Beginning

Solomon Gets Ready to Build the House of God

2 Solomon planned to build a house for the name of the Lord, and a king’s house for himself. ² So he picked 70,000 men to carry loads, 80,000 men to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 men to watch over these men. ³ Then Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre, saying, “You sent my father David cedar trees to build him a house to live in. Do the same for me. ⁴ See, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. I will set it apart for Him. There special perfume will be burned before Him. The holy bread will be there all the time. Burnt gifts will be given morning and evening, on Days of Rest, on new moons, and during the special suppers of the Lord our God. This is to be done forever in Israel. ⁵ The house I am about to build will be great. For our God is greater than all the gods. ⁶ But who is able to build a house for Him? For the heavens and the highest heavens are not big enough to hold Him. So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn special perfume before Him? ⁷ Now send me an able man to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, and purple, red and blue cloth who knows how to cut all kinds of pictures. He will work with the able men I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David gave me. ⁸ Send me cedar, cypress and algum trees from Lebanon. I know you have able men who know how to do this work. My servants will work with your servants ⁹ to cut many trees for me. For the house I am about to build will be very great and beautiful. ¹⁰ I will give to your servants who cut trees, 200,000 baskets of crushed grain, 200,000 baskets of barley, 200,000 bottles of wine, and 200,000 bottles of oil.”

¹¹ Then King Huram of Tyre answered by letter to Solomon, “The Lord has made you king over His people because He loves them.” ¹² Then Huram said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel. He has made heaven and earth. And He has given King David a wise son. Wisdom and understanding have been given to David’s son who will build a house for the Lord and a king’s house for himself. ¹³ Now I am sending Huram-abi, an able man of understanding. ¹⁴ He is the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrian father. He knows how to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, stone and wood and with purple, blue, and red cloth. He knows how to cut all kinds of pictures, any kind given him to do. He is to work with your able men, and with those of my lord David your father. ¹⁵ So now let my lord send the grain, barley, oil and wine to his servant, as he has said. ¹⁶ We will cut whatever trees you need in Lebanon, and bring them to you by ship to Joppa. Then you may carry them up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷ Solomon numbered all those in Israel who were from other lands, using the number of them which his father David had taken. And 153,600 were found. ¹⁸ He picked 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 men to see that the people did their work.

Solomon Builds the House of God

3 Then Solomon began to build the Lord’s house in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. It was there that the Lord had shown Himself to his father David. It was the place that David had chosen, on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ² Solomon began to build on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his rule. ³ He laid the base for building the house of God. It was thirty long steps, using the old way to find the length. And it was ten long steps wide. ⁴ The porch in front of the house was as long as the house was wide, ten long steps. It was thirty-three times taller than a man. And he covered the inside with pure gold. ⁵ He covered the large room with cypress wood, and covered that with fine gold. Then he made palm trees and chains on it. ⁶ He put stones of much worth on the house for beauty. And the gold was from Parvaim. ⁷ He covered the house with gold. He covered its cross-pieces, its door-ways, its walls, and its doors. And he cut pictures of cherubim on the walls.

⁸ He made the most holy place. It was as long as the house was wide, ten long steps. And it was as wide as ten long steps. He covered it with fine gold weighing as much as 600 men. ⁹ The nails weighed as much as fifty pieces of gold. He covered the rooms on the second floor with gold also.

¹⁰ Then he made two cherubim of wood in the most holy place, and covered them with gold. ¹¹ The wings of the cherubim spread as far as ten long steps. The wing of one was as long as three steps, and touched the wall of the house. Its other wing was as long as three steps, and touched the wing of the other cherub. ¹² The wing of the other cherub was as long as three steps, and touched the wall of the house. Its other wing was as long as three steps, and was joined to the wing of the first cherub. ¹³ The wings of these cherubim spread as far as ten long steps. And they stood on their feet with their faces toward the holy place. ¹⁴ He made the curtain of blue, purple and red cloth and fine linen. And he worked cherubim on it. ¹⁵ He made two pillars in front of the house that were ten times taller than a man. The top piece of each one was as tall as a man can raise his hand. ¹⁶ For the inside holy place he made chains, and put them on the tops of the pillars. Then he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the chains. ¹⁷ He put up the pillars in front of the house of God. One was on the right and the other was on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin, and the one on the left Boaz.

