Chronological

7 Then Solomon built his own palace, which took thirteen years to construct.

² One of the rooms in the palace was called the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon. It was huge—measuring 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The great cedar ceiling beams rested upon four rows of cedar pillars. ^3-4 There were forty-five windows in the hall, set in three tiers, one tier above the other, five to a tier, facing each other from three walls. ⁵ Each of the doorways and windows had a square frame.

⁶ Another room was called the Hall of Pillars. It was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide, with a porch in front covered by a canopy that was supported by pillars.

⁷ There was also the Throne Room or Judgment Hall, where Solomon sat to hear legal matters; it was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.

⁸ His cedar-paneled living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall. (He designed similar living quarters, the same size, in the palace that he built for Pharaoh’s daughter—one of his wives.) ⁹ These buildings were constructed entirely from huge, expensive stones, cut to measure. ¹⁰ The foundation stones were twelve to fifteen feet across. ¹¹ The huge stones in the walls were also cut to measure and were topped with cedar beams. ¹² The Great Court had three courses of hewn stone in its walls, topped with cedar beams, just like the inner court of the Temple and the porch of the palace.

¹³ King Solomon then asked for a man named Hiram to come from Tyre, for he was a skilled craftsman in bronze work. ¹⁴ He was half Jewish, being the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a foundry worker from Tyre. So he came to work for King Solomon.

¹⁵ He cast two hollow bronze pillars, each twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet around, with three-inch-thick walls. ^16-22 At the tops of the pillars he made two lily-shaped capitals from molten bronze, each 7-1/2 feet high. The upper part of each capital was shaped like a lily, six feet high. Each capital was decorated with seven sets of bronze, chain-designed lattices and four hundred pomegranates in two rows. Hiram set these pillars at the entrance of the Temple. The one on the south was named the Jachin Pillar,^[a] and the one on the north, the Boaz Pillar.

²³ Then Hiram cast a round bronze tank, 7-1/2 feet high and 15 feet from brim to brim; 45 feet in circumference. ²⁴ On the underside of the rim were two rows of ornaments an inch or two apart,^[b] which were cast along with the tank. ²⁵ It rested on twelve bronze^[c] oxen standing tail to tail, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east. ²⁶ The sides of the tank were four inches thick; its brim was shaped like a goblet, and it had a twelve thousand gallon capacity.

^27-30 Then he made ten four-wheeled movable stands, each 6 feet square and 4-1/2 feet high. They were constructed with undercarriages braced with square^[d] crosspieces. These crosspieces were decorated with carved lions, oxen, and Guardian Angels. Above and below the lions and oxen were wreath decorations. Each of these movable stands had four bronze wheels and bronze axles, and at each corner of the stands were supporting posts made of bronze and decorated with wreaths on each side. ³¹ The top of each stand was a round piece 1-1/2 feet high. Its center was concave, 2-1/4 feet deep, decorated on the outside with wreaths. Its panels were square, not round.

³² The stands rode on four wheels which were connected to axles that had been cast as part of the stands. The wheels were twenty-seven inches high ³³ and were similar to chariot wheels. All the parts of the stands were cast from molten bronze, including the axles, spokes, rims, and hubs. ³⁴ There were supports at each of the four corners of the stands, and these, too, were cast with the stands. ³⁵ A nine-inch rim surrounded the tip of each stand, banded with lugs. All was cast as one unit with the stand. ³⁶ Guardian Angels, lions, and palm trees surrounded by wreaths were engraved on the borders of the band wherever there was room. ³⁷ All ten stands were the same size and were made alike, for each was cast from the same mold.

³⁸ Then he made ten brass vats, and placed them on the stands. Each vat was six feet square and contained 240 gallons of water. ³⁹ Five of these vats were arranged on the left and five on the right-hand side of the room. The tank was in the southeast corner, on the right-hand side of the room. ⁴⁰ Hiram also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins and at last completed the work in the Temple of the Lord that had been assigned to him by King Solomon.

^41-46 Here is a list of the items he made:

All these items were made of burnished bronze and were cast at the plains of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ The total weight of these pieces was not known because they were too heavy to weigh!

⁴⁸ All the utensils and furniture used in the Temple were made of solid gold. This included the altar, the table where the Bread of the Presence of God was displayed, ⁴⁹ the lampstands (five on the right-hand side and five on the left, in front of the Most Holy Place), the flowers, lamps, tongs, ⁵⁰ cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, firepans, the hinges of the doors to the Most Holy Place, and the main entrance doors of the Temple. Each of these was made of solid gold.

⁵¹ When the Temple was finally finished, Solomon took into the treasury of the Temple the silver, the gold, and all the vessels dedicated for that purpose by his father David.

4 He also made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high. ² Then he forged a huge round tank 15 feet across from rim to rim. The rim stood 7-1/2 feet above the floor, and was 45 feet around. ³ The tank was encircled at its base by two rows of gourd designs, cast as part of the tank. ⁴ The tank stood on twelve metal oxen facing outward; three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. ⁵ The walls of the tank were five inches thick, flaring out like the cup of a lily. It held 3,000 barrels of water.

⁶ He also constructed ten vats for water to wash the offerings, five to the right of the huge tank and five to the left. The priests used the tank, and not the vats, for their own washing.

⁷ Carefully following God’s instructions, he then cast ten gold lampstands and placed them in the Temple, five against each wall; ⁸ he also built ten tables and placed five against each wall on the right and left. And he molded 100 solid gold bowls. ⁹ Then he constructed a court for the priests, also the public court, and overlaid the doors of these courts with bronze. ¹⁰ The huge tank was in the southeast corner of the outer room of the Temple. ¹¹ Huramabi also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins for use in connection with the sacrifices.

So at last he completed the work assigned to him by King Solomon:

This skillful craftsman, Huramabi, made all of the above-mentioned items for King Solomon using polished bronze. ^17-18 The king did the casting at the claybanks of the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zeredah. Great quantities of bronze were used, too heavy to weigh.

¹⁹ Solomon commanded that all of the furnishings of the Temple—the utensils, the altar, and the table for the Bread of the Presence must be made of gold; ²⁰ also the lamps and lampstands, ²¹ the floral decorations, tongs, ²² lamp snuffers, basins, spoons, and firepans—all were made of solid gold. Even the doorway of the Temple, the main door, and the inner doors to the Holy of Holies were overlaid with gold.