2 Chronicles 4
The Voice
4 The temple altar was bronze and incredibly large—30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.
2-5 A large basin, called “the sea,” was cast—15 feet in diameter, 90 inches deep, 45 feet in circumference, and 3 inches thick. The brim was shaped like a lily blossom or like the lip of a cup with figures[a] cast in two rows all around it, 10 figures every 18 inches, and held 18,000 gallons.[b] The basin was supported by a rectangular stand made of 15-foot-tall statues resembling oxen. The 12 oxen were in two rows, three facing each direction with their hind ends at the center of the stand, all cast in one piece. 6 The priests used the sea to cleanse themselves, but offerings were washed in other basins. Ten smaller basins flanked the sea, five on the right and five on the left, and the burnt offerings were cleansed in those before they were sacrificed. 10 The sea stood on the right side of the house, facing southeast.[c]
7 Ten golden lampstands were cast according to God’s requirements, and they were in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. 8 Next to the lampstands were ten tables, five on the right and five on the left, and the temple was stocked with 100 golden bowls. 9 Then the court of the priests, the great court, and its bronzed doors were built.
11 Huram, who was sent by the king of Tyre to help Solomon, made the pails, shovels, and bowls. When he finished his duties for the construction of the temple, he had made 12 the two columns, their capitals, the globes of the capitals, and the two networks of decorative chains covering the two globes of the capitals. 13 On the chains were 400 pomegranates—two rows of pomegranates on each network that covered the globes of the capitals on the pillars. 14-15 He had also made the sea with the twelve oxen underneath, the basins, and their stands. 16 Huram-abi used polished bronze for the pails, shovels, forks, and all other utensils commissioned by King Solomon and used in the Eternal’s house. 17-18 Great quantities were cast in the clay molds on the banks of the Jordan River between the cities of Succoth and Zeredah with an immeasurable amount of bronze.
The magnificence of the temple is reflected in the amount of gold Solomon used.
19 He made everything inside the house of the True God, including the golden altar; the tables (which displayed the unleavened bread); 20 the golden lampstands (which burned in front of the most holy place as required); 21 the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs (all of pure gold); 22 the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons, and the fire pans (all of solid gold); and the entrance to the house, the inner doors accessing the most holy place, and the doors of the main room (all of gold).
Footnotes
- 4:2-5 Literally, gourds, possibly oxen
- 4:2–5 1 Kings 7:26 “12,000 gallons”
- 4:10 Verse 10 was moved forward to help retain the continuity of the description.
历代志下 4
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
造铜坛铸铜海
4 他又制造一座铜坛，长二十肘，宽二十肘，高十肘。 2 又铸一个铜海，样式是圆的，高五肘，径十肘，围三十肘。 3 海周围有野瓜[a]的样式，每肘十瓜，共有两行，是铸海的时候铸上的。 4 有十二只铜牛驮海，三只向北，三只向西，三只向南，三只向东。海在牛上，牛尾向内。 5 海厚一掌，边如杯边，又如百合花，可容三千罢特。
造洗濯盆
6 又制造十个盆，五个放在右边，五个放在左边。献燔祭所用之物都洗在其内，但海是为祭司沐浴的。
造金灯台造桌
7 他又照所定的样式造十个金灯台，放在殿里，五个在右边，五个在左边。 8 又造十张桌子，放在殿里，五张在右边，五张在左边。又造一百个金碗。
建院及院门
9 又建立祭司院和大院并院门，用铜包裹门扇。 10 将海安在殿门的右边，就是南边。
造圣殿诸器
11 户兰又造了盆、铲、碗。这样，他为所罗门王做完了神殿的工， 12 所造的就是两根柱子和柱上两个如球的顶，并两个盖柱顶的网子， 13 和四百石榴，安在两个网子上，每网两行，盖着两个柱上如球的顶。 14 盆座和其上的盆， 15 海和海下的十二只牛， 16 盆、铲子、肉叉子，与耶和华殿里的一切器皿。都是巧匠户兰用光亮的铜为所罗门王造成的， 17 是在约旦平原疏割和撒利但中间，借胶泥铸成的。 18 所罗门制造的这一切甚多，铜的轻重无法可查。
19 所罗门又造神殿里的金坛和陈设饼的桌子， 20 并精金的灯台和灯盏，可以照例点在内殿前。 21 灯台上的花和灯盏并蜡剪都是金的，且是纯金的。 22 又用精金制造镊子、盘子、调羹、火鼎。至于殿门和至圣所的门扇并殿的门扇，都是金子装饰的。