Objects for Worship

4 Then he made a brass altar. It was ten steps long, and ten steps wide, and three times taller than a man. ² He melted brass and made a pool. It was round, and five long steps from one side to the other. It was as tall as a man can raise his hand. And it took fifteen steps to walk around it. ³ There were objects that looked like oxen under the pool and all around it, (ten long steps around it). The oxen were in two rows, and were made of one piece. ⁴ The pool was put on the twelve oxen. Three had their faces toward the north, three toward the west, three toward the south, and three toward the east. The pool was put on top of them. All their tails were toward the center. ⁵ The brass of the pool was as thick as a hand is wide. Its round top was made like the top of a cup, like a lily flower. It could hold 22,000 bottles of water. ⁶ He made ten pots in which to wash. He put five on the right side and five on the left side. They were to wash what was used for the burnt gifts. But the pool was for the religious leaders to wash in.

⁷ Then he made ten gold lamp-stands, as was shown in the plan. He put them in the house of God, five on the right side and five on the left. ⁸ He made ten tables and put them in the house of God. Five were on the right side and five on the left. And he made 100 deep dishes out of gold. ⁹ Then he made the open space of the religious leaders, the large open space, and the doors for the open space. And he covered their doors with brass. ¹⁰ He set the pool at the south-east corner of the house.

¹¹ Then Huram made the pails, the tools for digging, and the pots. So Huram finished the work of God’s house that he did for King Solomon. ¹² He finished making the two pillars, the pots, and the two pieces on top of the pillars. He finished the two networks to cover the two pots of the pieces on top of the pillars. ¹³ He finished the 400 pomegranates for the two networks. There were two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two pots of the pieces on top of the pillars. ¹⁴ He made the stands and he made the pots on the stands. ¹⁵ He made the one pool with the twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶ Huram-abi made the pails, the tools for digging, the meat-hooks, and all their objects. He made them of shining brass for King Solomon for the house of the Lord. ¹⁷ The king had them made on the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸ Solomon made so many of these objects that the weight of the brass could not be known.

¹⁹ Solomon made all the things that were in the house of God. He made the gold altar, and the tables for the holy bread. ²⁰ He made the lamp-stands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the most holy place in the way given. ²¹ He made the flowers, the lamps and their objects of pure gold. ²² He made the things to put out the lamps, the pots and the fire-holders of pure gold. And he made the front of the house, its inside doors for the most holy place, and the doors of the holy place, all of gold.

5 So all the work that Solomon did for the Lord’s house was finished. He brought in the things that his father David had set apart, the silver and the gold and all the objects. He put them in the store-rooms of the house of God.

The Special Box Brought into the House of God

² Then Solomon gathered to Jerusalem the leaders of Israel, and all the heads of the families, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the sons of Israel. He called them together to bring up the special box with the Law of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³ All the men of Israel gathered together in front of the king at the special supper in the seventh month. ⁴ All the leaders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the special box of God. ⁵ They brought up the special box of God, the meeting tent, and all the holy objects that were in the tent. The religious leaders and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ Then King Solomon and all the people of Israel who were with him were in front of the special box of God. There they gave on the altar in worship so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered. ⁷ The religious leaders brought the special box of the Lord to its place. They brought it into the most holy place in the house, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the special box of God. They made a covering over the special box and its long pieces of wood used for carrying. ⁹ The pieces of wood for the special box of God were so long that their ends could be seen in front of the holy place. But they could not be seen outside. They are there to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the special box of God except the two stone writings which Moses put there at Horeb. It was there that the Lord made an agreement with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ Then the religious leaders came out of the holy place. All the religious leaders who were there had set themselves apart, without thinking of how they were divided. ¹² All the Levite singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and brothers, were dressed in fine linen. They stood east of the altar, with timbrels and different kinds of harps. With them were 120 religious leaders sounding horns. ¹³ Those who sounded the horns and the singers made themselves heard as with one voice, praising and thanking the Lord. They sang in a loud voice, with horns, and timbrels, and other objects for making music. They praised the Lord, saying, “He is good. For His loving-kindness lasts forever.” Then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ The religious leaders could not stand to do their work because of the cloud. For the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house of God.