1 Kings

Construction of the Palace

Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace.

He built the house of the Forest of Lebanon, which measured one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. It was built on three rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars.

It had a cedar ceiling above the beams on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.

There were three window frames at either end, each corresponding to another opposite.

All the doorways and windows had square frames, and each window corresponded to the opposite.

The Hall of Pillars measured fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. It had a porch in front, with pillars and a canopy over them.

The Hall of the Throne, where Solomon was to pronounce judgment, that is, the Hall of Judgment, was finished with cedar from floor to rafters.

His house, where he was to live and which was in the other court behind the hall, was built similarly. Solomon also made a house similar to this for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.

All these were made of costly stones, hewn according to measure, sawn on their inner and outer faces, even from the foundation to the coping and from the court of the Lord’s house to the big court.

The foundation comprised massive, costly stones of eighty and ten cubits.

Above were costly stones, hewn according to measure, and cedar wood.

A wall of hewn stones surrounded the great court and a course of cedar beams, like the interior court of the Lord’s house and its vestibule.

Work on the Temple

King Solomon sent for and brought Hiram from Tyre,

the son of a widow of Naphtali’s tribe. His father was from Tyre and an artisan in bronze work; he was very knowledgeable and skilled in all kinds of bronze work. Hiram came and did all the work that Solomon asked of him.

He cast two brazen pillars, both of which measured eighteen cubits high and had a circumference of twelve cubits. Both were hollow, and their thickness was measured to be four fingers.

He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the top of the pillars, measuring five cubits high.

He also made two pieces of network with a chainlike mesh for each capital on top of the pillars.

Likewise, he made pomegranates arranged in two rows, encircling each piece of the network to cover each capital on top of the pillars.

The capitals on top of the pillars in the vestibule had a lotus design measuring four cubits.

They were on the two pillars above the nodes and beside the network, encircled by two hundred pomegranates arranged in two rows.

Hiram set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; one to the right, called Yakin, and one to the left, called Boaz.

In this way, the work on the pillars was completed.

Hiram then cast the great round bowl called the “Sea,” measuring ten cubits from one brim to the opposite; it was five cubits high and had a circumference of thirty cubits.

Under its brim, it was encircled with gourds, ten for each cubit, arranged in two rows and cast along with the Sea.

This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches towards the center.

It was a thick handbreadth, its brim resembling a cup or a lily flower, and had a capacity of two thousand baths.

Hiram also made ten bronze stands, each measuring four cubits in length, four cubits in width, and three cubits in height.

This was how the stands were constructed: they had framed panels

on which were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames above and below, the lions and oxen were wreathed in relief.

Each stand had four brazen wheels and axles; its four feet had to shoulder under the basin.

Its mouth measured one and a half cubits from where the shoulder met the top; its mouth was round like a rest for a vessel, and on the mouth, there were engravings, too. The crosspieces, however, were rectangular, not round.

The four wheels were below the panels, their axles one piece with the stands. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high.

The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast metal. The four legs of each stand had cast braces supporting a basin, and wreaths were placed on each side.

These four braces, extending to the corners of each stand, were of one piece with the stand.

On top of the stand was a round band, half a cubit high, with supports and panels that were one piece with the stand. This was topped by a crown one cubit high, within which was a rounded opening, the way a pedestal is made, a half-deep cubit. Its opening had carvings, and its panels were square and not round.

On the surface of its supports, as well as on its panels and wherever there was space, were carvings of cherubim, lions, and palm trees, with wreaths all around.

This was how the ten stands were made—all with the same cast, measurement, and form.

Hiram also made ten brazen basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits. There was a basin for each of the ten stands.

He placed five stands on the house’s south and five on the north sides—the Sea he placed at the southeast corner of the temple.

Hiram also made the bowls, shovels, and basins, and finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the Lord’s house.

Hence, two pillars, two bowls on the capitals at the top of the pillars,

four hundred pomegranates for two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals at the top of the pillars,

ten stands, ten basins on the stands,

the Sea, and twelve oxen underneath the Sea.

The bowls, shovels, and basins—all these vessels Hiram made in the Lord’s house for King Solomon—were of burnished bronze.

The king had them cast in the plain of Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

Solomon left all the vessels unweighted since so many of them existed. And so, the weight of the bronze was unknown.

So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the Lord’s house: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of Presence,

the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner Sanctuary; the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold;

the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans of pure gold; and the golden hinges for both the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and the doors of the Sanctuary of the house.

When King Solomon’s work on the Lord’s house was completed, he brought in the things that David, his father, had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and stored them in the Lord’s house’s treasuries.