.
40 And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the Lord:
41 The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;
42 And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars;
43 And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;
44 And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;
45 And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the Lord, were of bright brass.
46 In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.
47 And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.
48 And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,
49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,
50 And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.
51 So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the Lord. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software