Beginning

2 Solomon determined to build a temple for the ^[a]Name of the Lord and a royal capitol.

² And Solomon counted out 70,000 men to bear burdens, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hill country, and 3,600 overseers.

³ And Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house in which to dwell, even so deal with me.

⁴ Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God, dedicated to Him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before Him, for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.

⁵ The house which I am to build is great, for our God is greater than all gods.

⁶ But who is able to build Him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain Him? Who am I to build Him a house, except as a place to burn incense in worship before Him?

⁷ Now therefore, send a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue colors, who is a trained engraver, to work with the skilled men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

⁸ Send me also from Lebanon cedar, cypress, and algum timber, for I know your servants can skillfully cut timber in Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants,

⁹ To prepare for me timber in abundance, for the house I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

¹⁰ And I will give to your servants who cut timber 20,000 measures of crushed wheat and also of barley, and 20,000 baths of wine and also of oil.

¹¹ Then Hiram king of Tyre replied in writing sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.

¹² Hiram said also, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who made heaven and earth, Who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who should build a house for the Lord and a royal palace as his capitol.

¹³ Now I have sent a skilled man, endued with understanding, even Huram-abi, my trusted counselor,

¹⁴ The son of a woman of the daughters of ^[b]Dan; his father was a man of Tyre. He is a trained worker in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood; in purple, blue, and crimson colors, and in fine linen; and also to engrave any type of engraving and to carry out any design given him, with your skilled men and those of my lord, David your father.

¹⁵ Now therefore, the wheat, barley, oil, and wine of which my lord has spoken, let him send them to his servants,

¹⁶ And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, so you may take it up to Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Then Solomon took a census of all the aliens in the land of Israel, like the census of them which his father David had taken. They were found to be 153,600.

¹⁸ And he assigned 70,000 of them to be burden bearers, 80,000 to work in the mountain quarries, and 3,600 as overseers to direct the people’s work.

3 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.^(A)

² And Solomon began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

³ Now these are the measurements for the foundations which Solomon laid for the house of God. The length in cubits by the former measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

⁴ The porch or vestibule across the front of the house was the same length as the house’s breadth, twenty cubits, and the ^[c]height 120 cubits. He overlaid it inside with pure gold.

⁵ And the greater house (the Holy Place) he lined with cypress and overlaid it with fine gold and made palm trees and chains on it.

⁶ And he adorned the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

⁷ He lined the house (the Holy Place), its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.

⁸ He made the Most Holy Place, its length equaling the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; he overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold.

⁹ The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he lined the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰ And in the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of image work, and they were overlaid with gold.

¹¹ And the wings of the cherubim [combined] extended twenty cubits: one wing of one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and its other wing of five cubits touched the other cherub’s wing.

¹² And of the other cherub one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also five cubits, joined the wing of the first cherub.

¹³ The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits; the cherubim stood on their feet, their faces toward the Holy Place.

¹⁴ And he made the veil [between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place] of blue, purple, and crimson colors, and fine linen, and embroidered cherubim on it.

¹⁵ Before the house he made two pillars, 35 cubits high, with a capital on the top of each which was five cubits.

¹⁶ He made chains like a necklace and put them on the heads of the pillars, and he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the chains.

¹⁷ He erected the pillars before the temple, one on the right, the other on the left, and called the one on the right Jachin [he shall establish] and the one on the left Boaz [in it is strength].

4 Also Solomon made an altar of bronze, its top twenty by twenty cubits and its height ten cubits.

² Also he made a round Sea of molten metal, ten cubits from brim to brim and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured around it.

³ Under it were figures of oxen encircling it, ten to a cubit. The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece with it.

⁴ It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking north, three west, three south, three east; and the Sea rested upon them, and all their hind parts were inward.

⁵ Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held 3,000 baths (measures).

⁶ He made also ten lavers in which to wash and put five on the right (south) side and five on the left (north). Such things as they offered for the burnt offering they washed in them, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷ And he made ten golden lampstands as directed and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.

⁸ He made also ten tables and placed them in the temple, five each on the right and left sides, and 100 basins of gold.

⁹ Moreover, he made the priests’ court, and the great court and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

¹⁰ And he set the Sea at the southeast corner of the house.

¹¹ And Huram made the pots, shovels, and basins. So Huram finished the work of God’s house that he did for King Solomon:

¹² The two pillars; the bowls; the capitals on top of the two pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars;

¹³ And 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals upon the pillars.

¹⁴ He made also bases or stands and lavers upon the bases;

¹⁵ One Sea and the twelve oxen under it;

¹⁶ The pots, shovels, and fleshhooks, and all their equipment Huram his trusted counselor made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.

¹⁷ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸ Solomon made all these things in such great numbers that the weight of the bronze was not computed.

¹⁹ And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God: the golden altar also; and the tables for the showbread (the bread of the Presence);

²⁰ And the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn before the inner sanctuary (the Holy of Holies) as directed;

²¹ The flowers, lamps, and tongs, of purest gold;

²² The snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; and for the temple entry, the inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the doors of the Holy Place were of gold.

5 Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. He brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated, and the silver, the gold, and all the vessels he put in the treasuries of the house of God.

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the City of David, which is Zion.

³ All the men of Israel gathered to the king at the feast in the seventh month.

⁴ And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.

⁵ And the priests and Levites brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent.

⁶ Also King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were gathered to him before the ark sacrificed sheep and oxen so numerous that they could not be counted or reported.

⁷ And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, to the sanctuary of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim;

⁸ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, making a covering above the ark and its poles.

⁹ And they drew out the poles of the ark, so that the ends of the poles protruding from the ark were visible from the front of the Holy of Holies, but were not visible from without. It is there to this day.

¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tables [the Ten Commandments] which Moses put in it at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ And when the priests had come out of the Holy Place—for all the priests present had sanctified themselves, separating themselves from everything that defiles, without regard to their divisions;

¹² And all the Levites who were singers—all of those of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, having cymbals, harps, and lyres—stood at the east end of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets;

¹³ And when the trumpeters and singers were joined in unison, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments for song and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud,

¹⁴ So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.