1 Kings 7:23–51

THE BASIN

²³He made the cast metal basin,^Hh 15 feet^K from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7½ feet high and 45 feet in circumference. ²⁴Ornamental gourdsⁱ encircled it below the brim, ten every half yard,^L completely encircling the basin.^j The gourds were cast in two rows when the basin was cast. ²⁵It stood on twelve oxen,^k three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The basin was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center. ²⁶The basin was three inches^K thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held eleven thousand gallons.^L

THE BRONZE WATER CARTS

²⁷Then he made ten bronze water carts.^Ml Each water cart was 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4½ feet^N high. ²⁸This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces, ²⁹and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim.^m On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging^O work. ³⁰Each cartⁿ had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath. ³¹And the water cart’s opening inside the crown on top was eighteen inches^P wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal twenty-seven inches^Q wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round. ³²There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was twenty-seven inches^R tall. ³³The wheels’ design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. ³⁴Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart. ³⁵At the top of the cart was a band nine inches^A high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it. ³⁶He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees^o on the plates of its braces and on its frames, wherever each had space, with encircling wreaths. ³⁷In this way he made the ten water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them.

BRONZE BASINS AND OTHER UTENSILS

³⁸Then he made ten bronze basins^p—each basin held 220 gallons^B and each was six feet wide—one basin for each of the ten water carts. ³⁹He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the basin near the right side of the temple toward the southeast.^{q 40}Then Hiram made^r the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins.

COMPLETION OF THE BRONZE WORKS

So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the Lord’s temple: ⁴¹two pillars;^s bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;^{t 42}the four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals’ bowls on top of the pillars^u); ⁴³the ten water carts;^v the ten basins on the water carts;^{w 44}the basin;^x the twelve oxen underneath the basin;^{a 45}and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins.^b All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at the Lord’s temple were made of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth^c and Zarethan.^{d 47}Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.^e

COMPLETION OF THE GOLD FURNISHINGS

⁴⁸Solomon also made all the equipment in the Lord’s temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the Bread of the Presence was placed on;^{f 49}the pure gold lampstands in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left;^g the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs; ⁵⁰the pure gold ceremonial bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles,^C and firepans;^h and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the most holy place) and for the doors of the temple sanctuary.

⁵¹So all the work King Solomon did in the Lord’s temple was completed.ⁱ Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David^j—the silver, the gold, and the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.^k