Footnotes
- 历代志下 4:3 “野瓜”原文作“牛”。
2 Chronicles 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Solomon's workers make things for the temple
4 Solomon's workers made a bronze altar. It was 9 metres long, 9 metres wide and 4 metres high. 2 They used bronze to make a big bath which they called ‘the Sea’. It was in the shape of a circle 4½ metres across. It was 2½ metres deep. It was 14 metres around the outside.[a] 3 All around its edge, below the top, there were two rows of images of things that looked like bulls. They were all part of the same piece of bronze as the big bath. There were 20 bulls for every metre around the edge.
4 They put the bronze ‘Sea’ on top of 12 bronze bulls. Three pointed north, three pointed west, three pointed south and three pointed east. Their backs were towards the middle of the ‘Sea’. 5 The bronze walls of the ‘Sea’ were 7½ centimetres thick. Its top edge was like a cup in the shape of a lily flower. The ‘Sea’ contained about 65,000 litres of water.
6 They made ten bowls to wash in. They put five bowls on the south side and five bowls on the north side. The priests used them to wash all the things that they used for the burnt offerings. But the priests washed themselves in the water from the bronze ‘Sea’.
7 They used gold to make ten lampstands. They made them in the way that Solomon told them. They put the lampstands in the temple, five lampstands on the south side and five lampstands on the north side.[b]
8 They also made ten tables. They put them in the temple, five tables on the south side and five tables on the north side. They also used gold to make 100 bowls.
9 They made a small yard for the priests and another big yard with doors. They covered the doors with bronze. 10 They put the bronze ‘Sea’ on the south side of the temple, at its south-east corner.
11 Huram-Abi also made more pots, small tools and bowls. So he finished all the work in God's temple that King Solomon had asked him to do. He made these things:
12 two pillars;
two pieces for the top of each pillar, with the shape of big bowls;
rows of chains on the tops of the pillars;
13 400 images of pomegranates for the two groups of chains (there were two rows of these images around the piece at the top of each pillar, which had the shape of a bowl);
14 the carts with the buckets that were on them;
15 the big bronze bath called ‘the Sea’ and the 12 bulls under it;
16 the pots, small tools and forks for meat.
King Solomon asked Huram-Abi to make all these things for the Lord's temple. He used bright bronze to make all these things. 17 The king told his workers to pour the hot bronze into shapes in the ground. They did that at a special place in the region of the Jordan Valley, between Succoth and Zarethan. 18 Solomon did not weigh any of these things, because there were so many of them. No one ever knew the weight of the bronze.
Inside the temple
19 Solomon's workers also made all these things for God's temple:
the gold altar;
the tables which had the special bread on them;
20 the pure gold lampstands with their lamps (the plans showed how the lamps had to burn at the entrance of the Most Holy Place);
21 the gold images of flowers;
the lamps;
the small tools that held things for the altar;
22 the small tools of pure gold that they used for the lamps;
the bowls for water;
the dishes for ashes;
the baskets that carried hot coals;
the gold pieces that held the doors of the Most Holy Place;
the gold pieces that held the doors of the temple's big hall.
Footnotes
- 4:2 ‘The Sea’ was full of water. The priests used this to wash themselves when they went into the temple.
- 4:7 See 1 Chronicles 28:14-15.
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